Tag: iPhone 4G

iOS 4.1 Live For Download

Apple has pushed out the iOS 4.1 update as promised, if your running a iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod Touch 2G, iPod Touch 3G or iPod Touch 4G then the update is available for free to you now. It’s not a huge update but it fixes the iPhone 3G performance issues, Game Center is now activated and proximity sensor and bluetooth issues have been fixed for the iPhone 4.

As usual, if your a jailbreak user, or someone who relys on a hacked unlock then do not update yet until the iPhone Dev-Team give the go ahead. Make sure to backup your SHSH blobs whilst you still have the chance as well.

Advertisement

iPhone OS 4.0 Only For 3G and 3GS?

According to a source, the new iPhone OS 4.0, which is rumored to be shown at the upcoming Apple event; will include multitasking, which has been wanted for a long time but many iPhone users but only those who jailbreak the device can use this feature. The source also says there will be a new UI, “to make navigating through the OS easier and more efficient” and also OS-wise mutli-touch gestures. However I see it unlikely that Apple will majorly change the UI of the OS as they like to keep things familiar.

The source also says how they will also be “some brand new syncing ability for the contacts and calendar applications” but that the new OS will only be available for the iPhone 3G and 3GS, this makes sense for the multitasking as the iPhone 2G doesn’t have enough RAM to be able to multitask properly.

iPhone OS 4.0 To Have Contacts On The Home Screen?

Apple recently applied for a patent to put contacts on the iPhone home screen. The patent gives pretty solid evidence that the next iPhone OS iteration will include this feature.

The patent shows that the custom icons for contacts won’t just be for speed dialing but will be able to perform wide range of things, such as launching any app you specify that is personalized to the contact or display information about the contact.

One of the options has the icon for the contact that shows up on your home screen based on the persons proximity to you, so if someone gets within a certain range to you then they will show up on your home screen, however this will probably only work on iPhones or possibly phones that have GPS.

The icon can also be used to invoke one or more applications that are personalized to the contact. The icon can be modified to display information related to the contact. In one aspect, an icon associated with an entity can be temporarily displayed on the mobile device based on the proximity of the mobile device to the entity.

Samsung Announces New 64GB NAND Chip

Samsung has just announced a new 64GB memory moviNAND that could be used in the next-gen iPhone, which is rumored to be out this summer, as with Apple’s usual iPhone release time.

The chip measures 1.4mm in height and it’s composed of 16 30nm-class 32Gb MLC NAND chip and a controller. It’s expected that we might see this new chip, as each new iPhone is shown a bigger size is released so 64GB could be on the table for the iPhone 4G.

Toshiba, meanwhile announced the upcoming release of 64GB NAND chip, so it might be either Samsung or Toshiba.

iPhone 4G Wishlist

So with all the rumours over the past few months I’ve been thinking what I’d love to see from the next iteration of the iPhone. Although some of the points maybe wrong if you believe the rumours, we have been wrong many times before but this is just what would make the iPhone 4G the next killer device.

  • Dual Core ARM Cortex A9 CPU

The iPhone runs pretty well on its current CPU, but having a dual core more powerful CPU would help make the phone snappier and along with the PowerVR SGX545 GPU we could be looking at desktop quality games and HD content.

  • PowerVR SGX545 GPU (HD Graphics)

With HD capability we could play games at a whole new level, surpassing any current portable gaming device on the market. Along with HD playback and hopefully HD video recording.

  • 5/8 Megapixel with Flash

The rumours say that Apple is going to include a 5 Megapixel camera in the next iPhone and possibly Flash but a lot of phones these days are pushing up to 8MP and with bigger capacities why not?

  • 720p video recording

This would help bring more products in to one, the iPhone 3GS does a good job of video recording at VGA but 720p would make that video look even better.

  • 802.11n WiFi

There has been a recent job posting looking for someone who would be able to work with 802.11n WiFi so it would be nice for the people who use it.

  • Bigger memory capacity (16GB, 32GB, 64GB, 128GB)

For some people they must have all their video and music collection with them and so we need to increase the size of memory as usual, obviously Apple controls the prices on flash memory so I’m sure they can offer it.

  • 512MB RAM

We’ve been slowly progressing, the original iPhone and the iPhone 3G both had 128MB or RAM which isn’t good when you have to reboot your device to play games, the 3GS made up for it with 256MB but why not add in a little overhead for those jailbreakers who multi-task?

  • Front Facing Camera

This is a feature that was rumoured for the 3GS but never happened, the technology has been around for years. I had a Sony Ericsson phone about 5 years ago that could video call, it was one of the first 3G devices in Europe but still the technology is there and it would make taking self-shots easier.

  • OLED Display

This would make a nice feature, not only because it looks better but because it saves on battery life which is something the iPhone really needs ever since 3.0.

  • Better Battery

As most iPhone users will tell you, unless you have a battery pack with you, your phone will not last the day. The jailbreak are trying at the current time to certain daemons from running and this apparently does increase battery life, but Apple should really sort this issue out.

  • Fully Bluetooth Support

So many people ask me you have bluetooth right? And I reply the truth, Yes. But of course then I have to tell them how it’s crippled and how I can’t even send them a picture over Bluetooth.
These are just my personal hopes for the next iPhone, obviously I know not all of them will come but hopefully Apple fits some in there. And one last thing, headphones that last longer than 4 months, I’ve been through 3 pairs in under a year.

iPhone 4G To Have Dual Core CPU?

A Korean newspaper has recently said “The next iPhone will be here in limited supply in April, and be more power than previous models”. They believe that Apple will be test running the next-gen iPhone to corporate sponsors as soon as April.

Many other blogs are skeptical about what the Korean newspaper said, as Apple never usually test run devices except for workers at Apple working on the product.

The report also talks about how the next iPhone will have the ARM Cortex-A9 CPU, which could offer speeds up to 2GHz which is a lot faster than what we have now. All of us expect the device to improve as it must for Apple to appeal to users with a prior iPhone. But a dual core CPU would work well with a multithreading GPU and would help push those HD graphics.

HD Graphics For iPhone 4G?

Last Friday at the CES show in Las Vegas a new graphics chip was announced by the company who provides the chip for every iPhone. The HD-capable chip, the PowerVR SGX545 GPU has full OpenCL and OpenGL 3.2 support and can render 40 million polygons per second at 200MHz. Rumour has it that this chip will be found in the new iPhone 4G, this of course all makes sense as Apple market the iPod Touch and iPhone as both gaming devices and this would certainly make for some interesting games.

The PowerVR SGX545 GPU not only has HD-Capablity but also supports multithreading, so to enhance the performance it could me installed along side a multi-core CPU such as the ARM Cortex-A9, which is rumoured to be in the next generation of the iPhone.

Combining our many years of experience in the embedded, mobile and PC-based DirectX graphics worlds, PowerVR SGX 545 takes the possibilities of hand-held graphics to a new level by delivering a full DirectX 10.1 and OpenGL 3.x feature set as well as delivering GPU powered OpenCL heterogeneous parallel processing capabilities for the mobile and embedded markets. This makes PowerVR SGX545 a compelling solution for application processor SoC designers targeting the next generation of netbook and MID mobile products demanding exceptional graphics capabilities.

So we will be seeing a multi-core HD iPhone? Only time will tell.

iPhone 4G To Have 802.11n WiFi?

A recent job opening which was posted on the Apple website may hint at the possibility of 802.11n WiFi in the next gen iPhone.

It has been suspected that the iPhone 4G would support 802.11n WiFi since the third generation iPod Touch was found to contain the Broadcom BCM4329 chip, capable of 802.11n (but only enabled for 802.11g). The job posting is looking for a software engineer specializing in WiFi protocols to join the iPhone tem.

The job specifications:
* Implementation of 802.11 a/b/g/n & related specifications.
* 802.11i/802.1x Security protocols
* Good understanding of wireless RF technologies & co-existence issues of 802.11 PHYs with other Wireless interfaces like Bluetooth.

Apple Patent For Location Sharing

Location Sharing is one of latest technologies recently released into the mainstream by Google in the form of Latitude, last year Google tried to put the application on the iPhone but Apple rejected the app, maybe this patent shows the reasoning behind that.

Apple’s method of location sharing involves sending SMS messages between phones. The message would be encoded in such a way that the phone can then extract your current location. Locating sharing is only part of the package — another patent titled ‘position fix indicator’ focuses on ways of displaying the user’s location, and the location of people that you’re connected with.

The diagram also seems to suggest a forward-facing camera, something that was speculated for the iPhone 3GS but turned out false, perhaps meaning the iPhone 4G will have this feature. It’s possible the diagram is just a placeholder (it looks identical to the one used in other patents), but it could be indicative of a forward-facing camera in the iPhone 4G arriving later this year.

iPhone 4G To Have 5 Megapixel Camera With LED Flash?

OmniVision technologies has secured a deal with Apple for 5-megapixel camera sensors for the upcoming next-geniPhone. Sources report that OmniVision Technologies is expected to supply Apple with 40-45 million 5 megapixel sensors in 2010.

It’s reported that Apple is looking for a large quantity of LED camera flash components, suspected for the upcoming iPhone. Apple is seeking tens of millions of LED camera flash components for delivery in the 2010 calendar year, to go with the 5 megapixel camera sensors perhaps?

The same sources believe that the Philips’ Lumileds Lighting sector may have already secured the contract, and it’s thought that Apple will use the Philips LUXEON LED camera flash technology which combines the brightness of regular lighting with the long life and tiny size of LEDs.
Another interesting piece of information is that this flash is usually used with 5 megapixel or above camera sensors, which would confirm the use of 5 megapixel camera sensors in the new model.