The rumor from last week that the latest iPhone firmware would be available by today was actually legit. iPhone FW 2.2 is now available from Apple. Yes, it's got those couple of upgrades to the Map application which were promised before, among other things. Here's the changelog:

• Enhancements to Maps
• Google Street View*
• Public transit and walking directions
• Display address of dropped pins
• Share location via email
• Decrease in call setup failures and dropped calls
• Enhancements to Mail
• Resolved isolated issues with scheduled fetching of email
• Improved formatting of wide HTML email
• Podcasts are now available for download in iTunes application (over Wi-Fi and cellular network)
• Improved stability and performance of Safari
• Improved sound quality of Visual Voicemail messages
• Pressing Home button from any Home screen displays the first Home screen
• Preference to turn on/off auto-correction in Keyboard Settings

Woot. What's the iphone-dev Team up to though, you ask? They're promising to deliver the latest PwnageTool and QuickPwn as soon as possible, so you may want to stave off from upgrading your unit for now, until further details.

Already the homebrew team reveals their following plans and some notes. Right off the start, they give quite a strong warning:

We can confirm that this update SHOULD NOT be applied using iTunes if you want the chance of a soft-unlock in the near future.

If you want to keep that option of a ‘soft-unlock in the near future’ available but you want the new features of 2.2, you will be able to update to 2.2 using a PwnageTool created custom ipsw file that disables the baseband update. You will be able to do this using an updated version of PwnageTool that will be released sometime soon.

Some facts:

• The 2.2 firmware for 3G contains a baseband update for the 3G iPhone
• The 2.2 firmware for 2G (1st gen iPhones) doesn’t contain a baseband update and the baseband is still at 04.05.04
• We believe that our Pwnage technique (and therefore the Jailbreak) isn’t affected, but PwnageTool and QuickPwn do not support this release as yet, so DO NOT install 2.2 using iTunes as you will lose your jailbreak
• If you apply this update and you previously relied on PwnageTool or QuickPwn to activate your phone, it may become temporarily deactivated and unusable (until we release the new version of PwnageTool or QuickPwn).
• PwnageTool and QuickPwn updates will be released as soon as possible that will allow a safe update path to 2.2 the release of these updates is inevitable but not imminent, we are creating the modifications right now and we need to put the new software through the usual testing process.
• If you apply this update and you have third-party (non AppStore) applications that you rely on they will stop working.
• 2G (1st gen) iPhone users who cannot wait for the new PwnageTool or QuickPwn can safely “Update” to 2.2 using iTunes, this will preserve the existing activation. However “restoring” to 2.2 using iTunes will return the iPhone to the unactivated state. If you are in any doubt just wait. NB: This works for 2G ONLY.
• The use of SIM-Proxies (small circuit boards/chips that sit underneath the SIM card) to provide GSM/UMTS service on your locked iPhone 3G is a method that we have always advised against. Early reports suggest that the 2.2 update disables the functionality of these devices. The techniques used were always unreliable and we are surprised that they have lasted this long.
• We are not working on the 2nd generation iPod touch at the moment, so we cannot comment on what the the 2.2 software update may do to this specific model

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Related articles:

• Rumor: iPhone Firmware v2.2 goes live next week?
• Screenshots: iPhone 2.2 with full podcast interface
• iPhone Firmware 2.1: undocumented features and changes
• iPhone Firmware 2.1 now out on iTunes 8
• QuickPwn 1.1, PwnageTool 2.1 for Mac OS X: no iTunes 8 patching required