I’m sick as a dog this weekend. (Come to think of it, my dog doesn’t seem to feel well, either.)
Still, while I was sort of healthy on Friday I upgraded my iPhone to the V2.0 firmware and am pleased and horrified to report that the Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync stuff worked flawlessly. Now (Yeah) I can get important e-mail from work wherever I am and also (Oh crap) I can get all the rest of the junk e-mail from work wherever I am.
The firmware upgrade was far from smooth, and my phone was bricked for a few hours while the iTunes servers creaked and buckled under the strain, but about 4 hours later it kicked in and completed the upgrade without a problem.
Battery life seems to have taken a hit with the new firmware, but that might be because I’ve been playing with the phone a lot more over the weekend. (Lying in bed sick, with a new toy, what else have I to do?) This may be similar to when I first got the phone. The first weekend had terrible battery life, and I had to charge the phone twice a day, but once the novelty wore off, putting it on the charger at night was sufficient.
Yesterday and today have been two-charge days, but that might be Super Monkey Ball, too.
One thing that has changed is the Google Maps functionality, presumably because the 3g models have “real” GPS (not really, try using it where there’s no phone signal).
First, it’s more accurate, although, owning to being stuck mostly in the house, I’ve only been able to test it in a couple places, but the accuracy target is much more refined and the crosshairs are closer to the actual location. (See the picture, prior to the upgrade, my accuracy circle would have covered half the screen or more.)
Second, on the old firmware, the button on the lower left was a press once and release button, that pinpointed your location. Now, the button stays depressed and, periodically updates the location. Presumably this is from the GPS-enabled models, but it’s been carried over into the older ones too. That also seems to burn more battery juice (until I learned I needed to hit the button again to turn it off.)
The Apps store is cool, and I (like thousands of others) have now been admitted to the iPhone Developer program. I’m not as far along as I’d like on that, but I’m getting there.
There are quite a few nifty programs, so far I’ve only purchased Sega Super Monkey Ball, Electronic Arts’ Sudoku and Connected Flow’s Exposure – which is a nifty Flickr browsing program. I’ve also grabbed several free apps, including AIM. NetNewsWire, AP Mobile News, eBay AOL Radio and WeatherBug
It is cool finally being able to extend the phone without having to risk jailbreaking it. The future is here, we finally have mobile computers in our pockets. The significance of this development cannot be overstated.