Another update from Apple. This time, it seems there is a big push to get people to upgrade. I got an email, a text message and iTunes worked together to get the word out (click on image).
But unfortunately, you need to wait longer and longer as you still need to download an entire Operating System image file.
Some of the features that I wanted to highlight about the 2.1 update are:
- Significantly better battery life for most users
- Improved email reliability, notably fetching email from POP and Exchange accounts
- Fixed bugs causing hangs and crashes for users with lots of third party applications
- Improved accuracy of the 3G signal strength display
Significantly better battery life for most users
For the first point, YES! Battery Life *has* gotten a lot better after the update. I can actually use my device now for more than 6 hours of my day. Maybe there is yet another update to fix make battery life go even further?
Improved email reliability, notably fetching email from POP and Exchange accounts
Jury is still out on this one. Several people have complained about the fact that the email client would “hang” and never pull down email properly. I have been surviving by doing a “Network Settings Reset” at least once a day and seems to recover the device without having to enter in my email settings all over again.
Since the update was installed, I have still performed a Network Settings Reset, but have certainly noticed the need to do it less.
Fixed bugs causing hangs and crashes for users with lots of third party applications
I’m not sure which applications were tested, and not sure if the third party app developers are to blame, but I noticed that applications like Urbanspoon, LinkedIn, and Twittelator are not as stable and crash every now and then. Maybe with the third party application updates, this will be less of a problem.
Improved accuracy of the 3G signal strength display
After the upgrade, I have been traveling quite a bit, both locally with taking public transportation and in my car around San Francisco, but in traveling to New York, the accuracy of 3G has been very poor. I’m sure that simply changing the 3G and Edge icon is not enough to convince me signal strength has been improved. I also see the signal strength flip flop a lot between Edge and 3G. The picture on the left is version 2.0, the one on the right is version 2.1.
Conclusion
Apple is finding out that launching a phone is a bit more complicated than a PC or music player. Three revs of software updates in two less than two months. I’ll be waiting for the next software update. Some things are still not fixed or addressed.
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