Articles by Dieter Bohn
As we reported earlier today (before the Apple event, even), the iPhone 3.0 update will allow real, turn-by-turn directions on the iPhone. It looks like Apple isn’t bothering with enmeshing themselves in the confusing licensing issues surrounding turn-by-turn and is instead simply lifting the SDK Ban on turn-by-turn directions. The first app may very well come from Sygic (that’s what they’re claiming, anyway), which we had the chance get some eyes-on time with during Mobile World Congress.
Apple is simply allowing 3rd party apps to extend their access to CoreLocation (the iPhone’s built-in location service that includes GPS, cell tower-based, and WiFi-based location) to include turn-by-turn. Of note: Apple says that developers need to “BYOM” (Bring Your Own Maps). What that implies is that the licensing issues referenced above prevents Apple from allowing developers to use another new iPhone 3.0 feature: embeddable maps. iPhone 3.0 allows (almost) any app to include embedded Google maps, complete with pinch, zoom, and the like, within the app itself. Using that embedded map for turn by turn directions, however, is verboten. Instead developers will either have to require a large download of maps and/or provide them over-the-air as TeleNav does.
It’s also possible that developers will be able to use the new in-app purchasing feature of iPhone 3.0 to allows users to purchase maps as well. It’s unclear who else besides Sygic is getting a turn-by-turn directions app ready, but you can probably rest assured we’ll see such apps from the big players in short order once 3.0 is released this summer.
There were plenty of things we were hoping for with iPhone 3.0, but that list definitely included improved support for the many things we can do with Bluetooth. The list was as long as the feature list for Bluetooth itself and though Apple didn’t get everything, they certainly got a lot. Here’s the list of what you can (and can’t) do with Bluetooth on iPhone 3.0:
- A2DP Stereo Bluetooth. Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. And come this summer, your bluetooth stereo headphones and speakers will work with the iPhone 3G. Note, it will not work on the original iPhone 2G.
- Peer to Peer. This is a big one, folks, but it’s a little strange. You can share files and talk to other apps over Bluetooth. This means you’ll be able to do multiplayer games, for example, or ‘beam’ your contact card from one iPhone to another. Or heck, play a trombone duet. No pairing is required, either. Discovery of other iPhones happens with Apple’s Bonjour ZeroConf autodiscovery protocols
- Control Accessories. In addition to the dock accessory control, you can now control Bluetooth accessories from within an app. The example from the event was a glucose meter, but the possibilities are honestly endless.
- Tops on my Bluetooth list: Bluetooth keyboard support. Technically, you will be able to do with with iPhone 3.0. The weird issue there, however, is that this keyboard support would have to happen on an app-by-app basis instead of happening device-wide. That, friends, is a bit of a bummer.
Biggest Bluetooth surprise of the event: confirmation that the 2nd Generation iPod Touch DOES have Bluetooth and they can ‘unlock’ it to reveal Bluetooth features.
The rumors had said that the iPhone would pick up some features that had been touted for the Pre. One feature of the Pre: Universal Search. The iPhone does the Pre one better with their Spotlight search — it not only searches contacts and apps, but will also search within other key applications like Mail and SMS.
Spotlight on the iPhone works thusly: it becomes your new left-most home screen. When you get there, you can just start typing to bring up a list of everything that matches your search. The list will include data from:
- Contacts
- Calendar
- Email (To, From, Subject)
- iPod
- Notes
- Messaging (SMS / MMS)
- Apps (name of App)
The search results get listed in a big, touchable list and each result will have the icon for the app it’s from set to the left of the result.
Ladies and Gentlemen: this is the single most important new feature of iPhone 3.0 for me and how I use phones. The ability to ‘just start typing’ in order to find what I want to get done is my killer app. How about you?
Whew! The feature announcements in the iPhone 3.0 event came fast and furious. One of the most-wanted features, MMS, will be supported when 3.0 is released to consumer this summer. That’s the good news. The bad news: Apple claims that the radio on the original iPhone 2G can’t support MMS, so that feature will not make it to 1st gen iPhones.
MMS on the iPhone 3G looks to be almost full-featured. You will be able to send and receive photos, audio, vCard (contact cards), and ‘location.’ One thing that won’t be supported on MMS: Video. The iPhone 3G still can’t record video and therefore, one assumes, receiving video MMS will be difficult.
Still – it’s lovely to see the iPhone finally support a feature that’s common not only on other smartphones, but on nearly every feature phone made. iPhone 3.0 can’t come soon enough!
iTunes 8.1 brought us some snazzy improvements to Party Shuffle iTunes DJ and the iPhone’s Remote app. That wasn’t the only iPhone-related improvement, however, as Ars Techica notes, there’s a new feature that used to be reserved for the iPod Shuffle that you can now use for the iPhone: Autofill.
Autofill essentially lets you just fill up the empty space on your iPhone with some randomly chosen music (you can choose to leave some space open for installing apps and the like later on). As somebody who’s not really into constantly creating playlists and managing albums, it’s a nice option. A nice option that’s squirreled away in a pretty difficult to find place.
After the break, we walk you through the steps (courtesy of the Ars Article) screenshot-by-screenshot. Read the rest of this entry »
Welcome to Around SPE, where we highlight the big news of the week from around the network in a format that’s more than just a list-o-bullets. This week we’re putting the spotlight on Android Central, which saw a fairly hefty redesign on Wednesday night. Search, registration, commenting, navigation, the whole shootin’ match is all much improved.
We’re also proud to announce that Android Central made a donation to Olin College to help students there develop mobile applications (with a special focus on Android, naturally). You can find out more information about the class here, or better yet — go check out the applications already in development this early in the semester!
In Android news, we caught word that Amazon was selling the Black G1 for a measly $97.99. Then it got even better with Costco offering the G1 for $79.99, a whole $100 off! Why the discounts? Recession? Pressure from the HTC Magic? Finally, the long awaited Cupcake update is supposed to come to Android by April. Paid apps came to the UK Android Market. And we wondered whether the T-Mobile G2 (aka HTC Magic) was going to show up at CTIA.
Now for the roundup of the week’s news from our other SPE sites!
Apple Store goes down, Apple Store comes up with just what we expected: a new revision of the iPod Shuffle. It’s got 4 gigs of storage, comes in silver and black, and an all new feature: VoiceOver.
The new Shuffle is half the size of the previous — a feat achieved by removing nearly all of the controls off the device itself and onto the headphone cable. Only the Off/Repeat/Shuffle switch stays on device. In other words — don’t plan on using your own headphones with the Shuffle. While that’s a bit of a downer, the upside is that the headphone controls are very thoughtfully laid-out and easy to hit without looking.
VoiceOver and how the controls work — after the break!
This week CrackBerry.com broke the first real photos of the BlackBerry “Niagara” 9630, WMExperts brought you hands on details of Internet Explorer Mobile 6, Android Central brought you a walkthough of buying apps in the Android App Market, and PreCentral.net wondered whether Palm would survive long enough to release the Pre. Plenty more happened this week in the smartphone world, naturally, so the thing to do is continue reading to find out what you may have missed this week around the Smartphone Experts network.
Last night’s iPhone Live! was pretty darn good — so good, in fact, that it created a cross-border, pan-dimensional bug that kept us from recording the first 20 minutes properly. We recapped it a bit, but those who it hit it up live got a special treat. Rest assured, though, we have more than enough to talk about with the new Kindle iPhone App, what it means for Apple, Amazon, and when it might go international – so if you missed iPhone Live!, go ahead and check out this here podcast.
Yes, folks, I was one of the suckers eager buyers of the 2nd edition of the Kindle. My pain is your pleasure, though, as you can get some early screenshots of the app already loaded up with books via Whispersync.
As you may have just read in our previous post, Amazon has just released Kindle for iPhone for free in the App Store (iTunes link), you cannot buy Kindle books directly from the app. Instead you can purchase inside Mobile Safari, from your desktop, or from a Kindle
The text is nice and readable (and you can resize as well). The app keeps a “page metaphor,” meaning that instead of being able to scroll up and down, you swipe left and right to switch pages. A single tap on the screen bring up a menu to give you back, bookmark, text-size, and a sync button to sync your last page read with a Kindle.
The Whispersync tech works exactly as advertised — books purchased show up as “Archived” and you can then download them directly to your iPhone.
Head on in after the break for your screenshots! Read the rest of this entry »
