The best thing about the 2.2 iPhone software update
Tap out auto-correct with the 2.2 iPhone software update.
(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET Networks)When it comes to iPhone software updates, I'm all about the basics. Apple could enable the iPhone to cook my dinner every night, but if it added multimedia messaging in the same update, then that's the thing that would excite me. Remember last January's update 1.1.3 for the iPhone Classic? While the quasi-GPS functionality got the most attention, I was much more excited that you could now send a text message to multiple people.
So for the iPhone 2.2 software update that Apple released today, it's the ability to turn off the auto-correction in the keyboard that excites me the most. It is useful most of the time, but other times the feature drives me crazy. Almost every other cell phone on the planet allows you to do this, so it's nice to see that the iPhone now does the same. Of course, the other additions are more than welcome--here's hoping that the Safari Web browser really gets "Improved stability and performance"--but I know what I like.
On a related note, the addition of Google Street View is both cool and creepy in that way that only Google can make you feel. Yet, I think that Apple could have been a little more clear on how you find it. Instead of being accessible through a dedicated button in the Maps application, you first must drop a pin and the map and then select the little person icon to see the view from that location. Once you're there it works well, but getting there isn't the most intuitive process.
But on the whole it is a decent update. I could go into the what we didn't get (native voice dialing anyone?) but my colleague Maggie Reardon already did that. Also, check out her blog for a full list of the updates.
Kent German is a senior editor for cell phone reviews at CNET. When he's not testing the newest handsets on the market, he's blogging about cell phone news for Crave. In his On Call column, he answers reader questions and gives his take on the rapidly changing mobile industry. E-mail Kent. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=471vAhveZGA
As for voice-dialing... People do know about the free Say Who? app download, right? I mean - how much more voice dial does it get? You can say the number, the name from your contacts, etc... It is quite versatile, understands very well, as quick as tapping your phone icon to dial or whatever, AND FREE!
I'm looking forward to updating my phone after work...
4 hours, 10 minutes to go...
Question: If I have an iPhone purchased from Italy (one of the few countries that sell them unlocked) can I apply the updates without the phone locking up? Thanks.
But the biggest basics that are still missing are copy & paste and MMS, and while some Americans might debate the value of MMS because they are not used to advanced mobile phone features yet (and some even think it "obsolete" - hah! the rest of the world uses and loves SMS/MMS much more than Americans and we demand it if only because we keep missing out on receiving messages from loved ones because everyone assumes that all phones have MMS so they just send and unless it comes up in conversation later we never know because the MMS never arrives. That is so basic.
Many Americans might put up with mobile phone networks that cannot provide 3G everywhere or have overly expensive MMS so some think email is a reasonable alternative, but real world usage outside the US almost universally requires MMS at the very least to be a standard feature on the this and every other phone. And while it appears it is not so universal in the US, it seems a substantial portion of Americans also want this.
Comments on every iPhone article about the iPhone always brings up copious comments about MMS and copy/paste. No one can argue that there is not a real and ongoing
Google street view... really? I used it once just to check it out... couldn't imagine myself ever using it again.
Turn off auto-text. Maybe if it was easier to do and the button to turn it off was right next to where I was typing. I'd just assume leave it on and hit the 'x' than go into the settings and turn off auto-correct then go back and turn it back on.
No voice dialing... STILL. AT&T has free cell phones that do this.
No MMS... STILL. AT&T has free cell phones that do this.
No speed dialing... STILL. Every single AT&T phone does this.
Turn by turn directions... This would be a large update but still a necessary one. You can't have true phone GPS without turn-by-turn directions. Watching that little blue dot move around rather sporadically is great but not very useful when driving by yourself.
Copy and Paste... Useful. Hard to implement well. Can understand why it doesn't exist but if Apple wants to capture the smart phone market they need to add features like this.
Landscape Texting... The most inexcusable one of them all. Not even a feature more of an option. If I want to text in landscape why the heck can't I? Ridiculous that after 18 months the big brother Apple still won't let us do that.
The good thing is for all of us iPhone owners is that the Storm has all of those features above and will likely sell VERY WELL. Hopefully there is enough pressure generated to AT&T and Apple that they start actually caring about ways to improve the phone.
- by hooterboy31 November 24, 2008 10:42 AM PST
- I`m not impressed really. The only things I like are better App. store catagory page and 1 click to page one. And for this I have an AOL mail acct. that doesn`t work as well as it did before and some streaming music apps. that quit when the phone goes into the sleep mode. Apple got me this time but they wont get me next time.
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