iPhone 2.1 Reactions and Additional Features

[i.maverick]

now..

wow.. I am mighty impressed with 2.1. Better late than never. Seems that all the problems are gone.!!
Now only if apple would do something very similar with snow leopard.. improve the stability and performance to this extent. Wow.!!

 

[jacg]

I'd like to be able to send email from my MobileMe aliases. What's the point in allowing you to make them and receive emails to them if you can't send mail from them?

Will this take a major revision to implement? (Yes, I've asked via Feedback)

 

[GregA]

The Notes sync seems so basic that I am shocked that it hasn't been added long ago. I figured it would be added last year with the release of Leopard. I've been using the EverNote App and I have been very pleased with it.

I figured Notes sync would work with the iPod 4G, 3 years ago. Just something simple like syncing the Notes app or the Notes dashboard with the iPod notes - the size and formatting limitations seemed to match well too. Once Leopard came out I thought they might sync Mail notes similarly... but nope. It seems like it's one of those obvious simple things that no-one at Apple is looking at - they need a vice-president of making sure the Obvious gets implemented.

Oh yeah... my wife uses Zenbe lists. She has some older and newer graphics programs and is sticking with 10.4, and Evernote requires 10.5.

I think Genius needs some work. Was playing Santana, Foo Fighters and the like then the track that played right before Led Zeppelin was Britney Spears. Hmmmmm........but for the most part it does a pretty good job.

Ahh... that's because Genius has been able to survey the population, and has found that (secretly) most Led Zeppelin listeners also listen to Britney.

The truth had to come out sooner or later!

 

[kayno]

I think they should just drop Push notifications and allow background programs. Apple's first blunder was to close the iPhone to programmers. Now they've fixed that, they should avoid making another mistake with this stupid workaround. It would be as simple as adding a little indicator on the icon of the application that is still running on the spring board, a-la-dock if you prefer. No need for task managers of gimmicks of that sort!
Programmers would be happy and users would get all the benefits.
In fact, I can already think of some programs that should be background tasks but don't require constant connection!
Just my 2 cents...

wait till your phone starts crawling as a result of the back ground processes running.. then we'll have something new to complain about..

 

[Trajectory]

where is the headset button? Why doesn't my tripple click work? What do you have to do to make it work?

The microphone/button is right on the white earbuds that come with your iPhone (see attached photo). You simply squeeze the little microphone once to pause, twice to advance to next song, thrice to go back one song.

 

[vvebsta]

Apps running in the background is really not as complicated or power consuming as you all are making it out to be. Before the 2.0 update people who jailbroke their phone had Agile Messenger. It worked flawlessly in the background. You could have your AIM, Yahoo, MSN messengers on 24/7 and whenever someone IMed you there would be a vibration or an alert along with a little number of new messages next to the app just like email. It was FANTASTIC! I saw no difference in battery life. These are the simple things that will make life easier.

I personally think the only reason Apple is sitting on this is because AT&T is begging them not to so people will continue to waste their money on 10 cent text messages. Who's gonna text when you have a reliable instant messenger?

 

[kaician]

iPhone Japanese input

I would like to give the apple development team a mention for getting the Japanese text input in order.

Due to the nature of Japanese keyboard input(with Chinese characters) it was like having to touch each and every single word you wanted to write. Beyond tedious. Explaning that to friends was like saying "don't buy this phone..."

But now, they improved the conversion so that you can write a sentence and choose the conversion with the right characters. I.e., like a normal "keitai" over here. This makes the writing in Japanese not just easier, but enjoyable with the tenki system. I actually laughed out loud with joy when I discovered that a few minutes ago.

Add to that the fix of lag for the conversion words to pop up to choose from, and that enough is enough to make 2.1 a winner in my book.

2.1 is a AWESOME update from a Japanese standpoint. Good job Apple.

 

[alchemistmuffin]

push notification: wait till Macworld Expo....

For those who are wondering what the heck happened to Push Notification...

If you don't remember the iPocalypse incident, and several iPhone lawsuit (which by the way, even with the update, defendants are saying it's too late) and lots of bugs, it's best for Apple to focus strictly on bugs for next couple of months....

If I were to estimate when the push notify service is available, I say the Macworld Expo in January 2009, that's right, NEXT YEAR.

why, because it's best for Apple to ENDLESSLY test the firmware before releasing it out into the public.

 

[musicaleuphoria]

The microphone/button is right on the white earbuds that come with your iPhone (see attached photo). You simply squeeze the little microphone once to pause, twice to advance to next song, thrice to go back one song.

Wow I had no idea that feature even existed!

Thanks!

 

[AppleOfMyOy]

Battery life is SHORTER with 2.1 upgrade!!!!!!

I had previously ended the day with a good strong charge left on my 3g iPhone, but today was my first full day with 2.1 and the battery was almost totally drained by nighttime. Anyone else find shorter battery life with 2.1?

 

[raxxal]

I was having a good deal of problems with my iphone 3g. Most of them I'd worked around and waited for the 2.1 update.

After the update... everything was snappier... bugs appear to be fixed... mail works great.... better battery life, etc.

But now, after reading here that you can turn on AM/PM in the Date/Time settings.... I went to reset mine. ALL settings features seem to work except for one now. When I go to General Settings/Date and Time and click.... there's a pause and then I'm returned to the home screen. :-(

Does this indicate I don't have a good OS install anymore and have to start all over from scratch with a clean install?

Nope! You need to go to: settings/general/international/region format/ pick United States, and you should be set to go.

 

[me-mac]

before 2.1 when i searched for a business or anything else in google maps, results were instantly updated as i scrolled around to different areas of the map. in 2.1 after this no longer happens. after scrolling to a different area with no pins (search results) you have to click the search field, wait for the pop up keyboard and press search again. really quite inconvenient.

 

[charltonx]

Overall 2.1 and the added features have been pretty good for me. I especially like how they have increased the strength of the vibration on the phone, so now I dont miss calls like I used too. They have also made text message notifications more private as it now doesnt display who the message is from!
On the bad side, Safari is crashing just as much as ever. And today I was also in the settings tab and it crashed! First time that has happened.

After updating my phone it still displays who the message is from when a text pops up on my homepage, do I need to activate the privacy setting? I can't find where to do that, or do I just have a dodgy update and need to do a complete restore?

I haven't got the am/pm in mail either, mine just shows as 24 hour clock, have I missed something there because I can't find a am/pm option under date & time?

 

[wildmilne]

Apps running in the background is really not as complicated or power consuming as you all are making it out to be. Before the 2.0 update people who jailbroke their phone had Agile Messenger. It worked flawlessly in the background. You could have your AIM, Yahoo, MSN messengers on 24/7 and whenever someone IMed you there would be a vibration or an alert along with a little number of new messages next to the app just like email. It was FANTASTIC! I saw no difference in battery life. These are the simple things that will make life easier.

I personally think the only reason Apple is sitting on this is because AT&T is begging them not to so people will continue to waste their money on 10 cent text messages. Who's gonna text when you have a reliable instant messenger?

It's too bad Agile hasn't updated their code to run on 2.x software.

 

[arkmannj]

Wish I would have done my homework...If I had known Syphone wasn't going to work with 2.1 I wouldn't have updated. I use SMS backups for work, personal use,etc. a ton.

What would be really cool is if the iPhone Sync'd with various aspects of the mac. For example, SMS/text messages could backup/archive with iChat archives. Notes with notes in mail (or even with stickies) and so on and so forth

 

[apixel]

Intelliscreen

Why do I still need to unlock and/or go to homescreen to check if I got any unread emails? Other phones have a small email icon next to the battery icon when new messages.. That works really well.

Anyone else missing this basic feature?

Jailbreak your phone, get intelliscreen and you'll have this feature and more right on your locked screen. That program alone takes the phone to a whole other level. I'm just a user, btw. No stake in that program at all, but am really impressed with it. I wish it would be available to all in the app store.

 

[Trajectory]

Jailbreak your phone...

...and then be one of the people who keeps complaining that their phone won't update properly or crashes all the time.

Seriously, why do people recommend doing this to others when it causes more problems than it solves?

 

[PaulMBPEngland]

...and then be one of the people who keeps complaining that their phone won't update properly or crashes all the time.

Seriously, why do people recommend doing this to others when it causes more problems than it solves?

word.

 

[GRuizMD]

Spot on. My battery is still at 100% today after 3 hours 43 mins usage (an hour of which is iPod) plus standby of 1 day 0 hours (did not charge last night!). It's currently 11:42 am.

I used to have to charge every night to be on the safe side else I may have run out of battery the following day but now this is much better!

AND all the bugs have been fixed. Way to go Apple!

This is not my case, please elaborate on Screen brightness and let us know the time in between full charges: This is my situation:

Charge Phone all night with apple provided wall charger, disconnect at 6 am when leaving home. At work: No 3G no Wifi no Push stuff and minimal use of texting (maybe 10 texts sent ) my phone will drop to 10% charge by 300pm... WHY?

Please someone help... I am finding myself carring around a cord and pluggin my phone in the middle of my workday ( Since I work back to back day + Night) and recharging again by 130 am....

 

[PaulMBPEngland]

This is not my case, please elaborate on Screen brightness and let us know the time in between full charges: This is my situation:

Charge Phone all night with apple provided wall charger, disconnect at 6 am when leaving home. At work: No 3G no Wifi no Push stuff and minimal use of texting (maybe 10 texts sent ) my phone will drop to 10% charge by 300pm... WHY?

Please someone help... I am finding myself carring around a cord and pluggin my phone in the middle of my workday ( Since I work back to back day + Night) and recharging again by 130 am....

That doesnt sound right at all. I leave the house with it fully charged at 8:30am. Screen brightness is full I use it for email/texts/email/phone and the ipod in the day and theres still a good 50% left by 10pm

 

[Manic Mouse]

Jailbreak your phone, get intelliscreen and you'll have this feature and more right on your locked screen. That program alone takes the phone to a whole other level. I'm just a user, btw. No stake in that program at all, but am really impressed with it. I wish it would be available to all in the app store.

Wow, that looks really nice! I don't get why mail doesn't at least show up on the home screen like text messages and missed calls do. Simply something saying that you've received a new email, because currently the only way to tell is to unlock the phone and look.

I also don't get why you can't have custom alerts for mail or texts.

These things are so basic that I would rather have them than cut & paste currently to be honest. The 2.1 firmware is excellent in that it has completely squashed all the bugs, however none of those bugs should have been let outside of Apple Q&A in the first place. I had to restore my iPhone six times because I got the ALoD, and also had to put up with back-ups that took an hour. Apps crashed, the phone was laggy. Apple should be pretty ashamed that they released 2.0 in the state they did, and I don't think Steve was too happy about it (by the way he talked about the bugs).

At least my iPhone is behaving again, and I love it to bits. Looking forward to push, and hopefully mail alerts on the homepage and custom alerts in 2.2!

 

[apixel]

...and then be one of the people who keeps complaining that their phone won't update properly or crashes all the time.

Seriously, why do people recommend doing this to others when it causes more problems than it solves?

Seriously? Do you even know what you are talking about? I've been using applications one year before there was even an app store and let me tell you how jailbreaking DOES not give your phone any more problems than a regular phone. In fact, you can fix many of the problems.

You realize that the only reason there is an app store now is due to the success of the 1.1.4 jailbreak community. In any case, the person I responded too can do a little research and find out for themselves how what you just said is not true. There are a few amazing programs out there for the phone that you will never get via the app store, and you are simply missing out.

 

[milatchi]

- Pause application installations by tapping on the icon.
- Additional compatibility with certain bluetooth headsets.

Good and good.

 

[TonyV125]

response to battery life question

I had previously ended the day with a good strong charge left on my 3g iPhone, but today was my first full day with 2.1 and the battery was almost totally drained by nighttime. Anyone else find shorter battery life with 2.1?

Is it possible that your phone is now utilizing the 3G network more often than before and drawing more power, now that 3G is actually accessible a majority of time?

 

[RawKurd]

Still no copy and paste