After the deluge of new iPods and iTunes 8, Apple today released version 2.1 of its iPhone software. This is available as a free upgrade for all iPhone users. Just plug your phone into iTunes 8, hit update, and you’re on your way (after a no doubt lengthy backup).
Apple lists the full set of improvements as:
- 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
Some of these look essential if they are to be believed (I’m particularly looking forward to enhanced battery life), but obviously improvements of that sort that will take a while to gauge. What I can say for certain after a quick review is that backing up the iPhone does seem very significantly faster, which is a great relief. Texting seems more responsive too, although I haven’t noticed any real improvements in the speed of searching through my contacts list. Nor have I noticed any real change in the phone’s signal strength, despite the new icons used to denote the type of data connection to the cellular network.
Genius playlists seem to work quite well on the iPhone, although the device’s limited capacity does hinder it from having a large enough pool of songs to allow it a good chance of close matching (unless most of the music on your iPhone is fairly similar anyway, in which case the feature’s a little redundant). Still, you can’t lay that small criticism at the feet of the Genius algorithm itself.
Joni Mitchell and Joy Division make unhappy bedfellows
To state the obvious (but you never know): in order to enable the Genius feature you have to first sync the iPhone with a copy of iTunes that itself has Genius enabled – else it won’t be activated. Once done, you should see the Genius icon at the top centre of the display when you single-tap a track that’s playing. Pressing this icon will generate the Genius playlist, which can then be saved or regenerated as you wish.
A nice feature for the security conscious is the date wipe option. This will wipe all iPhone data upon a tenth successive incorrect attempt at passcode entry. You have to enable this option in the iPhone’s Settings > General > Passcode Lock screen:
As you can see, I’ve been too timid to take the plunge yet, but I’ll be turning it on shortly: there’s too much personal information on these devices to risk it all falling into unscrupulous hands. (Can hands have scruples? Answers on a postcard.) This is a very welcome addition to iPhone security following the recent passcode-workaround knock, and it’s to be applauded.
I’m fortunate enough not to have been affected by most of the other issues that 2.1 allegedly fixes, such as dropped calls, so I’ve nothing to report on any improvements there. From what little I’ve tried, though, this is a great little update, if a fairly dull and utilitarian one.
Now, in 2.2 I’d like to see the big guns come out:
- Copy and Paste
- Voice Dialling
- 3rd Party app background operation
- Text forwarding
- Tethering
That’s what I’d call an update, and one that I’d actually be happy to pay for. Most of it’s highly unlikely, of course, but these are the features I’d expect to see in this (or a future) iPhone before it can really be called The Best Phone Ever: the iPwn*. (It may currently be the best portable internet device / iPod ever, but that’s another matter.)
Make it so, Mr Jobs.
* My sincerest apologies.
I have no idea what you’re taliking about. is it like a walkman? tara.
I havent added the 2.1 update to my iWalkman yet, the data erase feature while I can see how it would be beneficial, if you work somewhere with unscrupulous colleagues, it may well be taken advantage of (to purposefully wipe).
Back up your phones people!