iOS 4 significantly slows down the iPhone 3G

Just a quick post to warm people that the iOS 4.0 upgrade will significantly slow down an iPhone 3G. I don’t know if it’s the slower processor or the lack of RAM, but I very much regret making the upgrade. The only useful features of iOS 4 that are enabled on the 3G are folders and the new version of Mail. While those are nice, they don’t begin to make up for the incredibly slowness of the update for certain tasks. Typing in addresses in Mail, for example, often hangs the phone for several seconds. It now takes a few seconds for the settings menu to first come up, as well.

How to rotate iPhone video on a Mac

I ran into what is apparently a not uncommon problem with iPhone video: you start to take a video while the camera is in portrait mode (just by accident of how you’re holding it) and then the rest of the video is stuck that way, even if you took 99% of it in landscape mode. If that didn’t make any sense, the bottom line is I had a video I needed to rotate 90 degrees. While there were plenty of solutions available on the PC, tons of Googling turned up virtually nothing for Mac Os X, short of finding an old copy of iMovie from five years ago.

Apple 'iPhone 5' expected in September

Apple's next-generation iPhone will have a faster processor and will begin shipping in September, according to three people with direct knowledge of the company's supply chain.

The production of the new iPhone will start in July or August and the smartphone will look largely similar to the iPhone 4, one of the sources told Reuters.

The iPhone – introduced in 2007 with the touchscreen, on-demand application template now adopted by its rivals – remains the gold standard in the booming smartphone market.

Reports on the timeline of the new iPhone launch vary, though it is largely expected that Apple will likely refresh its iPhone 4 later this year. It was introduced in June 2010 by chief executive Steve Jobs and shipped in the same month.

The timing would mean a delay from the usual 12-month refresh cycle for the iPhone since its introduction in 2007, when new versions have been shown off at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. That is presently scheduled for 6-10 June.

The sources declined to be identified because the plans for the new iPhone were not yet public. An Apple spokeswoman in Hong Kong was not available for comment.

The iPhone is one of Apple's most successful products, with more than 16 million sold in the last quarter of 2010. It accounted for more than a third of the company's sales in the quarter.

Apple sources many of its components from Taiwan-based suppliers, many are expected to benefit from a rise in sales as some of them rely on the US company for about 20-40% of their business, said Vincent Chen, an analyst at Yuanta Securities.

Good-bye iPhone, hello (again) BlackBerry

I am now a reverse switcher--I switched from a BlackBerry to an iPhone about six months ago, and now am switching back again. Why? Basically it comes down to the fact that the iPhone is really good at the stuff I do 10 percent of the time, but pretty poor at the stuff I do 90 percent of the time.

This is not to bash the iPhone. It has been a transformative device in the wireless industry and forced everyone else to up their game. It has shuffled the power structure among device makers, service providers, developers, and the broader ecosystem. But such a sophisticated device is a very personal choice, and people have very different priorities for something they use and carry around with them almost every waking hour. My phone is provided by and for work, and I primarily use it for work purposes, and for that I find a BlackBerry much, much more efficient.

Verizon Wireless & Apple Team Up to Deliver iPhone 4 on Verizon

BASKING RIDGE, New Jersey and CUPERTINO, California—January 11, 2011—Verizon Wireless and Apple® today announced that the iPhone® 4 will be available on the Verizon Wireless network beginning on Thursday, February 10. Qualified Verizon Wireless customers will be given the exclusive opportunity to pre-order iPhone 4 online on February 3, ahead of general availability. 

iPhone 4 is the most innovative phone in the world, featuring Apple’s stunning Retina™ display, the highest resolution display ever built into a phone resulting in super crisp text, images and video, and FaceTime®, which makes video calling a reality. iPhone 4 on Verizon Wireless will also include new Personal Hotspot capabilities allowing customers to use iPhone 4 to connect up to five Wi-Fi enabled devices.

How to Distinguish Fake iPhone

Are you curious or want to know how to determined if an iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad is real or fake/Chinese? Is very useful to know whether the device is fake or genuine, and sometimes is very hard to tell because there are many fake iPhone and iDevice that look identically to a genuine Apple devices.

Here’s a list of the easiest and most common ways of finding out and distinguish fake iOS devices.

Will You Be Able to Unlock The iPhone 5

There have been many reports that the iPhone Dev Team has successfully jailbroken all the beta versions of iOS 5 that Apple has released which has bee three to date. Still when Apple releases the final version it may have patched the exploits that are currently work. In fact there have been rumors that the way Apple has changed the software and how it restore will virtually make jailbreaking practically impossible.

The current method of saving SHSH blobs in order to retain a firmware version that is jailbreakable looks as if it is on the chopping block. If this is true jailbreak developers will really have to go to the drawing board and start from scratch to find new methods of jailbreaking. This method has been the cornerstone of all the jailbreak solutions that is being used currently.

The change removes this vulnerability by creating a unique key, that only Apple has or can generate, in order to restore an iPhone. This effectively will kill the current method of being able to remain on an older firmware version in order to update to an iOS and jailbreak and unlock the iPhone.

Still the news is not all bad as the Dev Team has stated there are methods to fight against this defense it is just a matter of time to find the best route of attack. Apple has definitely upped the anti in securing the platform from being breached.

To Unlock Or Not To Unlock iPhone – What Will You Choose?

Now that Apple is selling factory unlocked GSM iPhones will that make fewer people jailbreak or unlock their iPhone using alternative methods? Due to the steep price of the unlocked iPhones purchased from Apple it will probably not deter too many people from using these other methods. It is anticipated that third party unlocking solutions will remain strong.

However for business travelers who have been hit with very expensive roaming charges from AT&T. Many of these users have reported fees incurred in one week that would pay for the phone itself. That is really price gouging on AT&T’s part and, perhaps, Apple is beginning to have a different attitude towards this situation.

Apple is also trying to gain more grounds into the business user market. RIM and BlackBerry’s have been the accepted device for business class users and the iPhone has just begun to break into that market. Offering a readily available unlocked iPhone would be another way to appeal to the business class user.

Many business people are more concerned with the security of their iPhones than many average users are. They do not want to compromise that security by jailbreaking their devices. Also as their smart phone might be a company purchase they may not have the freedom to make these types of modifications as well.

So an unlocked iPhone from Apple even at six to seven hundred dollars can be a real deal for businesses and travelers who do not want to jailbreak.

Latest Jailbreak Update For iOS 5

here is a beta version of Sn0wbreeze that can jailbreak the latest beta version of iOS 5. This software is from iH8sn0w but it is only available to other developers. Sn0wbreeze is software for Windows and is like PwnageTool for Mac computers. You can create a custom pre-jailbroken firmware for iOS 5. This allows you to update your iPhone to the latest iOS from Apple. In other words you are able to preserve the baseband allowing you to unlock your iPhone.

This version of Sn0wbreeze will work with the iPod Touch 3G/4G, iPad 1, GSM iPhone 3Gs/4 and the CDMA iPhone 4. It is also an untethered jailbreak solution if you have an older 3Gs iPhone. For other devices running iOS 5 it currently has to be used tethered.

With the beta version of Sn0wbreeze iH8sn0w there have not been any issues with the sandbox that were present in the previous beta version. Also released is a newer version of Redsn0w that also resolves its sandbox issues.

When you jailbreak your iPhone you can install apps including MyWi that lets you have a Wi-Fi hotspot allowing you to share your internet connection over your 3G network. This lets you connect a laptop or other devices right through your iPhone. MyWi is costs around twenty dollars compared to around forty of more dollars a month through AT&T.

Wi-Fi Sync lets you sync your device to iTunes without tethering. It costs around ten dollars and you do have to jailbreak your iPhone first.