Early word from TiPb commenters and the Twitter show some new iPhone 3.1 features found already:
Non-destructive video editing means trimming a clip no longer saves over the original video but gives you the option to “Save as copy…”
Voice Control now works over Bluetooth
iPhone vibrates when moving icons
Updated AT&T profile to 4.2
Updated modem firmware to 5.08.01
Behind the scenes changes abound as well:
Improvements to OpenGL and Quartz.
APIs to allow third party apps to access videos and edit them.
Update: Yes, MMS buttons appear to be back for AT&T users, but as with early iphone 3.0 Betas, they’re non-functional on standard devices. Whether they survive to the official release this time (they were removed in 3.0 Beta 5), who knows?
Throwing any last remnants of fragile self-consciousness to the four winds, I break out my subpar French and very rusty Italian and Mandarin Chinese (Aiya!) and see if, even under the onslaught of terrible accents, Apple’s new iPhone 3G S Voice Control can still do as it’s told.
Note: the accent appears to be key. If you say a command in French, you can’t pronounce the following name English-style and expect good results (though Chinese seemed much more English name tolerant). However, I tried some (poorly rendered) regional accents at the very end and that didn’t seem to be a problem.
If you’re multilingual, or have a colorful twang to your speech, give it a try and let us know how Voice Control works for you!
Ars Technica has heard from those ever-enigmatic “sources familiar with” that there might just be more going on behind the rumored new Voice Control feature in iPhone 3.0 than we’ve seenso far:
Jibbler appears be an enhancement to the iPhone SpringBoard application, the Finder-esque app that acts as a launcher and will support the newly announced 3.0 Spotlight search. Jibbler may be controlled via the iPhone headset—button squeezes could be used to record short voice segments from the user, which Jibbler will then interpret. Voice synthesis can then be used to give the user a response, similar to the latest generation iPod shuffle, which can “read” playlists and track names—the difference being that the iPhone hardware itself could handle real-time voice synthesis.
Okay, so the code-name is worthy of a Microsoft de-branding exercise, but the technology is intriguing. Apple certainly has taken steps towards voice implementation with the latest iPod shuffle’s VoiceOver and recent headsets have raised the bar (perhaps too much) on control clicks.
Many users have asked for simple voice dialing. Is Apple providing that and, in typical fashion, wondrously more with “Jibbler”, or is it a case of breaking a simple function by stretching it too far?
When it rains, it pours, and when it’s pouring, and leaking, that makes a flood. No sooner did some video-recording iPhone 3.0screen shot confirmation get posted, than BGR whipped out a slew of their own.
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?
