iPhone4idiots

Apple is held the annual Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco today. This is who’s who of developers and bloggers that is always filled with major product announcements. Even Steve Jobs is there despite all his health issues. So what did Apple announce? Well, before I get into OSX Lion, iOS 5 and iCloud, IMO one of the biggest news stories at this year’s event is what Apple didn’t announce. For the first time since it’s introduction there will not be a new iPhone released in June. The iPhone 2G, 3G, 3GS and iPhone 4 were all released in June. To me this just shows the next iPhone won’t offer a major upgrade. Sure they’ll add a few megapixels to the camera and maybe a second LED light on the back. Hopefully another major upgrade like removing the home button to allow for a larger display will be coming next year when I’ll be due to upgrade my iPhone 4. Look for the next iPhone to come this fall with the release of iOS 5 which is the most significant iOS update yet! More on that in post later today.

iOS 4.3, Apple’s newest software update for iPhones, iPods and iPads, is now available for download in iTunes. So the question is should you download it? Well, I see three reasons you might want to download iOS 4.3. First,  Safari is supposed to be faster. Apple has added some sort of JavaScript that will make pages load almost twice as fast. I’m a little skeptical, but if true everyone likes more speed. Second, the mobile hotspot is coming with iOS 4.3 (iPhone 4 only). Now, I keep preaching that by far the best and cheapest option to create a mobile hotspot is to jailbreak your iPhone or iPad and use MyWi. However, if you don’t want to do that for some reason but want this feature then you can have it in iOS 4.3. Of course you’ll have to pay ATT or Verizon $20 per month for tethering. Also, on ATT you are limited to connecting three devices to your hotspot. This isn’t a big deal as if you shared any more than three devices on your 3G connection it would be about as fast as dial-up. Perhaps the biggest reason you might want iOS 4.3 is for Home Sharing. Continue Reading…

So the latest firmware update for iOS for the iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad has been given to developers and there are a few interesting things. One is that there will be the ability to turn your device into a mobile personal hotspot (thank you Verizon). Now just because Apple has added this capability into iOS does not mean ATT will allow you to use. Recall iPhones were capable of tethering for almost a year before ATT added the feature. Nevertheless, with Verizon offering it and iOS having the ability it is only a matter of time before ATT adds this nice feature! Just as interesting is the possible death of the home button? Continue Reading…

So what firmware is on your iPhone or iPod Touch?? I’m sticking with 4.1 on my iPhone 4 because I don’t what to lose my jailbreak by upgrading to 4.2.1. About the only thing I would like on 4.2 is Find My iPhone. The 4.2 jailbreak will be out very soon (I’m hoping its an X-mas gift), but whenever it’s certianly real soon. I would think anyone not jailbroken would have updated to 4.2 by now, but then again a lot of you might be like my sister in-law. She hardly ever connects to her computer so she was still on 3.1.3. My iPhone 3G was still on 3.1.2 for a long time as I was afraid the hardware couldn’t handle 4.0 (I finally updated a few months ago since Apple claims to have addressed this issue with 4.1 – mine seems fine). So my new poll question is simple. What is your iPhone or iPod Touch’s current firmware version. Don’t know? Just tap Settings – General – About and see what’s listed as the Version. This is your iDevices operating system and something you should pay a little attention to. I actually have a PC still running Windows 98 as I find it the safest and least likely to get spyware and viruses since it has fewer options. The poll is in the right sidebar.

OK, so last night I wanted to upgrade my wife’s iPhone from 4.1 to 4.2 (technically its 4.2.1 – boy 4.2 was fast) so I could check out Find My iPhone. Didn’t want to lose my jailbreak so used her iPhone. Well during the upgrade it bombed out with a 1013 error. WTF?!? She’s gonna be pissed. Halfway through each restore it would give the 1013 error. I tried recovery AND dfu mode and 1013, 1013, 1013! After an hour and half wasted I get a simple solution to the loop from a Forum reply. Run Tiny Umbrella and click “kick out of recovery”. Dope! For geeks what happens is Tiny Umbrella edits your hosts file in your machine. It changes the hosts file to link to Cydia’s servers as opposed to Apple’s. Thus, preventing iTunes from completing the processing. Thus you get stuck with 1013 errors. You have to either do what I did (easy way) or edit the hosts file. This is a classic example of why you should always sync and backup your iPhone before upgrading software. It could be a painful lesson . . . I’m really sorry Hunny Bunny (Pulp Fiction was an underrated movie)!

iOS 4.2 went live today for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. Again, this is a major upgrade for the iPad that you are going to want. See what’s new in my review. Before you install iOS 4.2 be sure you’ve updated to iTunes 10.1. Also, its the perfect time to sync and backup your data. While you are at it take an extra second and move your Camera Roll to iPhoto or whatever you use on Windows for pictures. One feature that was new today is that Find My iPhone is now free! To setup you need an iPad, iPhone 4 or iPod Touch 4, but once you’re done you can use it on any iOS 4.2 device. The Find My iPhone app is a free download in the App Store and lets users easily locate a missing device on a map and have it display a message or play a sound. You can even remotely lock or wipe data from a lost device. It’s a nice feature that previously was only offered with paid service MobileMe. Follow these steps after you download the Find My iPhone app to get it running.
1) Update your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad to iOS 4.2
2) Go into Settings: Mail, Contacts Calendars
3) Tap Add Account
4) Tap MobileMe
5) Enter your Apple ID (iTunes Store ID, Apple Online Store ID, etc.)
6) Verify your account via email
7) Go back to Settings: Mail, Contacts, Calendars: MobileMe
Turn on Find my iPhone
9) Tap Allow

Update 10/17/2010 So there is a wifi connection issue with 4.2 and the iPad. Thus, the release has been delayed. It should happen any day. Apple stated it would be in November so two weeks tops unless its a major bug.

So iTunes 10.1 is here and iOS 4.2 will follow on Tuesday. Remember my advice is not to bother updating if you have an iPod Touch or iPhone, but this is a major update for the iPad that you’ll really want. For more on 4.2 see my review. As always if you need to unlock your iPhone – do not update to 4.2. If you only need to jailbreak and you have saved your SHSH blob for 4.1 then you can go ahead, but IMO it’s still better to just wait for the official 4.2 jailbreak release. It should be quite soon. I’d say by December 1. Feel free to go ahead and update iTunes to 10.1 if you want, it won’t affect your iDevice.

iOS 4.2 Golden Master (or iOS 4.2 GM) is in the hands of developers now and should be hitting iTunes for everyone to download within two weeks. This firmware update will be for iPhone, iPads and iPod Touches unifying all devices under one software! This is a major upgrade for the iPad while not so much for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Jailbreakers will want to wait unless they are fine with losing their jailbreak. For the important new features Continue Reading…

Awesome news. The same day iOS 4.1 is released @pod2g finds an exploit that will allow it to be jailbroken in near future! Others in the dev team have confirmed it works not only for the iPhone and iPad, but also the just released iPod Touch 4th generation. What’s even better is the exploit is based on hardware so Apple won’t be able to patch it with a future software update. Now there is still tons of work that needs to be done and it may still take over a month, but rest assured a iOS 4.1 jailbreak looks to be coming sooner rather than later!! I can’t wait to get my proximity sensor fixed and have Game Center on my iPhone 4.

So iOS 4.1 went live today. If you are jailbroken and want to keep your jailbreak then DON’T UPDATE. If you could care less about jailbreaking then you should update as this latest firmware actually offers some things you might want. First, if you have a iPhone 3G it is supposed to fix all the slow performance issues your iPhone has had since upgrading to iOS. Second, if you have an iPhone 4 and have had issues with the proximity sensor – it fixes that too. For me the “issues” are putting a call on speaker, hold or mute by accident because the sensor is too sensative. Again, a nice fix if this is a problem for you. Lastly, this firmware launces Game Center which I’m really looking forware to. Game Center is supported on iPod Touch 4th generation, iPod Touch 3rd generation, iPod Touch 2nd generation, iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS only. Sorry for all you iPhone 3G users. Apple is giving you the shaft again. I’m adding a Game Center thread in the Forum. Please post and maybe we can play soon!