Apple to revamp iPhone Safari toolbar in 2.2 firmware

By Leon Bailey on Mon 29 September 2008

Apple released the first beta of the iPhone 2.2 firmware to developers last week and, while most of the details remain under heavy non-disclosure agreements, a screenshot has slipped out that reveals an apparent overall of the Safari toolbar.

To show the difference, we’ve taken the screengrab published this weekend by iPhone Atlas and placed it alongside an image of iPhone 2.1 Safari displaying the Mobile Computer website. If you can immediately spot the difference then read on after the cut for an explanation.

Essentially, it looks as though Apple is aiming to save users a finger-tap by consolidating the URL and search boxes into a single toolbar. The magnifying glass icon has been replaced by a search bar that sits alongside a condensed URL-entry area. As well, the Refresh button, which sits at the far right of the toolbar in the current iPhone 2.1 firmware looks to have been shifted to the URL area itself – which seems logical enough. However, this doesn’t seem to add any screen real estate, because the existing toolbar anyway shrinks back down to the same size the moment a search is executed.

Anyway, there’s really little more to say on this but if you want to read iPhone Atlas’s original report then follow the link below.

[iPhone Atlas]