Live from Apple's iPhone OS 3.0 preview event
by Joshua Topolsky 
posted Mar 17th 2009 at 12:58PM
11:48AM A question about the approval process, Phil is handling.
"96% are approved, but there are things we have to watch out for. There have been issues, issues about content that's available to children for instance. But at the end of the day, we have a great solution that's working, and we're constantly making it better. We're tracking these numbers, and speaking with developers, and we are constantly doing that."
"I want to thank you all for joining us today."
11:45AM Q: Could you serve audio files over Bluetooth, could you move them onto a device?
This question essentially has stumped the crew. They don't know how to answer!
Scott: "I think probably not -- you couldn't move the file." A bit of a confusing one.
11:43AM Q (from us!): Are you addressing any of the lagginess with the new OS? We saw some of that when you loaded SMS up.
A: (short and sweet) We're definitely addressing those issues. The units you saw today are demo units.
11:40AM Q: Push notification, will you make uptime promises?
A: No.
11:39AM Q: Where do you stand on tethering?
A: Scott (explains tethering): We're supporting tethering in the client side, we're building that support in. We're working with our carriers around the world. We are building that support in.
11:37AM Q: Will peer to peer work with other devices?
A: It's limited to Bonjour, peer to peer devices.
11:34AM Q: Flash? What are you doing?
A: We have no announcements on that topic today. But there are a lot of video streams we can handle. h.264 works great. We're adding HDTV streaming for audio and video. We think there's a lot of great video solutions for a single clip.
11:33AM Q: Why did copy paste take so long?
A: Scott: It's not that easy. There were security issues.
11:32AM Q&A with Scott, Greg, and Phil Schiller.
11:28AM Okay, Q&A time...
11:28AM So... just wait until June everyone! "So Scott and I would like to thank you, we look forward to the amazing things devs will do. Thank you very much."
11:27AM "What about the rest of us? iPhone OS 3.0 will be available this Summer. A free update to all of our iPhone 3G customers. And it works on the original iPhone. Now the hardware has changed between these two devices. For instance, A2DP and MMS won't be available on the iPhone 1st gen. It's also available for the iPod touch... for $9.95."
11:26AM "We've designed this to be compatible with the thousands of apps, but you should start testing this for your apps now." "We're adding 15 more countries to the App Store list... it will be available in 77 countries."
11:25AM That's for developers... what about the end user?
11:25AM "So we hope you're as excited about this as we are. So how will you get this? The developer beta is available today. Everyone will have access to it. Starting today we'll have all kinds of info available."
11:24AM "And these are only a few of the hundred new features. We're really excited about this. It is a major update. And I can't wait until you get your hands on it. And to tell you about it, Greg Joswiak."
11:24AM "So, iPhone 3.0. We are so excited about this. In-app purchase, peer to peer, accessories, Maps, push notifications, cut/copy/paste, landscape, messages, Voice Memos, Calendar with support for CalDAV, new Stock app, Search, and Spotlight."
11:22AM "So, Spotlight. A single place to search across your phone. And again, these are only a few of the new features that come with 3.0. Like Note Sync, you can sync your notes." Auto-fill, YouTube accounts, stereo Bluetooth! WiFi autologin, anti-phising.
11:21AM Spotlight lives far left in your pages. "That is Spotlight." Big applause for that.
11:20AM This is Apple's universal search. Makes sense, of course, already available to those with jailbroken phones.
11:20AM You can scroll to the Spotlight homescreen. It lives in your pages of apps as its own page. It works as you'd expect, a keyboard is present and allows you pop up anything you're looking for in a list below a search box.
11:19AM Demo time!
11:18AM "But we didn't stop there. We thought, wouldn't it be nice if there was a single location you go to search all of these. That's what we did. We created a new home screen to do this. We call it Spotlight."
11:18AM "Search in Calendar: you can search for appointments. Also, search in iPod, song name, album, artist... and, search in Notes, by the title or body."
11:17AM "Next is Search. In iPhone 2.0 we added search in contacts. This year we're adding search to all of our key applications, starting with Mail. You can search from, to, subject, and all headers. If the message isn't on your iPhone, you can continue that search on the server."
11:16AM "Stocks: some nice additions here. We're adding support for news stories at the bottom, and details right in the app. We've also added landscape view."
11:16AM "Next, support for subscriptions. This is the .ics format."
11:16AM Voice Memos does pretty much what you expect. "Next, Calendar. In iPhone 1.0 we supported personal calendars, last year, we added Exchange support, and this was always up to date. This year we're adding support for two additional calendar types. The first is CalDAV."
11:14AM Ah, you can finally add contacts. It sounds like you can add photos / audio to your devices if you get them in a message. "Next, Voice Memos."
11:13AM "Next: messages. We have a fantastic text messaging app in the iPhone. You can now forward and delete multiple messages. But the big news is that we're adding support for MMS."
11:12AM "So, landscape in Mail. It works in Notes and SMS as well."
11:12AM Cocoa Touch controls have support for copy/paste built in. "Next... landscape. We always had support for landscape built in. This is great for reading stories. A lot of users love that landscape keyboard. We're now taking that to all of our key apps. Starting with Mail."
11:10AM "Now there's one more thing I want to show you. And that's photos. We've had requests to send more than one pic at a time -- and now you can do that." You can select multiple pictures and copy them, then paste them into a mail message. "So, copy/paste in iPhone 3.0." Applause. Applause for a feature that every other device in the world has. Odd.
11:09AM "But this works for 3rd party apps as well. Here's wikimobile." We're going to go ahead and say that copy/paste probably works the same here. Yes -- it does.
11:08AM Just loaded up SMS -- took ages to load. Same process as Safari to grab SMS text.
11:08AM It also copies HTML. Shake to undo. Clever.
11:07AM Long press to select blocks of text in Safari. Using the same engine that zooms in on blocks of text to intelligently know what to select.
11:07AM Now he's showing off copy/paste across apps -- same selection bubble and process in Notes. He jumped into mail and pasted. So... just exactly like copy and paste on everything. Zany.
11:06AM To select a whole block, you double tap, slide with your finger or thumb (you get a new magnifying glass), and pull across what you want to grab.
11:05AM Double tap on text, and it automatically selects it -- then puts grab points at the end of the selection, with a cut/copy/paste bubble above it.
11:05AM Ha, an email with flight info for Oceanic 815.
11:04AM "We've been working really hard to design an easy to use interface for this on our touchscreen display. Let me demo it for you right now."
11:04AM "Now as I said before, 3.0 brings a lot of new features for devs, but for customers as well... starting... with cut, copy, and paste." Big cheers.
11:03AM Scott: "How can I go on after that. Wow. That duet was played using our new API. You know, when we created the SDK, it was to make devs really successful. That's why we work our asses off every day."
11:02AM Huge applause for that! Huge!
11:02AM Dr. Wang and assistant are about to perform "a little ditty" for us. "This is Phantom of the Opera on Leaf Trombone." It is. It is! Everyone is giggling. This is pretty amazing, just because it's so intensely bizarre.
11:01AM "We're excited about the new iPhone SDK." He's showing off an app called Leaf Trombone World Stage. Seriously. It's a multiplayer music app.
10:59AM Dr. Wang is intense.
10:58AM Scott: "Next, is Smule. The creators of Ocarina. Here's Dr. Ge Wang."
10:57AM Showing off multiplayer. Pretty sweet. The crowd here seemed to like it. Good thing they landed a frag at the end there.
10:57AM This is pretty impressive, a fairly smooth FPS with in game chat. Graphics aren't too shabby, if a bit basic. The controls don't look super easy...
10:56AM "Okay, now let me show off something completely different. LiveFire. I'm going to launch into a global game server." Wow, this looks pretty sweet.
10:55AM He just showed off in-game purchases. Very similar to The Sims.
10:54AM "I just received a push notification to a Touch Pet dogs playdate." This is cute. Virtual dogs are running around onscreen. A few people are cracking up in here.
10:53AM "We're going to show you two games today we're working on. The first is Touch Pets, and our multiplayer first person shooter, LiveFire."
10:52AM Neil Young... not THE Neil Young. "Hello. The iPhone is a wonderful device. It's always on, always with you, and always connected to a network. It can enable new types of social play and new gaming experiences."
10:51AM Scot: "So imagine the possibilities. We think this is profound. Next, ngmoco -- a startup that develops games exclusively for the iPod touch and iPhone. Here's a sneak peak of some new games they're working on."
10:50AM They're really showing off a lot of detail on this app. It's fairly in-depth, and seems to pull in a handful of the new APIs. Still, not what most people came here for today.
10:48AM This is interesting. The app works out dieting and keeps track of glucose levels. We could definitely see this coming in handy for those with diabetes.
10:47AM A cool idea, but we'd like to see just a small dock connector that functions as the finger pricking device. Are we asking too much?
10:46AM They're showing off glucose testing (finger pricking). "Given the new SDK, the meter can transmit that data over Bluetooth or the dock connector."
10:45AM Now they've brought up Anita Mathew from Lifescan (a Johnson and Johnson company). Please show the iPhone heart surgery app / hardware combo. No... just diabetes testing. This could be cool.
10:44AM Scott: "We had to spend the last six months retooling our push notification for companies just like ESPN." Big laughs.
10:44AM Oke Okaro is off... the ESPN app looks pretty slick.
10:42AM Ooh, they're showing off streaming video right now. Looks pretty damn nice. "We're using the new media player that automatically adjusts quality for the bandwidth you have."
10:41AM ESPN just made a sports joke we didn't get. We hope we don't get kicked out of our fantasy football league.
10:40AM Scott: "JD Power ranked the iPhone number one for business users. Next up, ESPN."
10:39AM And there goes Oracle.
10:38AM So let's just take stock of the rumors right now. No backgrounding, no multitasking, no unobtrusive notifications. No copy and paste (yet), no MMS, no video. Really pretty minor stuff thus far.
10:37AM "Next up, Oracle." Next up, we take a nap.
10:36AM "Thanks." Applause, and Scott is back. Man they're moving a real speedy pace. So far, nothing really surprising at all.
10:36AM They're showing off a character buying some things in-game. Now they're showing media access. They're playing music off of the device in the game. Kind of cool.
10:34AM This looks pretty good. EA has been hard at work!
10:34AM Travis Boatman from EA. "Hey everybody. We announced Spore a year ago at the original SDK launch. The game we're showing off today is The Sims."
10:33AM Scott's back: "As you can see, that's a perfect candidate for iPhone OS 3.0." "Next, EA."
10:31AM We have a sneaking suspicion we're going to see some serious demo'ing of the push notification service. They're jumping into a chat. Ha! Totally making typing mistakes. Classic iPhone errors. Sire instead of sure. The crowd chuckled.
10:30AM "For the first time, Meebo will have a native iPhone app. Our goal is to let user's communicate with friends regardless of what network they're on."
10:30AM "Let's start with Meebo." We're going to see a demo of the OS 3.0 native version of the app. Seth Sternberg, Meebo CEO is up.
10:29AM "This is a big update for the iPhone SDK. Now, a couple of weeks ago, we called a few devs to see what they could do in two weeks..." Ah, this old gag! Should be interesting.
10:28AM "We're introducing a new API for streaming video and audio. And we're adding an API for in-game voice."
10:28AM "So, push. Preserves battery life, maintains performance, optimized for mobile networks." Well, there goes background apps. So much for those predictions, but not surprising at all. Apple wasn't about to upend their whole architecture.
10:27AM Wait, we've seen this graphic before! He's running through the basic push architecture. Very similar to what we've seen. Let's hope it actually happens now.
10:26AM "Here's how it works. Let's say you have an IM app. While it's running it's connected to your server. But, when you quit the app, you no longer have this connection open. That's where our push service comes into play." Yeah... this sounds so familiar.
10:25AM "We took a 3rd party Push notification system -- battery life only dropped 20% in the background."
10:25AM "We were asked, why don't you do background processing? It's bad for the customer. It drains battery. We've been testing this, and running some background processes on some phones. We took a popular AIM client, and we just let go in the background -- then we measured the standby time. And it dropped by 80% or more."
10:24AM "We expected to have this last year, and we didn't. There's a few reasons for this. Within months of launching the App Store, we had 1000's of apps. And lots of devs came to us and talked about using Push in ways that we hadn't even considered. So we had to re-architect the server structure." "Now, we're good to good."
10:23AM "Next, Push. You know, we're late on this one." Wow.
10:23AM "Now there is one catch -- bring your own maps. Due to licensing, we can't use those tiles in maps." So turn by turn is coming.
10:22AM "Now there is one more thing we're doing with maps. We're enabling developers to use core location for turn by turn directions." Again, finally!
10:21AM "So, Google Maps can be embedded directly into your application."
10:21AM Finally!
10:21AM "Next... maps. We've worked with Google to build an incredible app for the iPhone. But devs have said they'd like to use Maps in their apps. They keep asking us to build something natural, that can wrap our maps into their applications. We're making the heart of the Maps application an API which devs can embed into their applications."
10:19AM "They talk over the dock, and wirelessly over Bluetooth. Things like playing and pausing music, getting artwork -- or you can build your own custom protocols."
10:19AM "Now here's a class that we think will be really interesting -- medical devices." Scott's showing off a blood pressure reader that interfaces with the iPhone -- wild.
10:18AM "Here's an example -- an FM transmitter. With 3.0, the dev can build a custom app that pairs up with it, and automatically finds the right station and tunes it in."
10:18AM "With 3.0, we're going to enable accessory developers to build custom apps that talk directly to that hardware."
10:17AM "Next: accessories. There are thousands of accessories that work great with iPods and iPhones. Here's a popular one, a speaker."
10:17AM He's describing a scenario where you can share a contact in this manner.
10:16AM "We use Bonjour as the tech, and this isn't just for games. We think it's great for games, but this works for any peer to peer app."
10:16AM "With the new APIs, you can bring up a standard system panel which finds other touches or iPhones which are in the same app. You form an IP connection, and you can game together. This will automatically discover running apps, wirelessly over Blutetooth."
10:15AM "Next, support for peer to peer connectivity. This is great for games."
10:15AM "Free apps remain free -- you won't be asked to buy something in that app."
10:14AM "This is for paid apps only."
10:14AM "The model for in-app sales is the same as the rest of the App Store, 70% goes to developers."
10:13AM "This whole thing is tied directly into the iTunes store. When you tap buy, it brings up a standard iTunes authentication panel."
10:13AM "City Guide, you can sell the app, then sell new cities from within the application."
10:13AM Showing off a dialog -- a prompt to purchase an update to mag from within an app. Now a game. "You can purchase a game with 10 levels, then you can tap to update with another 10 levels within the game." Yes, with a nice, intrusive pop up!
10:12AM "But some devs have come to us and talked about other models they'd like to use. Like subscriptions. A place where you could renew that sub in the app. Some game devs have wanted to be able to sell new levels from within an app. There are many examples of that, like e-books. Like a bookstore built into an app. We supporting these new models in what we call In-App Purchase."
10:11AM "Starting with enhancements to the App Store. As you heard, over 800m downloads. It's the best way ever for devs to get their software out. It's also a great business deal. They can give apps away, or they can sell them. 70% of that revenue goes to the devs. And we cover all the fees, and devs are paid monthly."
10:10AM 1000 new APIs.
10:09AM "Let me tell you what we're doing for developers. Our goal was to make devs successful, we gave them the best tools ever. It blew us away what they did. We've spent the last year working hard to make the SDK even better."
10:08AM "I'm here to tell you about iPhone OS 3.0. This is a major update to the OS. It comes with incredible features for devs and customers."
10:08AM "This is something we haven't seen before, and this is just the beginning. We're only 8 months into this. I'd like to bring up Scott Forstall for a preview of OS 3.0"
10:07AM That's a high percentage, but you have to wonder (and we know some) what they've passed on. Plenty of good stuff.
10:07AM Applause for the video. "So clearly the App Store appeals to big and small devs. We've had an explosion of apps. Over 25,000." "We've had a lot of curiosity over the submission process... 96% of apps that have been submitted were approved."
10:05AM Apple is trying to show off how easy it is to get into app development on the platform. And... well, it is.
10:05AM Steve Demeter, creator of Trism. A little video on him.
10:04AM He's propping Gameloft right now -- they love the App Store. Go figure! "They've had over 2m paid downloads for Gameloft."
10:04AM "This has been great for devs. In one year's time we've had over 800,000 downloads of the free SDK. We've had over 50,000 companies and individuals join our dev program. And most of them, over 60%, have never developed for any Apple platform before."
10:03AM "We've sold 17m altogether, you can see how people have accepted the 3G. But the touch also runs the same OS, and if you look at the time period, we've sold over 30m units of iPhones and iPod touch."
10:02AM "Before we shipped our first phone, we set an aggressive goal -- we said we'd sell 10 million phones. And we sold 13.7m. We blew it away."
10:02AM "We're gonna show you some of future plans. Before that, let me remind you of where we're at with the iPhone. We're now in over 80 countries." Applause.
10:01AM "Good morning everyone, welcome to the campus." Greg Joswiak!
10:00AM And the lights are dimming...
9:59AM They started playing the "every day you wake up" ad song... but then quickly killed it in favor of Dave Matthews. Odd. Very odd.
9:55AM "Our presentation will begin shortly, please silence cellphones and pagers." Pagers!? Pagers!?
9:54AM There's definitely a feeling that this event is much quieter, more subdued. Everyone seems to be expecting the same thing -- and that's not surprising.
9:52AM Sweet -- Radiohead. 15 step! Things are getting herky jerky in here!
9:44AM Okay folks -- we're in our seats at long, long, long last. There's a little Coldplay playing in the background (of course), and everyone else is just getting settled. Expect some excitement in a matter of moments.
9:30AM We're currently at the doors, and we probably don't have to tell you that people are champing at the bit to get inside. We'll be knocking down old ladies and tripping unsuspecting humans soon enough, so stay tuned!
9:15AM We're on the ground in Cupertino, waiting outside for the big show to start. Hang tight, we'll be heading to our seats momentarily!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 9)
macfan406 @ Mar 16th 2009 11:54AM
I would love to see some MMS, Tethering, Background Processes, UNLIMITED APP PAGES, Easy App Management, Overhaul of the Springboard (Not that I don't love it, I just think it needs a refresh, Video Recording, and Whatever removes all the gripes from the first iPhone software!
macfan406 @ Mar 16th 2009 12:00PM
sorry about replying to my own comment, but having iChat and some mobile iLife and iWork would be nice. I'd also love to have a Blackberry or Windows Mobile VM (that's RIM's and Microsoft's Job) I'd also like to have some more browser variety. Email client needs work, SMS needs forwarding, Maps needs Turn by Turn GPS, and Apple, if you wanna keep some customers: LIGHTEN UP ON YOUR FREAKING APP STORE RESTRICTIONS!!! SERIOUSLY? NO TURN BY TURN APPS? NO VIRTUAL MACHINES, EVEN IF YOU PROVIDE THE OS? COME ON!!!!
Seriously, Apple
Keep the customers
lighten up.
Then i will think about running straight 3.0
Otherwise, i will wait for the dev-team.
GIVE ME EVERYTHING THAT I JAILBROKE FOR AND I WILL BE HAPPY!
nerdtalker @ Mar 16th 2009 12:52PM
To truly pull this off and give the pre-launch pre a run for its money, apple needs to:
1. Fix the app store : this means giving explicit criteria for what meets and doesn't meet their expectations. Clarity and transparency throughout the whole application and approval process (who approves these things, what do they do, what is tested, for how long, e.t.c.) This also means putting a renewal process in place for the contracts which are _about to expire_, since there is no renewal support infrastructure in place, at all right now.
2. Push : The feature that was promised from day one, fixed, working, and done perfectly. Apple has now had, what, 2 years to figure this out?
3. Multitasking : This is what is keeping a lot of people (including myself) shy of the iPhone. If it can't multitask, is it really even a smartphone in the purest of sense? This same feature lacking is what killed the old Palm OS, and it will begin hurting apple as well. Multitasking fluidity is where your hardware shines, or looks crappy.
4. Copy and Paste : I don't need to say any more. We'll see how true Diggnation dude's rumors and inside sources are on this one. If copy and paste truly is a feature, it's obvious that Jobs influence is already waning.
5. Better Safari, with flash : I love using Safari on the iPhone, but it admittedly does lack refinement when it comes to stability (even though this has improved), and it does need flash desperately. Apple and Palm need to both kick Adobe's ass into gear and get them going on getting that huge slow flash codebase working on ARM.
6. Tethering - I can't ever buy an iPhone because I won't be able to tether, truly. All the tethering software I've seen so far requires some SOCKS proxy and a prayer to work. WM users have had wmwifirouter for just about since the beginning of time, and built in ICS support to boot. That means a fully NAT routed, DHCP-servin, wifi AP looking network, instantly. No proxies, no fuss, just start, connect, online. Until that's out, I'm out.
Things that are less important:
MMS, Video support, App Organization,
VanillaSpice @ Mar 16th 2009 8:50PM
@nerdtalker
1. I think the criticisms of the approval process are overblown. Tens of thousands of apps have made it through without any hassle or problem, and the number that have been rejected is really small. The number that have rejected erroneously is even smaller and Apple have reversed the decision on some of those. It is a process with a real error rate (not including valid rejections) of less than 0.1% which is extremely low.
2. Agreed, 100% - it is really embarrassing for Apple that Push does not work.
3. Multitasking kills battery life, and Apple has enough trouble with battery life on these devices already. It would open up so many abilities and features, though, so when the competitors are released, the iPhone will be a joke without it. I still doubt we will see it in v3.
4. I have never needed copy and paste, and the millions who have bought the iPhone and Touch haven't exactly been vocal about needing it. Gee, it really gets the tech-heads' and blog commenters' blood boiling, though! This is something that has become a mere catch-cry. I would take any other single improvement over copy and paste.
5. I hate Flash on websites, but websites seem to love Flash, so we can't have a proper browser without it, so agreed.
6. Apple does not hate tethering. They could care less. The carriers, though, loathe the idea of no-surcharge tethering. If you want tethering, lobby the carriers, it is not Apple that is stopping it.
Less important - App organisation - hey! Don't say that, that is the one thing I want more than anything! I've now got hundreds of apps and swapping them on and off is a painful, tiresome process, let alone getting them on the page I want them. I am getting the medical condition "iPhone finger" from dragging so many apps to different pages.
Girish @ Mar 17th 2009 1:22AM
1. Multi-threaded tabs on Safari - when returning to previous tab the page should not reload
2. Background apps - VERY VERY necessary
3. In Built messenger - can be taken care of by 3rd party if background apps are supported
4. More stable Safari - No crashes when working with complicated pages like Orkut - classical (not mobile version).
5. Ability to edit docs on google docs atleast - Atleast provide basic text editing.
6. Ability to view long song names on iPod app
7. GPS trail - show a small trail of previous GPS positions on the map so I know where I am coming from, it's very difficult to figure out my current heading on the Googls maps application while driving.
8. GPS direction - figure out some method to show current direction (may be use consecutive locations to do it, or 2 receivers).
9. GPS manual route - Provide a method to manually mark tracks on GPS maps so I can make a track and follow it while driving, or get help from local people on finding out paths.
ARCHA1C @ Mar 17th 2009 10:57AM
I agree on most points, which is why I'm still staying Jailbroken until Apple addresses a lot of the functionality issues (background apps, video recording, MMS).
The only thing that bothers me on a regular basis with the UI is the lack of a landscape keyboard in apps like the Mail client.
The ability to play Flash is near the top of my (and everybody else's) list as well.
cg0def @ Mar 17th 2009 11:10AM
@Girish: good luck on the Safari front. It's not in the desktop version and sure as hell wouldn't be in the mobile one either. It's a great idea and if google can keep tabs as separate processes so can Apple ( at least on the desktop ).
Backlin @ Mar 17th 2009 11:09AM
Unlimited App pages and multitasking would be my two favorite additions.
CraigJ @ Mar 17th 2009 11:31AM
Is this Engadget? Seriously, I'm confused. The entire first post is a rational discussion of features, not an anti-Apple bash fest. No iTroll. More please...
Copy and Paste. One of those things that when you need it, you really need it. such as when someone e-mails you a WEP/WPA key
Disk Usage. I would love to be able to use the iPhone as a disk and have separately available document readers, not just in e-mail.
E-Mail multiple attachments - I'd like to be able to attach multiple documents and photos to an e-mail
Document editing. I have no plans on writing a novel, or even a letter on the iPhone, but the ability to make quick edits and e-mail would be awesome
Powerpoint / Keynote. I'd like to be able to hook up the video cable and give a presentation. I'd pay for iWork on the iPhone, or Apple should include it you you purchase the desktop version.
Multitasking. Maybe. if they can throttle in the CPU usage to not kill the battery this would be nice. Push would meed most of my needs
Push. I would really like to have something like Trillian running in the background. With Push the app wouldn't need to be running.
Support for bluetooth profiles.
That's all I got.
CJ @ Mar 17th 2009 11:49AM
CraigJ
The problem Apple has when it comes to battery life is that they are trying to make the phone rediculously thin, but at the same time have it super-powerful, with a huge(ish) screen, AND 3G, Wi-Fi, and GPS radios/recievers. As a result, instead of trying to improve the hardware, they're blaming the OS and seriously throttling it's functionality.
Honestly, I think most iPhone users wouldn't mind having an extra few millimetres of thickness in order to incorporate a battery that lasts more than a day. Make it like the Macbook Air battery, since we can't remove it anyway.
CraigJ @ Mar 17th 2009 12:01PM
Agreed, to a point.
I have the original iPhone and I routinely get 2+ days on a charge, so I buy the argument that 3G is a battery killer as compared to EDGE.
I have often thought that I would prefer a phone 2 to 3 mm thicker. With Lithium Polymer batteries that extra volume could allow for a battery almost twice the size.
On the other hand, this is software update, so all this is moot.
CJ @ Mar 17th 2009 12:20PM
Even a software update has the ability to improve the battery life.
My N95 had an abysmal battery when I first bought it (often It would run out before I could finish my day and get to a charger), when version 12.x came out, the battery life improved signifigantly Nokia, I believe, changed the power-save settings to make better use of the screen save and radio functions
And then when version 20.x came out, it improved even more, to the point that I was getting almost double the battery life of the original. And to be fair, you hit the nail on the head when you said they should throttle the CPU. The N95 had a decently powerful one when it came out, and it was powerful enough to run most tasks with power to spare, even when multitasking. So the 20.x update re-mapped the CPU usage so that if a percentage of the CPU's power was not being used, it turned down the clock speed that percentage (or so I'm led to believe). Like I said, I saw probably about a 70% increase in battery life over version 11.x
I'm sure Apple can do this, and it would be great if they could.
sk8ordie @ Mar 17th 2009 12:47PM
"We'll be knocking down old ladies and tripping unsuspecting humans soon enough, so stay tuned!" -Engadget
Just like what happened to that one Walmart store? The one where the employee got stumbled upon on Black Friday?
Oskin @ Mar 17th 2009 12:58PM
I seriously don't see how multitasking would be usefull to me... The only app i would love to see running in the background would be facebook or a IM app and that would work just fine if push would be implemented so that would be on top of my list! Am I the only one who doesnt really want to run 2 apps at a time?
Copy paste would be nice but again I don't see when or where I would use it... I would love to be able to edit doc or xls then copy paste would be useful.
I don't care for flash really but since I can't see some of the pages I read every day cuz the menu is in flash i'd love any kind of support even if it doesnt work all that well.
What about a way to organize the pictures in the camera roll thats been killing me, some more camera options would be nice too.
GPS with voice turn by turn directions....
Some sort of Exposé or Spaces to be able to change from one app page to the other.. or at least make it so when i'm at the first page, I can swipe my finger from left to right to see the last page.
lordcookies @ Mar 17th 2009 1:52PM
Did anyone notice that the massive SDK image included Text Selection as one of its new APIs? That probably means that Copy and Paste is coming.
Michael @ Mar 17th 2009 4:14PM
I'll say this once, clearly:
Engadget, PLEASE PAY RYAN BLOCK WHATEVER HE WANTS AND GET HIM BACK.
These live blogs are excruciating with the ultra-snide commentary - at least Ryan could be funny when he'd do that. I don't need to know that if I was one of the 5 people with jailbroken iPhones I would have a search feature with a subset of Spotlight. It's just juvenile.
Setnev @ Mar 23rd 2009 2:07AM
I think that it hilarious that Apple decided to opt out Background Application and the reason they gave is poor battery performance. I mean seriously, if background apps take up so much battery life, i wonder what kind of battery life i would get from my G1 without multitasking enabled. As it sits right now with the new RC33 update for the G1, i get the same battery life with multitasking as the iPhone does without.
Jimmy @ Mar 16th 2009 11:54AM
Damn! Am I a loser for been excited?
Icello @ Mar 17th 2009 11:50AM
No! My top list:
1. Really good multitasking. I know that apple doesn't want to
do it bcause of the horribleness in WinMo, but look at Palm!
2. Camera: I want Video, zoom and effects.
3. Attach more then one pic to emails. And save attachments, like if I get an MP3 I want to b able to push a button and save it.
4. Better Safari. Flash, etc.
5. Real Bluetooth, come on, I want to be able to connect to my Macbook(yes, one if your products, apple)with my phone.
6. Copy and paste... I don't think this is that important, I jailbroke my phone mainly so I could, but haven't used it since.
7. MMS, mobile iWork, and put the .com button in all the keyboards everywhere.
Tethering would be killer, but theyle never do it. At least without having to pay AT&T more everymonth.
Sentax @ Mar 17th 2009 12:20PM
I don't think that it's that Apple doesn't want to do background apps, I think its a limitation in the hardware. I have jailbroke my phone and have the app Mem Tool 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.
So, yah, I believe its a hardware limitation and Apple will never include it in these iPhones, only way to get it is jailbreak and get the "Backgrounder" app and then enjoy maybe 2 apps open at once, or wait for the next hardware update from iPhone, which will cost you another 2 years from AT&T and probably another 200 bucks... so get the Pre if you so want all the features. My opinion!
Oh, and it's funny that most of the features that people are begging for on the iPhone have been standard on Windows Mobile phones for years..
Justin @ Mar 16th 2009 12:18PM
Flash!
Rodney Mayhew @ Mar 16th 2009 12:14PM
Lucky here in Australia we are ahead of the USA :)
evilgummyworm @ Mar 17th 2009 2:45PM
wow ass hole
pdjacques @ Mar 16th 2009 12:12PM
iphone, iphone, everyone loves the iphone!
scottadiener1972 @ Mar 16th 2009 12:14PM
You know what, Im not exciting anymore.
I have heard alot of people and experts say that with a new os comes a new iphone
So i dont think 3g users will be getting a 3.0 update
I think we are stuck with what we have
3.0 will come with a new iphone all together like iphone 4g
Kind of bummed now.
Ian @ Mar 16th 2009 12:42PM
So, it would be the 3G(eneration) 4G iPhone?
3G STANDS FOR THE SERVCE, PEOPLE. NOT THE GENERATION.
Ross @ Mar 16th 2009 8:49PM
@Ian
I'm glad somebody has relised this.
@Scott
iPhone users will get the update for free, but if there's also an update for the iPod Touch then yes, they will most likely have to pay for it like the 1st gen Touch users had to do to get their hands on OS 2.0 (which was $15), but that was cause it included the app store, so whether they have to pay for it will be depending on the features I suppose. If iPhone users do have to pay for it, I'm just going to Jailbreak my phone (don't make fun, I keep hoping for a breakthrough OS, which will hopefully be 3.0).
Backlin @ Mar 17th 2009 11:14AM
Apple is committed to upgrading the iPhone with software. All iPhone users will get 3.0 for free, like mentioned above. If there are any major hardware revisions, Apple will release firmware for the different models (like the iPod Touch first generation and second generation, the second generation has added features, so there are separate firmwares).
FireFish @ Mar 16th 2009 1:48PM
I really hope that us iPhone Developers on their Dev Team get early Betas of this soon.
I want hands on. Anything else is just a tease.
Gabriel @ Mar 16th 2009 1:42PM
When iPhone 3G was on market even the old iPhone could use the new firmware version so don`t whine like a kitten in the water if you are not open minded.
Christophe @ Mar 16th 2009 1:20PM
Here's what you're going to get tomorrow:
========
Play by play:
========
1. Intro by iPhone Dev. Scott Forstall
2. Talks about how well the iPhone is selling, gives figures
3. Talks about how well the App store is doing, gives figures
4. Talks about how many developers are still developing new apps today
5. Success stories here and there
6. Talks about how Games are selling extremely well and that iPhone/iPod Touch are a new gaming platform
6a. Talks about how App Store will begin to be reorganized to reflect the more than 20,000+ apps, etc.
7. Now he talks about how Apple was already working on iPhone 3.0 whilst finishing iPhone 2.0 software update
8. What was missing: Old Checklist accomplished, New Checklist grew
9. Mentions iPhone as becoming more and more the central device for the needs of most users (hint, laptop replacement in most cases)
10. Checklist:
- Multitask (explains Push Notification saga abit, but then quickly backtracks and segues into the new Springboard, similar to Palm Pre's 'card system', also, search from the Springboard)
- Filesystem for saving files locally (yay!)
- Better Mail tools (Unified inbox, multiple signatures, and SEARCH)
- Support for web apps to run as local apps
- Better SMS management, forwarding
^^ Big thing here is that there is some kind of new icon that will simply let you see diverse info at once, like on a Blackberry. Think of it as a new inbox of sorts, where you'll have calendar, sms, email, etc. all appear in one centralized location
- Tethering (although they're not yet discussing a specific date, just a time frame as in this Summer '09 just b/c AT&T still needs to work out the kinks with their 3G network)
- On more thing....Copy and Paste
11. More things to come, so stay tuned schpiel at the end
12. Questions with journalists (Refuse to answer anything about Steve Jobs' health or the new iPhone update in June)
No Flash (Adobe and Apple are no where near a final solution. Still a work in progress).
No MMS (Steve refuses to budge on MMS only because he wants people to email each other the pics, hence use a smartphone like the iPhone).
That's all folks!
macfan406 @ Mar 16th 2009 2:52PM
where did you get this from? NAME YOUR SOURCE!!
TheGodfail @ Mar 17th 2009 1:14PM
Hmm, so far you're not doing so well. Good guesses, though I'd argue that tethering has nothing to do with "kinks" in a 3G network and is completely due to "how much can we sell this for?".
derX @ Mar 17th 2009 3:00PM
Wow, your overall accuracy was...wow.
Then again, Apple is formulaic, but still, wow.
Swimatm @ Mar 16th 2009 1:29PM
Should be cool! Although, if we could see it live on the Internet, that'd be awesome. Sigh...
CJ @ Mar 17th 2009 11:52AM
The Internet is a bag of hurt
Swimatm @ Mar 16th 2009 1:38PM
Also, about Flash, I'm fine either way. Flash is often used for super annoying ads. And, any website that is totally flash based (with a few exceptions, like baybridge360.org) should really just be redesigned because too much flash is stupid. Some is fine, but when it is required for a website to load properly, (like Disney.com), it's ridiculous.
Veraxus @ Mar 17th 2009 12:08PM
As a professional web developer, I approve this post. I use Flash for one thing and one thing only... video. And even then I use it as sparingly as possible.
scottadiener1972 @ Mar 16th 2009 2:06PM
Okay what i meant was
that i have read that 3.0 software will come out with a new hardware version in june or july
MEANING that we that have the current iphone wont see an update
CurtisKennington @ Mar 16th 2009 2:30PM
iPhone 2.0 came out when the iPhone 3G came out.
iPhone 2G still got the update. Im guessing this will be the case with 3.0. Well im hoping anyway.
Don Corleone @ Mar 16th 2009 2:51PM
Fix the gd iPhone already:
1) copy & paste
2) MMS
3) Video recording
4) Flash
5) speakerphone volume
It's been over a year with this thing, and at first I was, like, OMGBBQ!!!
Now I'm "Fix the gd iPhone already!!!!!!!"
Jesse @ Mar 16th 2009 7:06PM
Umm.. the person who posted way above.
There is speakerphone volume control... idk what your talking about lol?
CJ @ Mar 17th 2009 12:31PM
Jesse:
I assume by 'Speakerphone Volume' he means that the top volume at the moment emanating FROM the speakerphone is very low. Which more-or-less defeats the purpose of a speakerphone.
And I have to agree, the iPhone speakers are dysmal in comparison to say, the Omnia, or the N95/85/96
Kevin Gass @ Mar 17th 2009 12:40PM
I agree, my biggest quarl with the iphone hardware is the low speakerphone. Its fine when there is no other sound in the room, but anything else makes me go reaching for my headphones. A guy i work with always likes to show off his new phone of the week at work, and they are usually '"dumb"-phones, but they always beat my iPhone 3g when it comes to the loudspeaker.
easy1355 @ Mar 18th 2009 3:33AM
Your right.... FLASH, that's what we were waiting for, not stupid stuff.... NOPE, I will be waiting for the N97... Apple are idiots.
Matthew.L.Kowal @ Mar 18th 2009 2:36PM
As the iPhone stands now
Pre > iPhone
Hopefully apple busts out a massive "one more thing" to put the pre in its place.
gabe @ Mar 16th 2009 3:39PM
apple sux apple sux
dammit apple ur going to take away installous and my jailbreak arent u/?!?!???????????????/
Backlin @ Mar 17th 2009 11:17AM
Nobody says you HAVE to upgrade...
Jacob Shucart @ Mar 16th 2009 5:37PM
Background processes...
Chad @ Mar 16th 2009 6:41PM
I would like to know what folks mean by background processes, with an example. Today we have this ability with the iPod app to play music while we are in other apps, and also with the Phone app. I can stay on phone calls and hop to Mail or Notes and type along at the same time. These are very handy, but curious how other apps could use this or what you would like to see.
scottadiener1972 - The 2.0 update was supported on the iPhone 1G and 3G, not sure why you don't think 3.0 will work on iPhone 1G and 3G. It will.
macfan406 - heard of XRoad? turn by turn app available. don't think it requires jailbreak, not 100%
1) copy and paste
2) tethering
3) Flash
4) Silence the phone when in meetings based on Calendar data
5) faster speeds beyond 3.6Mbps in the 3G implmentation of the iPhone 3G. Currently only supports up to this speed, newer phones support up to 7.2 Mbps. Might need a new 3G chip though.
6) A2DP - come on Apple, I can manage my battery.
7) ActiveSync improvements
a) turn off AS sync during off-hours to save some battery when I configure via schedule and not Push
b) filter ability in Mail. Type something in Mail, and the list of items is filter to what matches. make things easier to find
c) better calendar features - integrate more with AS
8) arrow keys for the keyboard. the magnifying glass is too hard to put the cursor where I want it, especially in Safari
All I can think of off the top of my head. I am sure there are others.