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.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 17th 2009 7:02PM]

Thanks for the insults and ad hominems, Quix, but let's face it - you made a fool out of yourself twice in quick succession and everybody is laughing at you.

But, for the record, I don't hate Apple products - the Macbook is awesome as is the iPod Touch and there isn't a better NAS solution than Time Capsule but I don't like Apple's approach and I don't like the way the press give them endless get out of jail free cards for shit products like the new Shuffle or releasing bog standard features for the iPhone two years after its launch and if the blogs ain't going to put the boot in then I most certainly am.

Now shut up before your credibility goes even further south.

[Joppa Posted Mar 18th 2009 4:26AM]

Quix, you're hyperventilating.

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

The mind boggles when I read things like "Copy and paste should have been there from the start".

Where the hell do people get their sense of entitlement from?

[Iglad Posted Mar 17th 2009 3:26PM]

"These people" are the nightmare apple brats who think they are entitled to everything and then don't even want to pay for it. Unfortunately with Apple going mainstream via the iPod/iPhone you will get more of these type of Apple brats.

[ljm Posted Mar 17th 2009 3:48PM]

entitlement? Are you serious? I'm sure if it was up to you we would all still be using smoke signals to communicate.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 17th 2009 3:10PM]

The petty slamming of iPhone competitors is misplaced. The Palm Pre and Blackberry Storm put competitive pressure on Apple, who (bless their hearts) strive to make their products better than all others (and usually succeed). The Pre and Storm make Apple make a better product. iPhone/iPod-Touch owners benefit from this. Yeah!

[Joshyth Posted Mar 17th 2009 2:55PM]

quickgold........

[DavidVogt Posted Mar 17th 2009 2:56PM]

Cool stuff, but do we really need a seperate post for every little thing they introduced?

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 17th 2009 3:05PM]

...Hmmmmm.....will it be a search bar on top?, will it be a whole new page in front of all the others?, can I disable this part of the "update"?...

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 18th 2009 12:37PM]

All of these features are ripped from the JAILBROKEN iphones not the pre.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 17th 2009 3:12PM]

Still no calendar on the lock screen like any other smartphone ?

Then I will have to wait for a jailbreak and install Intelliscreen again.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 18th 2009 10:39AM]

beautifuuullllll

[Andir Posted Mar 17th 2009 3:19PM]

Am I the only one that thinks "search" on a phone or OS points out an obvious design flaw in the interface? If people can't find what they need without searching for it... you've failed.

[Iglad Posted Mar 17th 2009 3:28PM]

Good point and I hope that we are able to turn off the search as I don't need it.

[Gibson Posted Mar 17th 2009 3:20PM]

Cupertino's photocopiers are hard at work scanning the Palm Pre.

Competition is a wonderful thing.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 22nd 2009 9:16PM]

You are so dense: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fabrico/3183711317/ again: TWO years old.

I've already commented to you but one of the comments may have not gone through (aim error)

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 22nd 2009 9:17PM]

P.S. that's not my photo, I just found a random one on flickr.

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

Also, I'm not buying this piece of shit.

Pre, baby, woo!

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 22nd 2009 8:11PM]

Well Gibson, the Pre is not out at all, except for testers, and thousands of people (developers) are already installing 3.0. If you felt the need to have 3.0 before anyone else, all you'd have to do is join the iPhone Developer Program for $99 and download it! Also, many developers are commenting that 3.0 is stable enough already to run as their main iPhone OS. Finally, the iPhone has had the "Weather" app which Palm stole the whole "cards" thing from anyway, so the search function is all Apple, baby! MUHAHA! the following photo is not mine but here's a link to a pic of the two year old iPhone weather app: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fabrico/3183711317/

hahahaha ;D

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 22nd 2009 9:20PM]

LOL sorry about the four comments, it gave me an error so I reposted a few.

Think Different! :P

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 17th 2009 3:53PM]

I wish I could see the whole experience of doing the search. How did the text 'John' appear in the text box? I assume you had to pull up the virtual keyboard first? How many steps will it take to get to this screen with the text 'John' on it? If they made this *really* straightforward, this is quite interesting for me. In fact, it is one of the two things that kept me from jumping on the iPhone bandwagon.

In WinMo, and also on my Nokia E71, I start typing a name and the search kicks in... the most intuitive and quickest way to dial someone without a hotkey. If this new UI enables popping up the keyboard and just starting to type, it may win me over.

FYI, the other thing that is stopping me is that I heard that timezones are not working, and that, when travelling, and the operator sets the timezone, that your calendar gets quite messed up...

[NeoDarkSaver Posted Mar 17th 2009 4:33PM]

so they stole quickgold.

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 14th 2009 6:11PM]

I know, and Quick Gold is better, with multiple keyboards and a better UI!

[GrantB Posted Mar 17th 2009 4:39PM]

You know what? I am sick and tired of all these people complaining about how long it took Apple to catch up with the rest of the industry. Take a look at Apple's staff. It isn't very large compared to the rest of the industry. How long did it take all of these mobile phone makers to actually create all those phones and features? I know that each and every revision of every single phone cell phone makers champion, there is code from a previous code base. So, all of these people who are complaining that the iPhone is taking forever to catch up, just be glad it did. Yeah, you can question the priority of things at Apple but their engineering staff isn't very large and the feature set for the device is much larger than that of someone like Microsoft. Let's be real and logical here.

Secondly, everyone saying Apple stole from the Pre... Who cares? The Pre is just a copy of the iPhone. Innovation also includes duplication, or none of our current phones would have any features because no one copied the idea... Like Cameras..... How many phones picked those up quick fast and in a hurry?

Geez people, get your panties out of a bunch.

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

As a fan of Gmail I really want to be able to search email more effectively.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 17th 2009 5:44PM]

sorry if i don't sound as smart as all u cell phone historians but if i went and bought a 3g in a few days, does this mean that id be able to just have this new shit uploaded on it when it comes out or am i gonna hav to wait to buy an entirely new phone in june?

[brucek Posted Mar 17th 2009 6:49PM]

If it works the same as past updates, it will just happen as an option when you dock and synchronize your phone.

[bluelobe Posted Mar 17th 2009 7:49PM]

Pre can't even run the old Palm apps in emulator mode--now that's one 'feature' that they should've done.

As for complaining about the length of time it took for Apple to come up with 3.0, puleeeaze. As a developer, just the copy and paste feature alone is incredibly complicated to program--one that is well-designed and executed. I'm surprised they got it out.

[DigDug Posted Mar 17th 2009 8:15PM]

Don't you mean a "flick to the right?" As I understand it, one flicks the (string of) app pages to the right (using a rightward flick), thereby bringing into view the search screen that was (formerly) on the left. So, you're not flicking left, you're flicking right.

I'm just sayin'.

[tophat Posted Mar 17th 2009 8:56PM]

SEARCHING IS A NEW AND INNOVATIVE IDEA AND PALM CLEARLY INVENTED THE ABILITY TO SEARCH FOR THINGS.

I love engadget comments.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 18th 2009 2:13AM]

Most of these features added are becuase of the upcoming release of THE PALM PRE / APPLE SUCKS and would have made you pay for these features if the PALM PRE were to not have exsisted. That Spotlight shit was built in the PALM PRE

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 22nd 2009 9:00PM]

Where you hell do you live? Have you ever seen a Mac? Spotlight has been around before the Palm Pre sweetheart sorry to break it to you. Apple is just adding a feature to the iPhone that has already been a successful detail in their computers before the Pre was a fleeting thought in Palms mind. I just had to say it because I'm sick of all these ignorant haters thinking that Apple ripped something that they created in '05.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 18th 2009 12:12PM]

I get what you mean but...technically:
Wouldn't a flick to the left when you're on the home screen get you your screen two of icons?
You flick RIGHT to go through what is now an invisible wall

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 19th 2009 2:33PM]

its not about inability to find something, its about convenience. I think thats pretty self evident for most people.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 19th 2009 2:36PM]

that was meant as a reply to the "doesnt needing a search indicate a poor ui" comment.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 20th 2009 5:49PM]

this new update need pictures on the contacts.app jus like facebook for the contacts that are labeled with pictures like the new jailbroken app that does that. it would be a nice addition

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 29th 2009 5:39AM]

I so enjoyed reading these comment. Brings back the good old windows versus unix flamewars.

I myself have been a winmo user for many years. I just loved getting all those features in one package. I especially loved the endless error on the unavailability of enough bluetopth stack space when installing an bt-keyboard driver. Having the need to put more than six items on the today screen... What i mostly loved about winmo was the feature to crash 3times a day, reboot without asking whenever it wanted to or just hang and get angry phonecalls to my work phone telling me my phone is off. And the fist button i pish resets the phone. Just love it.

That is why i HATE the iphone. The onscreen keyboard is large enough so i dont have to use my stowaway. The damn thing is on 24/7 and it doesnt crash,reboot or silently ignore calls. The interface is so ffin brilliantly easy to use i dont have any reason to complaint about the time it takes to get some app running.

I miss my winmo ... NOT!

Yes,winmo lovers,the winmos have more features. Trouble is; it makes those crappy devices bleed battery power and lack stability. The iphone has everything it __needs__ and not everything microsoft can think off. I'd rather drive a bare lexus than a featurestuffed ford. Its a matter of taste. We apple fanppl have it, the winmo clan have not.

To emphasize; i was an MS fanboy up untill eight months ago. Then i had mac forced upon me. Havent regretted a single moment. Not once i had my laptop crash on me or my devmachine nor my iphone. It just works. As it should.

Winmo suxx bigtime and you know it. You just haven't realised it yet. Use a mac/iphone for a week and you'll never want to go back to what you had.

Trust me.

Iphone os three-oh?? Cant wait. NOT because I need it but because i want it.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 30th 2009 2:32AM]

My iPhone remembers what I type...and doesn't take too long to remember. Of course it may depend on how often you use that particular word.