eWEEK Labs Tests the Newest iPhone Features

iPhone firmware 1.1.3 provides several new features, including Google Maps location detection, SMS (Short Message Service) to multiple recipients and a customizable home page.

To upgrade, it took about 10 minutes to download and install the image.

After I unlocked the iPhone after the upgrade, I was immediately presented with instructions on how to customize the main screen.

I could then add Web bookmarks to the iPhone dashboard, allowing me to access my favorite Web sites with fewer clicks.

By holding down an icon for a few seconds, the widgets started to shake, indicating that I could change things around. I could delete my custom bookmarks (top), but not the preinstalled applications. I could, however, move seldom-used applications to a secondary screen, as the iPhone now supports as many as nine pages of icons (bottom left). To move an icon, I just dragged a wiggling icon to where I wanted it.

By pressing the button on the lower left of the Google Maps interface, the iPhone will estimate a user’s current location. The iPhone first attempts to calculate position via Wi-Fi using Skyhook’s Wi-Fi Provisioning System, then falls back to cell phone tower triangulation. A larger circle indicates cell tower tracking.

Users can drop a pin on the map, then re-position the pin to better reflect actual location. During tests, my actual location was just barely within the confines of the predicted target area.

I could use the pinned location as the starting point for door-to-door directions.

The new version allows users to send SMS messages to multiple users at the same time. Replies show up in separate threads.