Dear Auntie TUAW,

I've been looking to see if there was a post about this, but have people been noticing that the 2.0 firmware on their original iPhones has made them slow, partially responsive, and more buggy? I'm looking for a way to downgrade mine until they get it figured out. Thanks!

Signed, David C.

David, read on for the answer from Auntie TUAW.

Blessed are the patient, for they shall pay $9.95 (or $10.79, with sales tax depending on your billing address) and download the iPod touch 2.0 Software Update (store link), and yea they shall wait some 20 to 30 minutes for the 226 MB of new firmware to descend from the high Akamai and bestow App Store access upon them. In point of fact, also blessed are the impatient who remained awake and clicked the "Upgrade" button every five minutes up until 12 am ET, which is about when everything started to get moving.

Downloading it now, gallery below, first impressions to come. We have a warning from reader Paul that his upgrade to 2.0 (on an iPhone first-gen, not a touch) nuked his Address Book data, so be sure to back up before you upgrade your devices. We also have a tip from Cody that Canadian would-be buyers of the 2.0 update and App Store goodies must use a credit card; iTunes gift cards are not working to place the order.

Note that there is a new SLA accompanying this upgrade, as one might expect (PDF here). If you're hungry for more as you wait for your upgrade to download and run, you can browse the list of iPod touch-compatible apps or check out our First Looks so far.

Update: Installed, resynced and bought some apps -- all working as expected except for Mail, which is hanging on start and kicking back to the main screen. Going to try wiping it down and resyncing if I can. A note to the commenters who are suggesting pulling a torrent of the new firmware instead of coughing up the $10... c'mon, are you going to risk your $300 iPod's health on a pirated software update? It's $10. Give up cigarettes or something.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

If you've been thinking the iPhone Dev Team (the team behind the jailbreaking applications) would die out after firmware 2.0, then think again. That's because the dev team has just published a video showing the jailbreaking process for a 2.0 iPhone.

Update: We are currently uploading the video, in the mean time you can view the video on the iPhone Dev's website.

Apple is close to releasing its $9.99 iPhone 2.0 Software Update for iPod touch (sheesh) to bring it up to speed with the iPhone and App Store. As we mentioned yesterday, the update will also include Mail, Stocks, Maps, Weather and Notes.

The update is linked from Apple's website since about 4:30 this morning (ET), but clicking the link just opens iTunes with an error saying iTunes could not complete your request, and that the iTunes Store is temporarily unavailable. The errors are possibly related to the fact that the iTunes activation server is currently down.

In theory, you should be able to buy the update from Apple's website, or by clicking "Check for Update" in iTunes with your iPod touch connected to your computer.

Apple is charging for the update because of an accounting requirement: since the revenue generated from the iPod isn't considered a subscription (like an iPhone, with its two-year contract), Apple must charge a fee. The amount of the fee, however, is entirely up to Apple.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

According to a recent TechCrunch post, iPhone developers have received an e-mail from the Apple mothership saying the iPhone developer NDAs (non-disclosure agreements; i.e. "hush hush notices") will expire tomorrow at 9 a.m. PST.

What does this mean? Well, it could mean that the AppStore and iPhone 2.0 software might be available to the public at that time as well. iTunes 7.7 has been rumored to be "right around the corner," and .Mac has already already started it's face-lift procedure.

We should note that this is definitely a rumor at this point. We have not been able to verify TechCrunch's rumor. In fact, our sources tell us that they have not received any such e-mail.

[via TechCrunch]

Gizmodo has posted a video demoing the new iPhone 2.0 (build 5A345) firmware. In the video they mainly show the new features: Fetch New Data option, Parental Controls, new BCC field when you type an e-mail, and the scientific calculator.

The AppStore icon was on the home screen, but wouldn't launch because it has not been activated as of yet. In addition to the video walkthrough, Gizmodo also posted 4 screen shots of iTunes 7.7. One of the screenshots reveal a "Look for iPhone & iPod touch Remotes" checkbox in the Advanced > General section of iTunes preferences -- something we had mentioned in an earlier post.

Since its announcement, we've all been speculating about the iPhone 2.0 firmware release date, but Apple has been hiding the date under our noses all along.

"iPhone 2.0 software will be available on July 11 as a free software update via iTunes® 7.7 or later for all iPhone customers," Apple notes in the original iPhone 3G press release (8th paragraph).

Many have told me (3 times 10 times) that this date most likely is a stall date; in other words a "latest possible ship" date for the release. We noted last week that the iPhone 2.0 firmware has already gone gold master (received shipping status); however, we might not see the new firmware until the iPhone 3G is released on July 11th.

Thanks for the tip, Austin!

Gizmodo and GearLive are reporting that the iPhone 2.0 firmware will go golden master (locked for shipping) this week. Golden master does not necessarily mean that Apple will ship the firmware this week (after all, Steve said that it would ship in "early July") but it does mean that the firmware and all the features are complete and ready to head out the door.

Both sites seem to agree with the build number on the new firmware: 345. Gizmodo is reporting that 2.0 will boast code signing and a new encryption feature. The iPhone firmware 2.0 is definitely something on every iPhone owner's wishlist, and here's mine (you have one of these, right?):

1. Super Monkey Ball (AppStore)
2. New Mail features
3. iWork support in Mail
4. Exchange support
5. MobileMe support
6. Super Monkey Ball (did I mention this one already?)
7. Scientific Calculator (would it be too hard to add a graphing calculator? c'mon, Apple!)

While we wait around the virtual campfire for the next version of the iPhone software, what are you most looking forward to in the new firmware? I think everyone can guess what my favorite feature will be; although I am still waiting for Final Cut Studio 2 for iPhone (we've been hearing rumors that it will be in the 10th generation device).

You may have heard that Apple released a minor update to their line of iPhones yesterday. No big deal, you weren't going to ditch your first generation iPhone and run for the 3G hill, were you? Oh, so you are going to upgrade? Oh well, this post might not be for you then. However, for those of you looking to keep your "old" iPhone, here is what you can expect in the coming months.

Apple will be providing a free upgrade for all existing first generation iPhone owners. You will be upgraded to the exact same firmware that makes the 3G iPhone tick. Apple has posted a web page that details exactly what you can expect from the new 2.0 firmware.

Some of the main features we're looking forward to include:

• AppStore
• Full Exchange support
  
• MobileMe
• Mass e-mail move, delete and save images
  
• Contacts search
  
• Additional language support
• Full iWork and Microsoft Office viewer support
• Scientific Calculator

This update is free for all iPhone owners and will be a $9.99 upgrade for iPod touch owners.



Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

I haven't played with iPhone firmware 1.2/2.0 yet, but I'm told that some developers have encountered what is becoming known as the PSOD: a pink-colored start screen that apparently replaces the "connect to iTunes" graphic you'd normally see before activation.

iPhone hacker AlJaMa wrote in with his how-to method for downgrading a 2.0 iPhone back to 1.1.4. According to AlJaMa, you can put your iPhone into restore mode, do a 1.1.4 restore (use option-Restore to pick the 1.1.4 ipsw package) and be no worse off than getting the Error 1015 we've all come to know and love. iLiberty or INdependence will kick you out of the 1015/recovery mode. The restored phone will continue to work as a phone despite the updated baseband.

AlJaMa warns that you may encounter error -2002. In such a case, he suggests you try restoring to other firmware versions until you get back to the 1015 error.

According to our sister blog, Engadget, the iPhone 2.0 firmware has been seeded to developers. Before this update, the firmware was listed as version 1.2, but now shows up as version 2.0. Engadget says that the update didn't provide many changes: Cisco VPN tweaked, root-level mail / ActiveSync settings were changed around, but not much else.

The iPhone hacking community is at it again, and they're not going to take the SDK for an answer. The dev team has recently found out how to install and run iPhone firmware 1.2. This is supposedly the SDK-only developer version, which runs the iPhone (Aspen) simulator. Firmware 1.2 may end up re-released as version 2.0 in June, assuming there are no showstopping problems. There is no word yet on how they got access to the firmware, but it is still a cool video, and looks like the real deal. In this video, you can see the following 2.0 features:

• New calculator with squared buttons
• iTunes Wi-Fi Store with a missing button (and missing text under the "search" icon)
  
• Select multiple messages to be deleted/moved in Mail
• New calendar setting (with Time Zone support)
  
• Microsoft Exchange in the new Mail accounts
• Parental controls
• Cisco VPN settings

However, not shown was the AppStore (which was clearly displayed on the home screen) or the search feature in the contacts list. This video is just a taste of what firmware 2.0 should bring -- it also makes me look forward to getting it in June.

Thanks Adam!

[via InsanelyMac]

The iPhone Dev Team seems to have stumbled across a hidden feature in the next version of the iPhone firmware. The picture is reminiscent of the iPhone SDK "Organizer" that shows the currently connected iPhone. However, something that's different from the screenshots that we posted is the "Console," "Crash Logs," and "Screenshot" tabs at the top of the window.

The screenshot shows a "Parental Controls" setting inside the "General" iPhone settings. It looks as though you can enable these parental controls and turn on or off:

• Playing explicit songs in iPod
• Website control in Safari
• YouTube control
• iTunes Wi-Fi Store control
• AppStore control

According to a recent post on the Modmyifone Forum, this is a version of the firmware that was distributed with the SDK (version 1.2) which the forum post seems to believe will be re-issued as firmware 2.0. The forum post also goes on to say that the firmware is jailbroken; however, this has not been confirmed.

[via iPhone Dev Team]

Shiira has always been the browser we all have installed, play with when we're bored or need to test site compatibility, but never really use in day-to-day work. Despite the fact that the current version has essentially all the features of Safari, the interface and features always felt a bit unpolished, at least to me.

Delusions of Grandeur has a preview of the next version of the open source browser, Shiira 2.0, and it looks to be a refreshing change. Sporting a newly designed interface, multiple ways of viewing tabs, full screen mode, plugin API, and so much more, Shiira 2 will be pretty, if nothing else.

DownloadSquad has noticed that an alpha release (read: not stable) of Firefox 2.0 is live, available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux, and waiting for your clicks. I'm having a hard time tracking down any kind of official list of what's new in this next major point release, but after quickly running it I can tell you it's at least a bit zippier. I've heard reports of a much-updated UI, better bookmark management and more security options are all on the menu, though I'm sure (and I hope) there is much more planned for the official release.

So check it out if you're interested in what's coming next, but for those of you who can't afford to deal with sketchy software, you might want to keep moving along.