Apple unsheathes Jesus Phone 2.1

iSavior or iFlop?

By Cade Metz in San Francisco • Get more from this author

Posted in Mobile, 13th September 2008 07:09 GMT

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Apple has released a software update for the iPhone, saying it will cut the number of set-up failures and dropped calls while providing "significantly better" battery life.

The iPhone 2.1 update also patches eight security vulnerabilities, including the seven Apple mended on the iPod touch earlier this week and an extra bug the company fixed eight months ago but somehow forgot to address when it rolled out iPhone 2.0 this summer.

Over at Apple's support forums, some users claim the new update fixes infamous reception problems with the new 3Gesus Phone. "I'm VERY happy to report that 2.1 seems to have resolved ALL of my 3G issues," says someone who calls himself DJRumpy.

"I even have 3-4 bars in places where there was no signal before (read..dead) and I am able to browse with excellent speed. I've gotten approximately a 20-30 db signal increase according to the service mode signal strength."

But others tell a different story. "Upgrade to 2.1 made my already bad call drop situation far worse. Whereas I drop 20-25 calls a day with the iPhone (it was 2-3 a day with Verizon Wireless), I have been dropped at least 50 times today after the upgrade to 2.1," says Sheeko .

"The iPhone is an iFlop that will haunt apple for some time to come. This along with the the stupid idiosyncrasies, iTunes consistently crashes with outlook Sync, A miniature search button under contacts, Terrible battery life, Unbearably slow response time to user input, shows Apple's new direction to focus on revenue over quality."

To judge for yourself, connect your Jesus Phone to iTunes and press update. ®

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