As promised,
Apple today released the iPhone 2.1 software update, available to download
for iPhone customers by connecting their iPhone to the computer, launching
iTunes and selecting “Check For Update.”
Many of the features are centered around improving 3G performance and
longer battery life, the two biggest knocks
on Apple’s otherwise well-received mobile device. Initial reports on the popular MacRumors
forums are mostly positive, with comments about improved 3G reception.
Unlike prior fixes, which just said “bug fixes,” iPhone 2.1 actually has
a detailed list of what Apple changed.
- decrease in call set-up failures and call drops
- significantly improved 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 if you have lots of 3rd 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
The “Genius” playlist generator is a new feature added to the iPod that
lets the user select a song, and then a recommended playlist of similar
tracks. The iPods will also get this feature.
Also included in this fix is a patch for a bug that would allow
unauthorized users to bypass the password protection of the iPhone and get at
the user’s contact info, simply by quickly pressing the Home button twice.
The patch also applies fixes to the older, EDGE network-based model, and
will also be available for the iPod Touch, which retains a lot of the
features of the iPhone.