Last night Beta 5 for iPhone OS 3.0 emerged, well ahead of schedule (closer to one week after the last beta, rather than the standard two weeks pattern we ‘d seen up to now).
I installed it very late last night. Haven ‘t spent much time at all with it yet, but from what I can see, and gather at forums and other sites, there is very little new in this beta “ except (we hope) some polishing, bug fixing, performance improving stuff behind the scenes.
The most notable new element that I ‘ve seen or heard of so far is the addition of age-based restrictions for apps. As you can see in the screencap above, the settings range from 4+ at the lowest end to 17+ and ‘Allow All Apps ‘ at the high end.
This is the sort of settings add-on that many people are hopeful will allow Apple to loosen up their policies on rejecting apps that contain ‘objectionable content ‘. So I ‘m very glad to see this feature show up in the latest beta.
Aside from this one new feature, the items getting the most attention are subtractions rather than additions. Lots of folks are reporting that this beta has taken away the ability to use MMS and tethering “ or at least it does so if you also install the latest iTunes beta update alongside the new firmware, I think. I haven ‘t followed the conversations on what exactly breaks MMS and / or tethering, as I really don ‘t use or care about either of those features right now.
Anyone else spot anything new and fascinating in Beta 5 yet?
Continue reading:
- Everything New Apple Just Announced (Septembe
- Apple Watch Pre-Order
- Apple Research Kit launches with 5 Apps
- Apple TV now only $69
TAGS: iPhone OS 3.0, new features
