iPhone Firmware 2.1 Update Now Available

by Eric March on September 12, 2008 at 12:00 pm

For those of you who have been waiting for it, it’s here. Firmware 2.1 for the iPhone is now available through iTunes. As was mentioned during the Let’s Rock event, this update is supposed to have loads of bug fixes — including the app crashing issue — as well as longer battery life (presumably through stricter radio management and such), faster backups, better E-Mail, faster app installs, and even a few new features, such as the ability to have missed SMS alerts repeat (Great, but where are missed call repeats, for cryin’ out loud?!), the option to wipe data after 10 failed lock password attempts, and of course, on-board genius playlist creation.

If it still isn’t showing up in iTunes for you, or you just want a file copy of the firmware, you can grab that here for the 3G, or here for the first-gen iPhone.

No push notification yet (damn!), but there are new EDGE and 3G badges. Reports of upgraders are already coming in: Backups are faster, though the first backup tends to still be slow even though subsequent backups are much faster. Others report much better 3G reception and faster data, apps seem to work better with no crashing, and contacts load and search faster.

You will lose your jailbreak of course, for those that have done so, but from the sounds of it so far (I’m at work and can’t update yet) it seems like this one may be worth updating to and just waiting for Pwnage/QuickPwn to be updated to support 2.1.

What’s your experience been like? Notice any improvements? Better/more stable performance? Let us know in the comments.