Friday is upon us folks and that means it’s time to update our iPhone 3G’s to 2.1 firmware! The new firmware is supposed to fix bugs, allow for faster backing up, better battery life, less lag, you name it, it’s going to be there (I’m hoping for copy and paste). Let’s hope Apple won’t disappoint iPhone fanatics with this update. The original 2.0 and subsequent 2.0.1 and 2.0.2 updates were very minor, but overall we all still ran into “iPhone 3G lag” as I’d like to call it. Here are some tips to keep in mind when you’re updating to 2.1 firmware via iTunes! Read on!
Tips on Prepping for the 2.1 Firmware Update
The obvious thing to do before updating or restoring to 2.1 is to sync your iPhone in iTunes. This will ensure that after the update all your settings, contacts, bookmarks, photos, etc. will still be there.
There are two traditional ways to get 2.1 on your iPhone 3G:
1) You can click the ‘Update’ button right inside iTunes 8. Your iPhone 3G will update to 2.1 as planned–iTunes will take care of everything for you. Easy. As. Pie.
2) Complete a full ‘restore’, which essentially will erase all the content on your iPhone and then install a fresh version of 2.1 firmware. For all the jailbroken iPhone 3G users out there, this might be the preferred method of choice to ensure all remnants of the jailbreak are wiped clean off your iPhone’s hard drive.
Personally I will be doing the full restore method since previously this has resulted in less problems for both first generation and iPhone 3G users. Definitely something to consider when you’re updating. Can’t wait to get 2.1 on my iPhone! 🙂
Apple Pwnz Pwnage Tool, Dev Team Responds
The Dev Team is on top of their game versus Apple, and it’s evident that this “cat and mouse” game will neither dissipate nor subside anytime soon. According to the Dev Team’s recent blog entry, restated the following regarding the Pwnage Tool:
“…we’ve asserted multiple times that Apple can’t fix the bug we’ve exploited in PwnageTool unless they fix their hardware.
That hardware fact is still true. But one way they can try to combat Pwnage for existing hardware is to program iTunes to detect and prevent the Pwnage exploit. In fact, they’ve already done that in iTunes 8. The screenshot below from iTunes 8 using a Pwned ipsw (with an unPwned device attached) is one example.”
The Dev Team asserts that these iTunes fixes can be easily patched and they already have one for iTunes 8 and iPod Touch. If the Dev Team can easily exploit the iPhone OS so easily, just how secure is the iPhone and OSX? Something to ponder…
Let us know how your iPhone 2.1 firmware update goes. I’ll write back with a full summary after I complete my update!
Thanks to The iPhone Blog for the 2.1 image above!
**Looking for an iPhone 3G case? Go get an invisibleSHIELD, the strongest protection for your iPhone backed by a 30 day moneyback guarantee, lifetime replacement warranty, and FREE shipping! Use coupon code iphoneinca for 20% off your purchase! Order today!**
If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to my RSS feed, so you won’t miss any updates! You can also subscribe via email and have daily updates sent to your Inbox! Want more? Find out what I’m doing right now! Follow me on Twitter!
Want to see more of our stories on Google?
P.S. Want to keep this site truly independent? Support us by buying us a beer, treating us to a coffee, or shopping through Amazon here. Links in this post are affiliate links, so we earn a tiny commission at no charge to you. Thanks for supporting independent Canadian media!
how early do you get up in the morning? It’s 4:45am here and without fail you always have a new blog up every time I check in the morning. Please dont tell me you prefer write them. That would just ruin this iPhone super hero image I have of you. 😎 Anyway great job on the site. I surf on religiously every day from my iPhone. Can’t wait to get my hands on 2.1. Just hope there are a couple suprises and not just bug fixes. Keep up the great work.
Teen Wolf
My $0.02
Now I’m broke
he dosen’t get up at 3am to write it,i live in ontario,so at 3am here its only midnight in vancouver(the place he lives)so where ever you are its a different time for him,im not suer if that made any scence,its way to early for me to be up:P
My routine is to do a couple Red Bull beer bongs, then sit down on my computer and bust out a post night after night! 😉
Actually since I’m on the Westcoast here, it’s not that late when you think of midnight.
it’s suppose to read pre write. Damn auto correct.
I think he doesn’t it before bed, he’s on the west coast.
I’m looking forward to the update. The only lag I have is when opening SMS, everything else is very fast. However I have a friend with a 3g phone and everything is kinda sluggish compared to mine, but her SMS is faster at opening than mine. Weird!
I think we both are going to do a full restore and run the new 2.1 from a fresh install.
Long live the Jesus phone!
what time to the updates usuallay get released? just checked at 8am and there is no update!!
right now! 😉
It is now available via Itunes 8!!!
I think it would be release mid-day today… I won’t rush to get the update, if the 2.1 fixes the major problems I would be really happy but if it doesn’t, such a disappointment.
Updates can be released at any time, but typically from what I’ve seen, they are on a west coast time schedule, which means if you assume a work day from 8-5, on the east coast, they could be released anywhere from noon-9pm.
Personally, I’m hoping that they release it earlier than that, but we won’t know until they officially release it.
downloading it right now!
It is now available via Itunes 8
sometime today 😛
I just downloaded the 2.1 and updated, it took only 15 mins. I had 2 bars for 3G before the update and I got 5 bars now.
actually its available right NOW, i believe ill wait a bit tho, i’ll just download it, i currently like the ability to record videos right now
Updates are available as of now 9:43 eastern stadard time :o)
iPhone version 2.1 contains many bug fixes and improvements, including the following:
• decrease in call set-up failures and call drops
• significantly improved battery life for most users
• dramatically reduced time to backup to iTunes
• improved email reliability, notably fetching email from POP and Exchange accounts
• faster installation of 3rd party applications
• fixed bugs causing hangs and crashes if you have lots of 3rd party applications
• improved performance in text messaging
• faster loading and searching of contacts
• improved accuracy of the 3G signal strength display
• repeat alert up to two additional times for incoming text messages
• option to wipe data after ten failed passcode attempts
• Genius playlist creation
Hi… Thanks for the update on iPhone v 2.1 Have you heard anything about the volume control on the iPhone. I have all the right things turned on and volume controls moved to maximum;however, the sound levels of ringers is quite low compared to conventional cell phones… Do you know if Apple is looking into this? How do you get this tyrp of request to attention of Apple
tx
Dan
Any word on if there’s a baseband update with this one? I would like to update my iPhone Edge, but don’t want to lock it.
On the other hand, the Dev Team will probably have an update in a week or so!
Yes folks, the update was available probably sometime around 6am PST I believe.
@Teenwolf, the blogs get written always because we are not of this world 😉
That’s it? What about GPS and copy/paste? Everyone assumes that Apple doesn’t include those things because they don’t want to. I’m beginning to think that they’re not including it because they can’t find a solution.
Downloading now and hope for the best. It’s 10:50am EST. Toronto
Updated quite easily & very successfully. Phone is “jailed” again, but much, much more responsive than jailbroken. Currently syncing all info on work computer. It now gives the option to “merge” phone & iTunes data rather than simply replace. Nice! 😀
Got it now thanks. 🙂
“It now gives the option to “merge” phone & iTunes data rather than simply replace. Nice!”
Not sure what that means. I’m assuming this has to do with the long backup during synch. Yes?
Hi Brian,
Your list, of course, is just the spew from Apple’s marketing people. We’ll just have to see if any of it pans out in the real world.
Looks like 2.0.X release, not a true .X release list to me.
coop
What exactly and very specifically are the ramifications of of the 2nd option – a full restore?
1. Does this mean I have to reload all my app again?
2. Does it mean a brand new setup process for my phone?
3. Would I lose any and all data on the phone (photos taken by the camera, photos stored in the images folder etc?
4. I have some data saved on the iPhone using an Exercise program (GymLilte) and I am wondering if I will lose the data.
Can someone please confirm what exactly a full restore will do?
My phone is jailbroken by the way and is slow and sluggish. I really want to do a full restore back to factory settings as I am fed up with the slowness.
I was in your position. Do a full restore, BUT, be sure to say yes to backing up your data when it asks. Full restore will “unjailbreak” your phone and put it back to “normal” with 2.1 firmware. Once it’s restored, it will ask you if you want to restore the back-up you did… say yes, and all your apps, pics, data, etc… will be back in place for you. The only difference is your home screen(s) will need to be sorted again to the way you had it/them (minus any jailbroken stuff, of course)!! 😀
Hope this helps.
Thanks Tim. Is your phone faster now and the sluggishness gone? That is more important to me now after having experienced the phone in it’s jailbroken state – the only real thing I will miss is the degree of customization.
Does this method of full restore like you mentioned really “clean” up the phone similar to doing a format on a pc? Or will remnants of the jailbroken stuff still be on there after it does it’s backup?
The exercise program is from the App store.
The phone is “clean” of all jailbroken stuff. The hard-drive is basically wiped and re-written on a restore. And yes, I find it much more responsive than when I had it jailbroken. I also like the customization features and hold out hope that one day Apple will actually let us do that! You have a fantastic weekend! 🙂
Forgot one thing… if your Exercise program is from Cydia or Installer and not the App Store, you will lose all the data, as everything jailbroken will be gone.
Found this post at sleepers.net, by Stefan:
“1) Phone seems a bit more responsive
2) Baseband has been updated to v2.11.07 !!! ***
3) 3G signal in my office jumped from 1 bar to 5!
4) Surfing on 3G seems fast and reliable
5) Contacts seem faster and snappier though I only have about 300 of them. However keyboard use in Contacts is still sluggish.
6) Wifi connectivity seems the same – no improvements.
7) No Cut and paste!
8) Exchange email sync seems faster – unsure yet if it fixes the mail crashing bug that has plagued the iPhone 3G since v2.0. Will continue to test…
9) Calendar startup is noticeably faster. I use mine synced with Exchange.
10) Camera startup seems the same.
11) AppStore Applications installation seems a lot snappier.”
The key thing here, for me, is the baseband update. This means anyone with v1 iPhone will have to wait to upgrade to 2.1, until there is an unlock for it (Dev Team or Ziphone….yes Zibri posted today, that he is working on this!)
Installed Tunes8 and 2.1.
Meh…
No better, no worse. I’ve never had the horrible synch times that other have, so I didn’t notice any change there.
Still poor signal (edge, not 3g), things seem to run pretty much the same. Haven’t noticed any special goodies.
Glad it just a (so so) phone and ipod, and not a way of life or I’d be really unhappy right about now.
coop
Worked out great for me. I did a full Restore and then from backup. App install is alot faster.
I just got my iphone updated to 2.1
The update refresh all my emails (Exchange), contacts and calendar.
Since everything is on the server, nothing got lost.
I can’t send an SMS ! The bar advances up to like 90% and sticks there…
Anybody else is having this issue ???
WWWEEEIIIIRRRDDDD !! I force-quitted the SMS app, came back and everything is fine now. The messages I tried to send did not make it to their recipients.
SMS reminded me 3 times in 20 minutes that I had a message… seems to work fine!
Just a question. I want to update to 2.1 firmware but I’m at work with nothing to do. I usually sync to my home computer. Can I update the firmware on my work computer even tho I usually sync to my home? Will I lose all my files on my phone if I sync and update to my work computer? Thanks in advance.
hi..I think it is obvious the 2.1 update in this post mentions the 3G specifically but any idea if it will work for first-gen iPhone. I downloaded and installed iTunes 8 and when I connected my first-gen iPhone the latest update available was 2.0.2. thanks.
PS: I think I read in one of your posts that Pwnage was available for the 2.0.2 update.
Oh I’m sorry, I meant WinPwn for 2.0.2
I’ve currently upgraded to 2.1 from a jailbroken 2.0.2 firmware. There is a 2.1 jailbroken firmware floating around, so i decided to test that out (i have a PC so no pwnage for me). When i tried to update with the new firmware, it didn’t work…
So i had to resort to just updating via the official apple release.
It’s up and working, which is great.
But…
It seems that there are remnants of the jailbreak. My boss pref battery meter which displays a numeric value is still there and all the applications that i put into catagories folders are no longer appearing (legit apps from the appstore).
When i do a restore it shows the applications syncing but they don’t appear on the phone.
This makes me think they are still on the phone. Boss prefs looks like it still could be installed and catagories could be around too and putting those apps in a folder that’s not showing up.
Any ideas?
how early do you get up in the morning? It’s 4:45am here and without fail you always have a new blog up every time I check in the morning. Please dont tell me you prefer write them. That would just ruin this iPhone super hero image I have of you. 😎 Anyway great job on the site. I surf on religiously every day from my iPhone. Can’t wait to get my hands on 2.1. Just hope there are a couple suprises and not just bug fixes. Keep up the great work.
Teen Wolf
My $0.02
Now I’m broke
it’s suppose to read pre write. Damn auto correct.
I think he doesn’t it before bed, he’s on the west coast.
I’m looking forward to the update. The only lag I have is when opening SMS, everything else is very fast. However I have a friend with a 3g phone and everything is kinda sluggish compared to mine, but her SMS is faster at opening than mine. Weird!
I think we both are going to do a full restore and run the new 2.1 from a fresh install.
Long live the Jesus phone!
what time to the updates usuallay get released? just checked at 8am and there is no update!!
I think it would be release mid-day today… I won’t rush to get the update, if the 2.1 fixes the major problems I would be really happy but if it doesn’t, such a disappointment.
he dosen’t get up at 3am to write it,i live in ontario,so at 3am here its only midnight in vancouver(the place he lives)so where ever you are its a different time for him,im not suer if that made any scence,its way to early for me to be up:P
Updates can be released at any time, but typically from what I’ve seen, they are on a west coast time schedule, which means if you assume a work day from 8-5, on the east coast, they could be released anywhere from noon-9pm.
Personally, I’m hoping that they release it earlier than that, but we won’t know until they officially release it.
downloading it right now!
right now! 😉
It is now available via Itunes 8
It is now available via Itunes 8!!!
sometime today 😛
I just downloaded the 2.1 and updated, it took only 15 mins. I had 2 bars for 3G before the update and I got 5 bars now.
actually its available right NOW, i believe ill wait a bit tho, i’ll just download it, i currently like the ability to record videos right now
Updates are available as of now 9:43 eastern stadard time :o)
Any word on if there’s a baseband update with this one? I would like to update my iPhone Edge, but don’t want to lock it.
On the other hand, the Dev Team will probably have an update in a week or so!