Archive for the 'Apple' category

Apple Fail!? The iPhone 3GS on iOS 5

Oct 07 2011 Published by under Apple

I still use the oldest phone that Apple currently sells, the iPhone 3GS, but I’ve now upgraded to iOS 5 GM. To my surprise, the golden master runs much faster than previous beta versions of iOS 5.

Of course, speed is a relative thing — it’s possible that the phone is no faster than it was some months ago, and that I’m now just noticing the difference between last month’s beta version and this week’s golden master, but it certainly feels like the fastest 3GS I’ve ever used!

Sure, I won’t be getting Siri and the camera still takes ages to load up, but I’m suddenly finding myself rather content with my 2-year old phone.

One thing that’s been majorly improved is mobile Safari; it seems to run a whole lot faster these days. I’m actually using it again as my primary browser, at least when I’m on wifi.

Additionally, now that wireless syncing, cloud syncing and over-the-air updates are available, the phone has become effortless to manage.

What I’m trying to get at, is that this aging obsolete smartphone has just dramatically increased in value. This is totally unexpected considering the nature of the product and the fact that it is now two produce cycles behind the latest iPhone.

Apple is making me think twice about upgrading!

Apple Fail?!

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Bricked iPhone 3GS Reboot Loop After iOS 5 beta 7 OTA

Sep 01 2011 Published by under Apple

My aging iPhone 3GS — that has been firmware upgraded, jailbroken, and restored innumerable times throughout its 2 year life — was seemingly bricked this morning when I went to upgrade it to iOS 5 beta 7. (Yes, I have my phone’s UDID tied to some developer’s account. Thank you bitcoin!)

My iPhone would reboot constantly, showing the Apple logo, a black screen, a white screen and some vertical lines. I’d seen many botched firmware installs in the past, but this one was odd.

The thing that worried me the most was that I couldn’t even get it into DFU mode. I can’t remember that happening ever before with a botched upgrade or jailbreak.

Fortunately, I came across the Recovery Fix utility from the Tiny Umbrella website.

At first, Recovery Fix seemed to offer no hope, as I still needed to get into DFU mode. But after randomly trying for about 5 minutes, I guess I got lucky, because DFU engaged and it broke out of the loop!

At that point, the greenpois0n software tried a few things, but ultimately stalled. This was fine, because the phone was now fixed, and upon reboot was showing the connect to iTunes graphic.

I’m now attempting to re-install iOS 5 beta 7 via restore in iTunes. We’ll see if it has better results than the OTA update I tried this morning…

UPDATE: The restore worked! I’m now running beta 7 with the latest iTunes. Trying the OTA update was not a good idea — this was touched on in the release notes, and now I know why.

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Apple iPad 2.0: The Wish List

Jan 28 2010 Published by under Apple

Admit it – the first incarnation of the iPad is about as conservative as Apple could have made it. So here’s what I’m asking Apple to put into their inevitable iPad 2.0:

- Forward facing camera for video chat, motion gestures, and facial recognition.
- Adobe Flash support.
- Analog thumbstick for serious gaming.
- Multitasking and notification support.
- Built in USB port
- Built in SD card slot
- Support for Apple Wireless Keyboard and Magic Mouse.
- Native iMovie app.
- Slimmer bezel.
- Cheaper entry price.

I could probably list about another ten items, but let’s face it, Apple won’t radically change anything with their next iPad model. This, of course, is to ensure that apps will work across all iPad models, past and present. Similarly, the iPad’s hardware must also respect the iPhone’s development to ensure a high amount of cross compatibility between the two devices. This keeps developers happy and Apple’s pockets lined with gold. But damn, I really wish sometimes that Apple would be a little more adventurous!

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Apple Wireless Keyboard Review

Jan 27 2010 Published by under Apple, Products, Reviews

My Experience With the Apple Wireless Keyboard

A few months ago, I bought the Apple Wireless Keyboard to compliment my Macbook Pro and external display. Sitting so close to my computer’s display — as anyone does when using laptop —  had given me a bad posture and probably worse eyesight. What I wanted to do was place my notebook further back, and at head level, requiring me to sit up and fix my gaze further away from where I was sitting. Plus, I could finally use my much larger external display as my primary display and face it directly.

With these ergonomics and health issues in mine, I bought the Apple Wireless Keyboard and Apple Magic Mouse. Now, I sit much further back from my displays and I’m no longer bent over staring downwards.
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