iPhone 2.2 firmware Brings Google Street View to maps

After being sent out to developers last week promising only “compatibility testing” enhancements, the pre-release version of iPhone software 2.2 is starting to spill its secrets. The folks at Mac Rumors have dug up evidence that appears to indicate Google Maps’ Street View finally making it into the Maps app, after popping up in the regular mobile Maps applications for non-iPhones as well as, of course, Android, with the cool Compass view feature. On top of Street View, they’ve also uncovered a few other new features, including the ability to disable the text auto-correction feature while typing.

Namely, the ability to turn off the keyboard’s auto-correction feature and support for Japanese emoji emoticons—the typically adorable little icons that Japanese teens (and adults?) can’t live without. Lack of emoji support has actually been blamed for slower iPhone sales in Japan, so there you go. I’m not sure who would want to live without keyboard auto-correction though—that would take a mastery of multitouch typing that I have yet to see. [Mac Rumors - image is a 'Shop, not the actual implementation]