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iPhone Buzz Around OS 3.0 and Eligibility Changes
By Dave Peterson | June 17, 2009
It’s interesting to see the excitement over the iPhone 3.0 software upgrade released today surpassing that for the new 3G S hardware due in stores and on front porches this Friday. For a lot of people, the new software is their new iPhone. Whether you agree with AT&T’s upgrade pricing schedule or not, it has certainly blunted interest in the new handset, at least for release day.
In the midst of tweets proclaiming, “I’m downloading 3.0 RIGHT NOW!!!”, AT&T shook things up a little more. They have revised their upgrade schedule to allow the advertised pricing of $199 and $299 to a larger number of people. If AT&T has told you you would become upgrade eligible during or before September 2009, you may be eligible for the best upgrade pricing as of June 19. But there are a lot of other variables in the mix, including how much you pay for your service on a monthly basis, and the only way to know which side of the line you are on is to call AT&T or check their site.
Another 3G S bit of news today was Apple slowing down the shipments of iPhones from China so they would not reach purchasers’ homes before the street date of June 19. When UPS first sent out their notifications of shipment, they gave June 18 as the scheduled delivery day. This got a lot of people excited, until mid-yesterday when the scheduled delivery date just dropped off UPS’s tracking web page. Today (at least on orders to the United States, which pass through The UPS central hub in Louisville, Kentucky) there is a note that the receiver (Apple) has put a hold on the shipment. They should still reach everybody who ordered on or before June 13 on Friday of this week, but don’t expect them a day sooner.
Finally, there’s that little matter of the iPhone OS 3.0 update. The servers were up and down through the day, but seem to be up and running now. So if you have an iPhone, let the downloading begin! The most obvious change is the Voice Memos button, which will now appear on your home screen. You can record and store multiple memos and do simple trims to the audio files. Another change to the face of the phone is the addition of the Spotlight search feature. If you look at the dots at the bottom of the screen (which indicate which screen of buttons you are on) you’ll notice the furthest left one is now an incredibly tiny magnifying glass. Flick left to right as if going to that screen and you’ll have a search interface that will find just about anything on your phone. Cut, Copy, and Paste is finally here, as well. selections are made by tapping what you want to copy, dragging a selection block for exact start and end points, selecting Copy or Cut, then tapping where you want to paste and selecting that action. It takes a little getting used to, but only a little. There are a ton of new features, more than can be listed here. Mobile Crunch has a great list of 21 new things worth checking out.
Now, just two days until the other shoe of new iPhone week drops. Hopefully, the changes in AT&T’s terms will allow more people to get a 3G S than previously. I’ll be back on Friday with my thoughts on the new handset.
Topics: Phones | No Comments »