iTunes 7.7.1 released: no relief for iPhone-related bugs

Apple has released iTunes 7.7.1, which is accompanied by the usual dearth of change data, through Software Update. Release notes state only "iTunes 7.7.1 includes fixes to improve the stability and performance." After spending about an hour with the update it's not clear what if anything changed.

Here's a quick rundown of initial observations:

• The number of app updates is still not being reported correctly (see our bug report).
• Syncing seems to take longer, and the speed of backups -- still glacial -- has not improved.
• Photos syncing in iPhoto are still not showing thumbnails, but for unknown reasons, all the photos we took today prior to the 7.7.1 update are showing thumbnails during the photo import. The same is true for photos taken after the iTunes 7.7.1 upgrade. However, photos on the iPhone taken prior to today still show up only as outlined boxes with no photos inside even though all the photos import properly.
• Apple TV remote pairing may have been affected by the update. We had to re-pair our iPhone 3G and iPod Touch to out in-house Apple TV. At first, the Apple TV would not see the remotes. If you encounter this problem, reboot the Apple TV by shutting it down with the remote by pressing and holding pause/play for six seconds. The white power light will go off. Next unplug your Apple TV wait 30 seconds and plug it back in. It should reboot. Try the Remote App again and/or re-pair the iPhone/Touch with the Apple TV as needed. The Apple TV should see the "remotes" again.
• A potential improvement: when the iPhone is syncing the "Info" tab no longer appears to lose the selected settings for syncing contacts, mailboxes, etc.

Feedback? info@iphoneatlas.com.