Apple released the iPhone OS 3.0 software to developers Tuesday. I’ve had a chance to play around with it the last couple days and have been pretty happy with the results. It does offer some nice feature upgrades, but it does it without changing the user experience a whole lot.

When I install beta software on any device, I realize that there could be bugs.  I take a look at the software and see if it will prevent me from doing my daily tasks and are the features worth trying out in testing mode.  With the iPhone I figured if I could still make and receive calls, get my text messages, and use my daily applications like Brightkite and Facebook, then it would be worth installing and seeing what’s new.

I logged into the developer site on Tuesday which was getting hit pretty hard, but after a few attempts I was able to download and install the software successfully on my iPhone 3G.  After initial install it seemed kind of slow, but I think it could have been indexing the content in the phone for searching.  Apple claims there are over 100 new features, but I don’t know all 100 and I think only the ones that really stand out are important to discuss.

The first feature worth noting is the one I just mentioned, search.  If you are on the first page of home screen, sliding to the left or pressing the home button will bring up the search page.  It’s a system wide search and it’s overall pretty quick.  It lists search results categorized by application.

Cut and paste is a big feature people have been waiting for and it works well.  There’s only been a couple of times where I’ve needed to cut and paste things.  For example when someone sends me a text message of an address, it was just a pain in the past having to swap between the Text app and Maps.  Also I noticed the phone being a little smarter with linking by adding more linkable text to items that were previously untappable.

The Text application is now referred to as Messages.  It now supports MMS integrated into the standard text message interface we’re used to seeing and also landscape mode.  It adds a camera icon to the left of the input field and in the settings application you can set the message to have a subject.  I didn’t get to test this feature since most of the people I would send MMS to have iPhones with the existing software or would really not want to pay an MMS fee for something stupid I send them.  I’m not sure if the feature is active on AT&T or even what kind of charges are associated with it.  On my old phones I don’t think I even used the feature and I’m not sure if that will really change on the iPhone.

The Stock application got a minor update.  The bottom pane now has three scrollable sections to show stock information, charts, and news.  The application also supports landscape mode which show stock charts at fullscreen.

Voice Memos is a new app and seems like it would be a cool feature that I don’t ever see myself using.  The app did seem to work though and might be cool for students to record lectures or conduct interviews as long as it doesn’t kill battery life substantially.  I didn’t use it long enough to find out.

I use Evernote on my iPhone and computer for note taking, but it’s worth noting that the Notes application syncs with the computer now.

Mail now works in landscape mode.  I noticed a bug in the UI for my email addresses spanning off the side of the screen.  I think it used to truncate so I’m not sure if thats how it’s supposed to be.  It also adds search which is a huge addition for me.  I get a ton of emails on a daily basis and if I wasn’t looking for something within the last day I’d never find it on the iPhone.

The UI of the Phone app has been slightly  updated.  The recent calls now show phone number type under the name for people in your address book and location information for numbers that aren’t.  The contact screen now has a share contact button where you can email the contact or send via MMS.  I’ve been previously using Easycontact for this task.  The voicemail screen has also been updated to show phone number type.  It’s a small but nice touch.

There were some new features I didn’t test.  I couldn’t test Bluetooth sharing because I don’t have two phones or know anyone else running the 3.0 software yet.  I don’t have stereo Bluetooth headsets so I couldn’t test the stereo audio.  Push notifications are supposed to be in place, but I don’t know any apps that currently support it.  If anyone does, please let me know and I’d be interested in trying that out.  Supposedly the calendar supports subscriptions, but I’ve yet to figure out if it syncs via MobileMe or how I go about adding those calendars in.  The phone has a find me function, but I have no idea what that does.

I did notice a couple of UI bugs and sometimes tapping on the screen gave no response.  It slows the experience, but doesn’t kill it.  All my applications seem to work as they did in the previous OS.  I’m sure this is a work in progress and by the time the final release hits the public it will be much more polished.  I’m also interested in checking out some of the new applications using the iPhone 3.0 SDK.  Overall I’m pretty happy with the update and I think it’s something for iPhone users to look forward to using.

Google Mobile sync looks like it’s been updated to work with the iPhone, Blackberry, Nokia, Sony Ericsson, and Windows Mobile phones. That should cover the majority of the major smart phone players in the market.

I have an iPhone and now that MobileMe appears to be working I’ve been using that for the most part. Previously I had been using NuevaSync for push notifications via Google applications. It appears that the new updates allow Google contacts to be exchanged via Microsoft Exchange protocol so now iPhone users have the ability to get push notifications directly from Google.

I’m interested in seeing how this works, but since MobileMe is finally working well, I’m not sure if I want to change anything at this moment. I’m in an “if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it” situation. I would like to see how others experiences are and see if I can finally ditch MobileMe or not.

I was contacted by Tapinoma to try out their new iPhone application Easycontact (itunes link). Since rebranding my company I had been thinking of creating new business cards and was looking around the web for inspiration. Everything I do deals with digital media and I rarely passed out the old business cards. People already had my contact information or it was just easier to send an email or punch it in my phone.

I still think the act of business cards, pushing information from one to another is still relevant, but not so sure the physical medium is still as efficient as it used to be. I connect with quite a few people digitally through email or sites like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Having connections through those channels allow me to meet new people and exchange information.

So where does Tapinoma Easycontact come in? Easycontact makes it easy to exchange vCards via email to any user or wifi if another iPhone user is running the software as well. It also allows for transferring via audio, but I was unable to test this feature. Having email and wifi is enough for me and it performed as expected. It takes the traditional sense of business cards into the digital age.

The screen on the left shows the main interface. It’s very clean like most iPhone applications. The method of transport buttons are across the bottom: email, wifi, and audio. Across the top you select what information you would like to send out: your card, another person’s card, a group of cards, or a photo. You are also able to select which vCard information is sent through the settings page.

The application is simple, but clever and it just works. The price point seems to be about right. I’ll have to use it some more and see how it fits into my business. If other iPhone users adopt this application I can see it being very useful, but even without other users it does a good job.

If you have any questions, as always they’re welcome.