Downgrading 2.1 iPhones not as daunting as originally thought

jfa, did they fix the bug where every time you change the volume in your ipod it changes the ringer volume. The buttons on the left will still show that the volume is up but if you go into sound setting the volume is turned down every time. I have checked dozens of iphones running 2.0 and they all have this issue.

jfa, did they fix the bug where every time you change the volume in your ipod it changes the ringer volume. The buttons on the left will still show that the volume is up but if you go into sound setting the volume is turned down every time. I have checked dozens of iphones running 2.0 and they all have this issue.

How about battery life? Any improvements?

I'll comment on a single post:

Rod:
Can you comment on your "massive bugs". I'd like to duplicate the scenario to have a better understanding.

Stephen: As you may have read on the Release notes, there were some fixes on several frameworks. I'm sure they also made some undocumented changes. These changes wil have to be addressed by the developers prior to the GM of 2.1.

My evaluation was with regards to Apples' Apps and basic iPhone functionality.
If the stink factor is with regards to third party apps, I agree that there is a problem there. But not all apps have a problem and most often the problem is a bad implementation from the developer and not Apple.

PSM:
SMS is no longer sluggish.
The keyboard no longer gets stuck or typing lags behind.
Much fewer Safari crashes.
So far Mail has not crashed and Push works like a charm.
Contacts launches and scrolls faster, but still has a minor lag upon initial launch.

obsidian:
I have great 3G coverage so I can't really make an opinion if the new baseband improves reception (especially with 3G-2G handoff).
I have not tried the Bluetooth with my car.
Do keep in mind that 3G operates at a much higher frequency so reception issues may not be inherent to just the device.

Hi jfa and Steven,

Would you mind going to http://www.ludustech.com/iphonesms.html and clicking the link? I want to see if sms:// links behave as they should on the new firmware!

Thanks very much! best regards, Tyler

I would agree that 2.1 beta 1 stinks for general usability. Some of the apple apps may work better but I'm having far more trouble with 3rd party apps. For example: Super Monkey Ball does not get past it's splash screen, the Wordpress app does not display any posts, and the Facebook app can't even be installed. This beta is not intended for general usability, it is really more for developers who want to get started on integrating apple's push service with their apps.

I am unsure if the problems with 3rd party apps will be resolved in later beta releases or if developers will have to tweak their apps to work with the new os.

Dan Woods:
It's Beta for the new implementations (I'm not going to list them here).
But with what concerns the every day user, it could be considered a release that corrects many bugs.
It is an improvement but still far from being considered a near perfection.
There is nothing new to the naked eye nor it has reasons a user could complain based on the release of 2.0.

@Jfa: The baseband had a huge jump in revision...

You mean that 2.1 has dramatically improved 3G reception? That's maybe the main improvement I'm expecting from my iPhone.

It's still a Beta. It's supposed to stink.
When it get's released, if it still stinks, I'll start complaining, but you can't complain when Beta software isn't everything it's supposed to be.

I too have never understood why firmware/BIOS updates to devices are not reversible. Can anyone with a dev background shed some light?