I recently upgraded to the Iphone 3GS and jailbroke it with Blackra1n about 20 minutes after I took it out the box. I had some issues with the phone dropping calls when I was in an area with good coverage. Less than 3 weeks after I got the 3gs, I had it freeze up with a full battery. I did a hard reset and it came up with the dead battery screen. When I got home I charged it up a little and it seemed fine at first but did the same thing a few hours later.
After that I could not get the Iphone to start at all. It would get stuck on the apple and have a little wheel that spins and then froze. Getting nervous about the health of my phone I connected to Itunes and tried to do a restore. I got “Unknown error 1611″ again and again. I searched around on google and found some other people who have had this issue and how they fixed it. I tried them all to no avail.
- Restart your computer
- Try a different usb port
- re-install itunes
- try a different pc or mac
- try to restore in DFU mode
From what I saw online and my own experience it seemed like an issues with the battery connection. People have had this problem across all three models of iPhone and found many ways to fix it but none worked for me. The only thing I did not try was a tutorial that would require me to open my iPhone and solder which would further void my warrenty.
I did not want to take the phone back to Apple without restoring because if they found out it was jailbroken my warranty would be voided and I would be completely screwed. After a few days of playing with it I didn’t have many other options so I was going to return the Jailbroken Iphone and hope becuase I could not fix it they wouldn’t be able to figure out it was jailbroken. I walked in nervous but not showing it one bit and told them exactly what happen trying to sound like I was stuipid when it comes to technology so they would not even have the slightest suspicions. They tried to do one restore on my phone and when it failed they switched my phone out no questions asked. So anyone who has jailbroken your iPhone, can’t restore it, and scared to switch it out, don’t worry. They don’t automaticly suspect you of jailbreaking when your iPhone dies and getting a replacement isn’t that difficult.
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I already loved dropbox for desktop before I ever knew there was an app for iPhone. Dropbox syncs files between multiple computer and now your iPhone thank to this app. Its nice because you can upload pictures of your family camping trip from your iphone, and they will be waiting on your desktop, laptop, and work computer when you get home just waiting to bore your friends and family. The same works in reverse. If you have some pictures on your computer hard drive and you put them in your dropbox folder you will have those embarrassing pictures of your friend at that Christmas party with you as long as you have your iPhone.
Anouther great features is you can stream music and movies in you dropbox folders straight to you Iphone without having to use any of your preciious space. A free account only gives you 2gb but for $10 a month you can carry around a decent dvd collection in your pocket.
Dropbox is elegant and simple which is much of which makes it so attractive. However sometimes the extra features that aren’t included make you wish you could just add that one more thing. For me that would be the ability to create a new directory from that app. Right now you have to use the computer to do that. Now its your turn, what feature would you add to dropbox?
I have had the Belkin Tunecast FM Transmitter for a few weeks now and have been moderately happy with it. I live in the Atlanta area and just like many other reviews say online, the more urban of an area you live in the less you with like the sound quality you will get. That goes for any FM transmitter though.
The first issue I have is that when I plug it up to my iPhone 3Gs I immediately get an error message saying that this accessory does not support my phone and asks if I would like to use it in airplane mode. In actuality it work fine with my phone and I always decline when it asks to put me in airplane mode. It doesn’t affect anything, its just annoying.
The Clearscan is supposed to scan the airways and find an open channel for you. For me its been hit and miss, sometimes I get relatively open channels and other times I get popular major radio stations. Your best bet is to find the 2 clearest frequencies and use to two memory buttons to save them instead of scanning the airways and fumble with your radio trying to change the channel going down the road. Preset your frequencies to your radio as well and you can easily switch when one starts to pick up static (which it inevitably will at some point).
Velcroed Belkin TuneCast
I have found that the closer you keep the scanner to your stereo head in your car the better sound quality you will get. Going down the road hitting bumps, slamming breaks, and taking sharp turns its hard to keep it close to the stereo or the chord connected to ipod. To fix this I went to my local Walmart and picked up some double sided Velcro, and secured my transmitter directly below my stereo head. Its made a world of difference, before I bought the Velcro I had practically stopped using it.
The Belkin Tunecast is not the perfect solution for listening to your ipod or iPhone in your car and if you have a tape deck or auxiliary jack I would recommend going that route. At almost $80 I would not say it is worth the high price, but if you can stand driving around without your tunes I’d tell you to go check ebay because they can go for as little as $10 on there.
For all those who have dusty wiis and a little free time, someone has developed a way to use the iphone in conjuction with a wii mote. It sinks wirelessly through bluetooth which means this hack should also be compatible with the second gen ipod touches. Once the devices are sinked the picture of the wiimote on the screen will move in sync with your wiimote. Not to usefull but there may be more to come.
When google released the latest version of their mobile phone app, “ninja” was included in the changelog. If this sort of joke had been included in a Update of something owned my Microsoft or Apple, someone would be losing their job but Google loves a bit of lighthearted humor. There are some reports that there may actually be a Easter Egg hidden somewhere in the app involving a ninja but nothing has been confirmed.
After being able my PSP to play back-ups and all sorts of homebrew the DS began to lose some of its lust as the PSP seemed to have a lot more going for it. There was so much homebrew and being able to get a few games for free isn’t bad either. The new Dsi recently came out and it has a ton of new features that really make It a better competitior because handhelds are no longer just for games but they are now entire portable entertainment systems. Playing catch up with PSP internet that doesn’t suck was added as well as a shop channel, and a camera.
The one thing that it was still missing for me was homebrew and back-up support but I did some digging around and found a solution in something called the R4. There were homebrew R4 Games and other programs that added all sorts of new functionality to my Dsi. The Nintindo R4 let me play all the back-ups of my games that I wanted as they come with mulitiple storage capacitys so you can pick the one that best suites you. R4 Firmware updates always add something new and support the newest games so I never have to wait so that I don’t have to pay. I suggest any Dsi owner out there go pick one up today
As the release dates of the iPhone 3G S and the Zune HD approaches, a lot of us are wondering how both these gadgets would fare against each other. Even though they haven’t been commercially released yet we are going to pit both them and see who would come out on top. The companies behind them, Apple for the iPhone and Microsoft for Zune, have products which directly compete with each other from software to hardware. Mac versus PC? Not here, because right now we will have our iPhone 3G S versus Zune HD competition.
Round 1: External Casing
- The external casing of any hardware would define how it would deal with everyday usage. The stronger the casing, the more it could withstand everyday use without breaking down. The iPhone 3G S has the same external casing as previous iPhone models, aluminum. The Zune HD also has an aluminum exterior. This makes both gadgets durable enough to withstand a couple of accidental falls.
Verdict: Even
Round 2: Display
- Any gadget with a good display would definitely attract a lot of followers. The characteristics of a good display is that it should be able to display a wide range of colors sharply. The iPhone 3G S touch screen display is made of a 3.5 inch TFT active matrix capable of displaying a maximum resolution of 480 x 320. Zune HD on the other hand has a 3.6 inch touchscreen OLED display capable of displaying a resolution of 480 x 272. Here we see both devices using different displays. OLED displays have a rich color output. They also consume less power compared to any other display systems out there. They however have a shorter lifespan, averaging of 14,000 hours or roughly 5 years at 8 hours per day of usage. TFT displays on the other hand are being used by a lot of gadgets, although not as richer in color compared to the OLED they last longer.
Verdict: Zune HD due to its 0.1 inch advantage and its richer color. The 5 year lifespan of the display would not be a factor here since in 5 years time you would have already replaced your Zune HD.
Round 3: Storage
- The more songs and videos a gadget would hold, the more it would appeal to consumers. Remember the days when portable music players had a storage space of 32 MB? That’s like 6 to 7 songs just good enough for the trip from your house to the office. The iPhone 3G S comes in two models, the 16 GB model and the 32 GB model. The Zune HD comes in 4GB, 8GB, 16 GB and 32GB versions.
Verdict: Even. Although the Zune HD comes in models ranging from 4 GB to 32 GB, The maximum storage of the iPhone 3G S and Zune HD are the same.
Round 4: Connectivity Options
- Lets start with the Zune HD, it has WiFi to let you access the Internet. Its main feature is its HD Radio receiver. You can now tune in to your favorite HD radio stations using the Zune. Now, lets see what the iPhone 3G S has for us. It supports the UMTS/ HSDPA triband and the GSM/EDGE quadband. Its got WiFi and bluetooth as well.
Verdict: iPhone 3G S
Round 5: Battery Life
- The longer a device lasts on a single charge, the happy the end user is. Its no wonder manufacturers are creating gadgets now that lasts longer on a single charge. According to Apple the iPhone 3G S would have an excellent battery life. Here’s what you will be getting on a single charge: 12 hours of talk time on a 2G network, 5 hours talk time on a 3G network, 9 hours of Internet over WiFi, 30 hours of audio playback and 10 hours of video playback. We still don’t have the exact numbers for the Zune HD but judging from the previous model, the battery life would range at 12 hours of audio playback and 3.5 hours of video playback.
Verdict: iPhone 3G S
Round 6: Applications
- Although the Zune HD has great applications, the iPhone 3G S has the support of its App store. You could customize the applications in your phone by downloading among the various choices available.
Verdict: iPhone 3G S
After six rounds of intense comparison it seems that the iPhone 3G S has the advantage over the Zune HD with a score of 3 to 1 with 2 draws. These are just the preliminary comparisons, when these products hit the shelves soon then we can really do a thorough comparison. As of now, it seems that the iPhone 3G S wins the competition by a landslide.
Have you ever experienced losing a phone? It would be such an inconvenience on your part if all your important contacts haven’t been backed up. Furthermore, if your phone is one of those high priced models like the iPhone then we would feel frustrated knowing that the chances of getting your phone back is slim. For this reason, Apple has developed a new feature called the Find My iPhone Service. People who have iPhones would be able to track their lost or stolen phones if this service is enabled.
To avail of this important feature you have to sign up at Mobileme. The first 60 days are free after which you can continue the subscription at $99 a year. Your iPhone 3G or iPhone 3G S must also be running on the new iPhone Software 3.0. If your iPhone does not have this updated software then you have to get it updated first before you can use the find My iPhone Service.
Here’s how the service works. If your iPhone is lost and you cannot find it after searching for it, all you have to do is log in to your Mobileme account online. You need a computer or another smartphone with Internet access to do this. You would then see a map on the screen with the approximate location of your lost iPhone if it can capture a GPS signal. For this to work though, your iPhone must be turned on. If your iPhone is near, you could send a signal to it forcing it to emit a sound even if it’s in silent mode. You could also send a message on your iPhone screen stating your contact number so that the finder can contact you. To further protect your important data, a signal can also be sent to wipe them out from your iPhone. Your iPhone has been turned off? Not a problem, as soon as it turns on the data would be erased. This data can be fully restored once the iPhone is in your hands using iTunes.
This kind of service would greatly benefit a lot of iPhone users out there. Not only do we have the technology to locate our lost iPhones, we can also be assured that our data is safe since we can remotely delete it from the phones memory. As soon as people will have the iPhone Software 3.0 on their iPhones , we would definitely be seeing lots of subscribers using this new service.
Do you have an iPhone 3G and feel that you want to upgrade it to the latest iPhone 3G S? Most of us would certainly want to upgrade to the latest iPhone model since it has features that outclasses the previous models. Here are most of the notable features:
- A 3 mega pixel camera that can record videos of VGA resolution of 30 frames per second
- Faster Internet speeds of up to 7.2 mbps using HSPA
- Twice as fast as previous models in opening applications
- Longer battery life
- Choice of 16 GB and 32 GB
With these new features who wouldn’t want to upgrade? Before we do, let us first examine the choices that we have. AT&T is the exclusive carrier that carries iPhones here in America. New customers can easily get the iPhone 3G S at $199 for the 16 GB model and $299 for the 32 GB model, this would come with a 2 year contract. An existing iPhone 3G user under AT&T can easily avail of the upgrade with certain conditions. If you had your iPhone 3G for less than 18 months then you would be charged an addition of $200 for each model. This would make the 16 GB model $399 and the 32 GB model $499. Plan holders who have had their iPhone 3G for more than 18 months can avail of the upgrade to with the same pricing scheme as new customers. If you don’t want to be tied down with another 2 year contract then you would have to pay $599 for the 16 GB model and $699 for the 32 GB model.
Just to be sure, login to your AT&T account and see the specific details for the upgrade. A lot of people have checked on this and are a bit disappointed at the price they have to pay. Users who have experienced upgrading from the iPhone 2G to iPhone 3G found it cheaper to do so than upgrading from iPhone 3G to iPhone 3G S.
It’s not just AT&T customers who have this problem. Almost all wireless carriers all over the world have high rates if you want to upgrade. In Canada for example, a FIDO user said that he is not eligible for an upgrade until his current 3 year plan expires. This means that he will not be able to avail of the iPhone 3G S until 2011.
Hopefully upgrading to the new iPhone 3G S would be cheaper in the coming months. With a lot of people interested in this model, making it affordable and easier to upgrade would be a win win situation for all of us.
The battle for smartphone supremacy has just heated up with latest iPhone model coming out from Apple, the new iPhone 3G S (the “S” signifying speed). This is the third generation of iPhone with advanced features that would outclass the previous models. With the competition for dominance in the smartphone market heating up, Apple is making sure that it would stay at the top with this release.
Lets take a look at some of the features of the iPhone 3G S and see why a lot of people would want to get their hands on this.
Inside the box you would get your iPhone 3G S unit, The earphone needed to listen to your music is also included in the package and comes with remote and mic which is used for easy navigation of your songs and in hands free calls. Your USB power adapter and a dock connector is included to connect your phone to a computer. You would also find the documentation and the SIM eject tool in the box, basically you get the same contents from previous models except for the actual smartphone unit. Right now you have a choice between two colors, there is a white model and a black model both of which share the same specifications.
There are two versions available for this model. One is the 16 GB version and the other is the 32 GB version. If you are the person who needs a lot of storage space to store photos and videos then go for the 32 GB version.
The iPhone 3G S has the advantage of speed over previous iPhones, twice as fast actually as Apple claims. This means that opening applications, reading your emails and opening web pages would be much quicker compared to the previous models. The improved performance is due to the new software being used which is the iPhone OS 3.0. With this improvement you would be sure that this smartphone would greatly enhance your productivity.
People who use their smartphones constantly have experienced their batteries draining on them most of the time. This is because as you use more and more applications on your smartphone, the more power it would need from your battery. The iPhone 3G S is designed to be used constantly without you having to worry about charging it constantly. Initial tests show that this model can provide you with up to 9 hours of browsing the Internet using WiFi, 10 hours of watching videos, 30 hours of listening to music, 10 hours of talk time on a 2G network and 5 hours of talk time if you use 3G. Impressive battery life so far if we compare it to previous models.
Photo enthusiasts would definitely like the 3 mega pixel camera with auto focus feature on this model. Aside from pictures, you can also capture videos at 30 frames per second, resulting in a high quality output. A simple editing tool is available as well to let you trim your videos and send them easily to your friends.
To make dialing your contacts easier the new Voice Control feature can assist you with this. Just say the name or phone number of your contact and the iPhone will dial them. You can also use the new Voice Control feature to assist you in playing the music in your library. If you’re wondering what song is currently playing you can ask your iPhone and you will get the title of the song.
One nice feature available is the digital compass. If you combine this with Google maps then you would have a great tool in finding specific directions.
If you are looking for a smartphone with lots of excellent features then you will never go wrong if you purchase this latest model.
