Now that iPhone Firmware 2.2 is out (all 245.7MB of it), what do we all think of it? Initial reactions around the web seem broadly positive, and my own experience so far matches that. In recent weeks I’ve been seeing quite frequent application crashes on my 2nd gen iPhone, so I’ll be interested to see if they happen less often now. On very first impressions, the phone feels faster and snappier in use post-update.
Most of the changes were published in advance, but there are some hidden extras that are new to me.
My favorite is inside the App Store application, which previously only displayed one screenshot for each app you were looking at. This was always a bit limiting; it’s very hard to show an app’s capabilities with a single screenshot. Now the app displays a mini gallery of screenshots, which you can tap to view full size. App description pages have been redesigned slightly, and look a bit crisper and neater now.
Also, there’s a nice change in behavior when navigating through screen loads of apps (something many people have identified as a problem before). Now, clicking the Home button on any screen will teleport you straight back to screen #1, aka the Home Home Screen.
So there’s more reason than ever now to ensure that your most frequently used apps live there. Shame it’s so fiddly to get a newly-installed app from screen 5 or 6 all the way back to screen 1. Also a shame: still no todos. Still no notes sync. Still no copy and paste. Sigh.
Have you upgraded your iPhone yet? What are you liking so far? Or has anything gone wrong?
Giles Turnbull is a freelance writer in England. He also writes for the Press Association and The Morning News. You can find out more at his website, and follow him on Twitter @gilest.
