iPhone
iPhone Exchange Accounts broken with iOS 4
Jul 8th
I do a lot of consulting when I’m not writing online… sometimes my consulting takes over my time and keeps me from writing a lot: see the last month on CTA. iOS 4 has been the bane of my existence for the last week with all of my clients who are using exchange accounts for contacts, calendars and email.
No one really knows what happened, but everyone knows that iOS 4 is terrible for exchange clients. Devices running iOS 4 can bog down the exchange server, completely stop syncing, sync sporadically… the list goes on. The “Apple-recommended” fix for this is listed in a Support Article. The article contains a link to an updated configuration profile for iOS 4 devices. Apple doesn’t explain exactly what the new configuration profile does but the rumor is that it just extends the amount of time it can ping the exchange server. Does that sound like a fix? No, not really.
None of my clients have seen reliable exchange syncing with iOS 4 and the updated configuration profile didn’t really fix anything… maybe it’s a little more stable… but it’s definitely not fixed. It looks like we’ll be waiting for an OS update before we actually see a real solution here. For anyone who’s using ActiveSync on the iPhone: stop yelling at your IT guy or gal, it’s not his or her fault.
iPhone 4: a worthy upgrade
Jun 24th
For those of us who have been a little busy lately (sorry about the lack of updates), we probably don’t know as much about the iPhone 4 as we’d like. Here’s a little list of stuff that’s new.
The new Retina Display has a super-high resolution and pixel density that won’t be that obvious at first, but if you take out your original iPhone, iPhone 3G or even the 3GS, you’ll notice a difference right away… if you have good eyesight.
The camera now takes even better pictures and shoots 720p video. It also has a flash. Every picture we’ve taken seems to be much, much… much nicer than the iPhone 3G or the 3GS.
The processor is quicker and it has 512MB of RAM (double the 3G and 3GS).
Overall, the iPhone 4 will prove to be zippier and nicer in many aspects, but there are still a few features that we’re a little surprised about.
The whole phone is made of glass. Glass that will break. It’s supposed to be harder than sapphire crystal, but it’s definitely still breakable. You’ll want to pick up one of Apple’s Bumper cases or a full-fledged case for it. Repairing them won’t be cheap.
The reception has been somewhat of an issue, but it’s not replicable on every device. Basically, depending on how you hold the iPhone 4, you might be able to decrease your cell reception or even get to a no service situation… not good. I’ve not been able to replicate it on any of the demo phones at the Apple store, but there’s definitely enough phones having this problem to mention it.
There may be yellow spots on your iPhone screen, but we don’t see that as a reason to worry just yet. Supposedly, there’s an adhesive on the screen assembly that might not be fully evaporated before you take the phone out of the box. Just use the iPhone for a couple days and the spots will probably go away.
That’s nothing that will keep me or anyone else here at CTA from buying the device… but as a heads up, it may not be smooth… but it’ll definitely be worth it.
WWDC Apple event next week
Jun 1st
If you’ve been living under a rock, you probably don’t know that on June 7th, Apple will be launching it’s World Wide Developer Conference with a keynote from CEO Steve Jobs. The 4th generation iPhone is widely expected to make its debut on Monday. While no one is sure what we’ll be seeing on Monday, we’ve heard rumors of Apple TV updates to rival Google’s introduction of Google TV… and possibly some other hardware updates.
Either way, we’re hoping to see the iPhone take a turn towards complete shock and awe. We won’t be covering the liveblog this time through… sorry! Might we recommend MacRumors, TUAW, Gizmodo, Ars Technica or Engadget. Recently, Ars Technica’s liveblog has been outstanding. We’ll still be covering the news as we are available… so check back here for timely recaps of the morning’s events.
Game Center isn’t coming in iPhone OS 4.0
May 19th
We’re pretty sure that this hasn’t been addressed by the mass media just yet, so we thought we’d fill you in. OpenFeint and Plus+ have some hope for prolonged existence: Apple’s latest release notes explain that Game Center is not coming to iPhone OS 4 when it’s released. The software is merely there for developers to try it, test it and critique it. It specifically says in the release notes to play with it, but don’t submit any apps that support it on iPhone OS 4.0. There’s even a little blip about it in the publicly available support notes.
We’ll start the rumors here: It’s entirely possible that Apple will scratch the Game Center idea completely before they even release it. The initial idea was met with opposition, questions and anything but user support. Sure, some developers like the idea of social integration within their games, but that exists already with OpenFeint and Plus+… so it begs the question: why would Apple even care to step in as a player? We can’t think of a single good reason to put time and effort into Game Center… maybe some sort of combination with iAds? OpenFeint and Plus+ have been around for a while, they know what works and what doesn’t. Apple has no clue about social gaming. If anything, Apple should do what they do best: buy someone out. Better yet, get out of the social gaming industry. It’s definitely not their area of expertise.
Either way, we shouldn’t expect to see anything until “later this year.” We’re guessing a back-to-school release with new iPods.
If you haven’t heard by now, iPhone OS 4.0 Beta 4 came out late in the day on Tuesday. We still have spots available for our Beta test program. We’ll let you know about our experience with Beta 4 in the next couple days.
iPhone OS 4.0 Beta 3 now available
May 5th
For those of you who aren’t “in the know,” Apple has released its third beta of iPhone OS 4. If you’ve been messing with previous betas, you’ll realize that the builds have been anything but stable… until now. Beta 2 had some weird issues with Wi-Fi and the Camera Roll: those appear to be fixed and Beta 3 is relatively stable. We haven’t had any apps crash on us all day. Apple did run into a problematic issue with Xcode in the initial release of Beta 3 but that has since been resolved.
We’re really enjoying the new beta and have had great success with it thus far. Here are a few of the new features that other sites have mentioned: iPod playback controls now show up in the multitasking interface, you can close out of multiple apps at once from the multitasking interface, and the obvious fix of the Wi-Fi and Camera Roll issues.
We’ve run into a few quirks with some of our third-party applications but we’re sure that they’ll be fixed once we can actually get ahold of 4.0-compatible applications from the developers. We can’t wait to use some of our apps with the background APIs that Apple opened up in the beta. Other than that, there’s nothing blatantly obvious about the new beta. If you are a developer and have access to Game Center, feel free to add me as a friend… even though there aren’t any games to play it’s fun to pretend. My alias is “joshcarr.”
For those of you interested in signing up for our CTA Beta program, now seems like the perfect time. We can’t wait to introduce you to some of the new things we have brewing here at CTA. Click the Beta tab in the menu bar to sign up.
iPhad touch Video Wrap Up: May 5, 2010
May 5th
We’ll do our part to spread the video fun that people have had with the iPad as of late… but we’re going to do so all at once. Instead of filling our homepage with mindless posts about the way people are destroying, praising or criticizing their iDevices, we figured that we’d throw them into a feature that we’ll update from time to time.
If you’re not familiar with our term “iPhad touch” it’s the obvious combination of iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Fair warning: despite Steve Jobs’ best attempt to rid the internet of Flash, many independently hosted videos still use it. Some of these videos may not work on your iPhad touch.
In this edition of the iPhad touch Video Wrap Up we’ll see some morons microwaving their iPad, more morons using it as a skateboard, a genius who installed his iPad into a kitchen cabinet, an edited version of the iPhone 4.0 OS keynote and finally: Ellen’s semi-humorous (not really) iPhone commercial parody that had Apple asking her for an apology. Click the “Continue Reading” button below to see all of the videos.
Userland jailbreak “Spirit” coming soon to your iPhad touch
Apr 29th
Just for clarification: by “iPhad touch” we mean your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Spirit is an untethered jailbreak solution that will allow you to jailbreak (Not Unlock) your iPhad touch on the latest firmware without having to mess with software like Pwnage Tool, Blackra1n, Redsn0w or any of the other jailbreak solutions available. There is NOT a specific release date, but the developer has been waiting for the release of the iPad 3G… so we can expect it soon. In other words, within a few days.
Spirit works by exploiting an unreleased vulnerability in the default iPhone OS. It uses that vulnerability as an injection point for the jailbreak and, once completed, will allow you access to all of the typical jailbreak software. It will only be compatible with 3.1.2, 3.1.3 and the iPad’s 3.2. Once the vulnerability is exposed, we’re certain that Apple will do whatever it takes to close the hole because it has unlimited malicious potential. Anyone with a nefarious know-how will be able to use the vulnerability to run their favorite exploits on your iPhad touch.
We give and we take. We take whatever jailbreaks we can get but they often expose holes in the iPhone OS. We give these holes to Apple when the hackers release their jailbreak solutions. We actually expect that the Spirit jailbreak will be killed by an update within days of its release. So, be very careful that you don’t press the update button in iTunes if you decide to go this route.
Please remember that this is not unlocking software: it merely jailbreaks your device. We do not recommend anyone using an unlock to update and try out Spirit. It is merely a jailbreak and still requires activation via iTunes after the jailbreak has been performed. So, don’t mess with it unless you know what you’re doing. For more information on Spirit, please read the Dev-Team’s post and follow @comex on Twitter.
Here’s a video demo of the software that came out a few weeks back:
We’ll always keep you updated on the latest Jailbreak and Unlock news. So, follow us on Twitter or subscribe to our RSS feed by clicking the buttons in the sidebar to the right. It’s super easy. 
Is Steve Jobs the new Vito Corleone?
Apr 26th
We’ve avoided covering the supposed iPhone prototype leak for the pure reason that it’s not the type of news that we want to support with this website. The recent events in the prototype saga are no longer about a device but morality as a whole. Let’s recap incase you’ve some how missed the whole story unfold. Please, remember we’re not condoning either side’s actions… but this information is unsettling at best.
Back in March, an Apple iPhone engineer (whose name we’ll be gracious enough not to mention) left a prototype iPhone in a bar not too far from Apple’s Cupertino campus. As said engineer was leaving, someone asked if that was his iPhone. To this he responded, “No.”
The person who asked the question picked it up and proceeded to play with it and didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary with the iPhone… until later. After a while he realized that this wasn’t a regular iPhone. He tried to figure out the owner and claims failed attempts to contact Apple. Realistically, how many companies would actually respond positively to the statement, “Hey, I have your prototype… do you want it back?” In his mind, he did everything he could to return the iPhone to its rightful owner.
After a while of sitting on the device, he decided to shop it around to various news sources. No one would take it from him because, like Apple, they didn’t believe him. That was until Gizmodo came into the game. This isn’t the first time Gawker has been somewhat nefarious with their reporting. They offered a cash sum of $100,000 to anyone who would actually let them get their hands on the iPad before it was even announced. Because of that, their purchase of the iPhone prototype should not come as a surprise to anyone… the iPad bounty was enough to anger the news world but the iPhone prototype has pushed many news sources over the edge. TUAW has even referred to them as flippant, disrespectful, and adolescent. Not to mention the blatant transparency of the whole ordeal: Gizmodo has kept its readers a little too informed — probably in hopes that it won’t come back and bite them in the ass. That’s exactly what happened.
Friday night at 9:45pm local time, Jason Chen — Senior Editor of Gizmodo — came home to a scene out of a movie: local police were ransacking his house to find any and all evidence related to the recent acquisition of the iPhone prototype. Some of the items seized are as follows: two hard drives, several cell phones, multiple digital cameras, a couple flash drives, a plethora of computers and even Jason’s personal media server. All the while, he tried to explain that the search was illegal… the police didn’t care. The police did have a warrant but it is still unclear whether that warrant was actually valid. We’re not offering legal counsel by any means, but journalists are given certain liberties from the law and it appears as though the warrant and subsequent search of Jason’s property may be in violation of the California Penal Code. We won’t go into the details, but the law is never absolute and — realistically — can only be interpreted in court. The police were doing what was required of them… anything outside of that isn’t up to us, Gawker or Jason Chen.
We jokingly referred to Steve Jobs as Vito Corleone in our title… but Apple’s secretive nature, their legal domination and now their provoked, forceful re-acquisition of an iPhone prototype is not disproving the similarities. Do they own the police? Certainly not. Was this kind of reclamation absolutely necessary? Certainly not. Would the police initiate this type of investigation without Apple’s encouragement? Certainly not.
One thing that can be said for sure: this sucks for everyone. Gawker has taken the situation too far and Apple responded by doing the same. Everyone knew that there would be another iPhone this summer. There’s no reason to dissect the device and explain everything about it ahead of time… it spoils the mystery for everyone who cares and only solidifies truth for the people who don’t. We know that Gawker is out to make money and we’re unfortunately adding to their spoils by running this story, but no respectable media source should put the lives of their writers at risk to publish a story… ever.
Editor’s note:
I’m personally disappointed with the way this situation was handled from beginning to end. I feel sorry for the engineer. I feel sorry for the bloke at the bar who “found” the device. I feel sorry for Apple. I feel sorry for Jason Chen (sort of). I do not feel sorry for Gawker: I hope they get what they have coming in court… if it even goes that direction. Just leave the individuals out of it and let company fight company.
Gawker/Gizmodo, you should have known better. As TUAW put it, this debacle “won’t win [you] any new fans.”
iPhone OS 4.0 beta access
Apr 10th
So, you want to run iPhone OS 4.0 beta on your device?
As things progress with the Cocoa Touch Apps website, we’re looking for more and more ways to help connect with our users. We’re going to be trying out different applications that we’d like to use for reader interaction. In order to do that, we’re going to need beta testers for our apps on iPhone OS version 4.0. We’d really prefer people with 3GS phones, but will allow 3G users as well. It is not currently available for the iPad. We do charge a nominal fee of $10 to make sure that we’re getting people who are really interested in iPhone OS 4.0 beta (but it is open to anyone). Obviously, this gives you access to the beta software so you can keep track of our development.
If you’d like to sign up as one of our beta testers, we’ll need your Unique Device Identifier, or UDID for short. You can find this from your Mac by downloading the iPhone Configuration Utility and copy the number under the blue box in the picture above. Once you have that copied to your clipboard, click the “Pay Now” button below. Make sure you paste the UDID into the field that lets you leave special instructions for the seller. Once we receive notification of payment, we’ll add your UDID to our list of devices and send you the download information for iPhone OS 4.0 beta. Please remember that we are not selling the beta software, we’re merely giving you access to our pre-release software as a beta tester — and in return you need to be running iPhone OS 4.0.
Please note that Apple states that the software is still under development. This means that there could potentially be bugs. I haven’t seen anything that’s harmful or disables features but I know that some people have had little glitches here and there. Please be aware of that when signing up for our beta program… but it’s still very cool and worth it.
You can also view this information on our Beta page. If you have any questions or run into any issues, please email beta@cocoatouchapps.com.
Read all of our Live Coverage of the April 8th Apple Event!
Apr 8th
Please head over to live.cocoatouchapps.com and read all of our coverage about the Apple event this morning. We’ll be posting updates throughout the day as we get time to sort back through all of the information covered.
We’d encourage you to sign up for a Cocoa Touch Apps account if you like what you see here. Alternatively, hit the RSS button in the sidebar and subscribe to our RSS feed. We’d really appreciate it as it helps us keep track of our readership, improves our advertising abilities and in return… helps us bring better content to you. Thanks for reading CTA, we’ll be back in a bit!
