iPhone OS 3.1 Review: Something For Gamers And Business Users

Immediately after its live event in San Francisco, Apple released iPhone OS 3.1 with the updated iTunes 9. While the latest revision of the iPhone OS offers only a few new features (and has been criticised for a weak anti-phishing feature), frequent App Store users and those using the iPhone device with Microsoft Exchange Server will definitely appreciate the update.

For heavy App Store users, the most welcome new feature in Version 3.1 is the ability to adjust application placement on the iPhone home screen panels from within iTunes. Previously, users had to organise applications on the device itself, an onerous time-waster, particularly after performing a restore on the device. With Version 3.1, users can instead perform this customisation from their desktop PCs.

With the device tethered to a PC running iTunes 9, I was able to select applications from my inventory and drag the icons onto the representation of the intended target screen. This customisation is done per device, so users with multiple iPhones or iPod Touches won’t be forced to have the same application layout on every device that syncs to that their iTunes instance. Unfortunately, this also means that the device must be connected to iTunes to perform the layout customisation.

Apple has made a few modifications to the App Store layout within iTunes, but the changes didn’t do much to lead me to new, relevant applications. Users are still presented with highlighted apps via Staff Favourites and New and Noteworthy distinctions, and users can look at the Top Paid, Top Free or Top Grossing applications. Within these last few screens, however, I could now organise the lists by name, rank or release date.

Improved guidance to new content will probably come from the Genius recommendation engine, which Apple has updated to include applications. At this point in my testing, I have not yet seen the results of my Genius recommendations, but, given the underwhelming recommendations I’ve received from iTunes during the last year, I don’t hold out a lot of hope that I’ll get many compelling suggestions for applications.

Exchange Test Bed

With iPhone OS 3.1, Apple has done some behind-the-scenes work to improve synchronisation and invitation handling in conjunction with Exchange Server calendars. In my experience with previous versions of the iPhone OS, the Exchange calendar would not synchronise in a predictable manner unless data push was enabled. With the new version, synchronisation occurred much faster.

With a pair of iPhone 3GS units placed side by side, one running Version 3.1 and the other running Version 3.01, and both connected via Wi-Fi to manually pull from the same Exchange account, 3.1 reflected a calendar change made in Outlook within 15 seconds while 3.01 remained unchanged for 5 full minutes. (With 3.01, I finally gave up and checked e-mail, which seemed to trigger the calendar synchronisation.)

Blue Tooth Upgrade?

Since iPhone OS 3.0, iPhone 3GS users have been able to trigger voice dialling or voice-enabled media controls by holding down the Home button or the Action button on a corded headset. However, Bluetooth users could not utilise the feature.

This capability was supposed to have been added in Version 3.1, according to the release notes, but I was not able to get the feature to work with either my BlueAnt Supertooth 3 speakerphone or a Motorola MotoROKR Bluetooth headset. Holding down the call button on either Bluetooth device would only initiate a redial, rather than activating Voice Control.

Finally, the iPhone’s Accessibility features are now easier to turn on and I was able to configure the Home button to activate the Accessibility feature when pushed thrice.

Andrew Garcia is senior analyst at eWeek