Tim Sodhi’s Weblog

Week 4, and the iPhone 3GS is chugging away like a champ. Having upgraded from a 1G 4GB iPhone to this beast, I am continually impressed by its speed, features, capabilities and the vast array of possibilities.

Initially I resisted the temptation to Jailbreak my iPhone. I figured Jailbreak is just a step to get to the Unlock. Since I am on AT&T, I didn’t need that. However, seeing how Apple chose to cripple the phone (vis-a-vis no HD videos on Youtube on 3G, or Skype calls etc), I reluctantly took the leap. I have not regretted that. With step by step instructions from iClarified, it was a snap. No need to reload the firmware, just a couple of steps and there’s Cydia! I am a happy camper.

The phone cam and video quality is a huge step up from the previous generation iPhones. I increasingly find myself leaving home without my point and shoot of late. It is just so much easier to whip out my iPhone and take a video of my cute little nephew being ever so cute on a whim. I wish there were an option to upload the HQ video to Youtube directly from the iPhone instead of the scaled down version. Oh well. Maybe there’s an app for that ; ) .

This phone has well and truly rekindled my desire to develop apps for the iPhone. The SDK is rather straightforward and allows the developers to tap into the various features with ease. More on that as it develops.

And here’s an obligatory graphic – this time an image I like to call “Impressions of Suburbia”. Snapped with my 3GS, and manipulated with ColorSplash. All on the iPhone.

I know it is early, and the official release isn’t till the 17th of this month, but I couldn’t help looking around at the NZB world for the OS 3.0. To my delight, I found it on the first query for my phone. Downloaded and installed, I am just delighted with the new OS.

First and foremost – SEARCH! Universal Spotlight like search on the iPhone. It will search through email, calendar, contacts and what not!

Secondly, NOTES SYNC! Oh my dear goodness how I have waited for the two-way sync betwitxt my iPhone and Mail Notes. It seemed to be a no-brainer – it should’ve been there when the original iPhone was released, but it took Apple until now to get it working. What a time saver. No need for Evernote or any other semi-functional apps now.

Next up – VOICE NOTES, record short snippets – though I don’t see any use for those personally. Oh and yes, I do love the new and improved Google Maps App! The triangulation based on Cell phone signal has improved considerably. It can now pinpoint one’s location very accurately, even on a weak signal.

There are a number of other changes under the hood, most important of those – push services. However I have not seen apps make use of this yet. More to come as I test.