The New iPhone 3.0 Update Rocks – Finally A2DP!
Filed under Tech Trends.
The new iPhone 3.0 software update FINALLY came out tonight and I jumped right on it. After testing it out, I just had to post a blog write-up… so beware, there is some nerd talk below 
I’ve been waiting for this update for years… literally. The biggest feature I’ve been looking for is the audio A2DP bluetooth stereo profile that is included. The A2DP bluetooth stereo profile is what allows you to stream audio from your iPhone to other bluetooth enabled devices. The technology has been on the market for years and most cars now come with this built in but Apple chose not to include it when they released the first few versions of the iPhone. Up until now, if you wanted to play music from your iPhone or any other non-A2DP enable device, you had to have one of the cigarette lighter adapter cradles or plugs that you connected your iPhone to, and that would stream the music through your car speakers. If your car is already A2DP enabled, then you just have to jump in your car and your phone automatically pairs with your car so if you get a call or want to make a call, you don’t even need to take your phone out of your pocket, the bluetooth connection takes care of everything. Even most GPS devices out there include the A2DP bluetooth profile so that you can stream music and data from your MP3 player or phone directly to the GPS and then to your car.
My car doesn’t have the bluetooth A2DP built in, but I do already have a bluetooth speakerphone from Motorola that I’ve been using for a while. The speakerphone has an FM transmitter so I can listen to phone calls over my car speakers. Cellular calls, however are not transmitted in stereo and do not use the A2DP bluetooth profile. So, until now, if I wanted to use my iPhone as an iPod, then I had to plug my stupid cradle into the cigarette lighter and play music that way.
So tonight after upgrading, I couldn’t resist running out to my car to test it (I know, I’m a geek). I turned on the Motorola speakerphone, which was already tuned to my car stereo from a previous phone call. I clicked on the iPhone & iPod program and selected a song. Without warning, the song started blasting through my car stereo speakers with perfect sound. I mean the sound is the clearest I’ve ever heard from my iPhone.
I am really blown away at the quality of the sound and the quick and simple connection. I didn’t have to configure a thing, my iPhone just detected that I was in my car and paired with the appropriate bluetooth connection on its own. Now I can listen to my iPhone/iPod for songs and audiobooks while driving and when I receive a phone call, it automatically pauses and switches to the phone call. I don’t need to do a thing on my iPhone.
A few other cool features are a new audio voice memos app, which is really handy when you want to make a note of something but are driving and can’t type. The copy and paste feature and the landscape keyboard are also really nice. But one new feature I just stumbled on and hadn’t read about yet, was in the Safari browser settings. There is now a switch to auto-complete forms and passwords so when you are browsing you can automatically fill in any personal information like name and address in online forms and you can also save login and password information for accessing sites with just one click. This is a huge bonus that I wasn’t aware was coming out.
There are a ton of other features included that I haven’t even used yet. Someone posted on twitter earlier tonight, “this is like having a new phone all over again!”. And it’s true. Nice work Apple.
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