I have been using the iPhone 3.0 software on my iPhone 3G for a week and a day so far (shhh don’t tell). And for those who have never  jailbroken their iPhone this is a great upgrade, but for those who have then it’s still a decent one, but worth waiting for 3.0 to be jailbroken. But anyways lets move on to the features.

Spotlight Search

What better way to start the review off with a bash. Don’t get me wrong I love the search functionality, but the location and ways to access it drive me insane. There are 2 ways you can enter into the spotlight.

1. flicking left of the home page

2. hitting the home button once (when on the home page)

For me both of these options are terrible. I’ve had the iPhone since the 1st gen so when 2.0 came out and they added the tap the home button to go to the first page I was already set in my way of flicking (or swiping whatever you want to call it) the screen till I couldn’t go further. Well now I end up typing the g or h a few times before I realize what I have done.

Option 2 also drives me crazy, because I am used to the the apps not closing as fast. I am used to hitting the home a few time before it fully closes or just randomly hitting it when I am bored. And now that takes me into spotlight. But the worst part about these 2 features it you cannot turn them off! (rant over)

Stereo Bluetooth

Now on to happier thoughts. No better way to get over your most hated feature, then with talking about your favorite. The ability to listen to your music, video, audio-books, etc without wires is the best thing in the world. I don’t know how many times I get my headphones tangled up or having it tug on me cause the phone has moved in my pocket, but now those days are over. Also hooking the iPhone up to the TV and using the bluetooth headset for audio as you do the treadmill is so much better then blasting the speakers so you can try to hear it over all the noise.

Single SMS Forward and Deleting

Now, this was one of those rare feature finds that just make you jump up and down. I don’t remember hearing anything about this and it wasn’t until day 3 till I actually found it, but the ability to forward a single SMS message is amazing, technically with copy and paste now on the iPhone it is not as essential, but it is still a great feature (which should have been in 1.0).

iTunes Store

You can now purchase or rent TV shows and movies directly from the phone. This is a great addition only issue it that you have to be connected to a wifi signal, but I guess that is better then nothing. (pic below)

App Store

Just wanted to mention that I love the new layout of the App Screen shots. (pic below)

Cut, Copy, & Paste

Nice addition that should also have been added a long time ago, it works pretty well, but I have had some issues when trying to select stuff.

Landscape View

How could one feature be awesome and annoying all at the same time. I love haveing the option and ability to go into landscape mode in my note and email, but I part of me wishes it was a button click that switched it. When I have notes ot an email that has directions or a list that I need to keep track of but not always in front of me and it keeps switching back and forth to landscape, it can get kind of annoying.

So there you have it the greatness and annoyiness of the latest iPhone 3.0 software. Oh there is also a Voice Recorder now too (woohoo) and sadly the video features only work on the 3GS so I guess I will have to wait to enjoy that ability again. Hopefully a jailbreak will fix that one.

So all in all it has some great feature, but I am really missing my themes, stacks and qik. So if you have a jailbroken iPhone I recommend holding off.

But now that anyone can get it I wouldlike to know what you that have it think and if your one of the lucky people that can go out and buy a 3GS let me know what you think about it too.

Okay, so I have been trying to lose weight for, pretty much all of my adult life and at times I have actually succeeded, but have never had success at keeping it off. So once again I am at it, but this time I have the iPhone and a little app called LIVESTRONG on my side. (And my beautiful wife encouraging me along the way).

I’ve tested and tried around with 5 or more calorie tracking apps for the iPhone so far and I believe this one is my new favorite (beating out the LoseIt App).

The main reason why I believe I love this app so much, is because not only do you get the App for the iPhone, but it also comes with a website login and community (currently not using the community) located at www.livestrong.com. I love the desktop login, because sometimes I just don’t feel like trying to search and keep up with things on my iPhone and it also give me a few other features that would probably just be annoying to navigate if they did offer it on the iPhone.

So far the app is amazing, but there is no easy way to add a food from the iPhone app if it is not currently in their system (you can do it from the site), so far I haven’t really ran into this problem. Their database of food seems to be pretty complete.

I would however, love to hear some of your feedback on this or any other calorie tracker app or website (doesn’t have to be fore the iPhone) that you have tried and loved or hated. So be sure to leave a comment below.

If you haven’t hear about mint.com yet it is about time you do. Mint.com is the free online spot to manage your money. If you are anything like me, you never carry cash and use your debit card for just about everything. Well, if that is the case, or even if you still use cash mint.com can help you manage your money and help you set that budget you’ve been meaning to do. All for the low, low price of $0.00.

So, here is how it works. You sign up on their page and add your accounts (banks, credit cards, mortgages, etc…). They have a vast resource of banks they can work with (sadly my bank is to stupid and wont work, but the credit cards do).

Anyways, once you add your account you can setup alerts to remind you when they are due and/or to pay them. But the real fun comes with the iPhone app (iTunes link). Which allows you to keep track of all your account directly from your phone.

I personally have been using the app for about a month now and with the ability to drill down to my individual accounts and instantly check and see if I had already made a payment or not, has saved from multiple logins to my accounts, which can take some time because I can never remember which password I used and usually have to reset it, but can’t choose what I want, because I apparently used it before a long time ago and you can’t use the same password twice, because it’s just unsecure and blah blah blah..!!! That little rant was given to you in part by chase.com.

The app is amazing and I am sure it is every better when you can add your bank and actually use the budgeting and cash flow options, as well as to see what you spent and where you spent it.  It will also divides everything into categories like groceries, gas, shopping, restaurants, etc.

I recommend checking out the site even if you don’t have an iPhone. But if you do then the Mint App is definitely a must have.

Currently I am sitting at church in the youth room on my iPhone. I am stuck here because this is the best spot to hop on the wifi network.

From what I have heard and am currently experiencing AT&T is having issues with both their 3G and Edge networks. The phone side of things seem to still be working great but data is down.

I am not sure how bad it is, but it does seem to be pretty wide spread. I guess for now we will just have to hunker down by our wireless routers to enjoy Internet on our phones.

If you are having issues. I would love to know where your from.

So this afternoon I finally got my text from apple about the free AT&T wifi hotspots. So during my lunch I headed out to the closest AT&T WiFi Resturant I knew (aka McDonalds).

So this is how works (screenshots below). Once you connect and open safari you are directed to a website that requires you to put in your phone number (guessing this is to stop unlocked iPhone & iPod users). After pressing submit you are given a message saying that a Text message will be sent to you shortly. Once texted you have one more link which verifies you and gives you access for 24 hours.

I gotta say, all and all everything went pretty smoothly. I did lose the WIFI for a few seconds during the process (I was in the drive-thru). But it did work and I am glad to see that it’s already working in my area. So this is a bit more of good news for us 1st Gen iPhone users who are stuck with the slow edge network when we leave the home/work.

Screenshots

According to recent rumors the new iPhone & iPod Touch firmware will add support for downloading and subscribing to podcasts, from the device.

I don’t know about you, but ever since I started used MobileCast during the 1.1.1 firmware days, I have been longing for this feature to be added.

Last month Podcaster, an application that would do just this was declined from the iTunes AppStore. The reason why was said to be, because it duplicated a function preformed by iTunes. Now it seems we see the true reason.

Some claim this as a Anti-Competitive act on Apples part and I can somewhat agree, but at the same time I am glad I didn’t waste my money on something that I will get for free soon.

Currently the firmware is said to be in “Beta 2″ and there is no information on a possible release date.