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Ok so as the new iPhone 3G S is available on the 19 June 2009, I set about seeing how I could get my grubby little mits on one, considering i took out my iPhone 3G contract on the 9 July 2008 and still have just over 6 months to go.

Apparently they are not doing early upgrading again like when we upgraded from the original iPhone to the iPhone 3G, is not going to happen.
So I called my account manager to see what can be done. After explaining my plight my manager gave me some good news.
If your a o2 Platinum account holder you can upgrade 6 months early…
Bring on the 9th July, and £87.11 for the upgrade and Bobs your uncle!

o2 have 3 different tiers:

• All customers continually spending over a minimum of £80.00 a month, receive a 6 month early upgrade
• All customers continually spending over a minimum of £50.00 a month, receive a 3 month early upgrade
• All customers continually spending a minimum of £35.00 a month, receive a 1 month early upgrade

Best you start spending a bit extra

The 3rd Apple iPhone is set to be released on the 19 June 2009, just in case you’ve been living under a rock.
Its called the iPhone 3G S, the S is for Speed. Its supposed to be twice as fast as the current iPhone but it looks exactly the same. Also don’f forget the new iPhone/iPod OS 3.0 is out on the 17 June 2009! The OS adds a lot of great features itself, then tie that in with the new iPhone 3G S and you have a really neat package.

This new little beauty has some nifty new features.
Here is 10 of the best:

1. It’s faster

Apple launched the iPhone 3G S by announcing it has a faster processor, more memory and “snappier performance”. Although the iPhone3G is no slouch, it can be a little sluggish when opening and closing applications. If Apple‘s demo videos are anything to go by, the iPhone 3G S will be a much zippier smartphone.

2. It has more memory

Apple will sell two models of the iPhone 3G S: 16GB and 32GB. There original iPhone came with 4GB, 8GB or 16GB of storage.

3. Video recording

Wow! A smartphone in 2009 that can record video? No way! Apple critics will point to the fact that the iPhone 3G can’t record video as an example of a phone that lacks some basic features, but for potential iPhone owners the addition of video recording is a real plus.

4. Improved camera

The iPhone 3G S has a 3-megapixel camera with autofocus, compared with the iPhone 3G’s 2-megapixel, non-autofocus camera. It still lacks a flash, but the increased megapixel count should slightly improve photos and tapping an area on the screen to focus on is a cool feature that should make mobile photography easier.

5. You can talk to it

The iPhone 3G S introduces what Apple calls Voice Control, a voice recognition feature that allows you to make a call and play music by speaking. Voice Control can find any entry in your contacts list, and users simply have to say a name or phone number to make a call. For music, you can ask what song is playing and hear the iPhone 3G S answer, tell it to play your favourite album, or play similar tracks to the current one.

6. It has a built-in compass

A built-in digital compass is another new feature of the iPhone 3G S. We aren’t sure exactly how often anyone would use this as a standalone app, but when combined with Google Maps, the compass will rotate maps to always match the direction you’re facing. Now that is pretty cool.

7. Internet tethering

The iPhone 3G S can now be used as a modem, connecting to a Mac or PC via USB or Bluetooth. Although AT&T in the US won’t be supporting this feature, Optus is one Australian telco that has confirmed it will be. Telstra and Vodafone are yet to announce whether they will offer tethering capability, and o2 in the UK will be charging a whopping £15 for 3GB of data.

8. Accessibility features

Apple has included a number of features that help people with disabilities use the iPhone 3G S. These include Apple’s VoiceOver function, which reads aloud what is on the screen, a zoom function that magnifies up to five times, and a white on black display option that provides increased contrast.

9. Nike+ iPod integration

Previously only available for selected iPod nano models, Apple‘s Nike + iPod is a fitness system that involves a Nike shoe communicating wirelessly with an iPod. The iPhone 3G S will be compatible with the system, which displays real time walking or running statistics.

10. New headphones

The iPhone 3G S will include Apple‘s remote headphones in the sales package. The new headphones have a multi-button remote and volume control keys, as well as a microphone to handle voice calls.

For the latest on the iPhone 3G S check out Apple iPhone.

Apple iPhone/iPod 3.0 OS is finally here, and it’s brought some exciting new features. It’s about time too. Call me a Apple fan, but I’m actually quite excited about this new release. Although, saying that, these features should have been introduced with the launch of  the first iPhone, and Apple claiming that the iPhone is 5 years ahead of everyone else is a slight exaggeration in my books. Apple do a wonderful job of making these features sound new, fresh and exciting, totally covering the fact its a bit late in the day.

Google Maps & more: For the first time, developers will be able to create software with maps embedded into it with relative ease. This API will provide the tools, but developers will have to supply their own maps; they won’t be able to use the proprietary ones that are part of Google Maps.

In addition, Apple will start allowing developers to access the iPhone‘s location information to create navigation software with turn-by-turn directions. Bring on TomTom, or Garmin.

Peer-to-Peer Connectivity: This will allow two iPhone‘s or iPod touches to connect to each other over Bluetooth to play head-to-head games. Thanks to this upcoming feature, two devices that are near each other and are both running the same game will automatically seek each other out. While gaming is the most obvious use for this, Apple promised there would be others.

In-App-Purchase: This will allow companies to sell items from within applications. On-device e-book stores is one example, but developers will also be able to sell additional levels for their games. Naturally, this will still be tied to the iTunes App Store, and Apple will get 30% of the revenue.

Cut, Copy & Paste (Finally): Confirming the earlier rumors, iPhone 3.0 will – finally – allow iPhone users to cut & paste and copy & paste. Naturally, the process for selecting text will take advantage of this device’s multi-touch screen. This feature will be available in Apple‘s own software and third-party apps.
And it extends to more than just text. Users will be able to copy images and paste them into an email. You can also Cut, Copy & Paste between different apps, so from Safari to Mail for instance.

MMS, A2DP & more: iPhone 3.0 will also mark the arrival of other features long available in the iPhone‘s competitors, including MMS messaging, Stereo Bluetooth, device search, and voice memos. This should mean you can use already created hands free kits, or bluetooth music devices.
In addition, landscape support is being added to more of the bundled applications.
Apple is also going to release a new SDK (software developer kit) for handling streaming audio and video, including HDTV streaming.

A few other features that speak for themselves:

Forwarding of SMS
Search functionality in all applications like mail and even on an Exchange Server
Spotlight home screen with search
Notes Sync
Whole new set of API’s
New api for streaming video and audio
Use your iPhone to remotely control accessories
CalDAV Support
Updated Stocks app (Streaming news headlines, highs, lows, and PEs. Also a landscape mode)
Shake to Shuffle (iPod Nano feature)
Wifi Auto login
LDAP
iTunes account creation
YouTube ratings
Anti-Phishing
Call Log
Parental Controls
Media Scrubber
OTA Profiles
VPD on Demand
Languages
YouTube Subscriptions
YouTube Accounts
Encrypted Profiles
Tethering
Send/Receive files between devices

You can watch the Apple presentations of the new iPhone 3.o release here.

Thanks to Brighthand.com for some of the information.

The iPhone Firmware 2.2 Beta 2 download was made available to developers, and with it comes some nice features. Some were a waste of time, some were alright…

The main thing so far is that there will be an overhaul of the iPod, which will let you download podcasts from your iPhone. This will be 10MB or less via your carrier, or if its bigger via your Wifi. This would explain why Apple rejected the Podcaster app last month, which offered the same thing. Seems Apple does not want competition.

Along with the iPod update, there will be Google Street View. Useful, I’m sure. I’m still waiting for when I can sit at work, log on, and check whether I left the iron plugged in. Also included in the Google update is Public Transport, so you can plan your journey from A to B, without having to go via C, D and E. Very useful.

If you ever needed to tell someone where you were, but didn’t know yourself, well now you can. Sound crazy? With Google Maps, you can send your location to anyone else. When you click the send location button, it attaches your location into a email and sends it on. This can be useful when meeting someone, and you both swear your on the right corner, but one of you can’t read your road signs. So send your location to your buddy.

Another thing added is Emoji. Emoji are picture characters that are very popular in the Japanese mobile market. They basically look like smileys or emoticons. Cute.

There is now an option to disable Auto-Correction on your iPhone. Along with this, when you delete an app, a pop up asks you to rate it first.

Also there is a refresh of Safari (nothing fancy, just a face lift). It’s not like redesigning Safari was high on my list of things I’d change or add. In fact, I don’t even think its on anyone’s list. But redesign it they did. There’s no more little magnifying glass icon at the top of the page. Instead, the address bar is shifted over and shrunk, and the search bar sits alongside it. Oh, and the refresh button becomes part of the address bar.

Yet, besides all of this, there is still no Copy & Paste, and no support for MMS! Unless, of course, you’re using Jailbreak. There is a great site called PleaseFixTheiPhone, where it’s open to the public to get a response for features they want.

I recently tried to setup another email account on my iPhone 3G. It was all going smoothly and it was all setup until i tried to send mail. I could receive mail with no problem, just not send it. I checked my incoming and outgoing servers, all are setup perfectly, so I spent the next hour trying different options. SSL on, SSL off, port 25, port 587 and so on. All to no avail.

So I called my o2 Account Manager, the joys of being a V.I.P. (apparently), and explained the issue and that all i needed was the o2 SMTP server as it was blocking my hosting’s server. This was like talking to a brick wall, as the agent on the phone had no clue what a SMTP server was. So I pulled up my sleeves and went digging on the o2 website. I found some helpful details all by myself.

To connect to the o2 SMTP server, all you need to do is use these server details:

smtp.o2.co.uk
username@o2.co.uk
password
SSL off
Server Port 25

The username and password is what you use to log onto the o2 website, to check your bill, and all other details.

Only issue with this is you cannot use the o2 SMTP settings through Wifi! So it kind of defeats the purpose. If you’re on a Wifi network, in order to send email you will have to switch off your Wifi send and then re-enable it. Long winded, so I will try finding a new solution.

*Edit* Thanks to Chris and Stash for their helpful comments. I have done some testing over multiple servers and found that using SMTP on port 465 works the best over wifi, 3G, Edge, and GPRS! I have been able to send mail through wifi then walk out my flat and still able to email out over the o2 network. All groovy, no more having to switch wifi on or off, and having to change different ports or anything anymore!