iPhone Firmware 2.2 Packing Hidden Features

New firmware updates for the iPhone are inevitable but before they’re pushed out to the general public, they don Beta status allowing developers ample time to tweak and modify their Apps while providing bug fixes to Apple. Firmware 2.1 came out recently with Apple focusing more on stability and bug fixes, but this time around, a few extra goodies are being baked into Firmware 2.2; ‘Emojicons’ and Google Street View support for the bundled maps application.

Google Street View

After being introduced in early 2007, Google Street View soon became a plethora of information regarding locations and how to get there. The pivotal feature of the service was its widespread availability for cell phones, most notably the iPhone. While not as fully featured as the traditional web interface or Google Earth, it handled most of the dirty work without fail but one heavily requested feature was Street View. A recent announcement from Google updated the mobile version (www.google.com/gmm) to support Street View but the iPhone was left out for the sole fact that only the Google Maps API was used on the device, the App itself was developed in house with little deliberation from Google.

Firmware 2.2 aims to finally bring Google Street View to the iPhone but the update has yet to be scheduled and could arrive at the flick of a finger. Street View will allow users to see a location in panoramic view from within the Application. A short demo running on the competing Android platform was given by Google.

Emojicons And Spelling Correction

Other notable details were scarce but the inclusion of Emojicons should make the iPhone more appealing in Japan and other Asian countries. Firmware 2.2 packs 461 Emojicons which essentially are picture characters but are traditional on Japanese phones. The iPhone lacked this when it launched in Japan during July but such a relatively small feature can’t attribute to the device’s popularity or lack thereof in the country.

Spelling correction can be toggled on or off in the iPhone’s Settings App. Custom spellings not easily picked up are often replaced with similar spelling words. Users who have issues with spelling correction can choose to turn it off but lose a much touted feature of the iPhone which allowed for fast typing with minimal mistakes.

Via: Macrumors