Apple has once again iterated on the iPhone 3.0 beta, with version 3 now available for registered developers to download via http://developer.apple.com/iphone/.
iPhone SDK 3.0 beta 3 and iPhone OS 3.0 beta 3 are now posted to the iPhone Dev Center. These versions are for development and testing only and should be installed on devices dedicated to iPhone OS 3.0 beta software development. Please read the iPhone OS Pre-Install Advisory and the iPhone SDK 3.0 beta 3 release notes before downloading and installing.
As a reminder, you can now test your applications that will use the Apple Push Notification service. Team Agents can log in to the iPhone Developer Program Portal and proceed to the App ID section to create the components necessary to begin testing applications using the Apple Push Notification service.
The Beta 1 was widely showcased at Apple’s iPhone 3.0 Sneak Peek Event, and Beta 2 was almost as widely deconstructed by code divers to find new hardware version codes, video support, voice command, and a host of other unannounced features. What will Beta 3 hold? Stay tuned!
Reminder: iPhone 3.0 is a real Beta intended for developers and testers, not for daily use on a primary phone. If you don’t need the beta, don’t install the beta, and for Jobsake don’t buy it off of eBay. Yikes!
The Wall Street Journal reports that while Steve Jobs remains home on leave of absence, with chief operating officer Tim Cook managing the day to day business, Jobs is still keeping active tabs on the greater strategic vision, including iPhone 3.0:
He regularly reviews products and product plans, and was particularly involved in the user interface of the new iPhone operating system that Apple unveiled last month, these people say.
While Jobs is expected back at Apple in June, it’s unknown if it will be in time for the big next generation keynote, and whether or not he and Apple will decide it’s in either of their best interests to put him on up stage and under the spotlight so soon upon his return (especially considering how stock manipulators and blogeratti both have reacted to his health and appearance in the past.)
Of course, that won’t stop many of us, myself included, from creating elaborate, heroic return fantasies for Jobs, live on the WWDC stage, iPhone HD pulled casually from his jean pocket and held up with a trademark “boom!”
[via MacRumors]
MacRumors has scored the scoop, showcasing what looks to be actual screen-shot caliber evidence of video recording in iPhone 3.0, and other information showing digital compass technology and voice control coming as well.
Most of these rumors have been around for a while, especially the camera and video recording bumps. A digital compass, like the Android G1 uses to automatically rotate Google Street View when you physically turn the device around, would likely require the next gen iPhone hardware pretty much everyone expects to see come WWDC in June anway. Voice control, especially voice dialing, would be another box checked off the old “missing features” straw-man we — and everyone else — likes to batter about.
With lots of exciting new features still being “discovered”, what other goodies will 3.0 code diving reveal?
Confession: I haven’t listened to FM radio since… well, since I got my iPhone, but it seems FM isn’t just for Top 40 any more. 9 to 5 Mac, which found more details on the previously mentioned Broadcom BCM4329 wireless chip, which could include:
the ability to receive and send (the previous model could only receive) information through FM radio signals which theoretically could be used to broadcast sound into car stereos..without external adapters. It could also be used to pick up FM radio music, news and sports broadcasts on their iPhones and even, in August, on iPods. Currently the FM reciever is only used to pick up communications from the Nike+ peripheral.
Of course, just because the chip supports it, doesn’t mean Apple will surface that support, or use it for anything other than what it already does (like Nike+).
But here’s the thing: are the rumors flying just a little too fast and too far now? Are we really going to get everything and a bag of quad-core chips in the next iPhone hardware release, or are we — as per standard internet protocols — just hyping ourselves up for massive disappointment come June?
[via MacRumors]
When iPhone 3.0 Beta 1 was released, we saw what looked to be an errant video upload screen. Next it was the apparent ability to receive video MMS. Now more deep diving into the 3.0 beta has turned up resource files that show not only may the next generation iPhone allow not only video recording, but perhaps video editing, including trimming as well. This might be similar to the already surfaced Voice Memo app’s ability to trim audio recordings on device.
Would make a nice addition to that rumored 3.5 or 5 megapixel camera, enhanced CPU and GPU, and fast cell and WiFi networking, wouldn’t it?
[BenM.at via TUAW]
BGR, prompted by a forum post on MacRumors, has tested out some iPhone 3.0 functionality and…:
We’re happy to report that you can receive and play videos over MMS just fine
Sure to be a hit with the MMS lovers, though also likely to once again inflame the “no-video-recording-on-iPhone” frustraterati!
[Thanks to Gabriel for the tip!]
TheLoopBlog has posted, MacRumors confirmed, and we’ve been able to verify as well that as of yesterday’s iPhone 3.0 Beta 2, Apple has enabled 11 Home Screen pages for app storage, up from the previous 9. This raises the total number of apps available on the iPhone at once to 180 (up from 148).
So, is this an improvement in that we get more overall pages of apps for storage, or is this just more wear and tear on our already exhausted swiping fingers? Is more better, thanks Apple very much! Will Spotlight be the new swipe anyway? Or do they have to start considering different ways of letting us organize our apps as well?
UPDATED: According to the screenshot we just received, looks like Apple has, for the first time, re-jiggered the order of Apps on the Home Screen (previously they just added iTunes and then App Store). Now Voice Memo takes Clocks spot, Notes switches with Calculator, Clock goes where Notes was, and Calculator bumps Settings to the bottom row along with iTunes and App Store, which move left a slot to make room. Not sure about this new arrangement, what do you think?
Also, there’s apparently a new Settings panel for Store, although it sounds like it’s blank right now.
ORIGINAL: Sneaking in just before the end of March, Apple has released iPhone OS 3.0 Beta 2, both SDK and firmware to developers. If you’re spinning apps for this summer’s big release, head on over to developer.apple.com and get your download on.
TiPB has already done a fairly extensive iPhone 3.0 walkthrough of the front-facing elements of Beta 1, but we’ll have to wait for the usual deep-code divers out on the internet to let us know if there’s anything new surfaced in Beta 2.
Looks like another desktop Safari 4 Beta feature has found its way into the iPhone 3.0 version of the browser. Now, when you go to a site with an enhanced security certificate, the text on top of the browser turns green (like the green bar, we get it!), with little green lock icon beside it, and the name of the certificate’s trusted organization. For example, the above screenshots show how Apple’s order status page looks on iPhone 2.2.1 (top right) and iPhone 3.0.
What does this mean for users? In an age of increased phishing attacks, where bad sites try to trick you into thinking they’re your bank or shop and steak your login or credit card info, this is one more visual cue in your assessment process for determining if you can trust that the website is what it says it is.
Come iPhone 3.0, look for the green text on top of Safari and carefully check to make sure the company it identifies is the one you want to be dealing with.
We mentioned yesterday that iPhone OS 3.0’s Mobile Safari Browser was being reported as faster than the current iPhone OS 2.2.1 version. Now Ars Technica has run the numbers and the results are pretty impressive. Check out their full report for all the details, but this sums it up nicely:
According to our sources, the 3.0 beta still has some stability and speed issues, so that makes these results that much more impressive. While the overall average gives the iPhone 3.0 beta a 300 percent speed advantage, some of the individual tests show 6x, 8x, or even 11x improvements—the bitwise “AND” function even runs 16x faster than in the current version of Mobile Safari.
Should make the release version of the new, Nitro-powered Mobile Safari 3.0 fairly impressive, come summer! Bring on them multi-app Facebook pages, the iPhone will be ready! (Joking… a bit.)
