Filed under: iPhone, SDK, iPod touch
Is this what's in the next iPhone update?
The iPhone Blog is reporting what's purported to be in the next, and hopefully imminent iPhone update to version 3.1. As we've reported, developers were seeded with the beta Tuesday.Here's the list:
- Voice Control now works over Bluetooth
- Updated AT&T profile to 4.2 (MMS is now enabled)
- Improvements to OpenGL and Quartz.
- iPhone vibrates when moving icons
- Non-destructive video editing means trimming a clip no longer saves over the original video but gives you the option to "Save as copy..."
- APIs to allow third party apps to access videos and edit them.
- Updated modem firmware to 5.08.01
If true, it will put smiles on a lot of iPhone owners' faces. The omission of Bluetooth voice control seemed downright silly. Losing your original video after an edit seemed pretty counter-intuitive as well. It also appears MMS will appear in the update, but that only matters if AT&T turns it on.
No firm dates for the update of course, but if the above is accurate it will be a good one.
Thanks Brad for the tip


![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)


Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
bward74 said 7:44AM on 7-01-2009
Lot's of complaints about battery life and signal strength over at the Apple support forums- let's hope this update sorts those issues out too. It seems like Apple made a few omissions when 3.0 was released, and this update has hastily been created to rectify things. Hopefully.
Reply
Jon said 7:49AM on 7-01-2009
Or, more likely, 3.0 was rushed out of the door with these features unfinished and therefore held back to 3.1.
My 3GS is arriving today so I'm hoping 3.0.1 or 3.1 will fix the high pitched whine issue...
CV said 10:18AM on 7-01-2009
Jon is correct.
The iPhone 3.0 software was tied to the 3GS hardware release. Apple yanked the stuff that wasn't finished. New functionality would be expected in a x.1 release, not an x.y.1 release which would mostly be bug fixes (things like the whining noise).
Mojo said 1:12PM on 7-07-2009
I think the iPhone 3GS will be mired with serious battery life issues. Apparently the battery is 15% smaller and since Apple made the hardware and does everything itself, I don't know what solution it can and will come up with. There is no way they will admit and replace the batteries even if they can somehow make something more powerful that wont' overheat in those compartments.
bward74 said 7:57AM on 7-01-2009
I haven't experienced that high pitched whine myself, so I don't think they all do it. Likewise, not all 3GS' seem to have the signal issues. I also haven't experienced the app icon bug some have had. Still, if this fixes those things for those who have experienced them, then that's a good thing. Pity they had to rush 3.0 out unfinished in the first place.
Reply
greggsymington said 7:57AM on 7-01-2009
MMS enabled, but it doesn't work... Times out just like before.
Reply
greggsymington said 8:00AM on 7-01-2009
WOW!! If you playback the video you attached inside the MMS window it cuts the video quality so much they're unwatchable!!
antiorario said 8:24AM on 7-01-2009
That's MMS. There are size restrictions, so the videos are in fact barely watchable. It's not the iPhone's fault.
MJZimmer88 said 12:41PM on 7-01-2009
Considering that whatever device you send the video to will have to have video enabled anyway... as in... another iPhone or smart phone... you can simply email your video (like we used to have to for pictures) and maintain its full quality
CHRiS said 3:23PM on 7-01-2009
@MJZimmer88
Emailing the video will not give the full quality, as the phone will compress it as well. The only way to get the full quality (and huge file sizes) is to connect to a computer and transfer over (e.g. via iphoto) - then mail it.
Christo said 7:58AM on 7-01-2009
A strong note of caution to anyone who depends on an unlocked iPhone: That last point, "Updated modem firmware to 5.08.01," means that you NEED to wait for the Dev Team to update their tools before you update, or you risk LOSING the ability to unlock for an indeterminate amount of time!
Reply
Chris said 8:01AM on 7-01-2009
Not sure if this only pertains to the 3G or not but I am able to use Voice Control on my 3GS with my Bluetooth headset just fine. No hacks or jailbreaks, it just works as I would expect.
Running iPhone OS 3.0 with a BlueAnt headset
Reply
MJZimmer88 said 12:50PM on 7-01-2009
Chris, can you click a button on your bluetooth while your phone is in your pocket and say "call John's cell"?
That's what I think everyone seems to be waiting for. As of right now, I believe you still have to open the Voice Control App, which means you're not entirely hands-free. This is actually the reason my dad wanted a 3GS, and it wasn't able to do it...
But to be fair... if you're using a bluetooth headpiece, you probably dont deserve an update. (If you're using bluetooth headphones on the otherhand... well... let me know where to get a cheap set? kthnx)
Jake said 8:23AM on 7-01-2009
Any sign of AVRCP?
Reply
Jake said 8:25AM on 7-01-2009
That is to say, full AVRCP, with skip and whatnot. Seems like another silly omission and really limits A2DP's usefulness.
jhall said 11:23AM on 7-01-2009
I agree with Jake. The current avrcp implementation makes the A2DP stereo about useless. Hope that is on the list to be fixed in this update.
frank.mahler said 10:14AM on 7-02-2009
What I'd really like to see is AVRCP's feature of a volume control. It's kind of annoying, that my iPod touch's volume keys won't function when listening to my music via bluetooth A2DP headset...
What I'm thinking of is hearing my favourite music at home using my hifi rack - nowadays I have to use the IR remote for controlling volume. When AVRCP's volume control comes to life, I'll throw away the IR remote :-)
Any chance?
Marcello said 8:49AM on 7-01-2009
i'd love to have half my battery back.
since 3.0 my autonomy went from over 48hrs to less than 24...
(and yes, with the same gps/wifi/push/bluetooth on-off configuration so please refrain from saying "have you tried turning this/that off", that's a silly answer anyway)
Reply
jay said 9:09AM on 7-01-2009
I was having the same issue. I turned off the mail push notifications set my fetch to 1 hour and then restarted. Once I did that, my battery life became extra healthy. It ran two days full use and was only half way empty (or full which ever you like) when I finally recharged it. I am running a first gen with 3.0.
One more thing, once I had restarted I set my fetch to 15 min. Since I am using IMAP my mail is pretty well up-to-date immediately. Since I am using MobileMe I have that account only Pushing.
Marcello said 9:17AM on 7-01-2009
@jay: push notification was already off and the fetch was set to manual (it didn't fetch at all, until i told it to).
now i'm trying this:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2063567&tstart=0
but i'm not expecting much...