iPhone 3.0 features new homescreen with Spotlight search

Apple's making a big deal out of search on iPhone OS 3.0, and it's all being wrapped up in a new Spotlight search homescreen. A flick to the left from the first screen of apps brings it up, and from there you can search contacts, mail metadata (but not message content), calendars, media, and more. Definitely nice if you've ever struggled to quickly access something on the iPhone in the past, but again, we can't help but wonder why it took so long to get here.

[Hoobaloo Posted Mar 17th 2009 2:24PM]

Was wondering when I could search for song or artist.. nice.

Next please..
- Tethering of course
- Adaptive typing (Remember what I've typed please!!)

Maybe more to come. This update covers a lot of my quirks.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 17th 2009 2:42PM]

Mine remembers what ive typed, it has remembered my name and the names of my entire family some of them really weird.

[tomjol Posted Mar 17th 2009 2:45PM]

@Dillinger: IIRC it gets those from your contacts.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 17th 2009 3:32PM]

@Tom
No the iphone does remember certain things such as my screenname. ive typed it in enough times, if i spell it wrong, it fixes it. (the username is SpencerShow) it does have a memory, but it takes many times to get it to remember

[Anatidae Posted Mar 17th 2009 3:45PM]

Thank god Apple is putting in features that are starting to make the iPhone into a modern phone. Copy and Paste and now Search? Wow, functionality!

[Eleazar Posted Mar 17th 2009 2:25PM]

I'm going to need some cleanex after this

[Doorey Posted Mar 17th 2009 2:26PM]

Hehe they copied homescreen search straight from Nokia's S60.. LAMEEEE

[NewL Posted Mar 17th 2009 2:26PM]

Nice! They show off the phone with a Pre screenshot!

[Nomi Posted Mar 17th 2009 5:59PM]

You know...they could have tried and not copied the rounded corners at least.

[CubeGuy Posted Mar 17th 2009 9:20PM]

Because the iPhone has been all about those 90° angles up until this point...

[Raul7 Posted Mar 17th 2009 2:29PM]

So; iPhone 3.0: everything that should have been in the original iPhone. Well, it's a start at least.

[CJ Posted Mar 17th 2009 2:42PM]

In iPhone version 4.0 we get to make calls that remain clear at a distance greater than several-feet-away!

[Dallasm Posted Mar 17th 2009 2:44PM]

Oh come on, that can't be EVERY thing on your wish list. Surely there is something else com complain about. how about missing video? That's a big one still right? Or how about... um... teleportation? Yeah! Apple hasn't done that one yet.

[MysticMaven Posted Mar 17th 2009 4:50PM]

Yeah no shit right? The iPhone was so late to the game. There were so many devices out there already like the iPhone, they just copied them all.

Get a clue flaming anti-Apple fanboy!

[RioRyan Posted Mar 17th 2009 2:30PM]

$10 for the iPod touch AGAIN. Bullshit.

[Jerry Posted Mar 17th 2009 9:09PM]

Just wait for someone to put the update online.

[MBN Posted Mar 17th 2009 5:32PM]

Thank Sarbanes-Oxley if I'm not mistaken.

[sid Posted Mar 18th 2009 4:39PM]

@MBN: Sarbanes-Oxley? Dude, if it had anything to do with corporate accounting laws, why would it behave differently across an iPhone and iPod touch?? Completely unrelated ....

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 19th 2009 2:29PM]

DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH WE PAY MONTHLY FOR AN IPHONE.
quit your moaning and pony up that 10 bucks with glee.

[KarlW Posted Mar 17th 2009 2:30PM]

The new stuff today is epic. The iPhone certainly is the best smartphone right now.

They've fixed pretty much everything.

[Ruben Posted Mar 17th 2009 2:32PM]

By borrowing from the Pre and nearly every other smart phone in existence?

[Hoobaloo Posted Mar 17th 2009 2:33PM]

Well, it takes the Pre to make them develop on these obvious features that should've been there in the first place. This shows that Apple is a bit scared of the Pre and didn't want that phone to up them on features. Doesn't surprise me at all.

[MPearson Posted Mar 17th 2009 2:35PM]

Do you really think the Pre would exist in the same capacity without the iPhone? Sure, the original iPhone borrows much from Palm, but so does EVERY smartphone in a way.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 17th 2009 2:46PM]

@Ruben

You moron, how can they borrow from the Pre (a phone that really is only a piece of buyout bait) when the Pre copied everything it is the iPhone? Idiot.

[KarlW Posted Mar 17th 2009 2:37PM]

No, by listening to their customers and adding the features they were asking for.

The only complains I've heard about the iPhone is that it lacks feature X. Now it doesn't. And the copy and paste works better than Android's, as it lets you copy text even from fields other than text entry fields (such as from the browser). Oh, and don't forget the hardware accessory support - I don't think the Pre has anything to match that.

[bjsguess Posted Mar 17th 2009 2:50PM]

I have been running all these "new" features for at least 2 years or longer on my WinMo device:
-- Turn by turn navigation thanks to Tom Tom
-- Copy and paste
-- MMS
-- A2DP
-- Push email
-- Voice record

And NO Apple hasn't come close to delivering all that people want. How about:
-- Running background apps
-- Full Flash support in Safari
-- Since they ripped of the Pre's search capability how about adding in their facebook integration?
-- Use your device as USB mass storage

BTW - these aren't revolutionary concepts. WinMo already has full Flash support through Skyfire, multi-tasking (of course), and the ability to use your device as mass storage. Looks like Facebook integration is coming in 6.5.

This is a step in the right direction. But like others have pointed out - most of these "upgrades" are more like fixes. These should have all been included in the 2G device. To wait 3 years for copy and paste is laughable.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 17th 2009 3:38PM]

Of couse Apple copied EVERYTHING from the Pre...cuz it takes any programmer less than 3 months to code all these features into an OS. I mean take a look at everyone else on the market....they already have unified App stores running...oh wait...only Google does...barely

bjsguess, yes Apple took their sweet time, but the iPhone OS is the only OS that works (mostly...because everything is flawed)....Apple waits, get things "right" and makes money out of it...they are a business...deal with it

WinMo sucks...it may have "everything" but it sucks....if the iPhone OS is slow then WinMo doesn't even run.

[Murphy Mac Posted Mar 17th 2009 2:31PM]

Nilay - how many of your posts are going to end with a complaint about how long a given feature took to arrive? We get it.

[TenaciousJ728 Posted Mar 17th 2009 2:32PM]

Sweet! Similar to Web OS but finally, a change for the iPhone/iPod Touch!

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 17th 2009 2:32PM]

Looks like a pre ripoff.

[Murphy Mac Posted Mar 17th 2009 2:50PM]

This Pre you speak of, where can I get one?

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 17th 2009 3:07PM]

This iPhone 3.0 update you speak of? Where can I get it right now?

LOL diducwutididtar!1!

[Ruben Posted Mar 17th 2009 2:34PM]

Seems like the photocopier is on full assault today.

Except they got the traditional black bar at the bottom, by not being able to pull off multi-tasking.

[Hoobaloo Posted Mar 17th 2009 2:43PM]

I don't think that it's that Apple can even "pull-off" background apps, I think its a limitation in the hardware. I have jailbroke my phone and have the app MemTool and it shows a nice gas tank style meter with how much RAM is being used, the core OS takes up more than half of the memory, and once you load just one more app the phone is starved for memory and the OS then sends out messages to other apps to close to free up memory.

I think it'll need a upgraded hardware platform to enable multi-tasking/background apps.

[harker85 Posted Mar 17th 2009 3:23PM]

the pre isnt even out yet?

[Gibson Posted Mar 17th 2009 3:24PM]

3.0 isn't even out yet.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 22nd 2009 8:13PM]

3.0 is out for developers, which you can become one of for $99, including the entire SDK and full Apple support, as well as the ability to post apps to the iTunes Store.

heres a link to a pic of the 2 year old iphone weather app: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fabrico/3183711317/ (pic is not mine)

Now who stole cards?! hahahaha

[JMagnusson Posted Mar 17th 2009 2:35PM]

Sounds nice, but isn't that one one h*ll of an ugly user interface?!?

[Jamescb Posted Mar 17th 2009 2:40PM]

This isn't the home screen, this is available left of the home screen. Note the icon dot that is a magnifying glass. Your HOME is actually the same thing. Click the home button and it'll go to the home page, not the spotlight page - though I wonder if this can be changed in settings.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 17th 2009 2:40PM]

This remainds me of the Nokia 1998 Symbian Luanch.
Well fruit just brought the "future" bringing 1998 features to its fruity phone!

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 17th 2009 2:41PM]

Proof iphone is alive n raping pre!

[Gibson Posted Mar 17th 2009 3:22PM]

Proof you are a complete dunce.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 17th 2009 2:45PM]

So...Apple copied Palm eh? By releasing new software about THE SAME TIME Palm will be releasing their Pre?

Apparently some of you don't understand software development cycles. Most of these features were already in the works for iPhone 3.0 BEFORE the Palm had its public Pre-view.

You want to see how real copycatting works? Watch Microsoft. They'll ape most of this stuff a year from now.

Suck it, haters. Today is a sad day for Apple bashing trolls. But you'll always have the soft keyboard and sealed battery to whine and moan about.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 17th 2009 3:08PM]

"You want to see how real copycatting works? Watch Microsoft. They'll ape most of this stuff a year from now."

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?

S60 and WinMo already have these features and have for years.

[Joppa Posted Mar 17th 2009 3:14PM]

hilarious to watch all you apple tarts making sad excuses for today's crap announcements. the angrier you get the more obvious your disappointment is.

[LAY Posted Mar 17th 2009 3:41PM]

Quix needs a hug.

First the shuffle flop, now iPhone 3.Uh-oh.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 17th 2009 5:38PM]

Ah, Mark Anderson has arrived. Like clockwork. Now where's Saad Rabia?

So tell me Mark, if the S60 and WinMo are such fantastically functional (and innovative) devices, why do you feel compelled to snark about the iPhone every chance you get? And why are consumers paying them little heed?

Your jealousy just makes you ugly.

Troll Different.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 17th 2009 6:34PM]

Oh shut up, Quix. Once again you typed something stupid and made a fool of yourself. Deal with it.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 17th 2009 6:38PM]

Oh and whilst we're on the subject of Quix's stupid pronouncements...

"So tell me Mark, if the S60 and WinMo are such fantastically functional (and innovative) devices... ...why are consumers paying them little heed?"

Well, Quix, I don't know if you keep up on the news but WinMo outsold the iPhone last year and had a sales increase of 16% compared to the iPhone's decrease of 14% last quarter. As for S60 you might want to look at Symbian's sales figures before you come out with anything quite as ridiculous again.

Silly fanboy is silly.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 17th 2009 6:56PM]

So Mark, if S60 and WinMo are such incredible successes, it's perplexing that you show up time and time again to bash the iPhone, which obviously is such a pathetic, inferior device that it deserves to be ignored.

Surely you have better things to do with your time than foul Engadget with your constant anti-Apple whimpering, like, say, play with your fabulous mobile gadget that's light years ahead of anything Apple can dream up?

Methinks you're just bitter that the world is moving on without you. Yeah, we get it old timer - horses are better than cars because they don't need roads or gas stations. So giddyup, cowboy. Hey, Melinda Gates may not like Windows Mobile, but at least you do!

"Windows Mobile: Sucking, But Copying and Pasting Since 1991" (TM)

The more the Apple haters whine, the better the company is doing. And judging from the troll-filled Engadget comments in recent months, Apple must be doing very well indeed. Try not to grind your molars to dust...

See you on the next Apple-related post, Mark. Since you can't seem to resist trolling each and every one. Next time, bring Saad Rabia along. We'll have a party.