iPhone 3.0 installed

I’ve been using the iPhone 3.0 software for a couple of days now and other than a minor installation glitch (my fault) the upgrade was painless.  Everything seems to work as advertised, and so far, I like what I see.

• WiFi improvements – One of the things that really bugged me about the 2.0 OS was the way the iPhone reacted to WiFi spots.  If, for example, I go to my local Starbucks, the phone will attempt to connect to the local router.  The phone will connect and get an IP address, but since I haven’t logged in to the hotspot, the phone gets no Internet service, effectively making any Internet reliant service useless.  The only way to “fix” this is to either turn off WiFi, or open Safari and enter login credentials for the hotspot I’m connected too.

  The 3.0 OS fixes this annoyance.  The OS will recognize when you have come across a hot spot that requires credentials and give you the login screen after is connects to the router.  These credentials will be stored on the device so that you can connect automatically when you return to the hot spot.  I have yet to extensively test this, but it seems to be working well.

• Search – Search text entry bars are everywhere, and I couldn’t be happier.  Searching email gives you options to search From, To, Subject and All.  Not only are you able to search mail on the device, but there is an option to “continue search on server”.  This can be a little slow if you have a lot of stored mail, but I’m very pleased that the option is there.
• Landscape – Do I need to say anything here?  It’s there, it works.  Ironically, I’m pretty adept at typing in portrait mode, so I’m not sure how much I’ll use it for typing, but being able to view mail in landscape is great.
• Cut and Paste – WORKS.

Most of my major issues with the OS have been resolved now.  I’m not saying I have no complaints, but things are way better!