iPhone Software 2.1 Out NOW

[Wondermonkey]

Despite having some initial doubts, Arstechnica now believes that Kevin Rose was correct and that iTunes 8 will be arriving on September 9th alongside the expected iPod updates.

Also expected is the iPhone 2.1 firmware which had been also reported with the original rumor.

One new tidbit, however, is that Ars was told that there are parts of the iPhone 2.1 firmware "that were specifically removed from developer seeds in order to keep them secret from the world." If true, that means there may be some surprise features that will be announced on September 9th.

Developers may note that Apple has ceased delivery of iPhone 2.1 firmware betas over the past few weeks, which is consistent with it having been declared Gold Master in anticipation of the upcoming release.

Apple is holding a special media event to announce their new products on Tuesday, September 9th.

Awesome.

[KEEZY]

I wantses it!

[Wondermonkey]

iPhone Firmware 2.1

If the iPod Touch arrives with Firmware 2.1, the iPhone's update won't be far behind. The only official feature that has been promised for the 2.1 Firmware is background push-notifications. This push-notification service allows applications to process notifications in the background while they are not actively running on the iPhone. Applications such as a Chat client will be able to notify users that a new instant message has arrived at any time.

[Peench]

That sounds cool but will that slow down everything else if these programs are essentially constantly running in the background?

[Wondermonkey]

Originally Posted by Peench

That sounds cool but will that slow down everything else if these programs are essentially constantly running in the background?

Nope, the devs said it actually speeds things up, because unlike mail having to check every 5 or 15 minutes for new mail, Google pushes the notification to your phone, eliminating the need for mail to connect to the server just to see that nothing is new.

I can't wait for push notifications. Twitter, Xbox Live app, Facebook on the iPhone are great, but better if I can be notified right away of a message.

[KEEZY]

Push my twit.

[Wondermonkey]

Originally Posted by KEEZY

Push my twit.

Serren: Mt twit didn't go through? Is your twit down?
Me: Are you coming on to me?

[Wondermonkey]

Alongside the other announcements, Apple announced that the iPhone 2.1 firmware will be released this Friday as a free update. The much anticipated version upgrade will address many of the issues that have been plaguing iPhone users. Changes include:

• Significantly better battery life
• Fewer call drops
• Bug fixes
• Faster backups to iTunes
• No App crashes

The iPhone 2.1 firmware will presumably support the same Nike+iPod and Genius playlist features described in the new iPod Touches. No mention of background push notifications were made, however, which were originally planned for a September release.

Hopefully we'll see a full list of what is in 2.1, since it was glossed over at the iPod event.

[Epyon MX]

DO WANT!

[Wondermonkey]

As promised, Apple has released the iPhone 2.1 firmware through iTunes this morning. The iPhone 2.1 contains the following updates as listed by Apple:

• decrease in call set-up failures andcall drops
• significantly improve battery life for most users
• dramatically reduced time to backup to iTunes
• improve email reliability, notable 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 of 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

As always, the nerds will discover more as we go through the update!

[CoryB23]

Sweet!

I'm conditioning my battery as suggested by you a few days ago and am at less than 10% left, so I will be recharging soon. I'll download/insall the update when I do.

Might as well update the Touch then as well.

[Wondermonkey]

My backup now takes 20 seconds.

[CoryB23]

Originally Posted by Wondermonkey

My backup now takes 20 seconds.

Ditto. I just installed 2.1 and everything seems to be running much smoother. Backups and synching take much less time than they did before the update.

Makes you wonder why they didn't shoot for this with the previous release. Don't they test these things?

[alter_ego_trip]

I also like the new Itunes update as well. The genius option is pretty cool.

[Reifel Tower]

Updated yesterday (iphone). So far so good. Noticed better battery life which is a good thing....

I dont fully understand the Genius feature. Some songs tell me theres not enough like songs to create the list (either in itunes or iphone). I have the new metallica and it will not do it. And my library is full of similar. Disturbed, Godsmack, tool, Etc..

Anyone know the details of how Genius works? Specifically how does it group songs to create the lists?

[alter_ego_trip]

Genius will continue to improve as more people use it. All of your songs are put into a database and it used this information to put together recommendations based on certain associations. In it's infancy there is not a lot of information for it to go on, hence your lack of recommendations for newer titles.

Also the fact that you are the only loser to purchase Metallica's new album, might have something to do with it.