Archive for 2010

Jay Freeman, better known as Saurik, the creator of Cydia, was interviewed by the home radio Make It Work. He speaks about the history and the future of the iPhone jailbreak.

Saurik describes the origins of Jailbreak and Unlock for the very first model of the iPhone. Jay explains that initially there were two important things to do with the iPhone 2G - to use other carrier than AT&T and to install any application.

He continues discussing the main applications from Cydia. Cycorder was the first to allow video recording, and Winterboard was the only one that allowed users to change the graphical interface of the iPhone. He also speaks about Comex, the hacker who is currently working with the Dev Team for releasing and Unlock for the iPhone 4. According to Saurik the tool is still not ready to be released to the public due to severe bugs in the code. Here the second part:

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This week developers started receiving Microsoft’s test units, which will allow them to test the performance of their apps for WP7 instead of using an emulator. The test smartphones are produced by Samsung and LG and have a Technical Preview version of Windows Phone 7, and guys at NewsGeek decided to compare its browser speed with iPhone 3GS' that runs on iOS 4.

Since the difference in speed is so huge it is noted that both of the phones used 3G network (not Wi-Fi) and iPhone 3GS is a completely finished product, while Samsung's test unit is a prototype with an unfinished OS that is still in development.

Newsgeek also found Internet Explorer in the Windows Phone 7 to be "surprisingly competent and quick" though it was mostly built off of IE7's desktop version.

And here is another Apple's video to prove that almost every mobile phone in the world has an antenna issue similar to iPhone 4's. This time Motorola’s Droid X is the victim, which drops from three to zero bars after the "death grip".

Now doesn't it look like Apple is overreacting on the antenna problem?

As you may know, this week Apple removed Chatroulette’s clone app iChatr from the AppStore because "users were exposing themselves" and it was a part of the company's anti-porn stance.

Now we have information that DLP Mobile's app, which simply represents an idea of mirror for the iPhone 4, was also rejected because the screenshots that were submitted along with it were considered as "obscene, pornographic, or defamatory" (referring to Section 3.318 from the iPhone Developer Program Licence Agreement).

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Today Apple released a statement where it is said that white iPhones 4 will not available until late 2010.

"White models of Apple’s new iPhone® 4 have continued to be more challenging to manufacture than we originally expected, and as a result they will not be available until later this year. The availability of the more popular iPhone 4 black models is not affected."

Month ago Apple stated that the shipping of white iPhones delays due to manufacturing challenges. It remains unknown what those challenges are, but they are obviously very significant.

As you know, recently Steve Jobs gave a promise that every customer that has problems with antenna in iPhone 4 will have a free bumper case. But that didn't stop Samsung to continue mocking on the situation.  The company's latest advertisement of Galaxy S smartphone just says "Hello", but those who experienced antenna issue on iPhone 4 will clearly get the hint.

Yesterday LG Display's Chief Executive Officer Kwon Young-Soo revealed that LG cannot currently produce enough iPad displays for Apple.

"Demand (from Apple) keeps growing and we can't meet it all."

It was also said that LG is going to increase the production of such displays but the demand will be met only presumably in the second quarter of 2011.

Even Apple didn't expect the iPad will be so popular, according to its Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook. Last financial quarter there were 3,27 million iPads sold. But that will not slow sales down - this Monday Apple announced that since Friday the iPad will be available for sale in nine more countries.

It is interesting that while LG cannot meet the iPad display demand it had already invested over $500 million in producing its own mobile phones and tablets.

Online advertising network Chitika published some statistics of what version of iOS is installed on users' iPhones. The results are quite interesting and predictable. The latest iPhone mobile operating system, iOS 4, is already accounting for one-half of all iPhone web traffic. These numbers are based on a statistically useful nine million iPhone page impressions.

Looking more deeply, iOS 4.0 – the version released on June 21st – has 44.5%. The latest version iOS 4.0.1 clocks in at only 5% of the market. This is understandable, since it was released less than a week ago:

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According to AppleInsider, Apple's employee Jeff Williams has recently been promoted to right hand man of chief operation officer Tim Cook. That move was made to ensure that Apple products meet "the highest standards of quality" after it was revealed that iPhone 4 has significant problems with antenna, bluetooth and proximity sensor.

Before 2004 Jeff Williams was Apple's head of worldwide procurement and managed company's supply chain of the music player components.  Then he became a Vice President of Operations and played a significant role in worldwide launch of iPhone and iPod.

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Today Skype released a new version with support of multitasking (iTunes link).

What's New In Version 2.0.1

- Run Skype in the background with multitasking in iOS4.
Receive Skype calls and IM while other apps are running or when your iPhone is locked. You can also continue your call while you switch to another application.
Multitasking is available only with iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS.

Silicon Alley Insider created an interesting chart using yesterday's Apple revenue numbers. It visually shows how much money Apple makes and the progress for the last years. It shows that the iPad has a great impact on Apple's product matrix. In the June quarter the iPad business generated $2.2 billion of revenue for Apple.

There is no official jailbreak utility for iOS 4.0.1. However you can still jailbreak and unlock iPhone 3G. Just do the following:

• Download the latest RedSn0w 0.9.5-b5 in our utilities page here.
• Download firmware images for iOS 4.0 here.
• Run RedSn0w and point it at the 4.0 IPSW. (Yes – point it at the 4.0 IPSW even though you're at 4.0.1). This will also hacktivate your iPhone3G at 4.0.1 if you haven't already been activated by iTunes.
• Install ultrasn0w in Cydia (add repository http://repo666.ultrasn0w.com) if you need a carrier unlock (and in the USA, remember to turn off 3G mode in Settings→General→Network).

Apple company goes forward in explaining antenna issue to the users of other phones. Recently Apple published a nice little video on their website and YouTube channel that displays the Nokia N97 Mini and it's problems with antenna. Take a look:

Apple also posts on their antenna website that the "death-grip" on this Nokia device causes a drop from 7 to 2 bars.

Apple just released its third quarter earnings. Here is a quick summary:

• Revenue: $15.7 Billion (record)
• Profit: $3.25 billion ($3.51/share)
• Margin: 39.1% (vs 40.9% last year)

International sales accounted for 52% of revenue

Sales:

• Macs: 3.47 million
• iPods: 9.41 million
• iPhones: 8.4 million
• iPads: 3.27 million

Here is the official press release:

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CNet made a quick testing of one of the most interesting smartphones on the market today: Apple iPhone 4 and HTC Evo 4G. Guess who is the winner? Let's take a look:

You can find spec comparison here.