General iPhone 2.0 impressions.
The first few days…
So far, so good. I was one of the early (stupid?) adopters of the 2.0 software release last Thursday (7/10/2008) and was the victim of a rebooting/freezing/freak of a phone. As Friday rolled around, and it was announced that the leaked version was 3G iPhone ONLY…well.. Guess it was a sign to invest a bit more time in the actual firmware upgrade. Shame on me for being impatient… I should know better…
Fast forward to Saturday, when I went through the fairly arduous procedure of resetting my phone, downloading the new software, reinstalling it… all while crossing my fingers, dancing around my chair 3 times and chanting a ceremonial chant. Everything seems to be kosher now, and after completing the AppleTV upgrade to 2.1, the new Apple Remote.app is working great!
Battery life seems to be a touch better. My phone is about 4 months old, and to gain battery life at this point of it’s life cycle is a nice benefit. The phone seems to navigate a bit faster, also. But, there are two shining stars of the 2.0 upgrade.
One is the long overdue update from .MAC to MobileMe.
After updating both my Mac Pro and Air with the MobileMe/iTunes/Quicktime update, everything seemed to sync more reliability. I haven’t noticed much of a speed bump, but having my iCal/Address Book and Safari bookmarks automagically push out to my iPhone over the air vs. USB docking/syncing is a VERY nice upgrade.
However, the biggest shining star is Apps! Apps! Apps! Some of the most useful applications in the iTunes - iPhone Apps gallery are completely free. I have had a few hiccups, such as when an iPhone .app simply returns to the Home screen randomly. In most cases, data is not lost and the app is smart enough to return me to where I was upon relaunch.
Overall, I believe the update is worth the hassle, that should be far less of a problem for those who wait on the official process to propagate throughout their setups. I am forgoing the upgrade to a 3G phone at this point, except perhaps a premature, catastrophic end to my current iPhone, as the new features haven’t been compelling enough to separate more money from my wallet…yet. As the GPS/Social networking apps gain more momentum, the more precise GPS may prove useful. However, until they implement copy/paste, or some other new functionality (3rd generation?), I will be skipping the 3G/2nd Generation iPhone. Pick a cheap 1st Gen up on eBay…better deal!
