Apple massages iPhone code

Apple today released iPhone Software version 2.2.1, promising improvements in Safari and Mail. As is usual with Apple updates, fine-grained detail isn't provided, but Apple does say that the update improves the "general stability of Safari" and fixes an issue in which "some images saved from Mail do not display correctly in …

[Anonymous Coward]

What?

A 246MB Patch for a phone? What the heck? Even Windows doesn't need patches that big, what the heck is in it? A brand new firmware with all the bells and whistles? Kinda excessive.

[Gareth]

ipatronise

Let me temper this by saying that I do own an iphone.

It's great to have a story telling us that new firmware is out, and what it might fix/featurise, but are the idiot-proof instructions really necessary? When I saw seven (count 'em!) screen shots of a blue-bar creeping along I genuinely thought this was a piss-take article.

Would such an idiotic level of detail accompany a story about a symbian or windows mobile patch?

[Anonymous Coward]

Any chance of useful information

Arent there already unboxing site for this fetish

[jai]

kin ell

were all the screenshots really that necessary?

don't get me wrong, i'm as much an apple fanatic as the next iFan, but does a minor point release that provides minor patches really warrant such extensive coverage?

or does El Reg pay you, not by column inches, but by screen pixels? :-)

[Colin]

Still no fix for the maps

Google Maps still showing KM instead of Miles in the UK. There goes a perfect opportunity to fix it.

[Jamester]

Insightful

Stay tuned for next week's "Watching Windows Update in Action", and a full dissection of the stages paint goes through whilst drying.

Having said that though, probably against policy to write an article about the iPhone which is less than two paragraphs, like this should have been. "Apple releases minor update, nothing much to see here".

[Iamfanboy]

hey, I laughed

and laughed hard at the progress bar. Don't know WHAT you fuddy-duddies are complaining about.

[Anonymous Coward]

re: what

"A 246MB Patch for a phone? What the heck?"

I'm assuming it's monolithic and is literally a reflash of the OS, not patches to particular 'files'.

Worked just fine on mine tho. Damned if i can see the difference (oh wait, settings -> general -> about: Version 2.2.1)

I'm hoping it fixes the flaky "i like to crash" Safari behaviour. And the months it waits before realising there's an application due for update...

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh BTW

Theres an updated ROM available for Diamond users. Isnt 246Mb and doesnt need a dozen screenshots to install. Oh and doesnt get mentioned on El Reg :)

[TJ]

To Many Pictures?

You Apple freaks need your hand held through an operating system, Reg just thought a story with pictures was more your IT level.

Thats right, I said it.

[James Robertson]

patch

I understand they always put out a complete OS when upgrading the iPhone not just a small patch. Personally I never really look at the size of the download, most people download on broadband so it don't really matter. I have a PC and a Mac at home and pretty much let the updates take care of themselves on both machines and never had any problems with either.

[J]

@ipatronize et al.

"but are the idiot-proof instructions really necessary?"

Have you been following the comment sections on El Reg lately? I knew you hadn't.

[Anonymous Coward]

Really?

First, Firmware updates aren't news outside of the Jailbreak/Dev Team circle, and secondly, if you can't seriously master the firmware upgrade process without instructions and screenshots, how have managed to even reach this website?

Wish I got a news story every time my phone got a firmware update.

I'm pretty sure this firmware update doesn't do anything but increment all the version numbers by one, and change all the encryption keys in order to catch people who've jailbroken their devices out.

[Patrick]

stop whinging

Posting detailed instructions means the article is more likely to be linked to on other websites - thus generating more advertising revenue for The Reg. There are plenty of people out there who don't have a clue how to update their firmware - despite it being a relatively simple process.

[Cthonus]

USentricity

@colin

Bugger. That was probably the one fix I was most looking forward to.

Surely there has to be some coder on the iPhone/Google team who's actually been outside of the US and to the UK specifically.

Me. I'm waiting from a nod from the Dev team before I go anywhere near 2.2.1

Paris - because even she knows to go the extra mile for Britain.

[Anonymous Coward]

Bad Apple Support

A lot of folks using Apple software (OSX and iPhone) experience the following error when trying to access websites or internet services -

kCFErrorDomainCFNetwork

Looks like its a bug (or at least a scenario that is not gracefully handled) in Apples TCP/IP network stack. Its apparently caused by failed HTTP requests and a quick google show that it affects lots of folks. Really annoying to have this error keep popping up when trying to surf using the web using iPhone.

Being so closed and secretive (able to cover up / deny responcibility) Apple havent even acknowleged that this is a problem and by not publishing details of what exactly an update includes - there is apparently no way of knowing whether this would fix the error.

For a while there i wanted a MacBook but I sticking with Ubuntu on my £300 Dell laptop thanks.

[Test Man]

For iPod Touch too

Don't forget the iPod Touch!

[StooMonster]

Snappier

It also fixes problems with updates from the App Store.

This is supposed to work seamlessly, but my App updates have never worked; they crash out, and do not update. Apple's support site says to uninstall Apps from phone and from iTunes too, and then redownload them from iTunes, but this is a PITA.

However, with new firmware 2.2.1 updated all Apps on the iPhone with no crashes or issues -- hurrah update now works like it should've done since the App Store appeared. w00t!

The whole iPhone appears faster since this update too, not just Safari but Apps too -- I wonder if they've stopped underclocking the CPU and run it as fast as iPod Touch?

[Anonymous Coward]

Future update review request

Do you think there is enough detail in the screenshots? You seem to have missed some percent of the progress. Next time make them animated, so we can really understand how an update works. Jeez..

[An-D]

Pointless

246MB of guff. Heaven forbid that they release a firmware that contains something useful like the ability to forward text messages, or record video without having to jailbreak it

[Anonymous Coward]

Mail images

Does this fix the thing where saving an image from an email stores it as at thumbnail resolution rather than actual image resolution?

I hope so.

And is this update available for iPod Touch?

[David Chambers]

Sneaky

The only reason this was released was to update the Baseband so that the yellowsnOw unlock process won't work - And relock all those phones of those stupid enough to upgrade

[Anonymous Coward]

Is the UK really this full of wanking whiners?

And here I thought it was just us Yanks . . .

[Slipgate]

Refreshing

I think it's about time that phone makers released updates for phones (not sure we needed a whole page!). None of my previous phones got bug fixes or feature releases. To be fair, it shouldn't have taken 2 major and 1 minor release to get here, but it's their first attempt at a phone - well, okay, 2ndish :-)

Though I think the screenshottastic page was a bit much. I mean, I think we all know what an install progress bar is!

Here's waiting for TomTom GPS S/W, wireless synchronisation with iTunes (seriously, how hard can that be!!!!) I can't say I'm bothered about MMS, I've sent 3 in the last 12 years - I can email!