Briefly: Apple testing first bug fix update to iPhone Software v2.0

[AppleInsider]

Apple is already testing the first maintenance and security updates for version 2.0 of its iPhone Software that aim to improve performance and fix a number of outstanding bugs.

The updates, which revealed themselves as iPhone Software 2.0.1 in the Apache server logs at BGR, are currently making the rounds in the form of two distinct builds: build 5B101 for first-generation iPhones and build 5B103 for the new 3G iPhones.

Although Apple began testing the updates prior to the official release of iPhone Software v2.0 on Friday, neither have made their way into the hands of iPhone developers.

Instead, Apache server logs reveal, and AppleInsider can confirm, that requests from phones running the new builds are coming primary from the San Francisco Bay Area (near Apple's Cupertino headquarters) and Atlanta (AT&T's home base).

Since testing has remained internal, it's unclear exactly what areas of the software the updates will target. Some users, however, report that iPhone Software 2.0 effectively crippled the camera applications on both their original iPhone and new iPhone 3G.

After updating, these users report that it takes a full six seconds between the time the camera application launches and when the digital shutter opens to allow a photo to be taken. This has made the iPhone's camera somewhat useless, those users explain, especially for the spontaneous photos for which it has become most popular.

Separately, a number of other users are reporting a variety of problems with the accelerometer on their new iPhone 3Gs. These include jerky responses, unintentional landscape shifts, or no response at all after the handset sleeps.

One user on the Apple Discussion Forums explains that the misbehavior of his accelerometer is also having an adverse affect on his photos.



"[T]he camera app thinks I'm holding the phone upside down, so the photos are stored upside down!," he wrote. "A reset always fixes the problem. If I set "Auto-Lock" to never and don't press the sleep/wake button then the accelerometer works perfectly. Of course this isn't exactly practical."

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[freethinker]

...for being an early adopter!

In the words of Nelson Muntz, "Ha Ha".

[mjw4849]

Yup, I've definitely noticed the difference in being able to use the camera, in fact, I'd say it took more than 6 seconds to start up, and that's when it doesn't crash first - sooooo frustrating.

Fix please!

mjw4849

[ltcommander.data]

I hope that means Apple's not about to charge iPod Touch users another fee so soon.

[HFU]

It's good that Apple react to those software glitches as a number of issues have been reported. I like to see some Maps feature improvement:

* full screen landscape view for GPS
* optional auto-lock temporary disable when using GPS feature

[wonderbread]

I don't think that was a good summary of the most common problems user's are complaining about. The most pervasive problems reported have been related to extremely poor and unstable reception in areas where other AT&T 3G devices get 5 bars and sluggishness in text entry for SMS and the contact list.

[lfmorrison]

Originally Posted by ltcommander.data

I hope that means Apple's not about to charge iPod Touch users another fee so soon.

They've never charged any iPod user for access to any bugfix-only firmware releases in the past*. Hopefully they won't start now.

* Does anybody know if there were outstanding bugs in iPod Touch firmware version 1.1.4 which were resolved in 2.0? If so, and if they are not subsequently addressed through a separate 1.1.5 patch, that would definitely leave Apple open to lawsuits on the grounds of the iPod Touch (or the JSU) being unsuitable for the purposes which were originally advertised at the time of sale.

[edit]
Never mind, they just did release 1.1.5.

[stormj]

Originally Posted by wonderbread

I don't think that was a good summary of the most common problems user's are complaining about. The most pervasive problems reported have been related to extremely poor and unstable reception in areas where other AT&T 3G devices get 5 bars and sluggishness in text entry for SMS and the contact list.

Compared to my 8525 or my V3x I get just about the same 3G bars in each of the three different 3G zones I travel through each day. I also do not have a six second delay on my camera. Overall, though, the UI is much slower, and, agreed--especially in SMSing. I have also noticed the accelerometer problem.

It's hard to compare "bar for bar" when you're not sure what those mean, anyway. I think priority one is UI speed.

Could some of these problems possibly be connected to apps?

[stokessd]

It seems on my 1st generation phone that if I turn off location services in the settings, the camera comes up just as fast as it used to. With location on, there is an additional delay while the phone checks where it is first.

If anybody has a slow camera, I'd recommend turning off "use location" in the settings and try again and see if that's the culprit.

I get reboots when using 3rd party, which is a bug (IMHO). Apps should not be able to take the OS down unless the error is in the core OS somewhere.

Sheldon

[davefox73]

Originally Posted by stormj

Compared to my 8525 or my V3x I get just about the same 3G bars in each of the three different 3G zones I travel through each day. I also do not have a six second delay on my camera. Overall, though, the UI is much slower, and, agreed--especially in SMSing. I have also noticed the accelerometer problem.

Using 5A345, which ITunes says is the latest version. Experiencing bug with "Maps". Sometimes when continuing to zoom in closer and closer on a satellite view, the program crashes. Also noticed in viewing email and sliding your finger to get the delete button to appear that the program freezes and the only way to recover is to turn off the iPhone and restart it.

[ghostface147]

They need to fix the sluggishness that 5A345 and 5A347. I don't mind the yellow tint. It sometimes takes up to 6 seconds to get a response from the screen when I touch it browsing contacts or phonebook. Camera works fine for me and no system crashes.

[DestructoTex]

I hope the new update allows users to turn off the location services dialogue that keeps coming up every time I launch maps or my camera. I want it to remember my preference unless I decide to change it sometime later.

Listen up, Apple: having to dismiss these pop-ups every time the app is launched is intrusive, annoying and cumbersome. When I want to take a picture of my 4-month old, I don't want to have to jump through any more hoops than opening the camera app and pressing the shutter. If I'm driving and need to look up something on map and push the "find location" button, then OF COURSE I want maps to use my current location. I just friggin' asked it to do that. Also, it creates an additional unnecessary step that takes my eyes off the road.

The way location services behave in 2.0 is a very un-Apple behavior.

[wizard69]

Originally Posted by freethinker

...for being an early adopter!

In the words of Nelson Muntz, "Ha Ha".

Hey maybe by the time my ordered iPhone comes in the update will be ready


On a serious side anybody familiar with the SDK would have realized that Apple had a long way to go to provide a stable iPhone 2 OS. Frankly this doesn't bother me much at all. The reason is pretty straight forward in that Apple has proven that they have the infrastructure and willingness to keep the iPhone updated. Will everything be corrected in 2.0.1; I seriously doubt it but I expect that by the time 2.0.5 rolls around the machine will be solid.

As long as Apple continues to demonstrate a willingness to keep updating the iPhone they will be head and shoulders above the rest of the cell phone industry. This in and of itself is the best reason to go the iPhone route, that is they are backed up by a company that has a proven track record of making its mobile OS easy to access and update by the average user. The integration with iTunes is actually a very slick idea.

Dave

[Berzerker]

They really need to add a way to send from aliases on the iPhone's Mail app for a MobileMe account.

[nvidia2008]

Originally Posted by Berzerker

They really need to add a way to send from aliases on the iPhone's Mail app for a MobileMe account.

Click and hold the From field.

[shanmugam]

Cut & Copy & Paste coming soon ...

[quinney]

It is impossible to believe that these issues were not discovered during
testing. It is sad to see Apple exhibiting deadline driven behavior in the
way they release products not ready for prime time. They run the risk of
permanently tarnishing their halo.

[resnyc]

Cut & Copy & Paste coming soon ...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Better be. How do you know?

[aplnub]

Originally Posted by nvidia2008

Click and hold the From field.

That just brings up the list of accounts you have setup on the phone. Are you suggesting that he set up the aliases from .Mac/MM on the phone too?

Also, there is a bug when snapping a picture and emailing it out over wifi ("on") with airplane mode enabled. I always get a message saying it failed to send the photo but yet when I open Mail it sends the email right out.

[fleetst]

I hope they're also going to fix an apparent bug with videos. When I try to play videos which I have exported from EyeTV I keep getting the message "This movie format not supported." However, these are videos which were already on my iPhone and played perfectly until I upgraded to the 2.0 software.

I'm not alone, there are numerous messages on the official Apple iPhone forums detailing the same problem.

[DestructoTex]

It was just an example. Unwad your friggin' panties. Quit attacking my example and speak to the problem I mentioned.

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by quinney

It is sad to see Apple exhibiting deadline driven behavior in the
way they release products not ready for prime time. They run the risk of
permanently tarnishing their halo.

Hmmm, the iHalo effect.

[TomXP411]

Originally Posted by fleetst

I hope they're also going to fix an apparent bug with videos. When I try to play videos which I have exported from EyeTV I keep getting the message "This movie format not supported." However, these are videos which were already on my iPhone and played perfectly until I upgraded to the 2.0 software.

I'm not alone, there are numerous messages on the official Apple iPhone forums detailing the same problem.

iPhone video playback has always been flakey compared to my iPod Classic. Some things (such as video from my digital camera) won't even play on the iPhone when they play perfectly on the iPod.

My current problem: I use Beyond TV, which has an H.264 encoder (iPod/iPhone/Apple TV video.) My problem is that the audio and video get out of sync. At the beginning of a program, it's not so bad, but after 30 minutes, the delay is on the order of 2 or 3 seconds.

The odd thing is that this happens even if I stop the video and manually seek to an arbitrary point in the video. Of course, this only started happening after the 2.0 upgrade. (I'm downloading and re-installing the official 2.0 firmware right now, just to see if that's a problem.)

[iVlad]

I can never understand how Software is being written. Does Apple dump original iPhone Software and start over for 2.0? These problems did not exsist in original 1.1.4. I would assume they take old software and add one to it. Don't they?

(Sorry, I wish I was a developer)

[wonderbread]

Originally Posted by iVlad

I can never understand how Software is being written. Does Apple dump original iPhone Software and start over for 2.0? These problems did not exsist in original 1.1.4. I would assume they take old software and add one to it. Don't they?

(Sorry, I wish I was a developer)

Let me explain it in technical terms: New software = f(Old Software)
This should address most of your concerns.

[a_greer]

FIX ACTIVE STINK...er SYNC


How in the heck are business people supposed to use this thing when activesync kills the battery in 5 hours?!?!?!?!? turn off active sync? disable push? No Way.


I understnd that Active sync is like that on all devices from Palm and HTC as well, so it may be a MS problem, but it became Apples problem when they sold it as the second coming of Christ to IT guys.

[a_greer]

Originally Posted by quinney

It is impossible to believe that these issues were not discovered during
testing. It is sad to see Apple exhibiting deadline driven behavior in the
way they release products not ready for prime time. They run the risk of
permanently tarnishing their halo.

I demoed my 3g to my boss, he said "it is slow, apps crash, and the thing has no battery life, they should call it Apple Iphone Vista."

sad to say, I kinda agree.

[MartiNZ]

Got to agree that there's a lot that could use fixing/streamlining, but personally, I'd settle for my iPhone working as a phone - something Vodafone NZ hasn't quite managed to get it to do in the last six days ><.

[Nite HAWK]

Originally Posted by wonderbread

I don't think that was a good summary of the most common problems user's are complaining about. The most pervasive problems reported have been related to extremely poor and unstable reception in areas where other AT&T 3G devices get 5 bars and sluggishness in text entry for SMS and the contact list.

I agree ans I'm having the same problem with poor un stable coverage on 3G with my new Iphone and other devices on at&t on 3g have full 5 bar coverage most of the time. There seems to be a poor signal being received on 3G. When I turn off 3G the coverage improves right away.

[hillstones]

Originally Posted by stokessd

It seems on my 1st generation phone that if I turn off location services in the settings, the camera comes up just as fast as it used to. With location on, there is an additional delay while the phone checks where it is first.

If anybody has a slow camera, I'd recommend turning off "use location" in the settings and try again and see if that's the culprit.

I get reboots when using 3rd party, which is a bug (IMHO). Apps should not be able to take the OS down unless the error is in the core OS somewhere.

Sheldon

Thanks for the tip. The camera was a few seconds longer than before, and it prompts to check your location for camera use. I turned off the Location feature in the settings and the camera is ready to use after a few seconds.

[hillstones]

Originally Posted by davefox73

Using 5A345, which ITunes says is the latest version. Experiencing bug with "Maps". Sometimes when continuing to zoom in closer and closer on a satellite view, the program crashes. Also noticed in viewing email and sliding your finger to get the delete button to appear that the program freezes and the only way to recover is to turn off the iPhone and restart it.

Use the RESTORE option and iTunes will download 5A347, which is the latest version.

[hillstones]

Originally Posted by DestructoTex

I hope the new update allows users to turn off the location services dialogue that keeps coming up every time I launch maps or my camera. I want it to remember my preference unless I decide to change it sometime later.

Listen up, Apple: having to dismiss these pop-ups every time the app is launched is intrusive, annoying and cumbersome. When I want to take a picture of my 4-month old, I don't want to have to jump through any more hoops than opening the camera app and pressing the shutter. If I'm driving and need to look up something on map and push the "find location" button, then OF COURSE I want maps to use my current location. I just friggin' asked it to do that. Also, it creates an additional unnecessary step that takes my eyes off the road.

The way location services behave in 2.0 is a very un-Apple behavior.

Why don't you turn off the Location Services in the Settings! Go to Settings, General, and you will see the option to turn off the Location Services. Hopefully you won't be anywhere near me while you are screwing around with the phone instead of PAYING ATTENTION TO YOUR DRIVING! If you need to look something up on the Map, PULL OVER!

[hillstones]

Originally Posted by a_greer

I demoed my 3g to my boss, he said "it is slow, apps crash, and the thing has no battery life, they should call it Apple Iphone Vista."

sad to say, I kinda agree.

I am sure your boss is very happy with his Windows-driven Treo that only lasts 3 hours! Tell your boss to remove his head from his ass and wake up to current technology. No other phone can boast 5 hour talk time using a 3G network. My iPhone (Original) is not slow, apps don't crash, and it has great battery life.

[Sam Damon]

Got a second "talkback" dialog box this evening when I synched my phone with iTunes.

Took a look at the crashlogs being sent back -- quite a number of them are starting with "mediaserverd-" followed by a date-time stamp. I'd say half of them concern that module, and the other half concern Safari.

Wonder if Hyatt is still the boss of the Safari team?

[FormerARSgm]

I hope they fix the bug that lists my LIFETIME USAGE as 16 Days, especially since I clearly haven't owned my iPhone 3G for 16 days.

[doh123]

Originally Posted by fleetst

I hope they're also going to fix an apparent bug with videos. When I try to play videos which I have exported from EyeTV I keep getting the message "This movie format not supported." However, these are videos which were already on my iPhone and played perfectly until I upgraded to the 2.0 software.

I'm not alone, there are numerous messages on the official Apple iPhone forums detailing the same problem.

havent read every post here... but i export shows from EyeTV, and play them on my ipod touch... they worked beofre 2.0 update and are still working after 2.0 update...

which options for export are you using in EyeTV? maybe its the max rez ones? I just use the slightly lower ones that is labeled as export for iPhone. did one just today and it works fine. Maybe its just a problemon the iphone and not the itouch?

[DestructoTex]

Originally Posted by hillstones

Why don't you turn off the Location Services in the Settings! Go to Settings, General, and you will see the option to turn off the Location Services. Hopefully you won't be anywhere near me while you are screwing around with the phone instead of PAYING ATTENTION TO YOUR DRIVING! If you need to look something up on the Map, PULL OVER!

I turns itself back on again. That's why. That's like saying "why don't you just keep it in airplane mode if you don't like the way it asks you if you want to join a nearby wifi network." BECAUSE IT'S WHAT I BOUGHT THE PHONE FOR, GENIUS.

And I'm not doing this WHILE I'm driving, btw. That's what stop lights are for. But again- my point is that it takes up additional time and clicks unnecessarily.

[Berzerker]

Originally Posted by nvidia2008

Click and hold the From field.

That doesn't give me a list of aliases, just my accounts set up on the iPhone.

[justflybob]

Originally Posted by hillstones

Why don't you turn off the Location Services in the Settings! Go to Settings, General, and you will see the option to turn off the Location Services. Hopefully you won't be anywhere near me while you are screwing around with the phone instead of PAYING ATTENTION TO YOUR DRIVING! If you need to look something up on the Map, PULL OVER!

Dude, you just HAVE to be an IT guy.

[rgrohsman]

I noticed another minor issue tonight as I examined photos on my iPhone via the 'Apple iPhone' drive that's created on my PC. All of the photos that were taken in 'portrait' mode show up as landscape photos (not rotated properly). The camera clearly knows which way it was oriented when it took the photo, because they show up on the iPhone itself in the proper orientation...

Is there an official Apple site where bugs can be reported by end-users?

-rg