Safari 2.0 Upgrades: 3 New Things To Do
July 17, 2008
With the official public release of iPhone 2.0 Firmware late last week, we thought we'd offer a quick summary of the new changes to Safari:
Watch Videos - The mobile Safari for iPhone is notorious for lacking Macromedia Flash capabilities that requires a special & separate Youtube program with specially formatted vids. Now, at least running into video-roadblock-hell, Firmware 2.0 embeds thumbnails of Youtube videos directly into the Safari page, complete with a nifty white arrow enclosed in a circle to let you know that it's playable.
Save Pictures - Now you can save pictures & images while browsing the web on Safari (and in Mail program). Just hold your finger on the image and an animated menu will appear from the bottom of your screen. From here you can save the file (in its original file size!) directly to your camera roll, from which you can email, save as wallpaper, use as a contact photo, and move/trash.
Type Faster - Savvy Safari users will know about the ".com" button that appears on the bottom of the Safari keyboard, allowing you to instantly fill in the end of your favorite URLs (i.e. appleiphoneapps + ".com button" = goodness). Now, when that button is held, you'll be given other common website suffix options: .net, .edu., and .org.
Any shortcut provided on the iPhone's virtual keyboard is a plus, as a poor typing interface is one of the major complaints leveraged against Apple by consumers & competitors alike.
One click of the arrow and you're Youtube will automatically launch and begin playing the video. Upon clicking the 'Done' button in the upper-right corner you'll be transported directly back to your spot on the Safari page you started watching from.