Apple has rolled out iPhone 2.1 to iPhone and iPhone 3G users.
The update features the addition of Genius playlist creation and other additions designed to address longstanding issues present since the release of both 2.0 and 2.0.1, both of which did little to assuage growing customer complaints regarding signal strength, battery life, and issues with longer than average sync times.
Feedback from users after the update (as well as our own units) also shows the addition of new icons for both 3G and EDGE modes as well as a marked improvement in reception from 2.0.1 along with the addition of additional alerts for incoming and waiting messages, and improvements to Contacts, SMS, and application updates.
The update is now available from iTunes and requires iTunes 8.0 in order to perform the update.
Encyclopedia: Apple iPhone 3G
new icons?! they are just the same thing without the box around the letters “3G”. how is that a new icon? being a graphic designer, i see “new icon” im expecting, well a new icon.
2.1 was available for the iPod Touch not long after the announcement on Tuesday. I assume they use the same codebase (but different builds) for the multiple variants of iPhone/iPod-touch. What was the reasoning for waiting these few days to release 2.1 for the iPhones?
Gilbert, it had to do with the baseband changes and 3G/GSM radio firmware whereas the Touch has neither of those requirements.