iPhone4idiots

So there were two main reasons to buy the iPhone 4S. The 50% jump in data speed that it provides over my iPhone 4 on ATT is one. The second is Siri, the voice recognition software. iCloud is great too, but that’s iOS 5 for anybody not iPhone 4S specific like the two just mentioned. After playing with it all day here are my thoughts. Siri works great for notes, reminders, placing calls, playing music and especially for texting. That said, none of this is ground breaking and like all other voice recognition technologies I’ve tired it still has a long way to go. Apple is still calling Siri a beta verision and don’t expect it to come to any other iOS device (unless it’s through jailbreaking). It still needs lots of polish. When I ask things like “What’s the best show on TV” or “Tell me a joke?” I want to get a reply. As opposed to growing on me I think I’ll use Siri less and less over time as the novelty of it wears off.

Love my new baby! Here is video of first speed test I ran. This is for 3G on ATT in Nashville, Tennessee. As you can see the HSDPA technology which is only available on an ATT iPhone 4S makes the download data speeds 50% faster. If you haven’t decided which carrier to go with yet, I highly suggest ATT for this reason. Think of how much faster you’ll download all those videos.

I know who my next girlfriend is going to be and I have my first date with her tomorrow night. I’m so excited! See I’ve heard rumors about her. She’s kind. If you tell her “I’m drunk”, she doesn’t get mad and responds, “I found a number of cabs fairly close to you.” That’s my girl. She’s smart too. When asked the answer to “life, the universe and everything” she correctly gets the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy reference and states “42″. Yes, playing with Siri is going to be fun. Even though I’ve been dating an iPhone 4 that looks exactly like her for over a year, I can not wait to get my hands on the iPhone 4S because of Siri. I mean personality is everything right? BTW, I’m taking her to Miami this weekend. When you know you’re in love you go after it hard and strong. After our weekend in Miami, Siri will be my girl for at least another year.

I’ll be posting a video with questions for Siri before I leave for Miami. Leave any questions you want to ask her in the comments and I’ll put it in the video.

For those of you who didn’t awake in the middle of the night to pre order the iPhone 4S (or were up like me but couldn’t order a no contract iPhone 4S) the question is what to do now? Reports are everywhere that pre orders were over one million the first 24 hours (and people thought demand was high for the Amazon Kindle Fire). Now pre orders are showing a shipping time of 1-2 weeks. If you are like me you don’t want to wait that long. Raido Shack and Target are selling them, but I wouldn’t go there. Sam’s Club has them as well, but I’m not a member. Best Buy is taking pre orders, but I went there personally and what most people aren’t reporting is that the pre order really doesn’t start until Saturday. Friday, Best Buy will sell all the iPhone 4S they get to whomever is lined up. I’m sure they will sell out quickly. Thus, your pre order will depend on what number you are and size and dates of future shipments they receive starting on Saturday. So, that’s really not an option for me either. Where to line up. That’s always the question. IMO, you are best off at the Apple Store. Continue Reading…

So iOS 5 is available for download today. You’ve probably heard lots of things about it since IMO this is by far the biggest update in iOS history. iCloud, iMatch, Notifications and more. Frankly its all a little overwhelming even for me. First some details, iOS 5 is available for iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, both iPad 1 and 2 and for iPod Touches 3rd generation or newer. For my jailbreaking peeps, as always, if you update to iOS 5 kiss your jailbreak goodbye for the time being. Yes, there is a tethered one, but who wants that? See the previous post about when a new untethered jailbreak for iOS might arrive. Now for more details on iOS 5 and why the biggest feature of iCloud might not work for many of you. Continue Reading…

So iOS 5 will be available for download in less than 24 hours. Most people would like to try it out including me. However, there is no way I’m going to give up my untethered jailbreak. Within a week there will be millions of new iPhone 4S that all are running iOS 5 for which there will be no jailbreak. Given how long it took to get an untethered jailbreak for the iPad 2, I thought it might take just as long or longer for iOS 5 and the iPhone 4S. However, this was me being an idiot. See most the exploits that have been found to create an untethered jailbreak have been held back waiting for iOS 5. I now think there is a good chance the iOS 5 jailbreak will come rather quickly. Better yet, it should be untethered! I0n1c tweeted, “As far as I know iOS 5 untether is covered by other people already. Guess who .” Over the summer many well known jailbreakers gathered together for a conference called JailbreakCon. P0sixninja announced that five iOS 5 vulnerabilities had been found for the iPad 2. Assuming this is true an untethered jailbreak for iOS 5 for the iPad 2 should come very quickly. Beta verisions of iOS 5 have been out for months so hopefully much of the work required to release the jailbreak has already been done. It is very likely the holes for the iPad 2 will also work on existing devices like the iPhone 4, iPad and more recent iPods. Whether it will work on the iPhone 4S is more questionable as it is new hardware. Hopefully so, but time will tell. The good news is an untethered jailbreak for most if not all devices running iOS 5 might not be far away. As always, if anything is released I’ll be jailbreaking away immediately and giving updates on Facebook, Twitter and here.

Facebook has finally released their iPad app. What the heck took so long? Anyone that owns an iPad can tell how annoying it was to open the Facebook app and see it only fill a small iPhone sized portion of your display. Yes, there were jailbreak apps like Retina Display which fixed this, but for most people this was just ridiculous. It has been reported that the developer of the Facebook iPad app (who recently left for Google) said it was ready for release months ago. It is rumored Steve Jobs was pissed Facebook introduced a tablet app on the HP Touchpad first. Remember the integration of Twitter into iOS 5? Could this possibly have been Steve Job’s response to Facebook not putting Apple first?? We’ll probably never know for sure, but the bottom line is Facebook and Apple are major competitors that won’t play nice just to benefit the consumer. Anyway, thank goodness that is in the past and you can now use the Facebook app on your entire iPad screen! I’ll check it out tonight. Let me know what you think.

I’ve had ATT as my carrier for years. When Verizon finally got the iPhone, I posted an article saying you shouldn’t buy it because of lower data speeds and not being able to use voice and data at the same time. That said, you have to call BS when you smell it. Like when Apple released Ping or when Research in Motion released the 7′ Playbook. ATT is about to claim the iPhone 4S is a 4G phone and Apple is playing along. Check my article from two days ago. While it’s true that ATT’s GSM network is the only one to support the iPhone 4′S HSPA+ technology which is faster, it is not 4G. While twice as fast as 3G, it’s no where near 4G and I hope next year when Apple likely releases an LTE iPhone 5 Verizon and Sprint put ATT in their place. Heck, at that point they should market it as 5G since there is no truth in carrier advertising when it comes to data speeds.

Wow, it has been a frustrating Friday. I woke at 1:40 to start clicking the refresh button on Apple’s website. See in the past their website has gone live and started selling about ten minutes before the designated pre order time. No such luck for the iPhone 4S. 2:10 nothing – 2:20 nothing – 2:30 and I’m worried my mouse might die from all the clicking of the refresh button. I even went over to ATT but they weren’t selling either. Verizon’s site went live immediately, but it like ATT required a contract and I was searching for the no contract iPhone 4S. See I think there is a good chance I’ll be switching from ATT next year so I don’t want to be locked into a contract. 2:40 I hit refresh again and still the only thing I can order is a ”We’ll be back soon.” yellow post it note. Finally around 3:00 AM Apple’s site starts working. Well sort of. Many people on Twitter complained about getting kicked out half way though the order process. I’m disappointed, but not surprised to see I have to choose a contract. In my sleep deprived haze I decide to screw it and get a Sprint contract (it’s the cheapest). Well, no can do. Only existing Sprint customers are able to pre order. I called the Nashville Apple store this morning and they assured me that on Friday October 14, I will be able to buy a no contract iPhone 4S. Yes, the 16GB verison is $649, but I’m an idiot who will pay it. See you next Friday in line.

One thing not getting a lot press is if you are buying the iPhone 4S, which carrier should you choose? I’m really not trying to bash Verizon despite what many people said about my video stating ATT was a better choice than Verizon back in February. I’ve never used their service before. I just know what I’ve read and to me data is much more important than voice. Maybe if I dropped calls or couldn’t get reception more often I would care, but here in Nashville ATT does fine. Of course if you are on a family plan, your company pays for your contract or you live in an area where only Verizon offers reliable voice service then they should be the carrier you choose. So why there are compelling reasons to buy an ATT iPhone 4S or a Sprint iPhone 4S, there is no reason to select Verizon as the carrier. Continue Reading…