iPhone OS 3.0 - Everything, and the kitchen sink!

Posted by Mattias Sandström on June 17, 2009

It is finally here - Apple’s iPhone OS 3.0 and more than 40 million devices world-wide will rush to iTunes and update to the much anticipated release of the operating system for the iPod Touches and iPhones.

As always, it is amazing to see the commitment to old devices that is not what you see with other cell phones - version 3.0 is supported on first generation iPhone and iPod Touches (to the extent of applicable hardware). In the light of the Windows Mobile 6.5 release with unknown support from the various vendors Apple’s approach is much welcome - see the iPhone/iPod Touch as a hardware platform with the OS on top.

Compatibility with my 25+ installed apps have been almost 100%. The application WiFiTrak is not working as of version 2.5 but an update is already in the App Store pending approval.

My favorite new functions
Included in 3.0 are many new features. The following picture provides a nice overview of many of the features I have been looking forward to:

Starting with the new Swedish keyboard layout! Finally the Swedish keys are available directly on the keyboard. Apple has done a great job fitting all keys even in portrait mode and even with the extra key per row, the keyboard is easy to work with and really speeds up typing. One feature that has been removed with the new keyboard layout is the clever replacement of non-accented characters with accented, for example typing “bokstaver” in 2.2.1 would auto-correct to “bokstäver” but in 3.0 you need to actually be “close” to “ä” to get it corrected; “bokstöver” is corrected to “bokstäver”.

Cut/copy/paste functions! Do I need to say more? Works beautifully across all tested applications, including third part apps. Text and pictures makes no difference - it just works! I really love the new function to be able to add multiple pictures to a mail.

Landscape mode in most applications! With 3.0 in landscape you will be the Schumacher of typing on your iPhone. Landscape in the Email App is really a blessing and and improves productivity a lot when navigating and managing emails. I don’t understand why the Phone App does not support landscape, I have found myself having to rotate the phone more than before. The Maps application is another mystery where landscape is not supported.

Internet Tethering is finally here! Almost any other 3G capable phone has had this function for ages and with 3.0 so does the iPhone. Tested this with my Windows 7 laptop using the USB-cable and I am impressed! No software needed, no Huawei Connect application branded by the phone company - simply plug-and-surf! Even during the beta of 3.0 this function has been available from Telia with the updated Telia Carrier Profile (also including MMS).
I have tested it extensively during the last two weeks both in the car and in various stationary locations. The iPhone may not have the best antenna but roaming over different networks (EDGE and 3G) while still being connected works amazingly well. Tunnels and other low-reception areas gives no problems.

With 3G it is possible to be connected and on a voice call. As the iPhone is quick to enable/disable 3G networking without a reboot, I now enable 3G, connect the USB and then start surfing. If you receive a call during EDGE only surfing, surfing is disabled and the “O” is shown instead of the “E” in the status bar. Tethering resumes when the voice call is completed.

In Windows 7, the iPhone in recognized as an “Apple Mobile Device Ethernet” and is connected when the Internet Tethering option is turned on.

No drivers were needed when first plugging in the iPhone, so I assume they were included in iTunes 8.2 that was installed on the computer.


Multiple management of pictures. It is now possible to manage multiple pictures (emailing, deleting or copying) from the Photo App. The UI is a bit tricky as the buttons are not shown until clicking the button in the left corner, just clicking a picture will show that picture full screen.

The iPod App has received some nice additions making navigation in long content much easier. The new scrubbing (pressing the position knob and moving down on the screen while keeping the finger down) is a very nice addition when navigating podcasts or audiobooks longer than an hour. The counter-clock wise arrow allowing quick 30 second rewinds is great if you were drifting off and missed some content.

The email icon allows sending a link to the podcast to a contact as an email.


The built-in Stocks application has received a major upgrade, showing additional information about the stocks and better graphs:

Still there are some issues with the news parts from Yahoo, where old news are shown as new. However the graphs are drawn correctly which was not always the case in 2.2.1.


In summary, the 3.0 version looks great and improves an already fantastic phone!

-- Mattias