Numeric Battery On iPhone Killing Battery Life?

There has been many reports that enabling the numeric battery feature on the iPhone actually kills the battery life quicker. Some people have reportedly found a massive increase in battery life after turning off this simple feature. Especially those with jailbroken phones who use SBSettings to turn on the feature.

Some people oriignally thought the battery died quicker, but thought it was a psychological thing and that you thought it was as you could see the percentage go down. However I’ve now turned off the numeric battery for good and hope I get better battery life as currently it’s not lasting a whole day with light use.

Apple Releases iPhone OS 3.0.1

Apple earlier today released the latest iPhone OS, version 3.0.1. This update fixes the major SMS security issue that they have finally fixed.

There hasn’t been many changes in the latest firmware release that have been found other than the SMS fix, feel free to email them in if you find any.

If you want to jailbreak your device it has been reported that in most cases it works fine but maybe wait a while until everything gets checked out.

Why Apple Need To Fix 3.0 Soon

With the vast collection of new features from the new iPhone OS 3.0, also came the vast amount of problems it’s causing.

As a 3.0 user myself I have been affected by some of these, such as the WiFi connectivity issues which have caused hundreds of users problems.
The battery life using 3.0, for some has dropped drastically and I have myself seen a bit of a drop in the batteries performance.
Destructive video editing on the iPhone 3GS. which Apple has fixed in 3.1. Also some unknown problem with 3.0 which causes the device to over heat and the battery to drop drastically as I experienced whilst using Qik to live stream a video.

These are just a few problems that 3.0 users are having and Apple really needs to sort these out, as a lot of people rely on there iPhone to last throughout the day, we don’t want it to be like the Palm Pre do we. Hopefully these will be fixed in 3.1 and anyone using the 3.1 Beta feel free to drop a comment on if any of these problems, or others, have been fixed or even maybe caused by that update.

WiFi Connectivity Problems Caused By iPhone OS 3.0

I for one have experienced connectivity problems with my iPhone 3G over WiFi. My signal is never as strong as it used to be and even in the house I get no connection where I used to get a connection, all this after the 3.0 update.

Hundreds of people have been complaining of these issues of the iDevice not connecting to WiFi, less signal strength or saying you have a WiFi connection when you don’t.

Apple if fully aware of the problem and will be working to fix it. Some people think that the 3.1 update will fix these issues but some people don’t agree with this so we will have to see. If anyone is using 3.1 Beta do you experience any of the WiFi problems?

Some people have came up with many solutions to try and fix this problem, but they don’t work, some people even tried putting there iDevice in the freezer.

iPod Touch 3.0 Free Upgrade

For all you out there who think it’s unfair that iPod Touch users have to pay $10/£5.99 for an upgrade which iPhone users get for free and the only reason Apple charge is to do with accounting, I’m offering you a free upgrade to 3.0. Just download the restore file from the link below and press Ctrl and Restore and choose the downloaded file.
I hold no responsibility for the file and you use it at your own risk, enjoy 3.0!

Download 3.0 Free Upgrade

iPhone Battery & Heat Problems

Multiple cases of iPhone’s overheating and the battery of the phone quickly depleting have been causing iPhone users problems recently. Most believe it’s down to the software, the 3.0 firmware that Apple released a few weeks ago as it only seems now that users are having these problems.

Apple blame the overheating on the hot weather and are blaming people for leaving there iPhone’s in hot places but the battery issues must be in some way connected to the new firmware as I experienced today.

My iPhone 3G which used to run 2.2.1 would run under moderate use each day without getting into the 20% battery area, with heavy usage it would get down quicker and I would have to charge. But today whilst at a friends house I decided to do some live streaming using Qik, however after about 10 minutes I noticed that my iPhone had heated up considerably and the battery had lost maybe 30/40% of it’s charge. Now I know for a fact this isn’t usual as I’ve used Qik before and the phone didn’t have the same problems using 2.2.1.

It seems that there must be something not quite right with the 3.0 firmware which is causing maybe the CPU to be overused, causing the phone to heat up or something in some setting which isn’t coded properly and causing these problems.

I’d be interested to try out the 3.1 Beta to see if it had the same issues, however I’m not currently a developer so can’t try it but if anyone has tried it leave a comment about if you experience the same issues.

Official 3GS Jailbreak Released

The Dev-Team have released there official jailbreak tool for all 3.0+ iDevices today and it’s compatible with the iPhone 3GS.

It’s available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.

Click here to download the Torrent.

New Features in iPhone OS 3.1 Beta

Apple released the iPhone OS & SDK 3.1 Beta yesterday. Here’s a list of what people have found to be changed so far:

- MMS is now enabled by default (Still not supported by AT&T).
- A “Fraud Protection” toggle is now available in Safari settings.
- Voice Control over Bluetooth is now available, allowing users to Initiate calls and control music playback via Bluetooth headsets.
- iPhone startup and shutdown and app launching times have improved.
- Trimming video clips on the iPhone 3GS now offers the ability to save the edited version as a copy rather than simply overwriting the original file.
- New APIs allow developers of third-party application to access and edit videos.
- iPhone vibrates when rearranging Home screen icons.
- OpenGL and Quartz have seen improvements.

Apple Releases iPhone Firmware & SDK 3.1 Beta

Apple today, released the 3.1 beta for the iPhone firmware and SDK; both the SDK and the firmware are available for testing and development to paid members of the iPhone developer program. Although this is pre-release software and details should remain under NDA, some details will leak out soon.

Some wonder why Apple have released the 3.1 Beta so close to the release of 3.0 to the public. Some think that it’s not just bug fixes, as Apple would probably release it as 3.0.1 if so. Apple may have worked out the exploit in which the Dev-Team use to jailbrake devices and patched it in this new release, so upgrading is to be taken at your own risk and may stop you from jailbraking until the Dev-Team work it out.

Stack v3 Review [Updated]

Stack v3 for iPhone is the latest project from Steve Troughton-Smith, the project brings the Mac dock Stack feature to the iPhone in true style.

Shown above is the fan style which fans out the icons of added apps much like on the Mac does with files. The stack can be placed anywhere on the dock. The function of Stack for iPhone is to give a quick and easy access to your most used apps to save time from switching between screens.

This shows the grid view which Mac users will also be familiar with, this gives the user a lot more space to have there most used apps compared to the fan view.

To add an app to the Stack just drag it onto the icon and it will be added. To remove an app open the Stack and hold down then move your finger to bring up the shown notification which allows you to remove the app, this can be turned off in the settings to just remove without asking you first.

In the latest alpha (6b), the stack rename feature has been activated and allows you to rename the Stack so it appears to be a normal app.

Once the Stack has been renamed, you must re-spring the springboard for it to take effect.

Overall the Stack app is very stable and although in alpha, I have experienced few problems with it; there may be the odd UI tweaks needed here and there, but overall the app works amazingly well for those searching for a quick way to access apps.

As the Stack v3 is currently in alpha, to get a copy you must donate via the official site to get a copy, plus I must add it is only for Jailbroken devices, as Apple wouldn’t allow this sort of app. If you wish to test out the previous version for free then go here.

The project shows a lot of potential and I’m very excited to see what else can be added to this and keep following the developers twitter to get updates on the project along with others.

I’d like to thank Steve Troughton-Smith for allowing me to get hold of the alpha so that I could write this review.