After downloading the somewhat anticipated iPhone 1.1.3 update last night and having a day to play with it, after initially low expectations Iv got to say its grown on me. Firstly the Home screen (now screen's) has been updated to allow users to customize it by rearranging icons and adding bookmark style "webclips" to the Home screen which not only remember what part of the web page to look at when touched but even produce a little image based on the web sites design, very nice! Icons can also be re arranged by holding your finger over an icon and they begin to wobble, indicating they are ready to be rearranged to your hearts content! You can even swap out the icons in the Dock and arrange them onto separate Home screens though the Dock icons remain consistent and feels similar to Spaces (A feature of Apples Desktop Operating System.)

Im a big fan of Maps and id be (literally) lost without it and its received a much deserved pampering in the update. Firstly The "Locate Me" feature pings nearby cell (mobile phone) towers/marsts to triangulate your position. Though I thought this would be a bit gimmicky at first I have found it to be very accurate, even to around 5-10 meters in built up areas though this can grow over 200 meters in rural areas! Especially useful for when you get lost in town though! From here you can get directions to nearby Restaurants, Cinemas ect and pretty much any address with a ZIP/Postal code. The user interface has also had a makeover, the cluttered lower menu has been replaced by an elegant eye style button which peals the map upwards in a flip board like fashion unveiling a drop pin button (which lets you drop and drag a pin to wherever you want for safekeeping), Show Traffic and the different views which now has a much welcome new member, Hybrid, which lets you view an overlay of road names on top of a satellite view, which is useful when looking out for landmarks and road names simultaneously.

The iPod also get a gloss of paint which new chapter support for movies as well as lyrics support, which may be a niche market but Im sure more than enough people are going to love it.

The iPod touch wasn't left out in the cold though, new iPod Touches will come pre installed with the update while existing owners can upgrade for $20 (which isn't bad considering it includes 5 new apps (Mail, Maps, Notes, Stocks and Weather) a slightly updated interface to bring it inline with the iPhone.
That pretty much sums up the update, but with the SDK on track for a Late February Launch, more iPhone love should be coming our way soon
keep your eyes pealed!

Tags: iPhone, Apple, Tech, MacWorld, iPod, iPod Touch