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The Google Maps application now features photographs of roads taken at eye-level. Many cities in the US have already been entirely photographed by special vehicles equipped with 360 degree cameras, but the process is not yet complete in the UK.

Perhaps the biggest change is that podcasts can now be downloaded over a 3G or Wi-Fi connection, whereas previously they could only be downloaded on a computer, and transferred to the handset when synching.

Other updates

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include improved stability in Safari and the addition of a separate Google search box next to the address bar; better call handling, leading to fewer dropped calls, claims Apple; as well as improvements to the way emails are rendered in the mail application. Overall, the look and feel of the operating system remains largely unchanged, though.

The new firmware download is available now to iPhone users via iTunes, and requires the phone to be connected to a computer and synced.

However, despite the improvements, not all iPhone users will be keen to make the upgrade. Those with jailbroken handsets, that allow the use of unofficial applications and opens the device to networks other than O2, may find that the update causes the iPhone to stop working.

"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," says a post on the iPhone Dev Team blog, the group behind the jailbreaking application for the handset.