Posted by: Marianne Schultz
on Sep 7, 2008
When Kevin Rose
first described what he believed would be released by Apple in September, he listed the 2.1 firmware for the iPod Touch with the version for the iPhone to follow shortly after. Now, others are chiming in to say that we might see the iPhone 2.1 firmware tomorrow as well, not later. I am personally all for that since I've experienced many of the problems with apps not opening, text entry lag, and GPS/triangulation not working, and I want all of that fixed NOW, thank you very much.
Ars Technica has
gone on to say that we might even see new features in iPhone firmware 2.1, such as background push notification and more GPS capability. The background push notification sounds a little questionable, since this was removed from the last SDK beta, but I could definitely picture Apple intentionally hiding this feature so they could do something surprising with it before developers get to see it. Of course, this means that whatever that surprising thing is, it will not have been tested very much outside of Apple, and that doesn't inspire the most confidence in its stability and operability these days.
I normally love new stuff from Apple, but I think that this is the first time in my history as an Apple fan that I don't want new stuff for my iPhone.
Posted by: Marianne Schultz
on Aug 26, 2008
I keep a lot of personal information on my iPhone that I don't want just anyone to have access to, so I've set the Passcode Lock option in Settings with the hope that it will keep my information from prying eyes for the most part if it's misplaced or gets stolen. And I also have my Home Button shortcut set to go to my Favorites in the phone app. It's this very combination that reveals a security flaw where the passcode lock in firmware 2.0.2 can be bypassed, allowing access to your favorite contacts and email accounts. Not good.
You can see the demonstration of how this can be done in a
video over at Gizmodo, but here's how it works:
- After sliding to unlock, select Emergency Call on the passcode entry screen.
- Double-click on the home button, and the phone Favorites list will appear.
- Click on the blue arrow to the right of a Favorites entry to see the full information for that contact.
- Click on an email address for that contact and you'll be taken to a new message in the Mail application.
- Cancel out of the new email and you'll see the full list of email accounts, which can be accessed fully.
Crazy, isn't it? I'm setting my home button shortcut to something else, effective immediately. Granted, this doesn't allow access to everything on your iPhone, but it's far more than I'm comfortable with. Chances are that someone who finds or steals your iPhone won't know about this particular security flaw, so it's probably not something for you to worry about regularly. Unfortunately, my luck isn't so good and my iPhone would probably fall into the hands of a thief well-versed in the flaws of the iPhone. Hopefully, Apple will recognize this and address it in the next firmware version...
Via [Gizmodo ]
Posted by: Christopher Meinck
on Aug 18, 2008
Until now, Apple has been relatively quiet regarding iPhone 3G connectivity issues that have caused a quite a stir. Ed Baig of USA Today received word from Apple spokeswoman Jennifer Bowcock that Apple's latest update was indeed aimed at correcting iPhone 3G connectivity problems. "The software update improves communication with 3G network", said Bowcock.
There is still a lingering concern after several news reports that the issues are related to a faulty 3G chipset, an issue that might not be solved by a software update. An email that was alledgly from Steve Jobs, said this issue affected only 2% of iPhone owners. In our iPhone 3G Reception Poll , almost 70% of respondents had experienced dropped calls and/or network switching between EDGE and 3G.
