iPhone OS 3.0 preview ad on the Apple Website

On Sunday, the day before I went to Captiva Island in Florida, I  found the 3.0 software. Yes, before release. I’m gonna make a few review-ish comments about some features.

First big 3.0 thing I noticed was when I was in the Fort Meyers airport. I connected to the network, and a Log In screen came down from nowhere, and gave me a small survey. I pretty much forgot to take a screenshot, which I find silly that I wouldn’t screenshot that.

Second big thing was that when there were no headphones connected, my iPod said “Dock Connector” over every volume controller. Note that I have a 1st generation iPod touch so it does not have a speaker built in. I couldn’t change the volume, though, without headphones plugged in. It’s not really a feature, more a ease-of-use thing.

Radio in QuickTime

My next noticeable change was the horizontal ability of Notes, Mail, and such apps. It’s much easier to type in these apps now, even though I already type pretty fast on my iPod already. This is probably my least used feature of 3.0, as I can make do with the regular keyboard on the iPod, as well as iPhone.

The following has to be my favorite feature: radio in QuickTime. I can now click on any audio stream in Safari and have it play back. The reason why this feature is the best is because you can close Safari and the radio will continue to play! Now you can use other applications while listening to your favorite internet radio station. This probably will be the most under appreciated feature because most people think apps quit when you press the Home button. Not Safari.

The only drawbacks I suffered were caused by an app and it’s incompatibility with the 3.0 software. In Rooms, an iPhone IRC client, I usually use the channel switcher (double tap on the screen or select “Channel switcher” from the menu) to switch between channels. This was where things went wrong. My screen, in every single app, got all funky. Here are two screenshots of what it looked like:

Pretty weird, hmm? I got over it by sliding my finger across channels.

Now, lets get back to positives. The spotlight search is a good feature. In fact, it’s great. If you can’t find something, you can search for it. Thankfully, this includes apps, contacts, emails, and even music. It’s really neat when you don’t know where your stuff is.

When Tap Tap was the only push notification app...

My second to last feature: the new YouTube stuff. Now you can view your YouTube accounts subscriptions, favorites, and videos right on the spot instead of browsing the YouTube Mobile site. This is a great feature that has made everyone happy!

Of course, we couldn’t forget, I had push notifications the whole time. Yes, it was only one app, but it eventually went to two (Tap Tap Revenge and AP News). It didn’t really do much, those notifications, because I was disconnected from WiFi most of the time, sadly. But, in later weeks, I have like seeing these push notifications, letting me know stuff was happening.

Well, now that I can’t think of anything else, I’m just gonna put down a gallery for you to see some pics of these features in action. Happy 3.0-ing!

Subscriptions in the new YouTube app

Rooms bugging up my iPod (2)

Radio in QuickTime

Spotlight function on the Home Screen

When Tap Tap was the only push notification app…

“Dock Connector” replacing the volume control on the iPod controls

Rooms bugging up my iPod (1)

Landscape Mail application