i-Phone New Software

If you remember, we said that the i-Phone had the Macintosh operating system embedded within it, which would enable the device to improve functionality substantially over time. Venture Beat writes the following on the expected next release of software:

Right now, it looks like the key new features focus on the Maps application which is built for the iPhone by Google. With the update, users will be able to get public transit directions on their devices. This includes not only bus, subway and train routes, but also walking directions as well. Maps will also now feature Street View, the area which allows you to virtually walk through the streets with real images being shown to you.

The article also points to a survey done by AT&T on what other features i-Phone users want:

• Cut & paste functionality. A third party solution was briefly put in place, but Apple killed that with a software update.
• MMS (picture messaging). It’s still pretty odd that a device so capable cannot do this.
• Flash and JAVA support is there as well, both are perpetually rumored new features.
• iChat (instant messaging). While there are plenty of third party IM solutions out there, none can yet run in the background. The hope is that an Apple-made one could (as I referenced above).
• Downloadable ringtones. Don’t even get me started on how lame these are.
• GPS turn-by-turn directions. This is another feature that is always rumored to be coming and probably will at some point.
• Video recording. The iPhone’s current camera is only enabled to take pictures, but as we’ve seen on iPhone hacked to run applications not in the app store, video is possible. It’s definitely worth noting that the video streaming service Qik apparently has figured out a way to get video recording functionality working on non-hacked iPhones. Both Digg founder Kevin Rose and blogger Robert Scoble have now seen this in action, but the app is still not available in the App Store, and it’s not clear when it will be (though Rose expects soon).