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Apple releases iOS 5.1 beta 3 to developers
Apple has released the third beta of iOS 5.1 to developers. iOS 5.1 beta 2 was released nearly a month ago, but now that the holiday lull is out of the way it's probably not going to take that long before the next beta comes out. The beta is available both through over-the-air download and a direct download link on the Apple Developer Center website. Once released, iOS 5.1 is expected to introduce improvements to Photo Stream and address battery life issues that some users, particularly iPhone 4S owners, have experienced in iOS 5.
How would you change Apple's iPhone 4S?
It's the dawn of a new year for How Would You Change, so let's take a look back at one of the hottest-selling phones of the last one. A low-key launch couldn't dispel a summer of hype for the handset: Apple went for evolution when we were expecting a revolution -- even though we'd seen the same with the 3G/3GS. In the cold light of January, we can see the 4S for what it is: a refined experience that lacks a compelling reason to pay an early-upgrade fee. If you were in the planning meeting for the iPhone 6 (it's a hunch), what would you be pushing for? Built-in NFC? Would you have kept Siri under wraps until it had left beta? Do you resent the existence of any phone that can't run Android? Constructive and polite suggestions in the comments below, impolite ones should be written down on a piece of paper and sent to the usual address (we kid, we kid).
iPhone alarms work fine on 1/1 and 1/2, if you update iOS
There's two possible explanations for why Engadget's tipline was heating up this morning with emailed complaints about iPhone alarms not going off as scheduled on New Year's Day (first reported last year and fixed in iOS 5), but we haven't heard a peep about the problem. Explanation #1: The vast majority of TUAW readers sporting iOS 5-eligible devices (everything after the 2nd-gen iPod touch and the iPhone 3G) have already updated, and the ones who haven't don't depend on their on-device alarm clocks. Explanation #2: TUAW readers like to do New Year's Eve up good and proper, and are still all sleeping it off. Either way, we wish you a happy 2012, free of handy excuses for oversleeping like "My iPhone didn't wake me up!"
Spire installer brings Siri to any jailbroken iOS 5 device, legally -- proxy still required
A few months of work by iOS hackers Grant Paul (aka chpwn), Steven Troughton-Smith and Ryan Petrich has culminated in the release of Spire, a new installer that will easily set up Siri on your jailbroken iOS 5 device. While Apple has kept its little helper exclusively constrained to the iPhone 4S, it now runs on iPads, iPhone 4, iPod touches and the iPhone 3GS, and while that's been done before they claim the other new trick is that it's legal, avoiding the copyright infringement inherent in previous hacks. When installed it will initiate a 100MB download of Siri directly from Apple so watch your bandwidth limits, and also be prepared to set up your own proxy server with donated info from an iPhone 4S to hold the line between Apple's backend and yourself. It's available on Cydia now so if you've been waiting for a way to get this feature for yourself it's not far away, however Troughton-Smith tells 9to5 Mac that the next major step may not come until the iPhone 4S is jailbroken and they can avoid the proxy server issues altogether.
Apple's Newsstand application aiding digital magazine sales, says 'I told you so'
There's no doubt that the digital magazine's road to success has been a bumpy one. The original -- and still the main -- idea was to push content creators and publishers forward in the paperless era, but there's been many doubters and fallen soldiers in the process. While Apple hasn't been the only outfit looking to bring the magazine to the small screen, the introduction of the Newsstand app in iOS 5 aimed to give digitized publications a place to shine on their own. According to AllThingsD, the shelf isn't just a real estate hog on your springboard, it's actually helping to boost sales; Popular Science alone has seen an uptick in subscriptions on the order of 11,000 since the app launched, and signs of slowdown are nowhere to be spotted. PopSci's results may not be found in every publishing house, but it's as solid a sign as any that the tactic may be working. Hit the source link for that whiz-bang chart action.
ultrasn0w bumped to version 1.2.5, now unlocking even more iOS 5.0.1 devices
Given that you're out on Christmas break and all, isn't it about time you finally tried out that whole "unlocking" thing you've been hearing about? A new build of ultrasn0w just hit the Cydia app store, with v1.2.5 adding more support for iOS 5.0.1. Of note, novice jailbreakers may want to reach out to more experienced pals before embarking, as you'll need a a compatible baseband in order for the unlock to work. The iPhone 3GS (running iOS 5.0.1.) is supported with the following basements: 04.26.08 – 05.11.07 – 05.12.01 – 05.13.04 – 06.15.00. The iPhone 4 is supported if your baseband checks in as 01.59.00. If you're looking to upgrade from a dustier firmware, make sure you preserve your baseband before unlocking. Hit the source link for a few tips, and remember: friends don't let friends jailbreak before completing a backup.
Engadget Distro now available on Android Market and iOS Newsstand!
Since we first launched Engadget Distro on the iPad, we've received endless requests (seriously, we're still counting them) for three things: an Android version, iOS Newsstand integration and a fount from which infinite knowledge pours from. We've promised to work on two of the three, and it's time we delivered. We're pleased to announce that Distro is now available for most Android tablets; a list of minimum supported specifications is after the break, but if you're using Android 3.x or above, you should be golden. And for those of you iPad owners longing to see Distro on Apple's Newsstand, we're there too. So, follow the appropriate link below, and get your download on. And, while we can't guarantee you'll be seeing us on your TouchPad anytime soon, the developments don't stop here. On a personal note, we're super excited to be expanding Distro, and we can't wait to hear back from the folks who will be diving in now that it's in a few new places. Enjoy! Distro on the Android Market Distro APK (for sideloading) Distro on the iTunes App Store
iMessages reportedly still sent to stolen iPhones (Updated)
Update: Daring Fireball pointed to this recommendation from Jesse Hollington: set a SIM PIN code, which will prevent your phone from registering with the cellular network after a reset or a SIM swap until/unless the PIN is entered. Be extremely careful, however, as the iPhone settings UI can be confusing and you may get locked out if the phone thinks you're entering an existing PIN incorrectly. Macworld now recommends a three-step deactivation process, including calling your carrier to make sure your phone SIM is turned off. Update 2: Our colleague Michael Jones reports that there are situations where the 'stickiness' of location services can work in your favor: "My wife's iPhone 3GS was stolen in mid-September. By the time the iPhone 4S was released, there had been no sign of the 3GS and so we went ahead and replaced the phone, figuring that there would be no way to locate the old phone once it was deactivated. A couple of days before Thanksgiving, however, I received an email from Find My iPhone that the 3GS had been located, and briefly reported its location at a grocery store that does not have any open Wi-Fi networks in the area. A few days later, I received another alert as the thief had again turned the phone on at a different location, and the police were able to recover the phone." A troubling issue with iMessages being sent to stolen iPhones has been reported by Ars Technica. According to the article, the issue was brought up by Ars reader David Hovis whose wife's iPhone was recently stolen. She replaced her phone, changed her Apple ID password and moved on. While she was enjoying her new iPhone, the stolen handset was sold to an unsuspecting third-party who was using the phone on their wireless account. Incredibly, the stolen phone, which she deactivated with her carrier and remote wiped, was still sending and receiving iMessages on her behalf. She is only one example. If you search MacRumors or Apple's support forum, you will find several more examples. Part of the problem may reside with Apple's authentication system for iMessage. According to a thread at Ask Different, Apple stores the device ID (UDID) and the Apple ID or mobile number for each device that uses iMessage. An iMessage is apparently sent to Apple's servers, which look at the destination email address or phone number of an incoming message. The server looks in its database for the UDID that's associated with the recipient's phone number or Apple ID. The server then uses this information to redirect the message to the correct phone. It's possible, in the case above, that the UDID of a stolen phone remains in Apple's database and is not replaced by the UDID of the new phone. A message sent to the phone number of the person whose phone was stolen would go to the UDID of the stolen phone and not the new phone. The owner of the stolen phone can then respond back. I've experienced a similar issue with FaceTime on the iPhone 4. I activated my phone and setup FaceTime on one phone number and then switched it to another phone number about a month later. The UDID remained attached to the original phone number and was not automatically updated by Apple. When I tried to make a FaceTime call, the recipient would see my old number. If they tried to FaceTime me with my new number, it wouldn't work. People could only contact me by FaceTime calling my old number. I was able to force Apple to update my UDID in its system by resetting my phone using iTunes according to Apple's instructions. The iMessage issue appears to be similar to the FaceTime issue noted above, but it's not identical. While FaceTime can be corrected by erasing your phone, the iMessages issue is not corrected by a similar remote wipe procedure. I'm not sure why a remote wipe wouldn't fix the iMessage issue; maybe there's a difference between a remote wipe and an iTunes reset or Apple's servers are configured slightly different for the two services. Regardless, the iMessage issue is a serious one that Apple hopefully will address.
iPhone 4S-specific iOS build is for "No SIM Card Installed" errors
Last Thursday Apple quietly issued a new build of iOS 5.0.1 specifically for the iPhone 4S. There were no release notes issued with the new build and users who had already installed and earlier build of 5.0.1 on their iPhone 4S couldn't update to the new one without restoring their iPhone. The release came one day before Apple rolled out the iPhone 4S in an additional 20 countries, which gave some hint that the build was useful for those markets. Now the mystery has been solved as Apple released a new support document detailing changes in the new build. The build addresses an issue where the iPhone 4S wouldn't recognize a micro-SIM card that was installed and return a "No SIM Card Installed" or other similar error. It's also now apparent that the release of the build was meant to coincide with the 20 country rollout, as many new iPhone 4S owners would be upgrading from the factory installed iOS 5.0, to the new iOS 5.0.1 build when they bought their new iPhones. The new build is still only available to people who have not previously updated to iOS 5.0.1, which suggests Apple considers the incidence of the "No SIM Card Installed" error fairly low. The fix for it will certainly be rolled into iOS 5.0.2 or iOS 5.1, whichever comes first. Until then, if you do want the absolute latest build on your iPhone 4S, simply restore the device to factory settings in iTunes.
Apple update twofer: Apple TV hits 4.4.4 (9A406a), minor iOS 5.0.1 bump comes to iPhone 4S
Here's a question: why, as a major consumer electronics company, would you introduce just one software update in a day, when you could just as easily introduce two? Exactly. Apple has just pushed out a new duo that honestly have little in common, but if you're the owner of a second-generation Apple TV and an iPhone 4S, you've hit the jackpot. The former is reaching v4.4.4, which claims to bring an assortment of not-big-enough-to-pinpoint bug fixes; the latter, however, tweaks the iPhone 4S' 5.0.1 build ever so slightly. If you've noticed anything major from either update, do tell in comments below. Update: The Apple TV 4.4.4 changlog notes that users can expect "general performance and stability improvements, including a fix for an issue that displayed an error when playing some video content."
Apple to improve Notification Center with fresh talent
Apple is looking outside its ranks and hiring a college student to help revise its iOS notification system. This isn't any college student. The new hire is Jan-Michael Cart, the whizkid who created a clever mocked up Notification Center redesign and then posted it to YouTube. Cart will join Apple as a UI/UXDesign intern for the next seven months. According to Ars Technica, he, and two other recent hires, may work on notifications for a future version of iOS. Apple rolled out its current notification center in iOS 5. Earlier versions of iOS included pop-up notifications and badges, but little else. This latest iteration includes a drop-down window shade with alerts, pop-up alerts and lock screen alerts. Though it's a likeable update, the iOS 5 notification center needs improvement. There are no alert icons in the menu bar, which means you have to pull down the Window shade to determine which alerts need your attention. The alerts are also difficult to manage. You can't delete individual alerts without opening the item, and the "x" button to clear all the alerts is difficult to tap. You can check out Cart's concept video below and tell us what you think of his suggestions in the comments. [Via Ars Technica]
iOS 5.1 beta 2 out of the oven, ready for developer consumption
Ready to kick off Monday with some iOS flashing? Excellent, because Apple's just released the second beta of iOS 5.1, lovingly christened 9B5127c. No Cupertino devices at Engadget HQ have taken the plunge, but as noted by MacRumors, the beta enables individual picture deletion from Photo Stream -- which differs from the existing delete all or nothing implementation. Too early to tell if it'll finally squash any lingering battery bugs once and for all, but you can hit Apple's developer website to get your download on -- just be ready for the next one in two weeks, cool? [Thanks, Haseeb]
Switched On: A road trip with Siri
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology. When considering the great technology advances of the past few decades, GPS tends to get short shrift compared to such culture-rocking innovations as the internet and cellular networks. But it is a marvel nonetheless. Just a few generations ago, the idea of hopping in a car with no clue how to get to a particular destination was foolishness (or at least fodder for gender-stereotyping comedians). Today, with an inexpensive device or smartphone software, we can do so with near certainty of finding our way. Developers of navigation apps and hardware must place great care in creating an experience that doesn't unnecessarily distract the driver. For example, quite a few involve "lane assist" features that starkly indicate the options when coming to a fork in the road so that the driver avoids having to stare at the screen too long to figure out the right path. In addition, spoken instructions have long been a defining commodity. While Telenav, for example, offers a free version of its navigation app, it doesn't include such audio. And Nokia recently followed suit with its distribution strategy around Nokia Drive, leaving the version with spoken turn-by-turn directions exclusive to its Windows Phones.
Untethered jailbreak for iOS 5.0 showcased on YouTube (video)
Love to jailbreak but hate to tether every time you reboot? Then help could soon be at hand courtesy of hacker Pod2g. He just put out a video showing off a new exploit that continues to work on an iPod Touch even after it has been switched off and on. It appears to be running on iOS 5.0 rather than 5.0.1, so some downgrading might be called for. We don't know when it'll be released to the masses, or how long it'll last once Apple catches wind, but in the meantime there are of course various alternatives if you can stomach the risks and don't mind a bit of USB tomfoolery. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Eric Schmidt: 'Android will be bigger than iOS'
Eric Schmidt was addressing the crowd at Le Web in Paris and recounted a tale when an Android user asked why apps were often written for iOS first, and then ported over to Google's OS. His response? "My prediction is that six months from now, you'll say the opposite." After the uncomfortable silence had died down, he added that Android's "open" model meant the company had volume on its side -- and volume is what he feels will attract developers. He added that Ice Cream Sandwich would redress Android's device fragmentation and the sheer number of hardware makers would ensure that 2012 would be Google's year. At which point, everyone in the audience probably went back to their iPads to read Twitter.
On UI inconsistency in iOS 5
A while back, designer Jake Marsh commented on an inconsistency in Apple's use of linen textures in iOS 5 (hat tip to Daring Fireball). In both OS X Lion and iOS 5, the linen texture is "underneath" other UI elements in almost every instance. In Lion, linen textures lie beneath the Mission Control interface, the main login screen, folders in Launchpad, and web pages in Safari. In iOS 5, linen lies beneath the multitasking tray, in Siri's interface, in folder backgrounds, and once again (on the iPad) underneath web pages in Safari. Marsh points out that the metaphor of linen textures lying "beneath" the interface completely breaks down with Notification Center. With Notification Center acting as an overlay on top of other interface elements, it essentially means that the standard interface is "sandwiched" between two layers of linen textures. Two different proposals exist for fixing this inconsistency. Max Rudberg proposes shifting Notification Center to a background layer, so instead of sliding over the home screen or whatever app you're in at the time, the foreground layer would slide away with Notification Center appearing from "underneath" it. This would be a decent solution on the iPhone, but it wouldn't work quite so well on the iPad. An arguably better solution is the one Nik Radjenovic proposes: get rid of the linen texture in Notification Center and replace it with a background that more clearly establishes Notification Center as a pullover UI element separate from the "what lies beneath" metaphor implied by the linen background. This may seem nitpicky at first, but Apple's usual attention to UI details like this is arguably one of the things that makes iOS a pleasure to use. Inconsistencies like the "sandwiching" of linen-textured UI elements are subtle, but when UI inconsistencies start stacking up they can result in an experience that drastically and negatively affects usability. [We looked at inconsistent iPhone UI concepts back in 2007, before there was an App Store or iOS even. –Ed.] The iPad's Music app in iOS 5 is a perfect example of how UI inconsistency creates a subpar experience. I've already described at length how Apple's overhaul of iOS 4's iPod app rendered music playback on the iPad a frustrating experience in iOS 5; I got so fed up with the poor interface in the Music app that I've almost completely stopped using my iPad for music playback and defaulted to using my iPhone 4S instead. Apple has already fixed some inconsistencies in iOS's look and feel; as of iOS 5, pages in the Calendar app can be "turned" just like pages in iBooks, which wasn't possible in iOS 4. Sadly, the same is not true of the Contacts app on the iPad; despite having the same "pages in a book" design as both Calendar and iBooks, swiping on pages in Contacts does precisely nothing. [See our post from last week on the 'leaky abstraction' problem in skeuomorphic UIs. –Ed.] Top to bottom: Swipe to turn page, swipe to turn page, swipe to experience frustration. UI inconsistency across devices can be just as irritating. Again, the Music app is a great example. On the iPhone and iPod touch, the Music app is largely list and text-driven, and playback controls are consistently colored throughout the interface so you can tell the state of a control at a glance. On the iPad, the Music app is visually-driven, with control colors that are not only inconsistent with the color scheme on smaller iOS devices but also internally inconsistent within the app itself. Putting the same app from the iPhone and iPad side-by-side, it's very hard to believe they both came from the same design team. The same company designed both of these apps. True story. The Camera app is another example of contradictory behavior in user interfaces across devices. On the iPhone and iPod touch, the shutter button, controls for switching between still photos and video recording, and a link to your camera roll are all pinned to the screen edge near the home button, which makes taking a picture extremely easy and something you can do one-handed. On the iPad, these controls shift around depending on the device's orientation, constantly presenting the controls on the screen's bottom. This makes taking pictures and recording video on the iPad far more difficult, particularly in landscape orientation where the shutter button is several inches away from the edges of the device you're actually gripping. iPhone: Easily reachable camera controls. iPad: Not so much. Just like the use of linen in the background of Notification Center, all of these UI hiccups are easy to fix, but I have to wonder why they need to be fixed in the first place. Apple usually pays far better attention to the tiniest details in its interfaces; it may be time for Apple's designers to step back from piling on new features and instead do a Snow Leopard-like audit of what's already in iOS.
Use iFaith v1.4 to downgrade to iOS 5.0
The jailbreakers among you are probably anxiously awaiting the first untethered iOS 5 jailbreak promised by pod2g and MuscleNerd. However, if you've upgraded to iOS 5.0.1, you'll be out of luck because the first untethered jailbreak will be for iOS 5.0 only. Nothing later. In iOS 4 and earlier, you could simply restore your iPhone to the base version of the firmware (ie: 4.0), but with the introduction of iOS 5, Apple made it so that once you upgraded the OS to a later version (ie: 5.0.1) it was impossible to downgrade via a restore to the base firmware. However, as Morpheus from the Matrix said, some rules can be bent and others broken. Hacker iH8sn0w has released a (currently) Windows-only tool called iFaith that allows users to downgrade to iOS 5.0. This will enable users to then apply the future untethered jailbreak patch to their iOS 5 device. For those of you who are interested in how iH8sn0w accomplished this feat (using SHSH blob vulnerabilities) you can check out this short YouTube video. [via Engadget]
iFaith v1.4 allows downgrade to iOS 5.0, jailbreaker's dream come true
In the game of Apple versus the jailbreakers, Cupertino threw the community a curveball with iOS 5's newly restricted downgrade system which blocks devices from restoring to old 5.x firmware. With the help of his noble steed iFaith (a custom Windows tool), hacker iH8sn0w has found a way around the firmware block, making it possible for dumped iOS 5 signature hash blobs (SHSH blobs) to permit unsigned restores. Why all the fuss about downgrading to prohibited firmware? Prominent iOS hackers MuscleNerd and pod2g have stated that the first untethered jailbreak will arrive on iOS 5.0 and, as such, may require iFaith's downgrade process to facilitate user restores. While the jailbreak is still under construction, iFaith should assure disheartened users in the community that all is not lost. Want to learn about blobs, blobs, and more blobs? Continue past the break to view iH8sn0w's informative video.
German regulators seek details on Apple's use of Carrier IQ
Apple has already made a statement on the company's use of Carrier IQ, saying that "We stopped supporting Carrier IQ [a piece of software that tracks user activity] with iOS 5 in most of our products, and we're going to remove it completely in a future software update." Apparently that's not good enough for The Bavarian State Authority for Data Protection. The German data regulator requested today that Apple provide more information about the software and its use. Apple's statement yesterday noted that its use of Carrier IQ was limited to "diagnostic information" and was opt-in only. iOS users who have recently set up iOS 5 devices may remember the request to allow your device to send diagnostic and usage information to Apple. If you are currently sending data and wish to opt out, just go to General > About > Diagnostics & Usage on your iPhone and disable sending this information. Thomas Kranig, the head of the regulatory group, made the comment that "if Apple decided to cease the use [of Carrier IQ], all the better." He's not the only bureaucrat looking into Carrier IQ; Senator Al Franken (D-Minn) has called for Carrier IQ to disclose why the software tracks and stores the information that it does.
Carrier IQ references found in iOS 5, probably benign (updated with Apple statement)
The Interwebs have been abuzz over the last 24 hours about Carrier IQ on Android smart phones, allegedly logging user activity including keystrokes. TUAW can confirm that Carrier IQ appears to be included on iOS 5, but that its purpose is most likely benign. iOS virtuoso chpwn discovered Carrier IQ support in firmware as recent as iOS 3.x on Apple's devices. TUAW confirmed Carrier IQ references in iOS 5 after reading this post on the MacRumors forum and evaluating the /usr/bin/awd_ic3 file found in the installed OS. The firmware contains references to Carrier IQ such as this URL included in the binary. We have included a full set of matching strings at the end of this post. http://collector.sky.carrieriq.com:7001/collector/c?cm_sl=5 In TUAW's look through the binary calls, we found references to collecting carrier telemetry such as local cell tower, signal strength, and your phone number. We found no references to key logging. We did find remote diagnostic calls like CTServerConnectionEnableRemoteDiagnostics. What's more, the service may need to be specifically enabled. A property list in the "mobile" user library looks like it has to be overridden to allow diagnostic logging. iPhone # plutil com.apple.iqagent.plist { DiagnosticsAllowed = 0; } Further, the binary seems to be somewhat poorly maintained. The primary reference to the /var/wireless/Library/Logs/IQAgent/ folder has now been replaced by /var/wireless/Library/Logs/awd in actual use. Apple's inclusion of Carrier IQ does not, in our first estimation, appear to be a root kit or threaten privacy. We reserve the right to re-evaluate our judgement on that in the future, but for now we don't see much that bothers us. Given what it records, this sounds like the "help maintain network performance" claim made by Jason Gertzen of Sprint when he was asked about Carrier IQ on Android. But even this is cautiously implemented on iOS. If you want to stay on top of this story, follow chpwn's blog as he continues to investigate. Update: The Verge reports that in terms of Android, the Google Nexus One, Nexus S, Galaxy Nexus and original Xoom tablet don't have Carrier IQ. So it appears to be OEMs and carriers who are putting this on the phone. As for Apple and the iPhone, according to John Gruber you can basically opt-out of Carrier IQ by digging into Settings > General > About > Diagnostics & Usage and turn off the "Send Automatically" switch. Update 2: Apple has made a statement indicating they quit supporting Carrier IQ with iOS 5, and it has never used Carrier IQ to record personal info like keystroke logging, etc. Apparently it will be removed entirely in a future update.
