Some more screenshots have hit the web that seem to confirm that iPhone firmware 2.2 will in fact enable downloading of podcasts directly to the device.
These new screenshots, published on “Flo’s Weblog,” show the ability to download these pocasts even over the 3G network.
The new functionality will let users browse podcasts from within the iTunes application and download them to the device but I don’t see any signs of being able to actually subscribe to those podcasts, which means it might be very similar to the way the Apple TV deals with podcasts. On the Apple TV you can save a podcast as a favorite but those podcasts don’t have new files automatically download (which would be ideal).
So, I don’t know how much I’m actually going to enjoy this feature, when it was added to the Apple TV it didn’t change any of my previous habits of downloading to my computer and syncing to the Apple TV so I would guess that this being in the iPhone won’t change my habits either.
According to the rumors though Apple will be limiting podcast file downloads to 10MB or less if downloaded over 3G but it is unclear as to whether or not these downloads can be performed over the EDGE network.