Should you be excited about iPhone 2.2?

November 22, 10:29 AMSF Consumer Electronics ExaminerJennifer Anthony

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Screen shot of Google Street View, using iPhone 2.2

Apple enthusiasts should have received an enticing email yesterday, inviting them to download the iPhone 2.2 software update for free. The email promises so much, but was it just a Siren’s call, luring us to the rocks? This morning, I set out to determine whether it was just so much fluff, or whether users really do have reason to be excited. And indeed they do. Read on – we’ll start with the most exciting features.

1. Google Street View.  The email promises that users can “navigate street-level photographs of places you've located in Maps.” I typed in the Golden Gate Bridge (it makes for a fabulous screenshot) and tapped on the small icon of a person. The screen changed to a Lichtenstein landscape for the briefest of moments, and then  - huzzah! There was the bridge, in all its glory. That snazzy (and sometimes disturbing – try typing in your home address) Google maps feature is on your phone – but the perk here is that you can use your finger to navigate right, left, forward and backward. If you take a screen shot (by pressing the Home and Sleep/Wake buttons simultaneously), you can savor the image forever.

2. Public transit instructions. The email promises that users can “get walking directions, find public transit schedules, check fares, and estimate your travel time.” To test out this declaration, I pretended that I was an exceptionally savvy tourist, tired and hungry from walking across the Golden Gate Bridge, who wanted to have dinner at Farina in the Mission. When I requested directions from the bridge to 18^th Street, my iPhone presented me with three options and associated icons: a car, a bus, and a pedestrian. The car icon is certainly special, but nothing new. But behold the bus icon. It tells the user how to get to the nearest bus station (in this case, walk to the Golden Gate Bridge Parking Lot), which bus to take (e.g., the 28), what time the next bus departs, where to disembark, and the necessary transfers. It even tells users the estimated arrival time and the price – in this case, a mere $1.50. The pedestrian icon offers the route on foot – which is free of course, although in this example, it would take 5.4 miles and an estimated 1 hour and 54 minutes to complete. Refer back to the bus option.

3. Podcasts. The email promises that users can “get access to millions of free podcasts on the iTunes Store via Wi-Fi or your cellular network.” I certainly don’t have time to see if there are truly “millions”, but we’ll start with one. I tapped on the Podcasts icon, selected “What’s Hot”, and scrolled down to The Onion Radio News. There, I found 25 free downloads (“explicit!”) to choose from. Within seconds, I was listening to an intoxicating (and completely fabricated) story.

4. Home Screen Shortcut. The email promises that users can “take a shortcut from any Home screen back to your first Home screen by pressing the Home button.” I guess this would be more exciting for people with dozens of screens. Helpful? Yes. Exciting? Not so much. 

5. Safari Improvements. The email says “a new search-friendly user interface, better performance, and more stability make Safari even easier to use.” This includes such features as better battery life “for most users” (are they playing favorites?), “faster installation of third party applications”, and “improved performance in text messaging.” This last feature is clearly something that will prove itself over time.

But in the short term, yesterday’s enticing email from Apple was no Siren’s call. They have delivered, once again.