Is iPhone firmware 2.1 Playing Tricks with Battery and Wifi Indicators?
September 15th, 2008 by iPhoneTechZone
As you all know by now The iPhone 2.1 firmware update is out! Two of the most talked about enhancements are the enhanced battery life and the enhanced signal boost. However some have cast doubts on the effectiveness and the credibility of Apple’s latest claims. Did Apple really put an effort to improve these problems? Or did Apple just cosmetically tweak the indicators, making battery and signal seem longer and stronger than they really are?
Battery Indicator
Many have claimed that the battery indicator goes from near 100% to under 10% in just minutes. I have experience the same phenomenon as well. It was a thrill to see the battery stays at near 100% after 2 hours of continuous heavy mobile Safari use. However at about 6 hours after a full charge, the battery indicator suddenly showed that battery level is less than 10%! This has been reported by many other people. Some have suggested to completely let the battery drain off and then give it a full charge to solve this problem. This phenomenon may have also give people a false idea that the iPhone really does improve battery life by quite a bit as suggested by polls. However there are many people who reported the 2.1 iphone software update actually made their battery drain faster. Of course there are many people who also stated the firmware boosted battery.
Wireless Signal Indicator
Apple has stated in their release that the new firmware update “improved accuracy of the 3G signal strength display.” The question is, did Apple add any enhancements to get better reception or did they simply enhance the signal bar cosmetically? Many people have reported that their signal bar went up 2-3 bars after the update. If solving the reception problem is as simple as adding more bars, changing the 3G, EDGE icons to blue, shouldn’t all carriers learn from this?
Controlled Testing Needed
With so many claims of Apple not really fixing the battery life and wireless signal in the 2.1 firmware update. We really need a good controlled experiment to test battery life and wireless signal reception. Give us 10 NEW iPhone 3G’s (Or iPhone 3G with new battery). Have people surf websites heavy content until the battery is completely drained so we can test for true battery life (also measure Safari’s crash rate).
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PwnageTool and QuickPwn noqUpdated and workinf for iPhone firmware 2.1
September 14th, 2008 by iPhoneTechZone
Oh, so soon? After hearing about Apple incorporating preventive measures into iTunes 8, I was a bit worried that the iPhone Dev-Team would take some time before they came up with a smooth and safe PwnageTool for my iPhone. But they did it, and in record time. Just a day after the iPhone 2.1 software was released (5 days after iPod touch 2.1 was released), the iPhone Dev-Team got their show on the road with PwnageTool 2.1, and QuickPwn 1.1.
The ‘pwn’ goes around iTunes 8’s protection, without hacking or patching a single core file of iTunes or Mac OS X. The tool will unlock and jailbreak first generation iPhones. iPhone 3G will only be jailbroken, as will the first generation iPod Touch. This tool is not tested on the iPod Touch 2G, as the developers claim they don’t have any to test it on! Too bad they don’t accept any donations.
If you are confused about the differences between PwnageTool and QuickPwn, let me put it in simple words. QuickPwn lets you pwn your iPhone after you have officially updated with iTunes. On the other hand, PwnageTool will create a custom firmware which you then use to update your iPhone. Both tools will achieve the same end result, but with PwnageTool you have more control as to what packages you want to install, whether you want a custom boot logo or not, etc. QuickPwn, on the other hand, is much quicker. Both tools are very easy to use.
This time round the team has decided to go the BitTorrent route to reduce the server loads, especially during the initial stages. If you are wary of BitTorrent technology, they also have direct download mirrors listed by third party hosts. The whole thing feels like it’s a community event! If you are having trouble with downloading the 2.1 update via iTunes, iClarified lists official download links so you can get it using your preferred download manager.
The tool is currently only available for Mac OS X, but a Windows version should be out soon.
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