[Joemhz]

Just saw the iphone guided tour. For an iphone user in a non 3G area without the need for exchange email, we did not get much.

Does no cut and paste or spell checker mean they just can't do it ???

[marys]

obviously they can do it, but they must have their reasons for not including this. it's like with the camera: they are capable of making it better but they chose not to. probably they are holding this for future releases of new iphones

[igneous]

yea it looks like it will be necessary to jailbreak the new one. iCopy on the last one seemed like an ok solution(still kind of a pain). I wish apple would have done something

[Sinistar]

Why do they do this? Cause they can. With all the hype they know they can still do well and they know people will still rush out and buy the next edition with a couple more features.

[patcom8]

yeah that drives me nuts. I held out for the 3G iphone because i knew that i would be kickign myself if i only had the first version and then they dumped a new addition on everyone i would feel lame because i wasnt up to date. But even with teh 3G i feel like im goign to get shafted because when christmas rolls aroudn they'll roll out a new higher capacity model, with something special for christmas. thats the 1 big thing the drives me nuts about apple. Even if you buy somethign the DAY it comes out, you have to think to yourself that in a few months your going to have a second rate item.

[BeyondtheTech]

I wouldn't mind so much if they allowed simple things like being able to SMS a YouTube link. I thought they would have incorporated that, since it's a simple money making feature for them. I don't always want to email a link to someone because their iPhone might check for their email at too long of an interval to be effective.

[dhp1080]

Coming up with gestures for copy and paste might be hard for Apple to perfect. You never know why Apple doesn't include a feature, however. The iPhone isn't necessarily a computer but we're still expecting to have the development process of one.

[GaryUSC]

To able to copy and paste, you will need the ability to highlight the section of text or number that you want to copy. Can the current iPhone do highlighting?

Secondly, once you highlight something, you will need menu commands to tell the device to copy, then go to your destination app to paste. As far as I know, the iPhone does not have menus.

Edit: I should say that I am a BB users and have little experience with the iPhone.

[dstrauss#IM]

Coming up with gestures for copy and paste might be hard for Apple to perfect. You never know why Apple doesn't include a feature, however. The iPhone isn't necessarily a computer but we're still expecting to have the development process of one.

My bet is that cut & paste is in line for 2.1. If you go over to the WEBIS website (makers of PocketInformant) you will see that Alex Kac, although under severe NDA, basically said he was not going to do his own cut & paste in PocketInformant for iPhone because he was worried about an implementation that might differ from how it is implemented in the OS. I take that as a wink and nod towards an Apple OS update.

[jmeiners]

I have seen this thought process elsewhere as well. I can't imagine Apple going too much longer without a basic piece of functionality. It is like getting a Lexus that has no steering wheel. A great machine with a key component missing.

[Kupe#WP]

To able to copy and paste, you will need the ability to highlight the section of text or number that you want to copy. Can the current iPhone do highlighting?

No, but you can move the insertion point around (with the little magnifying glass) - it would be a straightforward mod to add a gesture (like touch a second digit to the screen) to highlight text at the insertion mark.

Secondly, once you highlight something, you will need menu commands to tell the device to copy, then go to your destination app to paste. As far as I know, the iPhone does not have menus.

Perhaps, but the iPhone 3G does. Go watch the iPhone 3G Tour video, jump to 10:20, and watch the user "press and hold" an image attached to an email, which causes a pop-up menu to appear from the bottom of the screen with the choices to "Save Image," Save 2 Images" (probably a "save all images," but it can count!), and cancel.

[supermum]

All it takes is ONE Fortune 500 Company (remember all those CEOs in the WWDC video) or Disney!!! for that matter to say... no, we will not be fully integrating your product due to the lack of cut and paste OR we no longer want to use your product because it is too inconvenient without cut and paste... I think cut and paste will come shortly thereafter.

[rosaxoparks]

I agree, C+P to follow in 2.1 or so.

[Billsteve]

should we take bets for how long it will take for 2.1 to come out?

[Cool Cat]

Apple is obviously holding this functionality in reserve for a future release of the iPhone's system software. This isn't something that would be hard for them to do, they're keeping it from us on purpose so that they can release it with much fanfare later on. Kind of silly if you ask me. I talk with my brother about this all the time (he's got an original iPhone), he's convinced that they want to keep you just happy enough that you'll buy the product but not so happy that you won't also buy the next one to get the latest and greatest.

[anon(1217668)]

Apple is obviously holding this functionality in reserve for a future release of the iPhone's system software. This isn't something that would be hard for them to do, they're keeping it from us on purpose so that they can release it with much fanfare later on. Kind of silly if you ask me. I talk with my brother about this all the time (he's got an original iPhone), he's convinced that they want to keep you just happy enough that you'll buy the product but not so happy that you won't also buy the next one to get the latest and greatest.

I hope they release this soon. Really how hard is it to implement cut/copy and paste for a company that's so big on innovation? Maybe they'll leave it as a surprise on July 11, that'd be nice, but probably unlikely.

[abalboa3]

Never really noticed C & P on any other phone. I think my old centro had it, but been using a Sony w580i and used the feature to copy a text message. Kinda nice. Would love to see it implemented on the iPhone. I could see using it way more on an iPhone.

[LOdam7]

My question is why wont apple just do this? Its not like it has some copyright or something. This is one of the things that annoys me about apple products. Otherwise they are the greatest products I have ever owned.

[timebomb16]

I don't mind the whole no cut and paste thing . . . but you would think that apple would at east make the text hilightable so that you can erase big strings at once . . . that's one thing that bugs me about using the 1st gen iPhone :/

[timebomb16]

should we take bets for how long it will take for 2.1 to come out?

hahaha! when i saw this i started laughing i know that there are going to be some glitches in the 2.0 FW . . . lol apple never really gets the first one right (i mean i was stuck with a dock that froze when i tried to force quit from it until 10.5.2)

i'm saying it will be a month....

[timebomb16]

I hope they release this soon. Really how hard is it to implement cut/copy and paste for a company that's so big on innovation? Maybe they'll leave it as a surprise on July 11, that'd be nice, but probably unlikely.

One thing that i've noticed about apple is that they tend to purposely leave out bit of information that everyone wants to know. That way it keeps some sense of suspense, i mean they cant go through absolutely every feature of new phones new firmware . . .

[supermum]

So what were the surprises of last year's iPhone? Anyone know off hand the info that they didn't release until the day of?

[transitator54]

Its amazing how such a simple feature has been left out on the most revolutionary phone. Hopefully it will come in a upgrade.

[BB-fan]

Im curious myself what they are holding back. I hope we are surprised my something we did not know on july 11. I would bet they have something in store for a new update or maybe they will have copy and past available in the apps store on release day.

[hobyphone]

I think that what's holding them back is simply that it's hard to implement in a user-friendly way, and they don't want to put it on the iPhone unless they feel it's perfect. Because once they put it on there, they can't take it off, and they can't change it, because people will get used to it. Jobs is such a perfectionist, and the iPhone is absolutely his baby—he doesn't want anything on there that isn't "the best."

I'm not holding my breath for c&p in 2.1, either. I don't think we'll see it at all in 2008, personally.