Hmmm – there’s strangely little information about this new update so far, and I know this isn’t really a blog about the world’s most hyped pocket MP3 playing web browser (with built in and ok-ish phone) but it’s hot news, so what the heck?
What do we get?
Here’s the official list according to Apple when the download started.
iPhone Software
Version 1.1.3
This version of the software includes additional new features, bug fixes and supersedes all previous versions.
New features include:
• New Maps application
– Find location
– Improved UI
• Send SMS text messages to multiple recipients
• Customize Home Screen
– Rearrange icons
– Add Safari bookmarks to the Home Screen
– Create up to 9 Home Screen pages
• IMAP support for Gmail
• Support for iTunes Store movie rentals
• Enhanced Video Player
– Chapters
– Subtitles
– Alternate language tracks
• Lyrics support in iPod
The SMS fix was badly needed, but the most interesting, to me, is the Map Find Location gee-gaw. How this works, I’m fascinated to learn. I’m going to play and add more to this post once it’s installed (as long as my phone isn’t bricked… eep!).
So – here we go, I’ve got images showing the new bits…
So here we go – the install’s in, and that’s the first thing we see – an instruction about home screens. Neat – multiple home screens, allowing you to get nicely organised. Or disorganised, depending on your nature.
Not much changed, but the iTunes link has moved from the right to the left. Presumably because of the facility to do your own icons and move them around.
They’re blurry because they’re jiggling around. As you can see, I’ve moved the Calendar icon down to the bottom left, just for illustration.
The Map application locator uses triangulation to work out where you are. At one point it thought I was at the green pin. That was when I tried to use the directions option and said “from current location” to our office in Liverpool. But the big blue ring is massive – that’s about two miles wide, at a guess, or about three kilometers or so. Next time I tried it, it got closer, but was still out by half a mile. The green pin is approximately one kilometre from where I actually live.
Click on the eye and you get various options. Show Traffic showed nothing. I’ll be interested to see if this works in Europe. You can drop pins, and you can easily see the different types of map.
The routing isn’t great at finding where you’re starting, but it works nicely.
Now to Safari – nothing much to see here except I’m sure that the search icon wasn’t there before. But I’m not 100% certain – anyone care to double check and comment?
Now here’s an interesting thing. Mailing links is handy, I guess, but being able to add something to your home screen is very handy indeed – especially if you’re into the various mobile (and in particular iPhone) oriented web apps that people are developing.
And as you can see – there’s a link to our company website – Interconnect IT.
You can sleep your iPhone on the timer now. Not sure how useful it is, and a part of me is thinking “was that there before?”
And last, but one of the most important for us text mad Europeans… the ability to text more than one person at a time! Finally! Thank God Apple actually listen. As you can see, the process is easy, and you can tap that plus sign as often as you like for more entries.
And that concludes my epic day – I’ve blogged three times on this site today, a personal record. And not only that, but achieved most of my work related to-do list in spite of phone calls aplenty. Something’s wrong. Did I o/d on vitamin pills or something?
A Liverpool Web Designer 