iPhone 3.0 OS: Use GPS to find a lost iPhone, coming 17 June

By Nate Lanxon on 08 June 2009, 7:27pm

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iPhone 3.0 OS: Use GPS to find a lost iPhone, coming 17 June Image 1

At WWDC 2009, Apple has confirmed the iPhone is getting TV show downloads and movie rentals. No, not via PC -- directly over the iPhone, via Wi-Fi -- plus a whole lot more.

This news leaked a little while ago, but now it's official. The iPhone will also be able to support tethering -- ie, using your phone as a modem with your laptop -- and you'll be able to use it wirelessly with Bluetooth or via USB. This is a feature most modern phones have done for years, but then so was MMS. Better late than never, and all that.

But here's a killer new feature: if you lose your iPhone, the new Find My iPhone allows you to log into your control panel of MobileMe (which you need to pay for, incidentally), and it'll show you exactly where your iPhone is on a Google Map. It uses the phone's built-in GPS, and if you find the phone is in the hands of a nefarious new owner, you'll be able to wipe its memory completely -- and remotely. If you get it back, you can just restore its memory from a backup on your computer.

The phone's Safari browser has apparently had a speed boost, and handles Javascript several times faster than the existing version. This is cause for celebration if you frequently use Facebook and Gmail, which rely enormously on Javascript.

Other new features, which we've covered extensively in our previous iPhone OS 3.0 coverage, include multiplayer gaming over Bluetooth, MMS messaging, turn-by-turn directions for in-car GPS navigation, copy/paste across multiple apps, push notifactions within apps (such as when you get a new message on Facebook, it'll pop up on your home screen), in-app purchases for buying new content for pre-downloaded games and applications, Spotlight search across personal content stored on the phone, and the integration of Google Maps functionality within any apps developed by third-party developers.

The iPhone OS 3.0 will be available on 17 June, and will be free for iPhone users, or $9.99 (£6.25) for iPod touch users.