As any respectable Apple or iPhone fanboy would know by now, the 3.0 version of the iPhone OS Software has been officially released by Apple. One of the most prominent new features in this software version is cut, copy, and paste, a feature that has been long awaited for by many iPhone users. I’ll be the first to admit that it took Apple way too long to get this into such a powerful device, but I believe the extra time they took to create it payed off. It works really well, for the most part.
Cut, copy, and paste works system-wide on the iPhone and functions alongside the magnifying glass that is used to navigate text boxes more closely. To enter this mode, the user simply holds on text until the magnifying class shows up, and then lets go. Two lines that can be dragged to highlight the text appear, and a copy button is placed around the text. Simply highlight the area you want and tap the button. To paste, you simply click in a text field to make the menu appear that has the three options of select, select all, and paste. It works really smoothly.
Depending upon whether the text can be removed, a cut button may appear alongside of the copy button when initially getting the text. A cool feature Apple has also implemented with this update is the ability to undo cuts or pastes. If you cut the wrong area of text and want to start over, you just simply shake the device and tap undo in the menu that slides over. While this is great for when it is needed, I find that sometimes it appears when I don’t mean it to, which can be somewhat irritating.
As I said, the way Apple implemented this feature is very simple, yet very functional. It works a little differently in some situations, but it knows what the user is trying to do, for the most part. For example, when in the texting application, the user can simply double tap a chat button to copy the whole text in that message. Also, when in Safari, it can copy media (such as images) as well, and sometimes is able to know when you are trying to highlight a whole paragraph. It surely makes communicating certain information on the iPhone much, much easier.
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I was able to successfully copy and paste an item from the site play.com today, with the copied items being the dvd title, dvd cover, description, and BUY button. Not only did this all paste into an email to myself successfully (for testing of course), but I was also able to tap the BUY button in the email which proceeded to take me to the website and add the item to my basket!! Likewise, if I tapped the dvd title, it took me to the items page in Safari.
Excellent stuff! Well done Apple!
On my iPod Touch, I don't have to hold until the magnifying glass shows up, just a slightly longer tap will bring up the cut copy paste stuff. Saves half a second if you are in a hurry.