Revised iPhone 4 Antenna Band Images Could Cure Reception Woes

Thu, Jan 6, 2011 | by Andy Boxall on iPhoneFreak

After a hastily removed video showing a similar design, we now have some static images of what’s being called the iPhone 5’s antenna band and chassis.  The picture shows the current antenna band alongside a revised model with added segment breaks, presumably ending the ‘death grip’ syndrome.

Of course, it’s impossible to judge the authenticity of these parts, although it was Apple who requested YouTube take down the original video, and these new images come from another website, so that’s two different sources showing the same thing.  We don’t think it’s a ‘fake’ photo, as why would someone do that, but it could be parts from a knock-off device.

Anyway, assuming it’s real, what’s it going to be seen on?  There are three logical options here.  The first is an iPhone 4a model, or the white iPhone 4, released prior to a new model, which purely solves the antenna issues with this new band.  Secondly, there is the ever-looming specter of the Verizon iPhone, and finally, it’ll be found on the next iPhone model.

If it does turn out to be the chassis for the next iPhone – which seems the most likely of the choices – then it appears Apple will do the same as they did with the iPhone 3G; i.e. release an internally upgraded phone while leaving the exterior (almost) identical to the previous one – an iPhone 4S, if you will.

Apple TV 2G first impressions…

First Impressions

After recently purchasing a new 32″ HD LCD TV for the bedroom I decided it was time for a network media player to play all those movies and videos I download instead of always watching them on my Macbook Pro. Luckily my boss recently got an Apple TV 2g (2nd Generation) and lent it to me for a short period to give it a go.

First impressions is it’s very tiny, compact but limited by the external connections it must supply (AC power in, SPDIF, RJ45 Ethernet, Mini USB and HDMI) otherwise I’m sure it would be the size of a deck of cards!

Plugging it in was easy and setting it up and connecting it to my wireless network was even easier as per typical Apple products and I had it running in less than 3 minutes (Gotta love that!)

I found though that browsing the menus and working the little Apple Remote that comes with it was easy and didn’t take long for me to get the hang of it.

As far as what you can do with this little beastie I’ll break it down into network content and downloadable content. The fact that the ATV2 can both stream content from any iTunes enabled computer on your LAN as well as download content from the internet makes this most appealing.

Network Content

As I already have a fully populated iTunes on my Mac I was able to let the ATV2 find my library and then was able to browse my music and videos easily and play them back to the ATV2. So essentially what I plan to do is convert all my video library into a format that can be played on Apple devices and then add them into my iTunes library so I can watch them on my ATV2 or indeed sync them to my iPhone or iPad as well. ATV2 doesn’t discriminate against Windows iTunes users either so I’ll put iTunes on my Win7 media center PC and add all my content into that library for a permanent storage area (My NAS box connects to the media PC for online storage).

Speaking of NAS boxes the one true failing of the Apple TV 2G is the fact you cannot stream directly from your NAS device to an ATV2 it has to be via an iTunes enabled computer or server. But with a lot of the new NAS devices having iTunes servers and clients built in this should get around this limitation.

This solution should be able to handle all my home media needs and allow me full access to my library from almost any device in the house.

Downloadable Content

Whilst I haven’t taken a good look at the downloadable content I can see how this will be appealing as well. If you don’t mind paying to rent a movie online or download music then this should suit your needs and will tie into your existing Apple Store ID/Account and charge any downloads to your current Apple ID account.

There are plenty of movies and titles to download, you can preview the latest releases at the box office as well all at a cost of course with many movies costing around $5.99 or thereabouts its comparable to going to the rental store and renting a new release DVD anyway without having to leave the house!

The ATV2 also has various clients for YouTube and the like allowing you to browse and search these popular sites and watch their content on your big TV instead of your computer monitor.

Airplay

Well what can I say about Airplay? I just love this feature!

Essentially Airplay allows you to stream videos etc from your other iOS devices to you ATV2. So if you were watching a music video on your iPhone you could select the ATV2 to play to and have the content streamed from your device back to the ATV2 where it’s shown full screen on your TV all over your wireless network.

Overall

Overall I’m very impressed with this little box and will probably get a 2nd one for the other HD TV in our house in the near future.

There is also a large community out there devoted to getting the most out of your ATV2 including adding features and plugins or completely jailbreaking the device just like an iPhone or iPad which essentially is what this box is just cut down without all the extra hardware but still has the same processor and base iOS operating system that’s used in both the iPhone and iPad.

Whilst the ATV2 is restricted in what it can do compared to other network media players out there, Apple has made this one simple, easy to use and still feature packed and it can only get better with the 3rd Gen version whenever it arrives!

Now this is how FaceTime/Skype should be used…

I saw this and had a bit of a laugh. This could catch on and appeal to the bogans in all of us!

iPhone Clock Bug Prevents Alarm Triggers after New Year’s [Update]

posted by arn on Friday December 31, 2010 10:49 PM on MacRumours

Macworld summarizes findings first reported by Engadget. Apparently a bug in the iPhone clock app prevents non-recurring alarms from properly triggering on New Years day.

I was able to confirm this after a couple of false starts. For the bug to show itself, your iOS device must actually tick over from 11:59 p.m. on December 31, 2010 to 12:00 a.m. on January 1, 2011.

The work around for now is to set up the alarm as a recurring event. 9to5Mac claims that the problem corrects itself after January 3rd. In the meanwhile, be aware if you use your iPhone as your alarm clock.

Update: Apple has officially acknowledged the problem:

Apple spokesperson Natalie Harrison confirmed to Macworld that Apple is aware of the problem. “We’re aware of an issue related to non repeating alarms set for January 1 or 2,” Harrison said. “Customers can set recurring alarms for those dates and all alarms will work properly beginning January 3.”

European Commission Moves Forward on Micro-USB Smartphone Charging Standard

posted by Eric Slivka on Thursday December 30, 2010 12:03 PM on MacRumours

Over the past year and a half, we’ve been following the efforts of the European Commission to make micro-USB a universal charging standard for smartphones as of January 2011. Follwing the European Commission’s adoption of the standard in August of this year, two European standards bodies have now weighed in with their approval on the technical specifications for the standard to be used.

Following a mandate from the European Commission, the European Standardisation Bodies CEN-CENELEC and ETSI have now made available the harmonised standards needed for the manufacture of data-enabled mobile phones compatible with a new common charger. This is the most recent development in the process towards a global common mobile phone charger initiated by the European Commission. It follows the June 2009 agreement of fourteen leading mobile phone producers to harmonise chargers for data-enabled mobile phones (i.e. that can be connected to a computer) sold in the European Union.

The fourteen mobile phone manufacturers participating in the agreement include Apple, as well as Nokia, Research in Motion, Samsung, and a number of other prominent smartphone manufacturers. According to yesterday’s press release, the first smartphones and standalone chargers supporting the standard are expected to debut in Europe early next year.

There has been considerable speculation about whether Apple will be able to meet the requirements of the micro-USB standard, as the company currently uses a proprietary 30-pin dock connector for charging and interfacing with computers over USB. But based on the original Memorandum of Understanding (PDF) signed in June 2009, it appears that Apple can comply with the regulations by including with the iPhone a small adapter to interface either directly between the dock connector and micro-USB or between the USB connector on the end of the existing charging cable and micro-USB.

In order that compatibility of as many Mobile Phones as possible with a Common EPS [external power supply] may be enabled, if a manufacturer makes available an Adaptor from the Micro-USB connector of a Common EPS to a specific non-Micro-USB socket in the Mobile Phone, it shall constitute compliance to this article.

Consequently, Apple will not be required to abandon the 30-pin dock connector currently in use on the iPhone or include a separate micro-USB interface directly on the device for charging purposes.

It is unknown whether any changes Apple makes to comply with the new European regulations will also be made in other markets around the world.

Skype Video Calling for iOS over Wi-Fi and 3G Now Available

posted by arn on Thursday December 30, 2010 12:36 AM on MacRumours

Skype unleashed version 3.0 of the Skype App for iOS this evening. The new version brings the long awaited video conferencing for iPhone and iPod Touch.

– Make Skype to Skype video calls on WiFi and 3G*
– Call Skype desktop users (Mac OS X or Windows) and other iPhone users.
– Two-way video calls supported on iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPod touch 4th gen.
– Receive only video supported on iPad and iPod touch 3rd gen, with no camera.
– Make video calls in portrait and landscape.
– Skype video calling requires iOS 4.0 or above.

The new video conferencing feature works between capable iOS devices as well as desktop machines. Skype is a free download on the App Store. [App Store]

iPhone 4 Antenna Issues and Ping Rank Among Top ‘Tech Fails’ for 2010

posted by Eric Slivka on Tuesday December 28, 2010 04:12 PM on MacRumours

CNN has put together its list of the ten biggest tech “fails” of 2010, highlighting the technology and Internet products and features that failed most spectacularly during the year.

In what may be a bit of a surprise considering how little we’ve heard about it over the last several months, CNN ranked the iPhone 4’s antenna issues, known informally as “Antennagate”, as the top tech fail of the year. In fact, even CNN acknowledges that “fail” is “a pretty relative term” considering how successful the iPhone 4 was and continues to be.

First Apple said the problem didn’t exist. Then they said it was a software issue. Then they kind-of admitted it existed and gave away free cases to help. Then, they said it doesn’t really exist anymore and stopped giving away the bumpers.

Months later, the problem is all but forgotten and the phones show no sign of dipping in popularity. So “fail,” in this case, is a pretty relative term.

Coming in at the other end of the list at #10 is Ping, Apple’s new music-focused social network that rolled out as part of iTunes 10 in early September.

There’s a whole social network set up in Apple’s iTunes store now.

Didn’t know that? Well, there you go.

The report notes that Ping suffers from a shortage of musical artists participating in the network, and the lack of integration with Facebook is seen as a major shortcoming that leads Ping to be merely yet another social network instead of a key component of users’ iTunes experience.

Other top tech fails for 2010 include 3D television, Microsoft’s Kin handsets, and Google, which matched Apple’s presence on the list with two products of its own: its Nexus One smartphone and its Buzz real-time social networking and communication platform.

My Blackberry Is Not Working! – The One Ronnie

This made my day when I saw it 🙂

Apple and App Developers Sued Over Sharing User Information With Advertisers

posted by Eric Slivka on Tuesday December 28, 2010 11:54 AM on MacRumours

Bloomberg reports that Apple and a number of App Store developers have been sued over the sharing of personal information with advertisers working through apps installed on the iPhone and iPad.

The complaint, which seeks class action, or group, status, was filed on Dec. 23 in federal court in San Jose, California. The suit claims Cupertino, California-based Apple’s iPhones and iPads are encoded with identifying devices that allow advertising networks to track what applications users download, how frequently they’re used and for how long.

“Some apps are also selling additional information to ad networks, including users’ location, age, gender, income, ethnicity, sexual orientation and political views,” according to the suit.

Along with Apple, developers behind such apps as Pandora Radio, Paper Toss, The Weather Channel, and Dictionary.com have also been targeted with the suit.

In particular, the companies are accused of sharing Unique Device Identifiers (UDIDs) for users’ devices. As suggested by their name, these UDIDs are unique to each device, can not be changed, and transmission of them back to Apple or developers can not be blocked by users.

For its part, Apple notes that it screens all App Store applications to make sure that personal information is not transmitted from users’ devices without their express permission, although such information may be able to be passed along to ad networks.

It is unclear whether the lawsuit is targeting a legitimate privacy issue or if it’s simply objecting to the typical non-identifiable demographic information used by advertisers in targeting their content. While the UDID does not specifically identify any given user, tying any anonymized personal data to that fixed identifier is viewed as a risk by some privacy advocates.

An investigation by The Wall Street Journal published earlier this month hyped the ability of iPhone and Android applications to transmit such personal data, and it is possible that the new lawsuit was inspired by that report.

‘Quick Snap’ Maps iPhone Volume Buttons to Camera Shutter (For Now)

posted by Eric Slivka on Monday December 27, 2010 05:13 PM on iSource

Just last week, we noted that popular camera app Camera+ had reappeared in the App Store after a four-month hiatus. The temporary disappearance of Camera+ came after an update to the application earlier this year had been rejected after the developers added a feature that remapped the iPhone’s hardware volume buttons to activate the camera shutter, a violation of Apple’s terms due to the potential for confusing users. After the company squeezed through another update that left the volume button feature hidden as an easter egg, the app was quickly pulled by Apple.

But just as Apple appears to have let Camera+ out of the penalty box and back into the store (without the volume button feature present), another new app has been approved that not only offers this same functionality, but features it prominently in the app’s description and screenshots. Quick Snap – Camera Plus ($1.99), released on December 15th, was noted by Wired for its curious offering of the banned feature.

Turn iPhone Volume Button into a Shutter Button? “Quick Snap” is the app for THAT!

Why choose the soft or full screen shutter when you can use VOLUME BUTTON as the hard shutter button on your iPhone? You are now one step close to the real digital camera experience! Isn’t that awesome?

The approval of Quick Snap appears to have been an error by an Apple reviewer, as such changes to hardware features of the iPhone remain forbidden under Apple’s policies. Consequently, Apple will likely move to take down the application as soon as possible now that that news has been made public, although the ongoing holiday shutdown may slow the company’s response time.