iPhone 2.2 firmware update available now, Google Street View and plenty more
By Thomas Ricker 
posted Nov 21st 2008 12:43AM
posted Nov 21st 2008 12:43AM
Update: Added some screenshots of the most notable new features after the break. The Street View implementation seems solid though we miss the compass feature found on T-Mobile's G1. Also, the real-estate saved by moving the Google search field next to the URL field in Mobile Safari is a welcome and obvious change. As to auto-correction, well, that's personal taste. Tipster Vizcaya also noticed that Apple added a new option to rate an App when you delete it from your phone. You can also view multiple screenshots of applications available in the App Store.
Update 2: The other big update, Podcast downloads, works just as you'd hope and should further promote the spontaneous isolation we all crave. A few shots of that added after the break.
[Thanks Gustavo and badburro]
I LOVE the OTA podcast downloads!!!
I am predicting copy/paste in firmware 16.8
yea those are nice, but we really need access to the iTunes store on radios other than wifi.
Yeah but are they going to let it come to the Ipod Touch? Does anyone know if that is in the works for the Touch, or is OTA podcasting straight for iphone users only?
Wow wee!
Even as someone who is contemplating an iPhone, I have to bitch about how Apple is plain old NOT listening to its customers. Face it, no one gives a flying one about rating an App before deletion! There is such a long laundry list of features that thousands upon thousands of iPhone users are clamoring for, I really don't understand how only TWO of them (auto correct toggle and OTA podcast downloads) have made it into this update. It's almost pathetic.
The iPhone is such a versatile platform, and Apple could really clean up on this thing, but they choose not to. If most of these broken record complaints were addressed, there would be much less of an argument about not wanting an iPhone.
Anyone else notice the T-Mobile branding? ...gotta love that Engadget writers use jailbroken iPhones
More likely not jail broken but SIM unlocked.
Why does it say T-Mobile as the network?
I don't think it's a matter of them not wanting them to.
I think it's more them being VERY (read "too") picky as to HOW they do things. Is it going to use more power, is it going to allow people to hack more, is it going to do this, is it going to do that, we don't want people doing this, we don't want people doing that... etc...
Otherwise I think they would just handle it and do it. It can't be that hard to do. Many of the things have been done in jailbroken phones or in 3rd party software (that they end uop not allowing.)
It's Apple using it's power and keeping it's control. Wanting it perfect and right - but sometimes to the expense of the very people they are trying to please and will be using it.
I'm sure i'll get flack for saying this, but I like sending pics through email on my iPhone so MMS is not a big deal for me. Yes I would like copy and paste, but my number 1 wish was granted with being able to turn auto text correction off. Also, I predict we will have copy paste before the republicans regain power
I completely agree. I have a Windows Mobile phone (contract ends 12/6), which has copy/paste and I very rarely use it, if ever. I also never use MMS, as I use ActiveSync with corporate Exchange. Not having ActiveSync was a deal breaker for me, but they gave that to us. And they gave us 3G. and they are vastly expanding the maps and direction abilities. An area where 3rd party apps are beating the iPhone with turn-by-turn directions. Why wouldn't Apple make this a priority? I don't think MMS and Copy/Paste are needed by as many people as the complainers think.
Fact is, they are giving us plenty, far more than MS is giving us with Windows Mobile. Apple has gone from 1.0 to 2.2 in a year, and provide these updates regularly, while on the other side, MS has given us a tiny update in 6.1. And not for all devices, only certain ones that MS and HTC care about, not people like me stuck on my contract with a Cingular 8525. Come on people, Apple is doing plenty, way more than others.
What would I really like? A2DP and automatic silence of the phone when my calendar says I am in a meeting. Realy functionality that would benefit me.
iphone sucks!!!!!!!! GO G1!!!!!!!!
I'm having problems with this update: http://bit.ly/iphone22
its a catch 22 steadyc your right ms is more guilty of being lazy than apple as it stands but ms welcomes hobbyists to do almost whatever they want which fixes most problems.. the iphone is a smoother running device than say a touch pro but with the touch pro you can harness the devices power and customize everything for each specific user.. and celebrating ota podcasts is sad my a900 that was released 3 years ago had ota downloads on 3g
I'm keeping my Nokia N95-3 for the time being along with the iPhone 3G. Killer combo, and one day I hope the iPhone will pick up the functionality I really enjoy in the Nokia so I can go back to svelte and stealthy and geekily healthy.
@Randal Bird:
How exactly do you put practical use to both phones (n95-3 and iphone 3g) at the same time? Sometimes I have the urge to pop the sim back into my old e61 or SE w810i / k850i for the fast, one-handed, no-look texting (helpful in certain situations ), but then i think "dang, i'm gonna regret it a couple of hours later when i need to use an app!" (e.g. flixster to quickly check movie times, or live poker to play a round on the train ride home...)
how do you use both?!?
can't wait for 2.8. oh wait. i'll probably go all androidy by then.
GO G1!!!.................... and there it went. Whats a G1?????hahaha
I dont think android will make it too far. Anybody else beg to differ?
Not that I like backing losing horses, i.e. Zune, HD-DVD, Play 4 Sure, etc., but I just got my G1 last week and really like it. I think that there is great long term potential of Android devices and I see it as a strong competitor to the Apple iPhone. The problem is that the same iTunes/iPod mentality is now being applied to phones. The devices aren't the best in category, but they are good enough and have the sex appeal/pack following for wide adoption.
trying to update now.
suprise suprise, it never goes smoothly
"download and update"...leads to a locked up iphone that needs to be restored.
trying to restore it ends up with another error..
time to restart machine , try again..
shouldnt i just plug it in, update , and go ?
welcome to the real apple experience......the release notes mention improved safari stability...hopefully it'll go more than half an hour without bombing out.(trying to look at simple websites!!!)
finally updated!!
it took 2 pcs, removal and re install of itunes, a couple of reboots, loss of all my data/contacts/calender etc ,
its a FUC%ing joke.
and i still cant sync with firefox bookmarks ...only safari (honestly, who uses it ?) and internet explorer.
it'll all happen again next install too....
i dont expect the google phone to be much different...but each firmware makes me more and more likely to try and dump the iphone and try it. (and firmwares are supposed to improve things).
On my G1, I received an OTA firmware update last Monday. It installed flawlessly without any of the problems you described. First of all, no PCs in the equation, and contacts and other information are stored off-line. It wasn't a problem, but had it been, all that is tied to a google account and therefore insullated from phone malfunction.
that is one cool part of the g1 Beesley.
Just 4 or 5 more firmware updates, a new camera(+ another one in front) and the possibility of using it as a modem for a laptop, and maybe the iPhone can even hope to become nearly as good as my Samsung Omnia ,which had "street view" and all these features (plus a ton more) from day 1.
Yay - brick! Nothing like not paying attention to dialog boxes while you're out of the freakin' country. Now I'm only 4000 miles from the nearest Apple store and my phone's busted.
I didn't even notice it - a box popped up and I hit enter before I had a chance to read it, then I went back to work. About 30 minutes later, I looked down and saw the "plug into iTunes" screen. And that's all she wrote.
Good times...