iPhone 1.1.3 Features and Screenshots?

[kcmac]

Sure the iPhone is missing features. So do all of Apples applications at the start. The iPhone still is better than most version 1 offerings it has ever done.

I don't have an iPhone (yet) but I know an increasingly large amount of people that do. Almost all of the people I see and know using them are also using them for business as well as personal use.

They love their iPhones and would never go back to their Blackberries, Treos, Razrs, etc. Sure, they will tell me what things they would like to see added to the iPhone but they are quick to point out that it is still the best and easiest to use phone they have ever had. Some of these people are PC users and here they are with glee showing me each and every feature. (Like I don't already know. But it is fun to see them having so much fun showing me.)

When you take a breath from your ranting in these posts, stop and think for a moment if you really want to go back to your old phone experiences or currently truly enjoy what you have. Or stop and think if the only reason holding you back is either you don't currently have ATT or maybe it costs more than you are comfortable paying. (While you put away your current phone, iPod, other gadgets, etc $$$).

The iPhone ain't perfect, Apple will most certainly keep bringing on the features (updates and future models ala the iPod) and it is still leaps and bounds better than any phone experience I have ever had. I am dying for one.

Come on MacWorld and goodbye Verizon!

 

[Sai Zelion]

.... Oh well, we don't have the gloss but we do have the features.

Well said my friend, well said.

 

[krimpet]

these look a little suspicious on closer inspection

I really want these to be real, but after opening them up in PS I'm a little worried that they are not. In particular, some of the elements in the new features seem sharper than the rest of the image and in the one that shows the information box about moving icons on the home screen, the notification box is looks off-center relative to the home screen beneath it. Also the depth of field in the locate-me image is very strange.

I hope I'm wrong...

 

[Cleverboy]

And those Apple fans not into the hype of the iPhone and AT&T will sit back and do whatever jobs is doing on stage with their Treos, Blackberries, HTCs, Samsungs, LGs, and various other smart devices that have been on the market for years. Too bad those phones don't have the sleek UI of the iPhone..... Oh well, we don't have the gloss but we do have the features.

Meh. I'm very big on the iPhone interface, the challenges of bringing it to market, and the realities of getting out a relatively stable product that is updatable. Apple didn't ask people to dream little dreams about their phone, they just said... Here, this is what it does. Try it out. Buy it if you like it. And people did. Pretty simple.

I could do a lot of things with my last phone that I never used because it was as annoying as hell to do so. I wish all the people that say Apple should have launched with more features could just clamp it shut. You launch with the software you HAVE not the software you'd LIKE to have ready. If Apple said the iPhone was launching January 2008, simply to have a few more of these features, it would have been ridiculous. I've had an extremely AWESOME 5 months. Even still, lots of bugs to work out in a new platform with a revolutionary interface and a brand spanking new mobile OS.

I mean, YES... Jobs will inevitably show something onstage that people have had on their phones before. Duh. Why does Google bother showing us that Google Maps now supports GPS? People have had GPS on their phone before too. In fact, many people were foregoing their GPS phone systems and still using Google maps because it was BETTER than the mapping system in their phones that had GPS built in. Now they don't have to compromise.

I'm not sure why its so hard for some folks to grasp why so many people LOVE the iPhone in spite of the knowledge that while it has many advancements, some other phones still have more features by number. Would I give up the iPhone's visual voicemail for MMS? Um, no. I don't MMS people photos, I email people. Would I give up Multi-touch Safari and go to Windows mobile so that I can get Cut & Paste. Heck no. I'd rather claw out my eyes. Maybe I'd like to sacrifice iTunes compatibility and iPhone's excellent media management for a 5 megapixel camera in a Nokia N95? No... I'd have to be on crack.

Yeah, when Jobso introduces these features to the iPhone... it will be for the iPhone STILL IN MY POCKET, and I will be even more happier with the choice I made. It will be a big deal not simply because some company just added some basic features to a basic phone. It'll be a HUGE deal because a brilliant phone just got better.

~ CB

 

[Consultant]

I dunno man. The coloring, the blurs, the shadows, things being at slightly wrong angles. They could be real, but I'm suspicious. Something just seems wrong about the photos. If you can move things around, why not show us a picture of things in different positions instead of everything in the usual position, but a finger supposedly moving something around. And what's with all the convenient blurs? I dunno. I hope it's real.

But, what I REALLY want is an eBook Reader program. Get with it Apple! Sell the books over iTunes, kill the damn Kindle, and profit.

Yup, something tells that these are photoshoped somehow. The brightness of the screen seems to be wrong.

eBook reader = add PDF files to iTunes. Last time I heard worked.

 

[Stella]

These are totally fake.

Why do you think this is the case?

On my Razor with Verizon the only firmware updates I recall is that they have further disabled the features on my phone!

LOL. Doesn't sound like a good update!

I've had numerous updates for my Nokia and SE smartphones. The price of these updates rolled into the price of the phone. These phones, despite lacking the UI of the iPhone have been more productive than the iPhone could ever be. I'd rather have substance over style. Its a trade off - a slightly less usable UI for far more functionality than the iPhone will offer for a long time.

 

[Consultant]

I've had numerous updates for my Nokia and SE smartphones. The price of these updates rolled into the price of the phone. These phones, despite lacking the UI of the iPhone have been more productive than the iPhone could ever be. I'd rather have substance over style. Its a trade off - a slightly less usable UI for far more functionality than the iPhone will offer for a long time.

iPhone users are NOT paying additional fee to get firmware update.

Putting out FUD on another product (which seems like you have a gripe against) does not mean what you are using is right.

 

[Chris Bangle]

I really want these to be real, but after opening them up in PS I'm a little worried that they are not. In particular, some of the elements in the new features seem sharper than the rest of the image and in the one that shows the information box about moving icons on the home screen, the notification box is looks off-center relative to the home screen beneath it. Also the depth of field in the locate-me image is very strange.

I hope I'm wrong...

You were probably one of the people who said the fatty nano picture was fake... why are people so dismissive, I think that these ARE REAL and if they are not I will be furious.

 

[dwd3885]

when are we going to get MMS people!?!

 

[Virgil-TB2]

I use an Excel spreadsheet on my HTC Mogul (6800) every single work day. I have to keep track of my vehicle's mileage in a simple spreadsheet. It works incredibly well. With the iPhone's larger screen, more memory, and faster processor it should be better on the iPhone.

Apple already provides editing support for word and excel documents with Pages and Numbers. Hell I'd be happy with a mobile version of Numbers that I can save as an Excel document at the end of the month to turn in my log.

Without OTA sync and some spreadsheet editing ability the iPhone is useless to me.

I'm not sure what the eventual solution to your problems will be, but a full-scale document editing program on the iPhone is likely not coming at all. There just isn't enough room on the screen for anything that complicated.

Consider your spreadsheet problem though.

What you have essentially is a simple list that you can carry with you and edit (or perhaps a table.) To achieve this now, you are using a hugely bloated spreadsheet program that is part of the gigantic bloated MS Office software nightmare.

Instead of wondering when they are going to shoehorn Excel or it's equivalent onto the iPhone, maybe you should be looking at a simpler or more appropriate solution in general.

If it's just you that needs the spreadsheet, and if it's true that you really need it, then a sub-notebook or a regular laptop might be a better choice. If the spreadsheet is of any size at all, your previous experience on the Mogul can only have been some kind of agony. It would also necessitate a stylus to work at all which the iPhone does not have.

I have never had a portable spreadsheet experience that wasn't akin to looking through a keyhole in such situations myself. Both times I tried it (once on a Palm and once on a PocketPC), it was more of a technology demonstration than anything actually useful.

The iPhone would be just as bad at this kind of thing as all the other pocket computers are.

A better solution, (especially if multiple employees access that spreadsheet), is to have it online and have people edit it from their devices remotely. That's a much better solution all around and could be set-up on the iPhone right now.

You could also just store the information as a text list and sync it with Excel when you are back at the office or have your laptop.

One important caveat about Excel in general:

A lot of people don't realise that Microsoft Excel has very nasty, and very poorly implemented "multiple user" support. In fact, it doesn't really do it at all. Multiple people can edit the same sheets at the same time, but there is no way to see the other peoples edits, so it's extremely easy to corrupt the data or screw up the spreadsheet in a number of ways. (The code is a kludge from the early 90's I think.)

For that reason allowing more than one user to edit an Excel file "live" is a disaster waiting to happen and no sane IT person would ever advise it.

 

[Manic Mouse]

iPhone users are NOT paying additional fee to get firmware update.

Putting out FUD on another product (which seems like you have a gripe against) does not mean what you are using is right.

Well they sorta are paying for them, with Apple getting a portion of their monthly contract fee.

 

[diamond.g]

iPhone users are NOT paying additional fee to get firmware update.

Putting out FUD on another product (which seems like you have a gripe against) does not mean what you are using is right.

I thought the cut of monthly fees that Apple gets is what is allowing them to add features that they had to charge (802.11n) people for previously due to some law.

I'm not sure what the eventual solution to your problems will be, but a full-scale document editing program on the iPhone is likely not coming at all. There just isn't enough room on the screen for anything that complicated.

Consider your spreadsheet problem though.

What you have essentially is a simple list that you can carry with you and edit (or perhaps a table.) To achieve this now, you are using a hugely bloated spreadsheet program that is part of the gigantic bloated MS Office software nightmare.

Instead of wondering when they are going to shoehorn Excel or it's equivalent onto the iPhone, maybe you should be looking at a simpler or more appropriate solution in general.

If it's just you that needs the spreadsheet, and if it's true that you really need it, then a sub-notebook or a regular laptop might be a better choice. If the spreadsheet is of any size at all, your previous experience on the Mogul can only have been some kind of agony. It would also necessitate a stylus to work at all which the iPhone does not have.

I have never had a portable spreadsheet experience that wasn't akin to looking through a keyhole in such situations myself. Both times I tried it (once on a Palm and once on a PocketPC), it was more of a technology demonstration than anything actually useful.

The iPhone would be just as bad at this kind of thing as all the other pocket computers are.

A better solution, (especially if multiple employees access that spreadsheet), is to have it online and have people edit it from their devices remotely. That's a much better solution all around and could be set-up on the iPhone right now.

You could also just store the information as a text list and sync it with Excel when you are back at the office or have your laptop.

One important caveat about Excel in general:

A lot of people don't realise that Microsoft Excel has very nasty, and very poorly implemented "multiple user" support. In fact, it doesn't really do it at all. Multiple people can edit the same sheets at the same time, but there is no way to see the other peoples edits, so it's extremely easy to corrupt the data or screw up the spreadsheet in a number of ways. (The code is a kludge from the early 90's I think.)

For that reason allowing more than one user to edit an Excel file "live" is a disaster waiting to happen and no sane IT person would ever advise it.

Multiple users editing the same table at the same time is what SQL/Access is for. Excel wasn't designed for that.

 

[plumbingandtech]

Well they sorta are paying for them, with Apple getting a portion of their monthly contract fee.

Nope. We pay no more fees then those explicitely stated when we signed up for ATT.

ATT and apple share those, but I for one am paying less per month and getting unlimited Internet then I did with tmobile with my sucktastic blackberry.

 

[Cleverboy]

The thing that baffles me about Apple's approach to iPhone updates is that many of these tweaks and changes are seemingly simple, conceptually speaking. Multiple text recipients shouldn't have taken this long. I'm not complaining, I just don't see why they're drawing it all out so much.

Hey, I was one o the first people to post my visual take on how Apple could implement Cut & Paste. Sure, it all LOOKS simply, but I feel super-clear that Apple isn't in a rush to throw features in that it will re-think and regret later. I get the impression they only have ONE shot, and the last thing they want to do is add features in, that they need to remove later for system stability. For all the power a GPS would take, I think its great that they waited for Google to launch its triangulation based service. If someone wants a "real" GPS, there are not provisions in Googles map API for Apple to take advantage of that without retrofitting their OWN solution on top of Google's.

Again, I've really enjoyed my iPhone, but adding media texting and multiple text recipients are among a handful of things that would improve user experience without some earth-shattering change or epic difficulty on the part of the programmers working on the iPhone updates. Corporate tactics aside, it seems that this should have been a quick, easy change within the first couple of months.

Every new feature has to be tested properly. I mean, given what we THOUGHT we saw working perfectly fine in January, why were people pulled off of Leopard in order to launch the iPhone in time? Because its a lot of WORK to get it right (or at least in the ballpark)!

At any rate, let's be thankful that Apple keeps the updates rolling out and has paid attention to us iPhone owners.

Well, Amen on that. I think Apple is showing iPhone owners nothing BUT love. Price Drop. $100 store credit. YouTube. iTunes WiFi Store. Custom Ringtone support. Modal iPod Player Dialog Box. Sure, its been rocky, but these new features are shooting down the pike and highly appreciated. More to come, is just plain GRAVY, baby.

~ CB

 

[AppleFanboy33]

MMS - No Thanks..

You know what? I hope they NEVER add MMS support.

MMS is a subpar standard. It's severly crippled in terms of network support and standardisation. For example. Some networks won't allow MMS messages of over 100k, some will. some will allow only 50k. So if apple wants to use MMS to send photos from the camera, it'll have to resize them down to tiny postage stamp sized images. And to be honest, even then you don't know if the recipient will get them.

MMS usage is not all that high. sure some people are always the exception to the rule. but most likely you only send 2-5 MMS's a month. Be realistic folks. MMS is a dying technology.

Since when has Apple included dying technology's in new products? It is much smarter idea to not include it, and then really showcase how awesome email is for sending photos or attachements with.

I'm glad they've not added it. And i'd be rather annoyed if they did just for the sake of a few people who think that it's still got a place in today's email driven world.

Oh, and Hi! i'm new here.

btw - i'm still not sure if these screenshots are real or not. It does look like a good point release though. obviously we'd all like more. but this looks like a good amount, until after the SDK hits.

 

[bacaramac]

Hi new to macrumors, but wanted to post a comment. The home screen message does not look off center. If you look at the weather icon and you tube icon on your iphone the message looks perfectly centered. The message hits right at the edge of the tv tube on the icon and the same amount of space appears to be remaining on the edge of the weather icon.

Just my thought.

 

[Stella]

iPhone users are NOT paying additional fee to get firmware update.

Putting out FUD on another product (which seems like you have a gripe against) does not mean what you are using is right.

FUD - Are you sure ( anyway, what I said doesn't sound like Fear Uncertainty and Doubt to me )? Didn't SJ say the subscription fee covered on going iPhone development?

I seem to recall he did. If I'm wrong then thanks for correcting me.

 

[aanndrew]

what a dissapointment eughhh
come on
apple won't bring such a weak update out after ALOT of people have complained duhh.
people shut up going on about your jailbroken iPhones
what makes you think you will be able to use the sdk apps
when they arrive ? The phone wasn't made for payg its contract
so why complain its not apples fault its you own now get over it
the next update will block all phones that have been jailbroken and activated
by 3rd party apps. Simple dum ass
Mines NOT hacked or jailbroken mines with o2
If you can't afffors the contract dont buy it if you hack it you won't have
new features wen they come out.

Ill update but I still want to see mms/video rec-plybk/games/Im and other fun apps. Also be able tovwach videos on the internet.

 

[Slip]

The rearranging applications is the only thing that would make me upgrade. Customize gets a little tired when you have to move them around in the list and then when its done my merged Music-and-Video-into-iPod-icon is on the home screen and not in the dock meaning I have to edit and re-upload the N45AP.plist.
Get's a little old
This is assuming these features are in the iPod update

 

[macridah]

will sending the same text message to 3 different people count as 3 txt messages sent or just one? I could imagine going over my 200/month limit very fast.

 

[diamond.g]

You know what? I hope they NEVER add MMS support.

MMS is a subpar standard. It's severly crippled in terms of network support and standardisation. For example. Some networks won't allow MMS messages of over 100k, some will. some will allow only 50k. So if apple wants to use MMS to send photos from the camera, it'll have to resize them down to tiny postage stamp sized images. And to be honest, even then you don't know if the recipient will get them.

MMS usage is not all that high. sure some people are always the exception to the rule. but most likely you only send 2-5 MMS's a month. Be realistic folks. MMS is a dying technology.

Since when has Apple included dying technology's in new products? It is much smarter idea to not include it, and then really showcase how awesome email is for sending photos or attachements with.

I'm glad they've not added it. And i'd be rather annoyed if they did just for the sake of a few people who think that it's still got a place in today's email driven world.

Oh, and Hi! i'm new here.

btw - i'm still not sure if these screenshots are real or not. It does look like a good point release though. obviously we'd all like more. but this looks like a good amount, until after the SDK hits.

It is more standard than phones that can get email. Shoot more phone accept Video Mail than accept email.

AT&T could have made the transition less painful by giving all their subscribers email addresses like Sprint does. Then at least all their mobile users would have a way to send and receive photos and not rely on MMS.

 

[diamond.g]

will sending the same text message to 3 different people count as 3 txt messages sent or just one? I could imagine going over my 200/month limit very fast.

Most make it count as 3. One text message per person, or at least that is how my old phone used to send out the messages.

 

[cbrain]

Hi,

An option in System Preferences to have one "iPod" icon instead of a "Music" and a "Video" would be a great compliment to the update if the Home Screen re-arranging also gets added to the iPod Touch.

There should also be an option to disable re-arranging.

My first post as a contributer.

 

[Slip]

Hi,

An option in System Preferences to have one "iPod" icon instead of a "Music" and a "Video" would be a great compliment to the update if the Home Screen re-arranging also gets added to the iPod Touch.

There should also be an option to disable re-arranging.

My first post as a contributer.

I would love that. As mentioned above, using the current method's a tad annoying

 

[Virgil-TB2]

Reading all of these responses makes me look at things very closely regarding Apple. Here are some things that are very evident...

Sorry Sai but IMO you are completely wrong here on almost every point.

Your whole post reads like an insane rant by an angry person who's "just not going to take it anymore" but it's completely out of sync with the much milder reality of the situation.

I won't go into every detail, but the basic idea you're pushing, that "they should have had this stuff at the beginning" is not supported by the facts.

iPhone 1.1.1 barely got out the door in time, was buggy, and hardly even an OS at all. The first revision to it was basically the "1.0" version of the OS. The iPhone has also been out for less than a year and has been updated twice already. To imply that this is "slow" or "behind the curve" or any of those things is simply way over the top.

Secondly, your whole argument is based on the (unsupported!) assumption that this kind of eking out of features one by one, is standard business practice for such companies. You further imply that Apple must also be doing this, and that the whole conspiracy scenario is intentional on Apples part (also unsupported).

You just have no evidence for any of this.

Furthermore, Apples history, it's past actions, and it's policies and goals all argue against your interpretation of them as miserly profit seekers.