Rubénerd!

The only downside to the new MobileSafari is the permanent Google search box stealing space from the main web address bar. It's not so bad in landscape mode.

The iPhone 2.2 update really has made this device I'm typing on now even more of a pleasure to use. Aside from the downright bizarre new layout for MobileSafari's toolbar, all the new features such as Google Street View (amazing), the podcast downloader (even if you are limited to 10MiB on a phone network connection) and a few helpful tweaks to the home button and to enable/disable auto correction are right on the money. You can listen to Rubenerd Show 257 to hear more about my experiences with the 2.2 update.

None of the features though are what I was most excited about, I was exited about what this update fixed.

At the risk of invoking Murphy's Law and forever jinxing this device, I can say that one of the primary advertised fixes bundled in the iPhone 2.2 update has worked. Since updating I've been able to use MobileSafari to browse all sorts of pages without it crashing at all. It has done wonders for my sanity.

As I mentioned in a previous post (Only problem so far with the iPhone: MobileSafari) before the iPhone 2.2 update MobileSafari would incessantly crash without warning, and it seemed to be getting worse. While it seemed to crash for no apparent reason sometimes, more often it would struggle with rendering larger pages or pages that used HTML forms or Ajax. Curiously it was the only iPhone application that ever crashed on me, and that includes all the third party apps I downloaded from the app store!

As I relegate more duties from my mammoth MacBook Pro to my iPhone, I'm finding myself using more tabs (or whatever they're called in this case) in MobileSafari to multitask. The relief I feel now that I can be confident MobileSafari won't crap out on me is overwhelming.

Thank you Apple for fixing this, it's a fantastic Yule present! Now if you folks could just allow another browser access to this device... say, oh I don't know... Opera then you've got my birthday covered too.

Sent from my iPhone

The freak Aussie weather and iPhone 2.2 episode!

Freak weather in Australia (torrential storms in Brisbane, fluctuating temperatures in Adelaide, snow in Victoria a week before summer!); my cheesy slogan from primary school; my dad's plant designs in Pinkenba; the iPhone and iPod Touch 2.2 update (still no copy/paste, the amazing street view feature, the new weird MobileSafari layout); Toronto, Adelaide and Dublin; the IntoYourHead show; and utopian science fiction writers!

UPDATE: I referred to the CEO of Microsoft as Steve Jobs not Steve Ballmer! The blasphemy! Please forgive me!

Download MP3 to listen ↓ 21:05 9.7MiB

You can also stream this episode and view its Internet Archive page.

Google Reader is wildly convenient on the iPhone, but is also one of the sites that crashes the most. Might be sticking with the desktop version for now.

Those who read this blog will know that despite my initial skepticism, I finally bit the bullet and bought an iPhone 3G in September. Looking back at it now, it may have been one of the best decisions I've ever made; it really is a phenomenal device. Other phones may have more features, or have features with higher specifications, but none I have ever used even remotely come close to the iPhone in usability.

With such constant glowing reviews, you might be under the mistaken impression that I think the iPhone is absolutely perfect and that I am now a blubbering fanboy. The fact is I have been taking notes whenever something has irritated me with it in the hopes I could create a post taking about the iPhone's shortcomings and how it could be improved.

After a month, I feel it's time to let 'em rip, all one of them. And here it is: the MobileSafari web browser officially blows. It is the most crash prone, error riddled piece of s... oftware I've used in recent memory. It's a shame because no other applications have been able to crash this iPhone, and a serious shortcoming considering it was billed as a phone, music player and an internet communications device.

It's a shame, WebKit itself rocks.

Typically the scenario plays itself out like this: I'll browse to a web page, scroll down leisurely, perhaps pinch and wipe around a bit to increase or decrease the size of elements. Boom, crash, back to the home screen. It doesn't crash every single time, but I'd wager it crashes once for every time it works properly twice. A 33.3% reliability rate is hardly a glowing record.

Different activities seems to exacerbate the problem. If I enter any information into a field on a web form barring simple login screens, it will crash. If I scroll down a page too fast, it crashes. If I click a link, then click another link before the page finishes loading, it crashes. Generally the problem can be partially alleviated by restarting the phone every few days and making sure I don't have more than a few tabs open at any one time, but it's by no means a quick fix.

What I find interesting is that for every person on a web forum or blog post comment feed that complains about MobileSafari reliability, there are two or three that claim to have no problems at all with it. Here's hoping the next software update fixes this for everyone; I'd love to be able to use MobileSafari carefree on this phone. WebKit is still one of the best rendering engines.

Stay tuned for my real world scenario review of the iPhone that I compiled last week but still need to clean up. It really shows how you can use this thing to take over your life and how fantastic that is... provided you stick to applications other than MobileSafari for most of the time :).

Sent from my iPhone.