iPhone 2.0 Software Update
Jul 13, 2008 10:33 AM Filed in: Apple
iPhone 2.0 Software Update
By now you are probably aware the iPhone 2.0 Software Update has been released. After failing to download the update on July 11th due to the iTunes server failure, I was able to successfully download the update on July 12th. For iPod Touch owners like me, the update costs USD $9.95 (or USD $10.25 in my case due to sales tax). The install lasted at least 30 minutes to backup my existing iPod contents, install the update, backup the update, and then re-sync my music, videos, and photos. However, the update process was smooth and went without interruption.
The App Store
The most evident change was the presence of a new home screen button - the App Store. I quickly clicked on the icon to view the new and super hyped App Store. There were plenty of applications to choose from, the most popular being from the Social Networking category. I immediately downloaded the Facebook application, the Twitterific application from IconFactory, and NetNewsWire for my RSS feed subscriptions. Twitterific for the iPhone is just as great as Apple says it is. The application is near perfect, allowing me to Twitter with ease. The interface is intuitive. The application has never crashed. And the only gripe I have with Twitterific is that the Tweet list scrolling is a bit jerky. The Facebook application I found mediocre. It offers a limited feature set compared to the full website, and does not offer as many features as the iPhone web application viewable in Safari. I found no way to search for new friends. I could only browse my current friend list. And I did not have access to my Wall. Facebook has said they will update the application in the near future to address many if not all of these issues. But in its current state, the Facebook application leaves much to be desired. The NetNewsWire application is great. Some complain that it does not allow you to add or edit your RSS subscriptions, but I do not find this a problem. I want a simple, clean, and easy interface to let me browse my existing RSS feeds. And NetNewsWire does this well. Also, the NetNewsWire iPhone application syncs your read/unread status with your online NetNewsWire account, which also syncs with your desktop NetNewsWire client. So no matter when or where you read your NetNewsWire RSS feeds, they are always up to date. Unfortunately, I did notice that a large majority of iPhone applications were rushed to release. Many applications were buggy, incomplete, or obvious ploys to make a quick buck. For example, I downloaded the New York Times iPhone application. This application was buggy, crashing my iPhone from time to time, and it was very slow to load. The AP Mobile News iPhone application claimed I was in a town 40 miles from here, and as a result displayed irrelevant “local” news stories. Unfortunately, there was no way for me to specify my correct location.
Initial Reaction
Many of my complaints above will quickly be resolved. The App Store is a 1.0 product and a brand new market for many developers. After the initial gold rush of prospecting developers, I believe the pricing for iPhone applications will settle around a default price (USD $2 - $10) and many of the junk applications will be removed at the request of Apple or due to user disinterest. I am simply elated that I can now Twitter from my iPod Touch using a native application! See several screenshots of my iPod Touch with the iPhone 2.0 update below.
|