Just weeks after shipping, the iPhone's second-generation software is getting a makeover with improved GPS functionality and background push capabilities.
Apple released a beta of its iPhone 2.1 software to developers this week, fixing some of the shortcomings that reviewers and users had pointed out.
According to Gear Live, the iPhone OS 2.1 beta adds several Core Location features that make the iPhone capable of turn-by-turn GPS tracking, meaning it can track the direction an iPhone user is heading and how fast they are traveling. (Creepy or cool?)
New York Times writer David Pogue had criticized the iPhone for having an antenna too weak to be used for true navigation, but Apple's product chief Greg Joswiak refuted the claim saying that there were complicated issues with bringing better GPS to the iPhone, but that the company was working to make it happen.
Apple Insider, meanwhile, has confirmed that the iPhone OS 2.1 (which is not the iPhone OS 2.0.1) will have background push notification which will allow third-party applications to receive data like messages and alerts while not actively running.
A new version of the iPhone SDK is also in the works, but cannot yet be used to submit applications to Apple's App Store for the iPhone.
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