iPhone 2.x firmware - a rant.

[Ed2020]

I'm sure all of this has been covered elsewhere, but I have to get it off my chest.

The iPhone 2.x firmware comes with a lot of nice features, but it also comes with some *really* annoying and unnecessary bugs. These are the ones that are really winding me up at the moment:

1. Overall performance. Granted 2.0.1 is much better than 2.0.0 (which was, frankly, dire), but it's still not as good as it was under the 1.x revisions. I have to wonder whether they have achieved some of the battery life improvements by under-clocking the CPU.

2. As far as I can see I cannot restore to a version prior to 2.0.0, or if I can Apple *really* doesn't want me to. I can see no particularly good reason for this unless 2.x contains vital security patches, but then Apple doesn't detail what these are (if they exist) so I'm left wondering...

3. Weird volume bugs. It seems the volume set under Settings>Sounds is not permanently tied to that set by the volume rocker switch. It gets reset to the one set by the rocker switch when launching certain apps (particularly games, but not all of them. IMHO this is idiotic. I can see no reason for this to be by design, but I fail to see how they could have done it by mistake.

4. Absurd back-up times. I mean really, what exactly is it backing up that takes such a ridiculous amount of time? I can copy a 240MB firmware image across faster than it takes to complete the backup. Even if it's backing up every single installed app every time, and all of their data (even if it hasn't changed, which would be pointless) I fail to see how it can take as long as it does. Apple really need to learn how to do delta backups.

5. Apple's continued insistence on describing updates as containing "bug fixes". WHAT bug fixes? I like to know what I'm installing on any of my computers, including my phone. Even Microsoft gives more detail than this!

On the plus side, thanks to Apple for:

1. Sorting out the Safari crashes problem. It was wearing very thin!

2. The App Store (even if some of the apps are pants, it's a great addition to the phone).

3. Making the best phone on the market, cos even with all the bugs it still kicks the pants off any other smart phone out there, especially those running Windows Mobile. :)

There... I feel much calmer now. Anyone got any annoyances to add to the list? ;)

Ed.

[TheMBC]

I didn't realize the volume thing, but to everything else: YES! Oh, my God, you said it perfectly.
Here are some of my gripes...

1. Overall lagging. I see lagging with start up in my contacts and especially to start settings it takes several minutes. It's quite annoying. Also, sometimes even the slider to unlock the phone lags....and going out of an app...ugh.

2. Location Services. I've noticed that I do turn it off but when I open an app and it asks me if it can use my location, I say yes, but after that: Location Services is on there after. I'd like it to turn off when I close out of that app.

3. Dropped calls. There is a good 3G coverage where I live...and I still get dropped calls.

4. Better management of apps would be great.

5. Not having an updated app go all the way to the first blank app space.

6. Somethings I've always wanted was the ability to not see apps no one uses. Like Stocks or Notes, etc. I've also always wanted the home button to become the capture button in the camera app.

7. Everything should shift to landscape, even the home screen. When I'm using an app in landscape and then hit the home button to just go to another app to use in landscape, there's an inconsistency. It wouldn't be too hard for the apps just to turn 90 degrees along with the title.

8. In the 2.x software, I noticed that when I push the vibrate button it takes about 2 seconds to initiate. Meaning, that when I make my phone go on silent [vibrate] mode it takes roughly 2-3 seconds for the phone to vibrate showing that it's in that state...and the screen has to turn on.

9. The quality of the phone is questionable too. As the rim is raised above (or the glass is lowered) on the lower right of the front of the phone and I have ridges on the back as well as bumps, etc.

[Ed2020]

3. Dropped calls. There is a good 3G coverage where I live...and I still get dropped calls.

I can honestly say I've never had one on my 1st gen iPhone, although I've heard plenty of reports of problems.


4. Better management of apps would be great.


Totally agree. IMHO Installer and Cydia did a better job on jailbroken devices. App Store is a great start, but it could be a lot better.


5. Not having an updated app go all the way to the first blank app space.


Personally I'd prefer it if the icon went to the location of the original one. I organise my apps on screens split by app type. It's a pain having to rearrange them sometimes (although, oddly, not always).


6. Somethings I've always wanted was the ability to not see apps no one uses. Like Stocks or Notes, etc. I've also always wanted the home button to become the capture button in the camera app.


I move all mine to the last screen. Not ideal, but it suffices. Being able to hide or uninstall them would be better.


7. Everything should shift to landscape, even the home screen. When I'm using an app in landscape and then hit the home button to just go to another app to use in landscape, there's an inconsistency. It wouldn't be too hard for the apps just to turn 90 degrees along with the title.


Completely agree. I miss this feature most in the email app.


9. The quality of the phone is questionable too. As the rim is raised above (or the glass is lowered) on the lower right of the front of the phone and I have ridges on the back as well as bumps, etc.


I seem to be one of the lucky ones. My 1st gen is perfect and I'm PICKY about things like this. When I pay £300+ for a phone I expect build quality to be spot on, otherwise it's going back to the shop. It's a pity a lot of people don't seem to be as fortunate as I was.

One more to add to the list, and this is a biggy for me: lack of copy & paste. My wireless network key used to be a string of 63 random ASCII characters. Since it's pretty much impossible to type this in on any keyboard I've had to reduce the length considerably. Copy & paste is primarily a convenience but in this scenario it's a necessity and I do not appreciate having to lower my wireless security in order to connect my iPhone to it. I was amazed they didn't add this to the new features in 2.x. I can knock up a copy/paste capable app in Windows working directly with the Windows API in a very short period of time so I'm damn sure the Apple developers can do the same. Where it is?!

Ed.

[daihard]

2. Location Services. I've noticed that I do turn it off but when I open an app and it asks me if it can use my location, I say yes, but after that: Location Services is on there after. I'd like it to turn off when I close out of that app.

6. Somethings I've always wanted was the ability to not see apps no one uses. Like Stocks or Notes, etc. I've also always wanted the home button to become the capture button in the camera app.

7. Everything should shift to landscape, even the home screen. When I'm using an app in landscape and then hit the home button to just go to another app to use in landscape, there's an inconsistency. It wouldn't be too hard for the apps just to turn 90 degrees along with the title.

8. In the 2.x software, I noticed that when I push the vibrate button it takes about 2 seconds to initiate. Meaning, that when I make my phone go on silent [vibrate] mode it takes roughly 2-3 seconds for the phone to vibrate showing that it's in that state...and the screen has to turn on.
(2) Totally agreed. That annoys the heck out of me.

(6) Hey, I use Stocks and Notes every day. :)

(7) Agreed, too. I'd like to see YouTube behave that way, in particular. I am lefty and tend to tilt the iPhone to the right.

(8) It's about one second for me, but I see your point.