Meta Data: iPhone 2.2

Meta Data: iPhone 2.2

Brian Caulfield, 11.21.08, 04:40 PM EST

Apple's software update promises improved call quality and adds Google Street View.

Apple released a free software update for the iPhone on Friday, and it's packed with updates big and small.

In addition to fixes meant to improve the phone's call quality and reduce dropped calls (See "The iPhone Isn't A Great Phone"), the software is chock full of the little touches that should leave Apple (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ) fanboys fiddling with the phones for days

The headliner: the addition of Google Street View for Google Maps. The feature, seen first in T-Mobile's G1, which is powered by Google's Android software, gives users a handy sneak peek of where they're going from a street-level view.

The update is also full of smaller touches, however, such as the ability to download podcasts to the phone over a wireless connection, rather than synching the phone to a PC or Mac running Apple's iTunes software.

Other tweaks include the ability to return to the phone's home screen with the touch of a button--which is helpful now that users can fill their phones with multiple screens full of applications. Users can also turn off an auto-correction feature that had annoyed some users by suggesting substitutes for words they were attempting to type into the phone.