Apple Updates iPhone OS 3.1 SDK, Claim Reports

Sometime in the wee hours of 1 July, Apple reportedly pushed out iPhone operating system (OS) OS 3.1 beta software and its software development kit to developers. The update comes just two weeks after Apple made the free iPhone OS 3.0 download available.

According to multiple reports, iPhone OS 3.1 offers some bug patches and a number of improvements, including updates to the Voice Control functionality, which now also works with Bluetooth headsets.

PC World reports that there’s now also a tactile response (it vibrates) to moving icons on the screen, and paste capability in the dialler application, which now also converts alphanumeric numbers.

Additionally, PC World said iPhone OS 3.1 includes “under-the-hood” changes to the OpenGL and Quartz engines in the software, as well as a Video Editor Controller application programming interface (API) that lets third-party applications call up the video editing interface.

According to AppleInsider, the iPhone OS 3.1 software allows users to save an original copy of a video before editing it – instead of being forced to override it – and to save emailed videos to a video album.

Programmers, wrote AppleInsider, have been given a choice of video recording quality, and new application interface classes related to graphics. While the Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) button is again present in the Messages application. While the iPhone 3G S supports MMS, and foreign carriers have enabled it, including O2 in the UK, AT&T has yet to flip the switch in the US.

And finally, according to MacDailyNews, a “Fraud Protection” toggle has been added to Safari settings, and iPhone boot-up time is now quicker.