Apple has released a software upgrade for the iPhone 3G and iPod Touch that adds new features and fixes some stability bugs. Apple users were caught by surprise as the update appeared on Friday when they connected their iPhones to iTunes 8 and found the 2.2 software waiting for them.

Even before Apple first unveiled the iPhone in 2007, the company said that it would continue to roll out significant software upgrades to the hardware devices, free of charge, over time. With the iPhone 2.0 launch last summer, Apple first made geo-triangulation available even in phones without GPS as well as other features like its App Store for third-party iPhone applications.

As one of the iPhone's most frequently touted applications by Apple, Google Maps received the most attention in iPhone 2.2. At the top of the list is Google Street View, which lets users take a virtual walking tour by navigating through street level pictures of areas that have been located through Maps.  It also now gives directions when navigating through a street by walking, with an added button that send your location in emails for others to find you.

Other changes to the iPhone's software included reliability and stability fixes for Mail and Safari (a new search friendly user interface, better performance and more stability), sound-quality improvements for voice-mail playback and, in a terse notice, changes aimed at a "decrease in call setup failures and dropped calls."  In September, Apple first responded to months of complaints by iPhone 3G owners of weak signal strength - even in areas supposedly covered by AT&T Inc.'s 3G network -- slow download speeds and frequently dropped calls by issuing iPhone 2.1.

Apple has also released a similar update for the iPod Touch users; however the accounting principles adopted by the company require that it charge for 'new feature' additions to the digital media player. As such, the iPod touch version of the software does not include the Google Maps enhancements and there's no word on when or how Apple plans to ultimately deliver those features.
Moreover, pour les connoisseurs, the iPhone 2.2 software update that Apple released today finally has the ability to turn off the auto-correction in the keyboard. Apple has also added new podcast availability and e-mail functions in iPhone 2.2. All work right away without a lot to have to learn and without having to sit through a long download and installation process.

As far as podcasters are concerned, the capability to download podcasts directly over a WiFi connection to the iPhone, giving wireless availability to both video and audio podcasts via the on-device iTunes store is now provided.

Another fix prevents someone from making arbitrary phone calls by using the emergency call setting. Before the update, a person who got a hold of someone else's iPhone could make long-distance calls that are then charged to the device's owner. The update restricts the emergency calls to a limited set of numbers.