(Image via TUAW)
Hot on the heels of all the iPhone 2.2 firmware Beta 2 goodness from Google, which included Street-View, Transit and Walking Directions, and Location Sharing, comes word on a couple more features for us to rumor over. TUAW says:
A tipster shared with us some screenshots of the new firmware, including what appears to be the ability to download podcasts directly to your iPhone (and presumably your iPod touch)
TUAW says this could explain Apple’s rejection of PodCaster, but an explanation still does not a justification make. Still, this would be awesome functionality for those who don’t always have a chance to tether and sync for their podcasts. We’re guessing it will still be limited to WiFi only, however, like the iTunes store, to limit carrier data load for 50MB+ sound files — and even them will the (typically much larger) video podcasts be enabled?
MacRumors (via iPhoneHellas), meanwhile, shows off a new alert box that asks users deleting an application to rate it prior to deletion. Valuable metrics, or Just Another Annoying Pop-up?
MacRumor’d yesterday and confirmed today, Apple has indeed released iPhone firmware 2.2, beta 2 to “select developers”.
Google Street View, previously reported, is now enabled, and new finds seem to include SDK support for line-in audio accessories.
Anything else? We’ll know when the coders get through digging!
Back when Apple dropped the [redacted] NDA on Oct. 1, a newer, freer version was promised in its place. Now, some three weeks later, Apple makes good on that promise according to MacRumors:
You agree that any Apple pre-release software (including related documentation and materials) and any information disclosed by Apple to you in connection with Apple Events or Paid Content (defined below) will be considered and referred to as “Apple Confidential Information”.
MacRumors also suggests some developers may already be getting Beta 2 of iPhone firmware 2.2. This triple-two’d code follows on the Beta 1 release from Oct. 6, which featured Google Street View, the Setting to disable Auto-Correct, as well as Japanese Emoji icons — but no Push Notification Service, which was removed from a previous 2.1 Beta so Apple could “get it right”.
With RIM promising the same feature this week, will Apple sacrifice on quality for speed-to-market? Should they? And what else might appear in 2.2?
Hopefully hip developers will scour the code and let us know!
iPhone SDK and Firmware 2.1 Beta 1, released to a very small group of developers just last week brought us rumors of direction and speed based GPS (turn-by-turn?), Notification Server API’s, and the holiest of holy grails, cut, copy, and paste. Now Ars Technica reports Apple has dropped Beta 2, and while the hints hold true on the Notification “Push” technology, what else will our deep diving developers discover in the coming days? (I’m hoping for video recording!)
While Apple went through 8 betas for version 2.0 between March and the July 11 release, two updates for 2.1 in two weeks is a brisk pace, probably necessitated by Apple’s pledge to have the Notification Service — which allows developers to “push” alert badges, sounds, and popups — out to users as a way to prompt applications that aren’t running, simulating multi-tasking but without the negative impact of task management or resource obliteration that have plagued WinMob and Palm (though BlackBerry’s NOC outages and Apple’s own MobileMeltdown are harbinger that no scheme goes unpunished).
Also over night, Apple seeded the first beta for Mac OS X 10.5.5 to developers, which may portent further 2.1 related news, and for security conscious Mac users (and that should be all Mac users), Apple released Security Update 2008-005, which among other things patches the nasty DNS vulnerability that’s been all over the news recently, and the more Mac-specific ARDAgent issue. Rev up Software Update now.
