Firmware 2.1 arrives for iPhone (updated 2x)

Apple has started pushing out the iPhone 2.1 firmware via iTunes. The 237.8MB update is available by connecting your iPhone to iTunes and clicking on the update button. Luckily I spent last night backing up my iPhone.

 The published list of changes includes:

• 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 messages

More after the jump...

Done! So far, so good. The new 3G icon is pretty sweet. It has a nice dark to light blue gradient and is borderless.

I used an old trick from my Mac OS classic days and resisted the urge to re-install all of my applications back on my freshly-restored iPhone. Instead I opted to spoon-feed apps back a little at a time, only installing a handful for now. Making the first round cut are (in alphabetical order):

• AccuFuel (my Prius is getting 47MPG, yes!)
• Pro Football Live (Eagles Monday night)
• SplashID (for account numbers, etc.)
• Starmap (still haven't used it much yet, though)
• Texas Hold'em (although I barely play it)
• Tides (secret app I'm beta testing)
• Twinkle (somewhat buggy Twitter client)

Update 2: In case you're wondering firmware 2.1 re-SIM-locks iPhone 2G. Have you installed Firmware 2.1 yet? What apps are on your short list? Post your results in the TalkBack.