iPhone finally gets copy and paste!

No surprises here: Apple just announced that iPhone OS 3.0 will support copy and paste. A double-tap auto-selects the text you want with movable "grab points," and a pop-up edit bar display buttons for cut, copy, and paste. Finally! It works in every major app, including SMS and Safari, and what's more, there's also "shake to undo," which is exactly what it sounds like: a quick shake brings up a box that allows you to undo and redo c/p actions. It's a pretty nifty implementation, sure, but it's a little silly we've had to wait this long for it, don't you think?

[shdwghst457 Posted May 21st 2009 4:01AM]

someone who truly gets it. i used to be rather employed by apple and throughout my time there frequently felt that people heralded such feelings towards the products. one of the only companies to set their own bar so high on a frequent basis they can't even reach it.

[sintricate Posted Mar 17th 2009 3:34PM]

OMG, MMS AND COPY&PASTE!!!

I'm so getting an iPhone now.

Did anyone catch the BS excuse for not having C&P in the past? lol

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 17th 2009 3:51PM]

Incredibly I never knew it didn't have it before.

[mpeters13 Posted Mar 17th 2009 3:52PM]

I'm just as happy as any other iPhone fan (I switched to the Sprint HTC Touch Pro b/c I couldn't tolerate the lack of copy/paste anymore). These additions still don't fix the crappy network, though. :/

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 17th 2009 4:19PM]

You're complaining about the iPhone's network and you went to SPRINT?

What, AT&T wasn't spotty enough?

[insky Posted Mar 17th 2009 4:47PM]

You do know the Touch Pro is on almost every network right?

AT&T has the Fuze (Touch Pro)
Sprint has the Touch Pro
Alltel has the Touch Pro
Verizon has the Touch Pro (lite)
T Mobile is the only one who doesn't have it, but you can still get the Fuze and use it on their network.

And have you even ever used Sprint? Unlike AT&T you never hear of Sprint 3G going down nationwide.

[blaw Posted Mar 17th 2009 4:07PM]

Apple probably hired the dudes who created Clippy and ported it to OS 3.0.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 17th 2009 4:19PM]

Who ever is flying to Oahu is not going to end up on the right Island....

[jowie Posted Mar 17th 2009 4:46PM]

Why does it need to be so complicated? Surely just dragging your finger over the text and then two-finger tap to bring up a contextual menu? Why does it have to work any differently than a normal OS interface?

I don't have an iPhone so there may be a perfectly reasonable explanation, but I'd be interested to know what it is :-)

[whgt Posted Mar 17th 2009 4:48PM]

Nice Lost reference. Is that actually from their keynote slides?!

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 17th 2009 5:35PM]

Give Engadget forum posters a pound of gold, and they'll complain it's too heavy.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 17th 2009 5:57PM]

"No surprises here: Apple just announced that iPhone OS 3.0 will support copy and paste."

Actually, it is pretty surprising, isn't it? The device launched ~2 years ago with little more than rumors and speculation of Apple implementing this feature. I'm surprised that a.) they've finally confirmed it, and b.) it took so damned long.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 17th 2009 6:00PM]

i've had copypaste in all of my nokia phones. never used it.

now i have it my iphone. cool. will this make me use it? not sure.

however i would love the camera to start up a bit quicker than 30 seconds, to catch those funky moments. you know.

[Doomcoat Posted Mar 17th 2009 7:36PM]

So...this story is filed under "BREAKING" news, yet your first line is, "No surprises here"...? How is it expected AND breaking simultaneously???

[2late2die Posted Mar 17th 2009 7:46PM]

Erm... here's a question, why have the copy and cut buttons? Since the selection of text is a unique action, the text should be copied automatically, and to "cut" you could simply delete the text (it's been already copied so, copy+delete=cut). The only thing that should be popping up is "paste". And just in case you're thinking "well, if you selected some text A, then selected some text B into which to paste text A, it would then copy text B and you'd be pasting text B into text B?". No, if the clipboard is smart enough to handle two items and paste the "other" item in. Oh and the "paste" button wouldn't even popup unless there was something in the clipboard already.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 17th 2009 8:53PM]

So it seem like the 2nd Gen Ipod Touch has bluetooth...

What about the people who have purchased the Ipod Touch 1st generation users....We believed in Apple to take a chance on the 1st generation...If they would have let me know I would have just only bought the 2nd Gen.

Do we know for sure that 1st gen adopter won't be let out to dry and have to purchase the 2nd Gen version?

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 18th 2009 5:08AM]

Excluding the shake to undo, this implementation is a complete copy of Clippy's latest implementation. Nice way to steal ideas Apple.

[shdwghst457 Posted May 21st 2009 4:05AM]

apple's probably smart enough not to steal something so blatantly well renowned. ever heard of a concept called "paying someone for their work"?

[nDy Posted Mar 18th 2009 5:17AM]

It's like Sony VHS players,
it should've been there,
even if they don't admit.

[jdcbomb Posted Mar 18th 2009 6:30PM]

i have not laughed so hard for awhile...after reading all these hilarious comments

i too am flabbergasted that of ALL companies in the world...how apple cannot implement a cut and paste function?

does anyone know why for real?

or is it a nasty conspiracy???

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 30th 2009 11:21PM]

Guys, dont ever buy from this store (Golden Arrow Electronics).
You know i already sent money & give the MTCN but they didnt sent the Iphone. this is the cheater :
HARRY CARLOS
40 Salterns Way Poole,
Dorset BH148JR
United Kingdom Reg No: B6117243
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
Customer Care line: [phone],[phone]
Sales Manager (Mr. Alex) ([phone]) ([phone])

Golden Arrow Electronics is CHEATER

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 12th 2009 10:21AM]

I love how they release a feature-castrated phone, add what features that should be been present in v1.0, and hail it as some kind of breakthrough.

Fail.

[(Unverified) Posted May 1st 2009 7:28PM]

IT'S ABOUT TIME.

I'm insulted that they had the gall to consider this function so unimportant that they waited until version 3.0 to implement it. Unfortunately, I guess we ARE idiots who buy a stupid gadget without basic functionality & provide them a profit BEFORE they make it an efficient product to use. I didn't think to make sure it had copy/paste before I made my purchase... now I have a Blackberry AND a toy Iphone

[Gillian708 Posted May 10th 2009 1:20PM]

Oh thank you Jesus

[(Unverified) Posted May 23rd 2009 6:03PM]

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[(Unverified) Posted May 23rd 2009 6:04PM]

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[(Unverified) Posted May 23rd 2009 6:05PM]

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Head over to iPhoneDevSlots.com! We have available slots so that you can install the 3.0 software and activate it. Setup takes a few mins!

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 7th 2009 3:57PM]

why no bluetooth for my phone book in the iphone. i can call from my ear. just say "call john" and iphone calls the number like on a bl bl bl ...berry. ?