iPhone Features Apple's Not Telling You

Although Apple already announced loads of features for the new iPhone firmware, there are some features (that are actually more hardware-dependent) that Apple may not be telling people. I'm not going to assure that these features will make it to the next iPhone, no doubt to be announced in Apple's Worldwide Developers' Conference in June, but I'm convinced that they will be.

So, the next iPhone will most likely have (that Apple hasn't officially told us)...

1) Video recording

Even the most basic of phones have MMS and message forwarding, as well as basic blurry video recording. If iPhone 3.0 ticks the checkbox off the former two, then the latter's checkbox might be ticked off as well, as evidenced by this "Publish Video" screenshot.

This was found when someone tried to publish/upload a photo to Apple's MobileMe service. Typo? I think not.

2) Internet Tethering

If you don't already have a netbook that you can put a SIM card in, you can always use your cellphone as an internet modem. Essentially, if there's 3G or EDGE coverage, you can just connect the USB cord or connect the iPhone through Bluetooth to use it as a modem. Scott Forstall of Apple actually confirmed this feature in a Q&A but he said that Apple's still negotiating with cellular networks so it's not natively activated even in the iPhone 3.0 beta.

3) Faster Wi-Fi and 3.5G

There are rumors of Apple placing a Wireless-N (and a new 3G) chip inside the iPhone so that it can reach Wi-Fi and 3G speeds of up to 7.2 mbps. Technically, the number's not gonna be possible in our shores, but in America it sure will.

Information is quite scarce as of now, but as time goes, there will indeed be more features waiting to be unearthed. Who knows? Maybe there'll also be a whole other product to be announced in WWDC that will steal the iPhone's thunder- like a netbook? I might be crossing my fingers for a netbook if not for my insane aversion to them, really. The famous reality distortion field might change all of it, perhaps (since Steve Jobs is back in shape by then)?

SOURCES: Macrumors, Engadget

Stuff I Missed in my iPhone 3G Review

I forgot to mention the iPhone 3G's Bluetooth features, which are extremely limited. How, you say? Well, typically you are able to transfer files from cellphone to cellphone via Bluetooth. Here? Definitely not. The only use for Bluetooth is for the hands-free Bluetooth headsets. Yes, it can still pair with another phone/computer with Bluetooth, but what can you do while a mobile phone or computer is paired? Nothing except being able to unpair. It can't at least be the receiving end of the file you want to send, so, yes, if I want to send my dad's iPhone some kind of music file, it's a lost cause.

However, I've updated the firmware of my dad's iPhone 3G (to the latest 2.1), and you know what? Many performance and call quirks we experienced are virtually non-existent now. Back-up times in iTunes are dramatically speedier, and so is application installation. Now we don't have to wait 20 minutes for back-up to finish!

Plus, the iPhone is responsive after hanging up from a call. The screen is actually supposed to detect your face so it will black out when calling. You know, avoid accidental button pushing via your cheeks, and it now works excellently. When your face gets out of the screen after calling (or when you want to hang up), everything will appear as it should. It's actually a nice touch now that I know why the screen wouldn't show up unless it wanted to before updating.

Speaking of calling, the signal we get around here has significantly improved. Back then, 3G was next to impossible to get. Now, reception is very strong.

Apps are generally more stable, and so is Safari. The screen, while already snappy and responsive, is impossibly even more zippy! 2.1 is the update to get, even though yes, there's still no video recording, no copy and paste, no MMS and no SMS forwarding, but if you already love your iPhone 3G or iPod touch even before this update, you'll love it even more after updating.

Now if only it wasn't such a beast. (230+ MB download?!)

My rating for the iPhone 3G still won't change, so I stand by my 7.5 rating. I actually wanted to decrease the score by 0.5 because of the limited Bluetooth functionality, but the update straightened other things out, so you can say that they, like protons and neutrons, cancel each other.