iPhone OS 2.1 Review
Posted by Anticitizen on September 18, 2008
I’ve finally upgraded my iPhone 3G to OS 2.1, and I must say, it makes one hell of a difference.
Let’s begin with an issue many people (your dear author included) were having.
The SMS app Keyboard: The SMS app still takes a couple seconds (at least for me) to fire up. But once it’s started, I’m pleased to say that the keyboard no longer lags behind my actual typing. That was one of my big annoyances with the SMS app, as I use SMS quite heavily.
One thing I do dislike, though, is the repeated notification of SMS’s. Sometimes, I just don’t want to read an SMS, and as such, will not unlock the phone at that moment.
3G/EDGE Reception: Very improved. I get full EDGE (Most of the time) around the house, where I would get around 2-4 bars. 3G is around 3 bars, where I previously got NO 3G reception. 3G reception is moot for me because I keep 3G shut off for optimal battery life.
On that note, I also get absolutely no call drops. Random cut outs and some silence? Every now and then. But no call drops. Yet.
Battery Life: Improved somewhat. An 8-hour day managed to have my iPhone’s battery kneeled down and begging for a recharge. With the new firmware, It didn’t give me a low battery warning until 12 hours of mixed usage, which is quite great. This might push me to use 3G, eventually.
Overall reliability: The crashiness aspect of the iPhone seems to no longer exist, which is a good thing. Occasionally, Safari will hang, but it’s done that on my two iTouches, my ex’s iPhone 3G…so I wasn’t expecting much. But around the iPhone OS, it’s much more reliable. Apps do not crash much anymore, the iPhone doesn’t crash at all, like it used to. Very awesome.
So do I recommend an upgrade? Of course. Do it now, iPhone owners owe it to themselves to grab this update.
