iPhone 2.1 update: the aftermath

Now that 2.1's out, your iPhone 3G is finally perfect -- right? Well, that all depends on your definition of "perfect," but odds are you still have a niggle or two poking out from behind that heaping pile of bugs and security flaws that were smoothed over with Cupertino's putty knife in last week's update. Here's a quick look at what we're hearing so far:

• Excluding those of you who don't know where you are, our poll on claimed reception improvements in 2.1 suggests that the majority of iPhone 3G owners (by a slim margin) are seeing no improvement or -- gasp! -- a degradation in signal strength since 2.0.2.
• Given that 2.1 patches up some bugs with third-party apps, it comes as no surprise that a few of 'em are apparently breaking with the new firmware (a disappointment, yes, but not a surprise). It sucks that Apple whacked the ball into developers' courts on this one, and we're hoping for the sake of users and devs alike that it's not going to take many sleepless nights of re-coding and debugging to get the affected apps back on the straight and narrow.
• We're now hearing some reports of email buffoonery ranging from an inability to add new accounts to 2.1-equipped phones, to failures of existing accounts that had previously worked, to total Exchange breakage. Are you folks seeing anything there? Any corporate types freaking out that they've lost access to their beloved ActiveSync setups?

We actually found another bug in 2.1 ourselves: we can't find copy / paste anywhere. It's anyone's guess how that one slipped by the testers.

[Thanks to everyone who sent these in]

[Patriks7 @ Sep 14th 2008 5:27AM]

slow news day, eh?

[Bob @ Sep 14th 2008 7:05AM]

No, this is actual news. They are explaining how the new update actually broke as many things as it fixed.

[Craig Taylor @ Sep 14th 2008 7:59AM]

I'm just curiuos as to where the universal notificaiton systems is? Wasn't that supposed to be part of 2.1?

BTW, 2.1 is a big improvement in the battery department.

[Ignatius @ Sep 14th 2008 8:49AM]

I hope they can keep us just as posted on every single Windows Vista update, not that they will.

[bondsbw @ Sep 14th 2008 8:55AM]

Agreed, Craig... I used my iPhone unplugged enough yesterday to drain the battery to 70% or so with 2.0.2, and it didn't go down a bit in the upper corner display. It showed only about 10-15% drop when I put it on the charger.

Ok, so this update might not have been flawless, but it did for the most part what it was supposed to do: improve current functionality. And as far as 3G goes, I thought that was an issue of people not updating their iPhones and causing the entire network to be slow, even for people with the new firmware.

Now, here's to firmware 2.2: copy-and-paste, decent Bluetooth stack, MMS, push notifications...

[KarlW @ Sep 14th 2008 9:20AM]

It has to be. Lots of assumptions in that post.

- Better signal quality is not something most people can measure. For lots of people, going from 5 to 3 bars is worse signal. In fact, that person might never have really had 5 bars - they could be in a 3 bar location, but a bug showed them as having 5. When out of range, it thinks you should still have a signal, and you get dropped calls and the like. People complain that the signal quality is bad, then when the measurement tools agree with them, they argue to try cling on to their bad signal. This is because poor 3G coverage in the US makes people treat it like a hotly precious resource.
- Yes, there are still some bugs. However, lots of things have been fixed. Apps don't crash at startup, there's no keyboard lag, and backing up to iTunes is no longer measured in decades.

Look, I know you guys get a lot of stick for too much iPhone coverage. Acting like obnoxious anti-iPhone fanboys and ignoring all the good bits isn't a better alternative. Some journalistic neutrality would be great for everyone - Apple-boys and Micro-fans alike.

[Josh @ Sep 14th 2008 10:54AM]

I have an iPod touch and have been overjoyed to find that i still have battery life after not using it for a day - something that sounds ridiculous but is all to often a huge problem. Lag has decreased by a ton and everything works just a bit smoother... All in all i think this was an excellent patch.

Now time to go buy myself a touch diamond :)

[Dominick @ Sep 14th 2008 11:36AM]

I've found that my iPhone does work better with the 2.1 update. I'm getting more accurate signal readings and a lot less dropped calls. Also, my keyboard is finally not freezing! Apps and such seem to not be crashing like the 2.0.2 firmware. So all I can say is that 2.1 is a lot better for me.

[Patriks7 @ Sep 14th 2008 12:04PM]

KarlW
i myself am an Apple fanboy but i think this is just too much
this like like what, the 5th post on the 2.1 update?
i would wanna see that kinda coverage when Sony releases updates for the PS3 or PSP

[Snitch @ Sep 14th 2008 12:18PM]

My iphone has gone from crap to a really stable phone in the last 2 days, i use to get drop calls and no 3G at all, all the time while at home, and in the last 2 days all of that has banish. Honestly if 2.1 hasn't fix your issues you should have your phone check out cause it did fix my unit along with my wife phone

[Jeff @ Sep 14th 2008 1:16PM]

Apple is simply showing their youth in the phone market.

I have the 1st gen iPhone, and while it was never feature rich it did work well. These constant updates are taking a good, albeit simple, product and destroying it.

For me adding the app store is kind of stupid. Most of the apps are useless and have no appeal other than a quick little game here and there. Outlook support is something that only has one purpose: try to break into the corporate world and increase sales. I understand that Apple wants to sell more of these things, but I believe for most people it's something that will be unused if not completely forgotten. I don't know anyone that uses it yet (either 1st gen or iPhone 3G).

With the 2.1 update I have seen my phone destroy the wifi connection. It is constantly switching around and puts an unnecessary load on whatever router it's thinking about joining. Streaming music on my desktop will stop when I pull out the iPhone, when I put it away the music goes back to normal.

I decided not to upgrade the the iPhone 3G because I didn't see much benefit from 3G and GPS, and I wanted to see what Android could come up with. I'm glad I decided against it, and now find myself wishing Google would hurry up. Apple is in a downward spiral with the debacle that is iPhone.

[Judd @ Sep 14th 2008 3:40PM]

How many times does it have to be said? If you don't like the article, don't click the article. Stupid F-ing turd of a troll.

[loosely_coupled @ Sep 14th 2008 5:44PM]

Exactly... Every smartphone has issues... for god sakes, look at Windows Mobile. All that matters is how fast they fix the bugs and the overall experience, and on both counts, the iPhone READILY takes the prize. I would NEVER go back to my Treo 700W or a Blackberry.

[loosely_coupled @ Sep 14th 2008 5:44PM]

Exactly... Every smartphone has issues... for god sakes, look at Windows Mobile. All that matters is how fast they fix the bugs and the overall experience, and on both counts, the iPhone READILY takes the prize. I would NEVER go back to my Treo 700W or a Blackberry.

[boss-hogg @ Sep 16th 2008 1:09AM]

u get what you paid for, the 1st gen iphone was a better built quality device

[Daryl Lawrence @ Sep 24th 2008 9:49AM]

Okay, I must be the only one on the planet happy with iPhone 3G. I've had no problems with any of the iPhone versions. I'm located in Kansas City, MO and I don't drop calls, I have no problems with exchange, I use applications from iStore and I have been playing with the video and photo options and have been very happy. I am a CIO and I am not polyanic so I'm confused as to why my 3G is working well for me and most others are posting all the negative findings and opinions.

[Poom @ Sep 14th 2008 5:27AM]

I like that last line of the article!!

[Marcus @ Sep 14th 2008 6:49AM]

Yeah, it was absolute comedy genius!!!!! ....

Anyway, since upgrading, I have noticed a significant improvement in both 3G reception and battery life.

[Rich UK @ Sep 14th 2008 6:55AM]

You have a REALLY low threshold for comedy genius.
To be honest the copy/paste 'jokes' are wearing quite thin... i don't need it on my iphone but i just want them to implement it so i can stop reading comments about it

[Derry Quinn @ Sep 14th 2008 6:57AM]

Comedic, the word is Comedic

[Imran @ Sep 14th 2008 7:49AM]

'[Thanks to everyone who sent these in]' What's so likeable about that?

[Andy TGD @ Sep 14th 2008 8:16AM]

So true Rich UK, I'm sick of how some bloggers keep commenting of their shock that there is *gasp* no cut and paste in every damn firmware release. People, if Apple was going to implement cut and paste we'd all know about it - its like the Holy Grail of iPhone improvements. Besides, it stopped being funny after the first firmware update!

[Lucretius @ Sep 14th 2008 10:58AM]

I just have one question for you, Andyman:

Where the shit is my copy/paste? Hmmm!? This weak mess isn't funny anymore! WHERE IS IT?!

[John @ Sep 14th 2008 11:53AM]

No they didnt forget to fix that 'bug,' they are going to wait until the next Apple event concerning the iphone and launch it as a huge feature (Large white text on projected screen behind Jobs,) a major thing that must be celebrated.

Reality is their OS is designed for each application to run in a sandbox, close completely before another application can open, thus sharing data between them can be quite tricky. If the copy and paste is too large, it can consume too many system resources running in the background and cause interface lag, slowdowns, crashes, memory leaks. Its a bit more complicated than you are all making it out to be.

[Darkroom @ Sep 15th 2008 11:01AM]

might take them years like the 2 button mouse... some wizard at apple prob convinced the iPhone dev team not to include this feature because it encourages plagiarism or laziness... honestly, sometimes it doesn't work to think differently...

[bill @ Sep 14th 2008 5:30AM]

first.. =D 2.1 update is awesome... bugs fixed...im lovin my iphone again... but i would like cut and paste..maybe in the next update??

[Ben @ Sep 14th 2008 5:32AM]

Am i the only one that thinks copy and paste is not the number 1 thing needed for the iPhone? GPS navigation and push notification comes first in my list, apple could of atleast put push notification in 2.1 like they first promised, pitty they didnt.

[Juxtah @ Sep 14th 2008 5:42AM]

Apple really needs to get the basics down before trying the fancy stuff. And considering how important copy and paste is and how often it's used even in a phone environment, the continued exclusion of such a feature is a huge detractor from the iPhone. What I don't understand is why not include it? Apple is in 1 of 2 scenarios, either number 1: Apple actually just can't implement the feature because it doesn't know how or number 2: they don't want it on there. And if so why?

[Raheem @ Sep 14th 2008 6:27AM]

I've never ever used copy and paste on a phone (I had an XDA Mini S) and I don't understand why people are so gaga over it? What do people want to copy and paste!?

[Desides @ Sep 14th 2008 7:02AM]

I agree. The copy/paste demand is overblown, and at this point is simply a meme used as shorthand meaning "lol iPhone sux."

I'm really hoping for turn-by-turn navigation (either through Google Maps or a third-party app) and push notifications. Those are the two big updates the iPhone needs right now.

[Rich UK @ Sep 14th 2008 7:03AM]

Promised? Since when did apple promise to deliver push apps with 2.1? From what i remember they said around September?

Secondly, why do people insist on buying products knowing it doesn't do anything and then complain that it doesn't? Why buy an iPhone knowing it doesn't do GPS nav and it wasn't even mentioned that it would in the future then complain when its not there?

Surely thats just plain stupid?

[jakem @ Sep 14th 2008 8:07AM]

@Rich UK: I understand what you're saying and agree to a certain extent. There's no point complaining about the lack of proper GPS navigation for the reasons you stated although you could question why Apple decided to stick a GPS chip in the iPhone (and charge people for it) if they're not going to use it properly. Was it just to tick a box and say that the iPhone has GPS like any other smartphone on the market?

Copy and paste, however, is essential if the iPhone is what Apple claim it's supposed to be. This is a fundamental on a smartphone or any device where you have to work with text (URLs, notes, etc.) on a regular basis. There's no point arguing about it or making excuses - there's no good reason for this to be missing.

At the end of the day though, you're right. Everyone knows that the iPhone can't do the basics so why buy it and then complain.

[Hawkman @ Sep 14th 2008 8:26AM]

Absolutely. I use cut and paste constantly on a desktop, but I can count the number of times I've wished I had it on my iPhone with the fingers of one hand... and that's in a year of use. Most of the scenarios where I'd need it are covered in some other way by the iPhone.

[TOny @ Sep 14th 2008 12:44PM]

As a corporate blackberry user cut and paste is very important. when you have to remove text from emails when you need to forward to other people. people that don't need to know certain thing. you cant be just forwarding whole emails...

Now then can the Iphone do cut and paste??? maybe you need one touch to select all the text but then when you touch again to select copy it probably unselected the text you just highlighted..

maybe someone can correct me but they call it muliti-touch but I think it can only do 2 touches. I have used the Microsoft surface table and 3 people touch the table at the same time and that was really multi-touch. I have an Itouch and i cant remember an app i have that can use 3 touches?

[Tom @ Sep 15th 2008 12:45PM]

Editing content out of a message before you forward it doesn't require cut & paste. It just requires a working delete or backspace key and the ability to move the cursor around, and the iPhone can do both.

I do wish the phone had cut/copy & paste though, as it has come up a few times. Rare, but enough to notice it is missing.

[cravy @ Sep 14th 2008 5:33AM]

Man I've never commented on these blogs before really but I had to say something. I installed the 2.1 update and was excited to see that there was no lag while texting and trying to scroll through my contacts... except now my 3G is BROKEN. When I switch to 3G it goes to no service. I tried turning it off and on, cycling airplane mode... nothing. I get "No service" only. It never goes back to Edge. I'm so pissed. In places I used to get full 3G reception I get ZERO. The only reason I got this phone and upgraded was so when I was trying to find places for work I could get info faster out on the road. Now I have no 3G reception and a slow ass GPS. Thanks Apple.

(I live in Los angeles btw)

[lanejasper69 @ Sep 14th 2008 1:16PM]

Same here, I used to get 2 bars at my home now I get none. when I switch off 3G I still have no bars and get no reception period. It works great all around me, like at store etc. but where it used to work (in my apt.) not is actually worse or not at all, WTF?

Faslane

[Zane @ Sep 14th 2008 5:35PM]

Yeh totally, I never (rarely) comment either, but this warrants a contribution. This is exactly my experience too. I live in the middle of Las Vegas, just off the strip and dead center of the blue 3G area on AT&T's coverage map (http://www.wireless.att.com/coverageviewer/).

Prior to 2.1 I left my phone on 3G all the time, signal strength varied from 1-3 bars, but calls were reliable and internet was reasonably fast. After 2.1, I have "No Service" 100% of the time, it doesn't even revert to Edge. I've also cycled 3G on/off, Airplane mode on/off, and restarted the phone numerous times, in an attempt to "kick-start" it. I've also reset the network settings (Settings>General>Reset>Reset Network Settings) as has been suggested elsewhere, all to no avail.

My only option to get any service at all now is to leave 3G turned off. Additionally, this issue is 100% replicable on the 2nd iPhone 3G in our house. Neither phone can call, or receive at all, with 3G turned on. Incidentally, I get full bars on Edge.

[Martin @ Sep 14th 2008 6:15PM]

I had the same problem when I updated. I noticed I had to turn the 3G on after the update so what I did was making a backup in iTunes with the 3G turned on and then restored it with that backup so it would use the 3G when activated and it actually worked. You might want to try that, it worked for me and haven't had a problem since then other than the last.fm app dying.

[Spartan @ Sep 14th 2008 5:35AM]

My biggest annoyance is that upgraded Apps via iTunes still cause 'UNKNOWN ERROR'

Its an absolute bastard having to delete the apps from the iPhone before iTunes can upgrade, losing all settings.. I thought this would be fixed for sure..

Apple have disappointed me with this release, I just hope the SMS texting bug doesnt show its face too

[DJ @ Sep 14th 2008 5:39AM]

How about a fix for left over text messages. at least in my experience not cleaning out your text messages creates an unstable unusable or just out rite so slow nothing works. 2.0.2 made my iphone nothing more than a phone (pressing the home button just took me to favorites in the phone portion of the phone i was unable to do any thing until i restored it) It worked much better before 2.0 and i am getting ready to just be rid of it.

[Michael @ Sep 14th 2008 5:37AM]

Ever since I upgraded to 2.1 on my iphone, safari is crashing a lot. I've never had it crash before with any of the 2.x releases. However browsing slashdot, Engadget and even Newpaper websites causes the screen to go black, than back to the home screen. Sometimes it occurs while going from portrait to landscape mode.

Except for safari, all the other apps are working great.

[Jeff @ Sep 14th 2008 10:41AM]

Safari is crashing consistently on me as well.

[Will @ Sep 15th 2008 2:17AM]

I was having that problem too until i cleared out all the Safari cache data. I haven't had any crashes since. Give it a try.

[Vivara @ Sep 14th 2008 8:21PM]

Eh, someone doesn't no how to use the vanishing point tool in Photoshop!

[Armoured @ Sep 14th 2008 5:37AM]

What's with the faded comments? It hurts my eyes

Seriously WTF change it back...who the hell makes this stupid decisions?

[zomg0t @ Sep 14th 2008 6:02AM]

If you don't like them, don't read them. It's the rest of Engadget's way of telling people not to read a shitty comment. But I often read them too; I don't think it's that bad on the eyes...

[aard @ Sep 14th 2008 6:04AM]

Agreed...
At least change the comment background to white, so we can see the text without our eyes bleeding... I get the part of graying out the low ranked ones, but make the others readable...

[Ant @ Sep 14th 2008 11:59AM]

Just thinking the same thing about the Low Rank faded text. What's all that about it looks nasty.

[TareX @ Sep 14th 2008 5:38AM]

Great post!! I've looking forward to the coming ones:

iPhone 2.2 update: First impressions
iPhone 2.2 update: Hands-on Gallery
iPhone 2.2 update: Full review
iPhone 2.2 update: The Aftermath

Please, keep this sort of news on engadgetmobile.