Apple’s iPhone firmware 2.0 shows Contacts with Spotlight search icon during SDK event

Tuesday, March 11, 2008 · 9:08 am · 16 Comments

“So, while Phil Schiller was talking about the new Enterprise features that were going to be released on the iPhone during the SDK event on March 6th, I noticed a new feature that was added into the Contacts section of the Phone application. It is a little spotlight icon right above the A on the alphabet,” Daniel Ahdout reports for blargKaboom.

“We have no clue how search will be implemented into iPhone, maybe a little pop-up, but it will definitely be helpful to Enterprise users who have thousands of contacts,” Ahdout reports.

Full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers "MacVicta" and "Brawndo Drinker" (It's got electrolytes!) for the heads up.]

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16 Comments

shen

Tuesday, March 11, 2008 - 9:16 am · Reply

odd that it is set so low in the grey bar…..

still, i suspect it is coming!

John

Tuesday, March 11, 2008 - 9:24 am · Reply

Forget about enterprise users: I personally have almost 2,000 contacts in my address book. This would be a HUGE improvement for me, especially as sometimes I can’t recall a contact’s last name, but might remember the company they work for or their first name.

This can’t come soon enough–it’s more important than copy/paste for my usage!

Jamie

Tuesday, March 11, 2008 - 9:30 am · Reply

John,

Have you tried organising your contacts on your Mac Address Book into Groups, it might help you narrow your searches down.

I have done this and I find it incredibly helpful.

Jay-Z

Tuesday, March 11, 2008 - 9:30 am · Reply

@ shen:

The grey bar is just a letter break bar. I suspect the break bars will move behind it just as they do the letters. No correlation between the two.

ping

Tuesday, March 11, 2008 - 9:44 am · Reply

Looks rather as if it is simply located at the top of the scolled list itself, which is why it’s in the alphabet jump column.

The most logical implementation would be an entry field just like the URL field in mobile Safari (which also scrolls out of view at the top of the page if I remember correctly). Entering anything there would most probably work as a filter just as in any OS X application (such as iTunes).

I don’t think there’s really that much need to guess…

PC Apologist

Tuesday, March 11, 2008 - 10:12 am · Reply

Just another case of Apple leaving key features out of the product, then trotting it out later as a revolutionary new feature.

You’re telling me “find” is a 2.0 feature? Really? When will we tire of being insulted like this?

–PCA

Jesus

Tuesday, March 11, 2008 - 10:27 am · Reply

Why the need.. they are in alphabetical order. Just touch the corresponding letter on the right. Pretty simple.

madgunde

Tuesday, March 11, 2008 - 10:33 am · Reply

@Jesus,

Except you might not remember someone’s last name, only their first, or maybe you remember the name of the company they work for or any other detail EXCEPT the sort name. Has happened to me plenty of times. Plus, if you have thousands of contacts, that could mean hundreds of names that begin with the same letter, having to flick through hundreds of names to get to the exact one can be time consuming. The iPhone has a keyboard, let us just type the name out like we can in the SMS application to quickly find the contact we want. So simple, yet somehow Apple dropped the ball on this one.

Chris

Tuesday, March 11, 2008 - 10:37 am · Reply

Jesus, search is handy because only the names are in alphabetical order. A search can find contacts that match criteria other than just name–text in the notes, for example.

Randian

Tuesday, March 11, 2008 - 10:47 am · Reply

@PC Apologist . . .

You say “we” as if you are the spokesperson for tech consumers world wide. Make no mistake, sir or madam, you do NOT speak for me or anyone in my immediate circle of friends and associates. If you are personally insulted by this issue, vote with your feet, not your mouth, and flee this site and Apple’s products. I’m absolutely positive there are plenty of things you can complain about on other sites with the Microshaft iPhune.

Ampar

Tuesday, March 11, 2008 - 10:49 am · Reply

Or, you might have ten hookers named Angel and ten named Raven but you have them all organized by a special talent.

Toasty

Tuesday, March 11, 2008 - 10:57 am · Reply

@Ampar

That was very funny!

Ampar

Tuesday, March 11, 2008 - 11:13 am · Reply

To Toasty: Thanks. The iPhone does have its practical side.

Anonymous©

Tuesday, March 11, 2008 - 1:32 pm · Reply

@Ampar, have you been reading Spitzer’s diary again?

Ampar

Tuesday, March 11, 2008 - 2:13 pm · Reply

To Anonymous: That deserves a spit take!

Masa

Tuesday, March 11, 2008 - 4:45 pm · Reply

They should make it bigger and maybe place it in a circle like in the menu bar. It would be easier to detect.

Or maybe they wanted us to mix it with the alphabets, so the surpise would still be there in June. If they bet on that, they’re not that smart, I mean people go these over frame by frame …always.