iOS 5.1 beta 2 is out, but no word yet on battery drain fix
Apple has launched a second beta of iOS 5.1 for its developer community with a variety of fixes, but so far it's too soon to tell if the battery drain problem has been resolved.
Apple's second beta of iOS 5.1 launched yesterday with several new fixes and features, but no clue yet as to whether it's squashed the battery drain bug.
Available for registered developers, iOS 5.1 beta 2 addresses a variety of issues, according to Boy Genius Report. Included in the mix are a fix for app icons that had trouble using Game Center and a remedy to address freezes when using the shake-to-shuffle feature to bounce around different songs.
One new feature now lets you delete individual photos from Photo Stream from any of your iOS devices. Otherwise, all of the other notes primarily affect developers who'll be using the new 5.1 Software Development Kit to build iOS apps.
As for the battery drain glitch, BGR expressed hope that the issue is fixed for good. But so far that's little more than wishful thinking.
Apple's notes for the new beta contained no information on the battery problem, not surprising since those notes are geared strictly to developers who aren't involved with that issue. A scan of the Apple Support Communities and other Web sites found no clues one way or another. But that's not unexpected since the new beta just came out.
The company has faced a tough time trying to resolve the battery drain problem since users first started reporting it not long after iOS 5.0 was released. Apple quickly rolled out iOS 5.0.1, which it hoped would solve the issue. But the update produced mixed results, with some users saying it fixed the problem, some saying it had no effect, and others saying it made things worse.
Apple has acknowledged this persistent problem, even after the 5.0.1 release, and has said that it's continuing to investigate "a few remaining issues." But since the battery drain doesn't affect all iOS users equally, it may be proving difficult to fix across the board.
The company released the first beta of iOS 5.1 about two weeks ago, bit it too received a mixed response among testers as far as alleviating the battery drain.
No word on when iOS 5.1 may reach users, especially with the battery issue still a question mark. But if Apple follows its usual pattern, another beta is most likely to hit developers before the final version is released, possibly before the year is over.