in today's opening talk of the macworld expo, steve jobs himself announced the 1.1.3 software update for the iPhone. based on a live transcript from the macworld keynote and the apple web site, here are the notable new features of the new software version:
- location information: in the same way as Google's My Location, the iPhone now uses non-GPS techniques to establish a location fix of an iPhone, using geographic maps of cell towers and Wi-Fi access points.
- multiple SMS recipients: the iPhone tries to make messaging look like chatting, which not only is the wrong metaphor, but also disallows useful features, such as addressing a message to multiple recipients. i have not yet seen the new interface, but at least it now is possible to send an SMS to more than one recipient. it was about time... but still a far cry from the unified messaging that would make much more sense for a device like the iPhone.
- home screen customization: some of the iPhone almost complete lack of configurability has been removed by making the home screen configurable. now i will be finally able to remove the useless
stocks
andyoutube
apps from my home screen. and web bookmarks can be added to the home screen, making frequently used web pages and apps easier accessible.
it is nice to see that these improvements remove some of the issues listed on iPhone To Do List, i will post an updated version of that list as soon as possible. there is hopefully some more in the 1.1.3 software update, but that seem to be the major improvements that were considered important enough for the macworld expo keynote.
and btw, most of these improvements are also available in the iPod Touch 1.1.3 Software Update, but for some weird reason apple decided that for the iPod touch, you don't get them for free, you have to pay $20 to get this minor version software update.
Comments