I got my phone right before Christmas, and ran the update right away, and so not sure how things worked without the update. I am also having trouble with the auto focus though. When the phone finds a focus (box around the focal point becomes solid and doesn't blink), all pictures I've gotten have been astounding. Camera lives up to its billing in every which way. But very often, and for some reason this seems to happen with pictures taken of objects at a distance (at least 40 feet away), the camera never locks its focus. I can see it trying to focus on the screen, even going past it, but it never stays on it, and the box disappears altogether. I try multiple times half pressing the shutter button, but it repetitively fails to get a focus lock. Sometimes if shift the aim slightly, I can get a lock. Here are some examples of what I get:
Bad:
Good:
Bad:
Good:
Bad:
Good:
When I try to manually focus on points by touching the screen, it shows the same behavior -- trying to get a focus, appears to move past the focal point, but does not lock.
This is highly disappointing, as the camera was a big reason I got this phone, and I'm loving most other things about it. My two year old iPhone 4 takes pictures in these situations without a hitch, which is a sad.
Anyone else have similar behavior?