If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

I was very pleasantly greeted this morning by iPhone 2.1, an update that, knowing Apple, I did not expect until this evening. But despite my doubts, here it is, on time and bearing an uncharacteristically long list of release notes. Instead of the usual “bug fixes”, Apple has chosen to fill us in on the juicy details:

• Decrease in call set-up failures and dropped calls
• Significantly better battery life for most users
• Dramatically reduced time to backup to iTunes
• Improved email reliability, notably fetching email from POP and Exchange accounts
• Faster installation of 3rd party applications
• Fixed bugs causing hangs and crashes for users with lots of third party applications
• Improved performance in text messaging
• Faster loading and searching of contacts
• Improved accuracy of the 3G signal strength display
• Repeat alert up to two additional times for incoming text messages
• Option to wipe data after ten failed passcode attempts
• Genius playlist creation

Now, this is obviously a big update, and as I mentioned before, I had very high hopes and expectations for this one. I was very excited for the update, and trusted that it would fix the major issues: app crashing, instability that increased with your number of apps, and rather frequent dropped calls. However, even going in with these high expectations, after downloading it I can honestly say that I couldn’t be happier could only be happier had they also implemented copy & paste.

Although I haven’t had enough time with it to confirm everything on Apple’s list, I can say that it is looking very promising. Here’s a rundown of the improvements I have found so far:

For starters, in my basement where I spend most of my time, I am accustomed to getting 2 or 3 bars of EDGE, maybe a bar or two of 3G if I’m lucky. Since the update, however, I have consistently had 4-5 bars of 3G! This is clearly a huge, immediate improvement.

When I synced my iPhone to the computer in the past, I always skipped the backup stage. I’m the first person to evangelize having some form of backup for EVERYTHING, but the iPhone backups used to take 4-6 hours to complete! You read that right! I’m sorry, I just can’t have my phone tethered to my computer for that long (and unusable as a phone during the process, I might add). But I figured I’d give it a chance after this update, and it is an INCREDIBLE improvement. The entire backup gook less than 2 minutes! Another clear improvement.

I also wanted to test the installation of apps. While not a huge deal, in the past it has taken just seconds to download most apps, but anywhere from 2-10 minutes before they’re installed and usable. Well, I downloaded an app, and to my amazement, after the download was complete it was completely installed in a matter of seconds! With this update, the App Store is approaching instantaneous delivery!

Genius Playlists, a feature new to OS X iPhone as well as the new iTunes 8, allow you to instantly create playlists of related music from any song in your library. I have no idea how it works, and Apple is as usual very vague about the details, but I can say that it works very well, at least for the songs I chose to test it on. I was excited about the feature in iTunes 8, but having it at my fingertips on the iPhone is even more useful.

And on top of all these great improvements, I’ve found one more surprise bug fix: improved keyboard performance. I suppose this falls under “Improved performance in text messaging”, but I wasn’t expecting it. The keyboard used to have a very noticeable lag, which was always there but got really bad at times. Since the update, the keyboard responds instantaneously, exactly like I would expect it to!

Update: There are also new icons for EDGE and 3G. They look much nicer, and are more legible. The top is the colorful version you’ll see in most apps; the bottom is the black version you see on your iPhone’s homescreen. You normally wouldn’t see both icons next to each other as in the picture above, but in the interest of space I edited them together.

I have been told by so many people lately that I am putting too much faith in a company. And while I’m most certainly not saying Apple is infallible, the reason I continue to trust them is because every single time I do, they come at me with something like this! They don’t always release perfect products, but given time, they almost always remedy any mistakes that they make.

Apple, this is a big, big win!

Today, for those of you who don’t know, there was an iPod event. While not a whole lot of the event was geared towards the iPhone, the smallest section of the Stevenote nearly made me wet myself.

Before I go on just let me say that I don’t speak as a fanboy. I don’t simply like Apple because I can. There are clear reasons for my Apple preference. I used PCs, I’ve seen the alternatives. I know how Zunes (don’t) work. The fact is, Apple has an unprecedented attention to detail, and they back it up with awesome support. I have literally never had a good tech support experience…Except with Apple. Every company makes mistakes, but Apple is the only company I know who has a near perfect record for fixing things they royally screw up (when I say “near”, I’m looking at you, mis-contorted mini-bluetooth keyboard of doom and suckiness).

So based on their track record, I’ve always trusted that over time Apple would work out all the things I’ve come to hate about my iPhone. I figured 2.1 would address the words of them: random app crashing, and the overall instability that occurs when you have a lot of apps (like I do). But I had no idea that Steve Jobs would get up on stage today, and tell me that every single little thing I hate about my iPhone will be no more as of this Friday (well, I shouldn’t say EVERYTHING…there’s still no cut and paste!!!).

No 4-hour-long backups, they’ve revamped that backup system. No starting from scratch at least once a week because my iPhone refuses to boot up after installing one too many apps. He even says there’s going to be significant performance improvements, and significant battery life improvements. Based on the demos, I’m guessing that means faster app installs, but it’s always hard to tell with demos

Another great thing they did with this event today was clearly label the iPhone/iPod Touch as a gaming platform. Apple themselves has finally acknowledged the potential for gaming in their device, and this is groundbreaking for consumers. It means that game developers will be willing to look at it very seriously; and the answer will usually be yes! Take EA for example, they’ve been putting out tons of games for iPhone and doing simultaneous release for iPhone with big names like Spore and Need for Speed! It’s fantastic for us gamers, because we get AMAZING games on the iPhone, and it’s great for them too, because development time is tiny in comparison to other platforms; and yet there is a huge profit potential. Win/Win.

They’ve also made significant progress in making the iPod Touch and iPod Nano more green. I am always all for keeping this world a habitable place! It always baffles me that people label Apple as a non-eco-friendly company. They are a tech company, and nearly every piece of tech has strange chemicals in it. It is true that Apple does some not-so-great stuff, but from where I’m sitting, it’s also true that they are the ONLY tech company actually working towards improving on that front.

Wow, Apple. I trusted in you, and I don’t regret it. Today is a great day. Here’s to one of the finest companies I know.