News tagged ‘iPhone 4G’

After last week’s iPhone 4S release in the first seven countries, Apple is going to launch the new smartphone in additional 22 countries on October 28th.

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We have already seen some teardowns and estimates of the cost of the new iPhone 4S by iFixit and Chipworks. Now iSuppli offers its teardown and some new facts.

In the case of the iPhone 4S, [IHS iSuppli analyst Andrew] Rassweiler estimates that the BOM cost ranges from $188 for the 16 gigabyte version of the iPhone 4S to $207 for the 32GB version and $245 for the 64GB version. Apple and its carrier partners sell the phones for $199, $299 and $399 respectively, typically with a two-year contract for wireless service that carriers use to subsidize the cost they pay Apple.

iSuppli didn’t find in the iPhone 4S a noise cancellation chip from Audience that was found in the iPhone 4. Such function may be implemented directly into A5 cheap that costs about $15. While iFixit found Toshiba flash memory in its iPhone 4S unit, IHS iSuppli expressed some surprise at finding Hynix memory in its unit. But as far as we know, Apple sources flash memory chips from different manufactures. They didn’t managed to find the manufacturer of the camera sensor, but estimated the cost of the camera module at $17.60.

Apple has long promoted its high resolution Retina" display that was first released in the iPhone 4 with 326 ppi (pixels per inch) resolution. Later this display made its way to iPhone 4S and iPod touch, and now is set to be included in the iPad 3 with Apple planning to offer 2048 x 1536 resolution on the 9.7-inch screen. Toshiba has gone even further and yesterday introduced a new 6.1-inch display with resolution of 2560 x 1600 and 498 ppi.

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The iPhone Dev-Team released jailbreak utility RedSn0w 0.9.9b6 for both Windows and Mac users. The new version offers full iOS 5 jailbreak support for Windows and fixes Location Services issue for iPhone 3GS devices running the 06.15 baseband. This is still a tethered jailbreak for iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 1, iPod Touch 3G and iPod Touch 4G:

We've released version 0.9.9b6 of redsn0w, with both a functional fix and cosmetic fix for iOS5 jailbreakers. For iPhone3GS owners with the 06.15 baseband, this redsn0w eliminates the network crash you saw when using Location Services in iOS5 (in fact, you don't even need to disable Location Services anymore during the initial setup). The cosmetic fix is to the visual countdown you see when going into DFU mode.

It's okay to re-run this redsn0w over an existing device jailbroken at iOS5. Just choose "Jailbreak" again and de-select Cydia (in other words, all the checkboxes will be unchecked). If you are lucky enough to have an old-bootrom iPhone3GS, please pre-select the IPSW first (redsn0w can't yet auto-detect the FW version of your old-bootrom 3GS if it's already been jailbroken).

Just as redsnow 0.9.9b5 the new version supports creating custom firmwares with preserving baseband (modem) version for unlock. Unfortunately right now custom firmware functionality works only with Mac version.

You can download the latest RedSn0w version here.

UPDATE: RedSn0w 0.9.9b7 released. Minor change, it has an option for a faster jailbreak. Get it here.

UPDATE:
Here are links to our RedSn0w 0.9.9 iOS 5 jailbreak tutorials:

• Windows: iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 1, iPod Touch 3G, iPod Touch 4G
• Mac OS: iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 1, iPod Touch 3G, iPod Touch 4G

Apple has quietly updated iPhone 4S tech specifications page to inform that its smartphone supports both Assisted GPS and GLONASS, the Russian GPS version.

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Yesterday Apple’s current CEO Tim Cook reported that iPhone sales fell short of expectations at 17.07 million units in the fourth fiscal quarter. iPhone sales dropped by 2.4 million. Record iPhone sales for the current quarter would come in above the 20.34 million units set in the third fiscal quarter (second calendar quarter) of this year.

Decline in iPhone sales, as Cook noted, caused by various rumors related to the Apple’s smartphone, especially, when Apple missed its usual June introduction of new hardware. Most of the rumors were about a dramatically redesigned "iPhone 5" offering a larger but thinner design than the current iPhone. Such rumors were incorrect and Apple might still be working on the iPhone 5.

iLounge has tested the iPhone 4S battery life, comparing it with the iPhone 4, and found out several interesting facts. As Apple claims in the iPhone 4S official specifications, the new smartphone has improved talk time but worse standby time as compared to the iPhone 4.

For tests with 3G Data, Audio Playback, Video Playback, and Video Recording, the iPhone 4S came in under the iPhone 4's battery life. For Wi-Fi and FaceTime testing it to be similar to the iPhone 4, and on Cellular Calls, the iPhone 4S is slightly better. Both media playback and recording were advantage of the iPhone 4S, comparing with the iPhone 4. The iPhone 4S is recording much higher resolution video than the iPhone 4.

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Samsung made a next step in its battle with Apple and filed for a preliminary injunction against the iPhone 4S in Australia and Japan. The Wall Street Journal reports that the Japan filing that is also attempting to halt sales of the iPhone 4 and iPad 2, accuses Apple of infringements in technology and user interface patents. The patents apparently relate to “the display of a flight mode icon, the utilization of homescreen space, and an app store menu structure”. Samsung claims that in Australia Apple has infringed on patents related to wireless telecommunication standards.

A Samsung spokesperson said that the company is “now counterattacking Apple again”. Though, many believe that Samsung’s attack will certainly fail. Moreover, an Australian judge will unlikely consider patents Samsung using in the filing as enough for a preliminary injunction, because they are essential for the 3G telecommunications network. As for Japan filings, the situation here is not so obvious like in Australia. This means Samsung could seek injunctions on them and it would be up to Apple to contest their validity.

Today senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing in Apple Philip Schiller said that iPhone 4S sales topped 4 million units during opening weekend surpassing the 1.7 million units sold during last year’s debut weekend. Also he said:

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A new survey conducted among customers waiting in line at Apple Store to purchase the new iPhone 4S demonstrates that nearly three-quarters are upgrading from a previous version of the iPhone. Investment firm Piper Jaffray polled 550 people at Apple retail stores and found out that 73 percent of iPhone 4S buyers are upgrading from a previous version, compared with 77 percent for the iPhone 4 launch in 2010, 56 percent in 2009, and 38 percent in 2008.

The results of the survey also demonstrate that 19 percent of the first-day buyers preferred to purchase the new high-capacity 64GB iPhone 4S model, which costs $399, while the most part of customers (49%) chose 16GB iPhone 4S for $199 and 32% purchased 32GB iPhone 4S for $299. Last year numbers for the iPhone 4 were different: 54 percent customers preferred to buy 32GB model while 46 percent – 16GB model.

Analysts expect that Apple have sold between 2 million and 2.5 million iPhone 4S units over this launch weekend. If it is true, so that is a new record for Apple that beats the company's previous record of 1.7 million iPhone 4 units sold in 2010.

The iPhone 4S has a significantly louder speaker than the iPhone 4. The video comparison below shows that the iPhone 4S speaker offered an increase of 6dB compared to the previous generation device. This might be done for a better experience with Siri application.

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Everybody seems to remember an “antenna gate” issue after the iPhone 4 launch last year. Several customers reported issues with significant signal loss when holding their iPhone in a natural way. Noteworthy to say that not all customers saw the problem. Apple even held a press conference to give its explanations.

After release of the iPhone 4S many people were interested in if the new device has the same problems with antenna as the iPhone 4. Early testing and reports from iPhone 4S users seem to show that the signal drop from tightly gripping the iPhone has been diminished or even eliminated. That fact only proves that the new iPhone has significantly updated antennas, allowing almost completely eliminate “death grip” effect.

Developer Steven Troughton-Smith has successfully ported the iPhone 4S Siri voice command system to the iPhone 4. Troughton-Smith was able to get the beginning steps of a full port. Take a look at the video:

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If for some reason you don't want to use redsn0w 0.9.9 to jailbreak your iOS 5, here is a good alternative utility - Sn0wBreeze 2.8b8. It can perform a tethered jailbreak for iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPad 1, iPod Touch 3G and iPod Touch 4G.

As usual it will preserve your baseband (modem) version for unlock with ultrasn0w 1.2.4 or Gevey Sim.

You can download Sn0wBreeze 2.8b8 here.

UPDATE: Sn0wBreeze 2.8b8 step-by-step jailbreak and unlock tutorials:

• iPhone 4 - Sn0wBreeze (Windows)
• iPhone 3GS - Sn0wBreeze (Windows)

Gigaom has performed several tests of iOS 5 comparing it to different iOS 4 versions. The tests were run in iPad 1 Wi-Fi, iPhone 4 (GSM), iPod touch 4G and the iPad 2 Wi-Fi+3G (GSM).

As indicated by the charts below the iOS 5 is showing many speed improvements over iOS 4. iOS 5 was faster in almost every category, except for the first generation iPad.

The following apps were used to test the performance: GeekBench 2 ($0.99), Gauge Mathematical Tool (free), BenchTest ($0.99), SunSpider (free) and V8 (free).

More results:

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