The number of undocumented new features in iPhone OS 2.2 is small relative to some other releases, which were accompanied by skimpy release notes. Among the few niceties discovered so far:
Mail rendering improvements Several users have reported enhanced readability of HTML messages in Mail.app under the new release. One iPhone Atlas reader writes:
“In the past, many html-formatted messages would have the unpleasant tendency to appear in my iPhone with fonts much too small to be viewable on the iPhone’s screen, requiring irritating horizontal swipes. Since the 2.2 upgrade, however, I’ve noticed that Mail - after briefly showing the original message for a fraction of a second - automatically changes the font size and formatting of those messages, and makes them completely readable. I noticed this in the daily Tech Bulletins I get from IHT.com, for example, among other sites. A very welcome improvement indeed. Kudos, Apple!”
Emebdded YouTube Playability indicator The ability to see graphic indicators of embedded YouTube content in Safari on the iPhone has existed for several OS iterations. These graphics can be clicked, launching the YouTube application. which may or may not playback the video, dependent on whether or not the video has been encoded for the iPhone.
Under OS 2.2, however, the graphic indicates whether or not the YouTube video is playable.
One iPhone Atlas reader writes:
“On web pages that have embedded YouTube videos, the frame now tells you in advance whether the movie is playable on the iPhone’s YouTube app. If it isn’t playable, you’ll see only a gray frame with a play button and a slash through it. If it is, you see the movie and a play button, as normal.
“Unfortunately, the same can’t be said when trying to stream video podcasts. When you try this with an incompatible podcast (like ABC’s Barack Obama videos), you have to connect and start downloading before a message comes up and tells you you can’t play it.”
Slide-deletion for podcasts In addition to podcasts now being available for download in the iTunes application (over Wi-Fi and cellular networks), iPhone OS 2.2 adds the ability to swipe-delete podcasts.
One iPhone Atlas reader writes:
“After updating to FW 2.2 I can now delete audio podcasts by sliding your finger across it and press delete. I believe this was restricted to video podcasts before 2.2, but not 100% sure.”
Users continue to note a series of issues with the iPhone OS 2.2 update.
Weak or non-existent signal has been with the case with virtually every iPhone OS update, some users are reporting a degradation of signal after the release of OS 2.2.
iPhoneAtlas reader 1 wrote:
“I recently updated my iphone firmware from 2.1 to 2.2 and since then i have no signal from my local service provider(not 3G signal). I experienced no signal problem with the 2.1 firmware.”
iPhoneAtlas reader 2 wrote:
“Since updating yesterday, I have had serious cell connectivity issues. The phone is constantly ‘Searching’ for cell service in areas where it was not a problem before yesterday.”
It appears that, in some cases, turning off location services can boost signal strength under iPhone OS 2.2. For other potential signal-boosting procedures, see our previous coverage.
The most reliable indicator of actual signal strength is the iPhones dB meter, which can be accessed in field test mode. Dial *3001#12345#* then press “Call.” A dB reading below 50 generally indicates good strength.
Missing applications Some users have reported sudden disappearance of iPhone applications after the update — even those that ship by default with the device and cannot be voluntarily deleted.
iPhoneAtlas reader 3 wrote:
“Today all of a sudden I don’t have Safari or Camera. I did a sync and they’re not there. Then a reset and nothing. Then synced again after the reset and nothing. Big bummer since I use Safari all the time. I’m figuring it has to be a software issue. I thought I’d throw it out there in case others are experiencing the same.”
Failed installation Some users are unable to apply the iPhone OS 2.2 update at all, with the installation process failing partway through. In some cases, the phone may become stuck in recovery mode, typified by the image of a USB cable pointing at an iTunes logo.
If you are using a Windows system, try completely uninstalling then reinstalling iTunes, as described in this knowledge base article.
WiFi problems Some users are reporting an inability to connect to WiFi networks after the iPhone OS 2.2 update.
iPhoneAtlas reader 4 wrote:
“After the 2.2 firmware upgrade, my phone does not pick up nor automatically connects to my wireless network, it is permanently on 3G. T tried rebooting my phone, didnt make any difference.”
Among the potential fixes for WiFi connectivity issues are:
Turn WiFi off then on in Settings.
“Forget” the currently configured connection and allow it to reconfigure
Switch the router to WPA2
Remove all spaces from the WPA pass phrase
Remove all security from the router until a stable connection is attained then reconfigure the security
(via iPhoneAtlas.com)
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Man with all these issues & local Caller ID unavailability in 2.2 I wouldn’t be too surprised if a 2.2.1 was released before the end of the year.
We already know that Woz is an advocate of Pwnage but here is a recent interview with him from the BBC’sClick Online show, the interviewer is Cambridge Computer Science graduate Spencer Kelly.
The iPhone Dev Team have wasted no time in updating their iPhone unlocking, jailbreaking and hactivating tool to work with firmware 2.2 released last week Friday. The latest post on their blog outlines allot of useful info and I would suggest that you head over there and read the latest post. Here is the summary.
Don’t Update your 3G via iTunes if you want an unlock in the future.
The latest PWNAGE and QuickPWN can NOT unlock your iPhone 3G.
The latest PWNAGE Tool and QuickPWN can NOT work on the 2G iPod Touch.
The ‘late 2008’ MacBook/air/pro line of computers have an issue with DFU mode, it is possible to go from Pwned 2.1 -> 2.2 but going from stock to Pwned does not work, if in any doubt use a different machine. - Be careful.
Simple Mode’ in PwnageTool currently only works for the iPod Touch.
To use PwnageTool for iPhones you will need to use ‘Expert mode’.
You will also need to change the partition size to about 1000MB (type in the value or use the slider).
Regarding the unlocking of the iPhone 3G here is the latest notes from the Dev Team about updating to 2.2 via iTunes and how it may affect a software unlock int eh future:
Locked iPhone 3G - Preserve Baseband
This applies if you have a locked iPhone 3G and you wish to update to 2.2 but preserve the iPhone’s current baseband software. Preserving the baseband will give you the maximum chance for any upcoming software unlock. To upgrade your phone to 2.2 and preserve the state of the
baseband you need to create a custom .ipsw with PwnageTool. This custom .ipsw will not contain the baseband update but of course will still allow all the cool new stuff from 2.2.
There are plenty of tutorials about this process on the web, but PwnageTool contains intuitive graphics and easy to follow prompts that should have you up and running in no time at all
However, some users who have updated their iPhones with the latest iPhone firmware are reporting problems running some iPhone apps, internet connection issues etc.
One of the most common problems after Apple releases its the latest firmware update for the iPhone is that some users who have jailbroken their iPhone end up accidentally upgrading it.
So when Apple released iPhone firmware 2.2 on Thursday night, quite a few readers ended up accidentally upgrading their iPhones to the latest firmware.
The problem is that they ended up losing the jailbreak and all the unofficial iPhone apps. They are left with two options: 1. Either wait for the iPhone Dev Team to release the latest hacking tools which should be soon or 2. Downgrade to iPhone firmware 2.1.
One of our readers, Jason, has tried the second option and successfully downgraded his iPhone to iPhone firmware 2.1. Jason has also shared the steps he had followed to downgrade to iPhone firmware 2.1, so we have based this step-by-step guide mostly on it.
Before we start with the guide, you need to first download iPhone firmware 2.1 (for 1st iPhone, use this download link and for iPhone 3G, use this download link).
You can then follow these steps to downgrade from iPhone firmware 2.2 to firmware 2.1:
Connect your iPhone to your Mac or PC and select your iPhone from the list of devices in iTunes. If things had gone horribly wrong while hacking your iPhone and iTunes does not detect your iPhone then you will need to put it in DFU (Device Firmware Upgrade) mode.
You can follow these steps to put your iPhone in DFU mode (this is required only if iTunes does not recognize your iPhone):
Connect your iPhone to your computer.
Turn iPhone off.
Hold power and home together for 10 seconds (exactly).
Release power but keep holding home until the computers beeps (observed on a PC) as a USB device is recognized.
A few seconds later iTunes should detect your iPhone.
In the Summary Tab, Hold down Option and press the “Restore” button. If you are using Windows hold down Shift and press the Restore button. (This is an important step as just pressing the “Restore” button will result in restoring your iPhone with the latest firmware which is firmware 2.2 currently, by holding down Option in case of Mac or Shift in case of Windows, allows you choose the firmware file that you want to downgrade to.)
You should be able to see all the older iPhone firmware files you had downloaded so far, select iPhone firmware 2.1 file (iPhone1,1_2.1_5F136_Restore.ipsw) to restore your iPhone or browse to the folder where you have downloaded it and select it.
You might get the any of the following errors: 1011, 1013, 1015, you can ignore them. However, if you get errors such as: 1601, 1602, 1600 or anything else then try putting the iPhone into DFU mode and try again.
We haven’t tried this yet on the iPhone 3G as we haven’t upgraded to iPhone firmware 2.2 after the warning from the iPhone Dev Team but have tried this out on an iPod Touch (after upgrading it to iPhone firmware 2.2) and it works without any problem. James who had tipped us about this method has tried this out and confirms that it works.
Based on the information that iPhone Dev team had shared about firmware 2.2, we are assuming that this does not downgrade the baseband firmware in case of iPhone 3G which also gets upgraded with the iPhone firmware 2.2 update. So we are not sure if iPhone 3G users who accidentally upgraded to iPhone firmware 2.2 will be able to unlock their iPhones when iPhone Dev Team release their software method to unlock iPhone 3G.
But by downgrading to iPhone firmware 2.1 they should be able to at least jailbreak their iPhone 3G so they can install the unofficial iPhone apps (which was the condition when they upgrade to the latest firmware).
In case of the 1st gen iPhone, since the baseband firmware does not get upgraded, by downgrading to iPhone firmware 2.1, 1st gen iPhone users should be able to jailbreak and unlock their iPhones.
Please remember that hacking your iPhone could result in voiding your warranty so please proceed with caution.
The number of undocumented new features in iPhone OS 2.2 is small relative to some other releases, which were accompanied by skimpy release notes. Among the few niceties discovered so far:![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_c.png?x-id=84babb48-bf8f-4a28-ba81-0eddb1ebeba6)
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