I hope they didn't just display the signal strenghth to be more than what it really is just to make us happy. Now I have full bars even under ground in the subways and tunnels, but still can't make calls. I would rather it depecit actual signal strength.
Apple iPhone 2.1 firmware update now available
Apple has posted the new 2.1 firmware update for 2G and 3G iPhones, following its announcement at the “ Let’s Rock ” event on Tuesday. The update is only available through the new iTunes 8, via the usual ‘Check for Update’ button on the iPhone screen.
Apple has listed a dozen improvements that the 2.1 firmware “includes”, most notably “significantly better battery life”. Given that just about every iPhone 3G owner has moaned about the battery life, it’ll be interesting to see just how the new firmware fares on this front. More details after the cut.
Another interesting additional is the nod towards better security with the option to erase the iPhone’s data after ten failed attempts to enter the passcode. Apple has also closed the security loophole that allowed the iPhone Favorites to be accessed by bypassing the passcode.
We’re rather less impressed by the “Repeat alert up to two additional times for incoming text messages” though, and we'd much rather have an optional indefinite alert. Notifications repeat after five and 10 minutes, then that's your lot.
The Genius auto-playlist creator works in a similar way to the iTunes 8 tool, though only with tracks stored on the iPhone. You'll need to sync the iPhone with iTunes after the firmware update for Genius to appear, after which you'll find it as a new playlist entry. You can also access it when playing a track by tapping the album artwork, then the Genius icon below the playback indicator bar.
Backups are dramatically faster with 2.1. On our iPhone 2G with 20 or so applications installed, the backup iTunes made before the update took the best part of 20 minutes. A full backup made after the firmware update (with the previous backup deleted) took just over four minutes.
The Settings for Safari also has a new option for 'Databases. This shows the amount of storage used by Google Translate on our iPhone, so it appears to be just a more granular information screen for certain web applications.
The EDGE status bar icon has also undergone a cosmetic change, and also appears to have had an accuracy tweak. At least we assume so, since the previously strong EDGE signal we had in the Mobile Computer office has changed to a non-existent EDGE signal, post-update...
It's not all good news though, and Apple also appears to have removed the extremely useful ability to take a screenshot by pressing the iPhone's Home and Power buttons simultaneously.
And no, a copy and paste function still hasn't been added.
Here’s the lowdown on some of what the 2.1 firmware fixes, according to Apple:
- Decrease in call set-up failures and dropped calls
- Significantly better battery life for most users
- Dramatically reduced time to backup to iTunes
- Improved email reliability, notably fetching email from POP and Exchange accounts
- Faster installation of 3rd party applications
- Fixed bugs causing hangs and crashes for users with lots of third party applications
- Improved performance in text messaging
- Faster loading and searching of contacts
- Improved accuracy of the 3G signal strength display
- Repeat alert up to two additional times for incoming text messages
- Option to wipe data after ten failed passcode attempts
- Genius playlist creation
Lets us know how you get on with the 2.1 update in the comments.
Originally published on www.mobilecomputermag.co.uk, now incorporated into Broadband Genie
© Dennis Publishing
© Dennis Publishing
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Comments
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I updated to 2.1 and I was able to take a screenshot using the normal "Home and Power button" combo. Worked fine.
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Download and installed the first time without any problems. After install the backup and install Apps is alot faster. I was hoping to see the GPS update but haven't been able to see any as of yet. :cry:
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How do you actually turn on the repeat alerts?
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Editor - Julian ProkazaI think it's automatic - I can't find an option to enable it.
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My iPhone 2g has become much nippier, location services now work, and my data over gprs and edge seems to be coming down the pipe much faster.
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Anyone figured out how the Genius thing works yet..?
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To do genius, play a song, then pull up the time/repeat/shuffle control on the now playing screen. there is now a genius button in that.Anyone else find anything about the repeat text alert?
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Editor - Julian Prokaza
You need to set it up in iTunes 8 and then sync. Then tap the track art in the iPod and you'll see a Genius logo underneath the playback slider.
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what about flash support? nothing yet?
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Well, they only hit 1 of my 3 big issues:1. Battery life!2. Stereo Bluetooth (A2DP)!3. Flash support!I'll just have to wait for 2.2 and 2.3, I suppose.
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So far so good. I like the fact that app icons do not move to the end now when you download an update.
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Like the update. It doesn't feel like a beta anymore.
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Last night my little sun dropped my iphone in to a glass of water and it was there for one hour when i saw it.....Oh nooooo it was gone...to hell......my sun told me ''dad a fishi in a glass... :)
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Love the update, except MS Exchange calendar previously in burgundy is now neon yellow with white font... Pretty much unreadable. Any clue how to change this?
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1) Single level "springboard" (home screen), so you can't organize your applications into sub-folders or categories. It is like only having the ?ALL? option on a Palm Treo 2) Email is very limited in capability. For example, there is no ability to "select all" within an email folder, so cleaning out SPAM folder is a tedious task. Nor can you search your emails in any way. Email does not synchronize with Outlook (only contacts and calendar). 3) Contacts can only be displayed by name, not by company; 4) Can not search for contacts with the keyboard, so if you have a lot of contacts, you have to scroll through your address book until you find it - NOT SURE IF THIS WAS THERE BEFORE V2.1 FIRMWARE, BUT IF YOU GO TO THE TOP OF YOUR CONTACTS THERE IS NOW A WINDOW TO SEARCH CONTACTS.4) Can't move applications to large memory block (phone is partitioned) 5) When browsing, can't set zoom level and stay there. You have to keep zooming in/out as pages change 6) Battery life is dismal when you actually use the phone for anything, and the battery is soldered to the phone, so replacement is a major task and there is no possibility of having a spare battery to swap - APPLE CLAIMS IMPROVED BATTERY LIFE WITH V2.1 FIRMWARE.7) There is no slot for external memory (Micro SD) 8) No video or voice recorder and there is no zoom (or any other controls) for the camera 9) Volume on speaker phone is so low it can't be used 10) Glossy surface and rounded shape means that it scratches almost immediately, so you're going to get a cover anyway. Apple could have saved us all the time and effort by adhering to "function over form" adage 11) Typing on the touch screen keyboard is inconsistent and a stylus (or long finger nails) can't be used because of technology utilized 12) No snooze option for calendar events 13) Only one application can be open at a time, so if the phone rings, you lose whatever you were in, such as creation of a calendar event 14) No JAVA/Flash so you lose out on a lot of web content 15) No cut and paste
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[quote=dodgerdog]Love the update, except MS Exchange calendar previously in burgundy is now neon yellow with white font... Pretty much unreadable. Any clue how to change this?[/quote]I'm seeing the same thing. WTF? Anyone know what's going on with this?
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Since upgrading iphone firmware. Wi-Fi function is not working. The icon for wi-fi under the settings section is in gray and not active.
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I've been running the update to 2.1 for almost 2 hours now. 2.1 is downloaded via iTunes, and has moved on to updating the phone, but the status bar doesn't seem to be moving....is this normal?
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