New iPhone firmware (1.1.3) now available
Even though I slept through the big Macworld 2008 keynote this morning (7 a.m. HST) and haven’t had the time or the interest to watch the video yet, Apple made sure I’d know about the latest iPhone firmware update as soon as possible by emailing me (and the millions of other iPhone owners out there) the image you see above.
My iPhone. Even better. Again. How could I resist?
I turned my iPhone into an iPod touch several months ago, so I had to pop the SIM back in and install the 65MB iTunes and QuickTime update (version 7.6) before downloading the 162MB firmware upgrade.
It installed without any issue and looked like this after it was done and disconnected from my computer.
Finally! Home screen customization without jailbreaking.
This isn’t meant to be a review of the firmware, so I’ll just provide a list of all the new features:
- New Maps application (wifi-based triangulation to find your location, improved UI)
- Send SMS text messages to multiple recipients
- Customize home screen (rearrange icons, create up to 9 screens, add Safari bookmarks to home screen for quick access to specific websites)
- Integrated IMAP support for Gmail (Gmail has supported IMAP for a few months, so this just makes configuration automatic)
- Compatible with new iTunes Store movie rentals
- Enhanced video player (chapters, subtitles, alternate language tracks)
- Lyrics support in iPod
I’ve been looking at the same odd-numbered icons on the home screen for months, so my favorite new feature is being able to add Safari bookmarks (webclips).
I use the iPhone exclusively for quick web access and email, so the webclips feature is really handy. It somehow isn’t able to provide an image for this website (figures!), but I like that it eliminates the need of having to launch Safari, open my bookmarks, and find what I want. It already isn’t the fastest-loading browser around (and I’m not even talking about EDGE speeds), so saving a few seconds here and there is great.
Once third-party applications become available (the SDK is being released next month), the ability to rearrange the icons will be nice to have. For the way I currently use the iPhone, though, I’m just happy about the webclips.
Update 1.16.08: Create a custom webclip icon.
