iLounge

Chinese blog UMPCFever (translated link) has photographically confirmed two previously rumored features of the iPhone OS 3.0—an autofocus feature for the still picture camera, and a digital compass—along with new details on their user interfaces. Believed to rely upon new camera hardware found in the upcoming 2009 iPhone, the autofocus feature places a blue box on the existing camera screen to show the current area of crisp focus, enabling users to move the focus area with finger gestures. Sample images show the new camera producing notably sharper, if less colorful images than a prior-generation iPhone camera used for comparison.

Separately, UMPCFever shows an image of a new magnetic compass application, which provides a digital readout and a full rotating analog compass on screen. The application appears to be similar in graphic design to Apple’s voice recording software, previously revealed in beta versions of the iPhone OS 3.0, and is expected to be available only for the 2009 iPhone due to hardware changes. Additional photographs add further credence to previously discussed new features, such as a movie recording mode, and suggest additional debugging tools will be available to help optimize CPU performance.