I have had the pleasure—yes, I mean pleasure—of working with the beta 3 release of OS 3.0 for the iPhone. I flashed my phone with the firmware about four hours ago, and it is just flat out fast. Finger gestures, taps, application response are all faster than any of the OS 2 builds. I am excited for everyone because they seem to be releasing a new build about every two weeks or so, so I can only image how fast this is going to be when released to the masses.

I have been working with the 3.0 software for the iPhone for a few days now, and I really wish they would fix it. I have actually lost some functionality, along with gaining all of the new features. Before I upgraded, when I got either a MobileMe or an Exchange e-mail, the phone would venerably “ding” with a short vibration. I loved it and used it many times a day. It is broken with 3.0.

The new iPhone 3.0 build opens up push notifications to developers in the SDK, allowing them to write code for in-game purchases, and obviously push notifications. Apple has also reportedly fixed several bugs and made the OS more stable, allowing it to run just that much faster. With my short term experience with it, it is actually a usable beta now. My iPhone has not crashed in the three hours I have been running the 7A259 build.

We all know that Betas are buggy. We all know that Betas crash. This one is no different. If you put that aside, then I have to say that 3.0 is pretty sweet. A lot of new features, and most of them are nicely designed and very functional.