iPhone 2.2 update now available: Google Street View, Podcast downloading

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Cell Phones, Google, GPS, Handhelds, Software

Well, I guess that November 21 rumor was true, because the iPhone 2.2 firmware update is now available. This one is pretty hefty in the feature department too, so color us excited. You’ve got the a few nice enhancements to Maps, including Google Street View, public transit directions, walking directions, and the ability to share your GPS location with others via email. Speaking of email, the Mail client enjoys some stability improvements in this release as well, along with better handling of wide HTML email. Safari picks up performance improvements, we get the promise of fewer set-up failures and call drops, and better sound quality for Visual Voicemail.

If you’re a podcast lover (and seriously, we know that you love our shows,) you’ll be ecstatic to hear that, finally, podcasts are available for download in the iTunes application. Seriously, this thing is packed. Connect your iPhone up to your computer and grab the 246MB update now.

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iPhone 2.2 firmware drops November 21?

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Cell Phones, Google, Handhelds, Software

The rumor mill is buzzing today about the soon-to-be-released iPhone 2.2 firmware. iPhone Hellas is saying that we can expect iPhone 2.2 to be available for download on November 21, a mere 10 days away. We have no reason to doubt, since the 2.2 firmware has been in beta for a while now, and everything sounds like it working nicely. With iPhone OS 2.2 you can expect things like walking directions, Google Street View, public transportation information, the ability to share your location with others, over-the-air podcast updates and downloads, and your overall bug fixery.

This is certainly an update we are primed and ready to enjoy, so let’s hope this rumor holds true, cool?

Read More | iPhone Hellas

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iPhone 2.1 firmware released

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Cell Phones, Handhelds, Software

Apple has finally unleashed the iPhone 2.1 firmware to the masses as of an hour or so ago. If you’ve been running iPhone 2.0 since July, then you’ve probably been waiting desperately for this firmware release, which is supposed to clear up a ton of bugs and other annoyances about the app-centric iPhone OS. Here’s a list of the changes and improvements:

• 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

So, there’s a lot of stuff there. Of course, most are concerned primarily with the big fixes. Here’s hoping that iPhone 2.1 is the solid OS that the 2.0 release should have been. You can get the update by connecting your iPhone to your computer, firing up iTunes 8 (it’s required), and hitting “Check for Update.” Good luck!

Read More | iPhone 2.1 details

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iPhone 1.1.3 Q&A: Batch Two

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Cell Phones, Features, Handhelds, Portable Audio / Video

UPDATE: In case you thought this was fake, Steve Jobs just confirmed that our 1.1.3 coverage is real in his MacWorld 2008 keynote.

We’ve been getting hit with tons of iPhone 1.1.3 questions on our 1.1.3 forum thread. In case you missed it, check out our iPhone 1.1.3 video - if you have questions, check out our first batch of 1.1.3 answers. If you still have questions, read the rest of this post, as we answer even more of your questions. If we missed anything, let us know, okay? By the way, if you are looking for an excellent program to create custom ringtones for your iPhone, check out iPhone RingToneMaker.

I have 1.1.1. when i play a song on the ipod and start surfing using safari the music stops. i believe this is a bug. i tried this on a 1.1.2 iphone in the apple store and also experience the same behavior. can you please check if this is fixed in 1.1.3? (Asked here)

This isn’t so much a bug in 1.1.2 as it is a protection. The music will stop playing if the web page you are visiting consumes too much memory. When you load a page in Safari, if it needs more memory, it will unload pages in other tabs. If that isn’t enough, it talks to Springboard, which will start closing other applications, one of which is iPod.

That said, in our testing on 1.1.3, we were able to both listen to music and browse in Safari at the same time.

Do you have any idea how much of this is going to apply to the iPod touch? (Asked here)

I am sure the iPod touch will also gain the ability to move icons around. However, the touch doesn’t have the SMS or Maps apps, which is where a lot of the new features are found.

Click to continue reading iPhone 1.1.3 Q&A: Batch Two

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