Apple’s iPhone OS 3.1 introduced some great new features, including that MMS thing we’ve all been waiting for, but the update also brought some hiccups, including even poorer battery life for an already thirsty device. Apple’s doing something different with this round of complaints, though. It’s getting involved.

This weekend the company started contacting forum users who had complained about battery life, asking follow-up questions like, “When you notice a power drop, does it seem to be a legitimate power drop, or rather an issue with the battery icon indicator?” The users were also prompted to install a battery life logging profile which then syncs back to Apple when you connect to iTunes. There are also instructions for turning off the logging feature once data has been collected.

Apple has gotten involved with some of the past iPhone concerns. Hopefully this time things will get fixed in a timely fashion.

Yelp updated its iPhone app this week and included one very cool easter egg. If you haven’t already, download the update, open your Yelp app, and shake your phone three times. You should get a message telling you that “Monocle” has been activated and can be accessed in the top-right corner of your screen.

So what is Monocle? It’s augmented reality for Yelp. Hitting the monocle button takes you to what looks like the camera application with a Yelp overlay. A compass in the top right corner displays local establishments with a Yelp presence. Rotate your phone to the right spot and you’ll see a little Yelp shortcut card with the name of the establishment. The card scales based on how far away you are, so the biggest cards are closest and the smallest the furthest away. It’s a neat feature, particularly if you’ve just moved somewhere new.

There is one problem, though – augmented reality apps weren’t meant to be released until iPhone OS 3.1. That’s what Apple asked of its developers, anyway. Personally, I appreciate Yelp’s noncompliance, but there are others who think it’s going to hurt the development community. What say you? Sound off in the comments.

Apple has released both the OS 3.1 SDK and the firmware beta for developer testing. As you might expect, it’s not just developers fiddling with the update. iPhone enthusiasts are compiling the changes, which include some nice improvements for on-the-go video editing and even native MMS buttons.

Here’s a quick list of 3.1 updates:

* Non-destructive video editing – When you edit a video in 3.1, you’ll get a prompt to save the edited version, or save both the edited version and a copy of the original.
* Voice Control over Bluetooth
* Vibration when you enter home screen editing
* OpenGL and Quartz improvements
* APIs to allow third-party application access to video controls and editing

OS 3.1 also updates the AT&T profile to 4.2 and updates modem firmware to 5.08.01. The profile update will hopefully allow MMS messaging when the full version is released. Beta testers have found they can create MMS messages but can’t send them.

I’m glad to see Voice Control over Bluetooth since, you know, being hands free is kinda the point of Bluetooth. I’m not sure why the vibration feature is necessary. It’s pretty clear when you enter home screen editing, but hey, maybe not for everyone. As for the rest, looks like we’ll have to wait to see what developers can do with them.