Firmware 2.1 to be available on Friday

[daihard]

From the "Let's Rock" conference...

Steve moves into the software on these devices. OS X 2.1 is being released with the new iPod Touch, he says. iPod Touch owners who paid to update to OS X 2.0 are getting a free update to 2.1, but if you never upgraded to 2.0, you need to pay $9.99. The 2.1 software applies to the iPhone as well. "This is a big update, and it fixes lots of bugs." Fewer call drops, fewer app crashes, better battery life, and backing up to iTunes is dramatically faster. These have been the primary complaints around the iPhone 3G and iPhone 2.0, and it appears Apple has addressed those here. It will be available this Friday.

I sure hope 2.1 will be as great as Jobs cracks it up to be!

[WallyWaldo]

guess we'll just have to wait and see... I can tell you one thing though, even if it comes out Friday I'm waiting to see people's repsonses from it before I update.

[Stay Alive 305]

Woops wrong section.

[daihard]

guess we'll just have to wait and see... I can tell you one thing though, even if it comes out Friday I'm waiting to see people's repsonses from it before I update.
I'd be glad to be a guinea pig on this one. :)

[TheMBC]

^ Me too, I just can't believe we have to actually wait...it annoys me. It also annoys me that there's no Push Notification Server...unless that was left out as a surprise :rolleyes:

[zardoz66]

^ Me too, I just can't believe we have to actually wait...it annoys me. It also annoys me that there's no Push Notification Server...unless that was left out as a surprise :rolleyes:

I would much rather wait and have it done right then to push it out and have another 2.0.x pos

[daihard]

I just tried 2.1 on my iPod touch. It has fixed one annoying issue where the icons of updated applications showed up in empty spots rather than their original locations. With 2.1, they do show up in empty spots during the update process, but they will go back to their original spots once the update is complete. Yay!

[kyussmondo]

That is cool daihard. That is one thing that annoyed me, thanks for the heads up. Hopefully there is more. I am sure Apple said MobileMe would be fully fixed by December, so maybe we have to wait till then?

[daihard]

That is cool daihard. That is one thing that annoyed me, thanks for the heads up. Hopefully there is more. I am sure Apple said MobileMe would be fully fixed by December, so maybe we have to wait till then?
I hope MobileMe will start behaving itself sooner. :)

As for other fixes/improvements with 2.1, it seems to have fixed the contact delay problem as well. I'll keep you updated.

[wrxlvr]

copy/paste?

[daihard]

No copy/paste, as far as I can tell.

[Flet]

Hope it let's you manually add music from multiple Computers or even play on multiple computers now.

[daihard]

Hope it let's you manually add music from multiple Computers or even play on multiple computers now.
Let's hope someone tests that feature. Having only one iTunes at home (or at work) I can't really try that myself.

[TheMBC]

I would much rather wait and have it done right then to push it out and have another 2.0.x pos
I would rather have that too, but as a customer who bought this phone in hopes of getting the PNS in September, I'm a little annoyed that it wasn't even announced or brought up.

[daihard]

I would rather have that too, but as a customer who bought this phone in hopes of getting the PNS in September, I'm a little annoyed that it wasn't even announced or brought up.
Would you care to explain to me what the Push Notification Service is? Is it different than what MobileMe currently offers?

[Galley]

Would you care to explain to me what the Push Notification Service is? Is it different than what MobileMe currently offers?

It allows developers to let you know that there is new data available for their app by using a "badge" like Mail does. For example, Twitterrific could let you know that you have 12 new tweets.

[TheMBC]

Yeah, it's Apple's answer to background processes. When you click the home button your app will be sent to the "cloud." So let's say you're using AIM, and want to go on Safari...AIM can now notify you about an IM with a pop-up, a badge, or a sound...or all three.

However, Apple will be hosting this server, the phone doesn't have the app running...as soon as there is new data, it is "pushed" to you (like mail can be) from the PNS to your phone.

[daihard]

Galley and TheMBC:

Thanks for the detailed explanations. That makes sense. I wonder how much work it will be on Apple's side to run and maintain such a server, though.

[TheBum]

I know this sounds minor, but I'm hoping to see the 4G nano's headphone remote triple-click-previous-song feature make it into the iPhone 2.1 software. As far as I know, there's no technical reason why it couldn't.

The main feature I'm anticipating is the speedier backups to iTunes. I'm getting really tired of the ~30 minute syncs if I want a backup; I normally just skip the backup.

Another bug I'd like to see fixed is the music re-sync issue, where a certain group of songs is synced every time although the files haven't changed. Luckily for me, it's only about 21 songs. Some people have been reporting numbers in the hundreds.

That's a bummer about cut-and-paste.

[daihard]

I know this sounds minor, but I'm hoping to see the 4G nano's headphone remote triple-click-previous-song feature make it into the iPhone 2.1 software. As far as I know, there's no technical reason why it couldn't.

The main feature I'm anticipating is the speedier backups to iTunes. I'm getting really tired of the ~30 minute syncs if I want a backup; I normally just skip the backup.

Another bug I'd like to see fixed is the music re-sync issue, where a certain group of songs is synced every time although the files haven't changed. Luckily for me, it's only about 21 songs. Some people have been reporting numbers in the hundreds.
Triple-clicking to go back to the previous song would definitely get my vote. I also hope the remote volume controls on the newly-announced Apple in-ear headphones work with iPhone w/ 2.1, but that may be pushing.

[Stay Alive 305]

I can't wait for the update tomorrow! I really need it. Today I was in my bus with my friends and Safari didn't feel like working because 3G was so inconsistent. It was going from 3 bar to none in a matter of seconds. I had to hard reset my iPhone 3G to get Safari working again. I can't wait for some real bug fixes!

[tcj]

Another bug I'd like to see fixed is the music re-sync issue, where a certain group of songs is synced every time although the files haven't changed. Luckily for me, it's only about 21 songs. Some people have been reporting numbers in the hundreds.
I'm pretty sure this is not an Iphone problem as it happens on my 160gb Ipod too. I think the problem is related to how some files are tagged. Make note of problem songs (it's usually the same ones every time) and edit the album info in Itunes. I did this on a bunch and it helped, but I've developed new ones since then. I think if you alter files outside of Itunes (as I do with Media Monkey to fix old art) it may cause problems.

[Stay Alive 305]

Yeah, it's Apple's answer to background processes. When you click the home button your app will be sent to the "cloud." So let's say you're using AIM, and want to go on Safari...AIM can now notify you about an IM with a pop-up, a badge, or a sound...or all three.

However, Apple will be hosting this server, the phone doesn't have the app running...as soon as there is new data, it is "pushed" to you (like mail can be) from the PNS to your phone.

AIM has never given me a little pop-up notice even with Push on. Is there something I'm doing wrong?

[TheBum]

AIM has never given me a little pop-up notice even with Push on. Is there something I'm doing wrong?
No, the push notifications are not available yet, outside of Apple's own apps that is. They're supposed to be coming sometime this month. It doesn't sound like they'll make the 2.1 update, but I'm hoping we'll be pleasantly surprised tomorrow.

[Sparky_92]

^ Me too, I just can't believe we have to actually wait...it annoys me. It also annoys me that there's no Push Notification Server...unless that was left out as a surprise :rolleyes:

I'm just hoping that Safari stops crashing, and that contacts don't take like ten seconds to load. These are problems that were supposedly SOLVED in 2.0.1 and 2.0.2. :shake:

[HighD]

First post here :P

Sparky_92 I'm right there with you..hope to see more stability and better battery management. Let's just wait and see.....

[daihard]

It's almost 12:30 AM (PDT) and 2.1 is not available yet... :(

[deftdrummer1]

1:50 am west coast and still no update. My battery life is terrible and I've come to the conclusion that I won't tolerate it any longer.

[Stay Alive 305]

6:30 AM EST

No update, time to go to school. :(

[rick15jk]

2.1 in on apple site.

[dling1971]

It is 630 pacific time. The update is available. Downloading now.

[rick15jk]

let us know how you came out.

[dling1971]

Well I normally have 0-1 bars. I am consistantly running 3-5 bars on 3G post update. Battery life seems to be better. Email is definitely coming through much faster. I am loving Genius. 3 hours in........so far so good!

[baggss]

I downloaded it this morning. Same crappy AT&T service at home (i'm in a shadow for the nearest tower) but significantly better service at work. Full 5 bars and no dropping back to Edge, all 3G.

[lanwarrior]

I just got my iPhone 2 days ago and it's only running 2.01.

In order to update to 2.1, I have some questions:

1) Do I have to update to 2.02 first, then 2.1? When I click update, it told me that 2.02 is available, not 2.1

2) Is there any way I can SAVE the download (2.02 or 2.1)? I have 2 iPhone and I hate redownloading it for the 2nd time when updating the 2nd iPhone.

[rick15jk]

1. You have the option to Download/install or save on Desktop... Rick

[Bomfunk]

Have you guys checked the net monitor (*3001#12345*#) for the "real" signal strength in numbers? (eg. -95db) I have found that this value hasn't changed, but the iPhone now displays more bars even at lower reception levels than before. So its more cosmetic than a real improvement...

BTW. Everything over 100 is considered poor reception in the 3G network and about at 105 calls get droped.

[daihard]

Have you guys checked the net monitor (*3001#12345*#) for the "real" signal strength in numbers? (eg. -95db) I have found that this value hasn't changed, but the iPhone now displays more bars even at lower reception levels than before. So its more cosmetic than a real improvement...

BTW. Everything over 100 is considered poor reception in the 3G network and about at 105 calls get droped.
There are a lot of people who are reporting much better actual reception on forums like Mac Rumors, which leads me to believe it's not just cosmetic changes Apple has made to the firmware.

For me, I can't tell because I've always had 4-5 bars regardless of the version of the firmware. :)

[Rob9874]

Have you guys checked the net monitor (*3001#12345*#) for the "real" signal strength in numbers? (eg. -95db) I have found that this value hasn't changed, but the iPhone now displays more bars even at lower reception levels than before. So its more cosmetic than a real improvement...

BTW. Everything over 100 is considered poor reception in the 3G network and about at 105 calls get droped.

This is confirmed in an article I read on cnn.com:

"Apple also said the new update "improved accuracy of the 3G signal strength display" -- meaning the phone would show more "bars" on the connection meter.

However, the quality of the connection was not necessarily affected by the update."