iPhone Firmware 2.1

On Tuesday Uncle Steve introduced us to the goodness that is the new iPod Nano and Touch (watch the QuickTime stream here). iTunes got a little smarter and Apple announced a new premium set of ear buds. The big news for me, however, was Steve's announcement that on Friday, Apple will release iPhone Firmware 2.1 which he says will squash most of the bug us lucky "few percentage of customers" are experiencing. The dropped calls thing hasn't been an issue for me and I don't get and never will get 3G service where I live so that's no big deal for me. I have been afflicted with most of the other bugs you've been hearing about here and there on the internet so I've compiled a list of what I'm hoping to see get fixed with Firmware 2.1. Once again, I'm keeping any and all appropriate appendages crossed. Without further adieu heres my list:

1. God-awful long backups and syncs. Almost since day one this one has been bad. Instead of syncing and backing up daily like I should be, I've avoided this and will only sync overnight once or twice a week. The reason? 4 and 5 hour long backup/syncs. I kid you not. The iPhone can only hold 16 GBs why in the hell does it take 4+ hours to back up? The other day I kind of forgot that backup/syncs take this long and at about 3 p.m. I plugged my 3G into my iMac to do a "quick" app update. Big mistake! I had to be to work (my real, bill paying job) at 6 p.m. and by 5:15 it was readily apparent that there was no way I was going to make it. In frustration I ripped the cord out of the back of my iMac with the backup/sync having completed about half of what it probably should have. Boy was I surprised to see that my iPhone booted up and worked normally for the rest of the day. I figured I'd bricked it for sure at least until I could do a restore.
2. Dodgy GPS. This one hasn't been a big issue for me and the GPS works pretty well most of the time. The last couple of days, however, non of the GPS using apps on my phone can get a signal. Perhaps I shouldn't have jerked the USB cord out of my iMac during a backup/sync? Nah that can't be it. Anyway, I'm afraid to reboot the phone because I'm fairly certain it won't reboot and get stuck at the Gray Apple logo screen requiring a restore. That's never a good thing so I've just avoided powering down and rebooting. Hopefully, after tomorrow I'll have my GPS back.
3. Lose of volume. This one hasn't been a huge deal for me either as generally a reboot will fix it. See number 2 for why I can't/won't reboot.
4. General app crashiness. This one hasn't been a huge deal either except when it happens (duh, makes sense you nimrod). Sometimes when it does, though, I have to reboot which has led to some hair
   
   pulling when it reboots into the GAD (gray Apple of Death) or SAD (silver Apple of Death) as some call it. SAD makes me sad as well as frustrated as you then have to do a restore. In my experiences Restores can go one of three ways: 1. Restored back to new and then iTunes only gives you the option of setting up the phone as a new phone. 2. Restored back to new and when you try to restore from your last backup iTunes tells you it is corrupt and, well, you're screwed. 3. Restored back to new and the restore from your last backup went without a hitch, although it took a week to finish. The last one is a most elusive creature but when it happens revel in the goodness of what Apple, iTunes and the 3G can bring to your life. You'll have plenty of time to "revel" as the whole process will take at least 4 hours.
5. Restores that are required for one reason or another (generally App crashiness) and that result in one of the first two scenarios listed in number 4 above.
6. Abysmal battery life. Seriously abysmal. Yesterday my fully charged 3G lasted all of 8 hour before I got the 20% battery life warning, and its not as if I had lots of background stuff going on. I turn off Wi Fi as I live in the sticks and we ain't not got no fancy shmancy Wi Fi round these here parts. I really hadn't used my phone all that much either. I made a few calls, played some music and a podcast (Car Talk) and played a game of Wurdle or three.

Well that's just about it. I'm sure I could think of a few more but if firmware 2.1 fixed those 6 favorites, I'd be a happy man.

Oh and here's a fun little interview with Steve Jobs conducted by CNBC's Jim Goldman. It strikes me that Goldman seems to really be sucking up to Uncle Steve and going out of his way to not piss him off. What do you think? It was nice of Jobs not to bust out laughing when Goldman asked him about the new Jerry Seinfeld/Bill Gates commercial. The look on his face, though, was pretty telling.

Joe Henry