We've warned you: iPhone OS beta builds are for developers—they can leave your device useless for day-to-day tasks. Naturally this means we're playing with the latest build, iPhone OS 4.0 Beta 3, and are keeping track of changes.
We've just barely started to check for what's new, but we wanted to share the good news for those who have suffered with Beta 2: Beta 3 feels significantly more stable than prior beta builds. Things seem to be running much smoother, and even the ability to take screenshots is back (this was missing in Beta 2 for some odd reason).
Another annoyances that's resolved with this build is closing out apps in the multitasking "drawer." Instead of having to press-and-hold one app icon at a time to get the little minus symbol, you'll now see all the icons change as soon as you press-and-hold one. Much quicker.
Now for those of us who try to use our iPhones in bed and get frustrated that the screen keeps turning, there's some amazing news: Orientation Lock. You just tap it once and your screen will not rotate to drive you nuts.
Right next to the Orientation Lock you'll also find some basic iPod controls so that you don't have to exit an app to change songs (of course, I think this is just compensating for the lack of the old double-tap pop-up controls). You can access these features by swiping all the way to the left in the multitasking drawer.
Of course, among all the good news, there's bound to still be an annoyance or two left:
Your device will not appear in Find My iPhone at me.com. You will not be able to locate, display a message, remotely lock or remotely wipe your device with this beta version of iPhone OS.
We're going to update with details on other changes as we find them, but in the meantime feel free to email me if you've spotted something new in iPhone 4.0 Beta 3 yourself.