Chicago (IL) - When Apple previewed their newest iPhone OS 3.0 the other day, we were given a glimpse of what's to come. All existing iPhone devices will be capable of receiving a free 3.0 firmware update when it's released early summer but iPod touch owners will have to fork $9.95, like before with the 2.0 firmware. Apple's iPhone software chief, Scot Forstall, was able to demo some of the hundred-plus new features of the iPhone OS 3.0 -- many of which address ongoing complaints from both iPhone fans (and haters alike). In this article we look at our favorite top ten.


For additional information, see our previous articles: The complete record of our live coverage of Apple's announcement, iPhone OS 3.0: A thousand new APIs for developers, and my opinion piece on Apple showing us just how big the iPhone is.


10. Lack of Adobe Flash

Safari's non-existent support for Adobe Flash is painful. While it's the subject of many public debates between Apple and Adobe executives, who both have their reasons for blaming each other, we are totally with Apple on this one. While Flash would enable users to see the whole web (and not just parts of it), most iPhone users are better off without it. Simply put, Flash is still too resource-hungry to be enabled on the iPhone where there are already tons of things compete its CPU time and battery juice.

While the lack of Flash is an inconvenience, when faced with the choice of Flash support that greatly reduces battery life, or no Flash with somewhat acceptable battery life, TG Daily would always opt for the latter. Hence, we list the lack of Flash as a feature (rather than drawback). As such, it finds its place at slot #10.

9. Stocks:  Detailed view of a depressed economy

Apple tweaked its Stocks widget with landscape support and news headlines in addition to more comprehensive information about each company's market capitalization, P/E and other bits of data that any spreadsheet-lover would like.

8. Pleasant surprises:  Stereo Bluetooth, YouTube, shake shuffle, anti-phishing, etc.

The new OS packs more refinements and under-the-hood tweaks than apparent at first sight. While we await the new software's arrival to test it all out, Apple has claimed over hundred new end-user features in 3.0.

We were pleasantly surprised by several minor, yet important enhancements that got little air time in Apple's presentation. These include, Bluetooth stereo support (A2DP profile) -- meaning you will finally be able to connect stereo Bluetooth headsets from third-party manufacturers and not just Apple's own mono, pricey Bluetooth headset (this feature won't work on first-gen iPhones).

In addition, the localization features are greatly enhanced with more language support and improved localized keyboards for special characters.

The YouTube app now supports YouTube accounts so you can share favorites with others.

Your iPhone will be finally able to re-login to a password-protected Wi-Fi networks. Currently, the device doesn't automatically sign out of the Wi-Fi network when it looses the signal and instead just waits to get the signal again -- a huge inconvenience if you're often moving between protected Wi-Fi networks.

Extended parental controls allow parents to further fine-tune how minors use their iPhone, while the Safari anti-phishing mechanism keeps users away from duped sites. Safari will also get an auto-fill feature so you won't have to type in your details in forms over and over again on the somewhat clunky keyboard.

Notes now finally syncs with Mac and PC desktops (via iTunes).

And last but not the least, iPhone's iPod application gets a cool shake-to-shuffle feature borrowed from the latest iPod nano released last week.

7. Mail:  Attach multiple images and landscape orientation

Users are no longer constrained by one image attachment per message. To send multiple images, go to the album view, tap selection mode, and then select multiple photos by tapping each.

The application now re-formats itself for landscape mode when you turn the handset upside down, another useful feature that will make reading longer messages easier on the eyes. Typing long emails is also easier thanks to on-screen virtual keyboard that now works also in landscape mode.

6. Calendar:  Supports CalDav and .ics subscriptions

The Calendar application is now enhanced with CalDAV standard used by online calendars from Google, Yahoo and server version of OS X. In addition, you can now subscribe to various online calendars (national holidays, movies, etc.) because the app now reads the .ics subscription format. TheCalDAV inclusion allows you to manage and edit online calendars from inside the Calendar application.

These two enhancements come in addition to the syncing abilities already available via iTunes (for personal calendars) and Microsoft's ActiveSync (for corporate calendars).

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