The jailbreak is achieved using a recently found PDF security hole. Basically the site sends your phone a PDF with some code that allows the installation of Cydia. Now be careful when browsing sites that could have malicious code because the same path could be taken to put trojans or other baddies on your device. There is a jailbroken app called “PDF Loading Warner” which will stop a PDF from opening without your knowledge however, if you open it anyway, you could still get hit with something malicious.

Apple is aware of the issue and is rushing to release the next iOS version to fix the security flaw, so jump on this jailbreak while you still can! Although I am sure there will be another one for the next iOS as well. Either way like usual Enjoy!

Whether you have an iPhone or are looking to get what I am sure you have heard about the issues that early buyers seem to be having. Many people have posted videos demonstrating the “death grip” which can drop the phone from 5 bars to searching within seconds. I can not get my phone to do this. I have watched several videos and tried every grip yet no matter what I try I do not lose any signal. I have tried moistening my hands, using metal etc. Supposedly the issue is in the lower left corner where 2 bands are separated by a black strip. By touching both of these bands the antennas “short out” causing the loss of signal. If you read my earlier post you would know I did not get into the first batch of pre orders instead I ordered my iPhone on June 25th and received it July 9th. What this tells me is that the first batch of iPhones had a problem and were shipped anyway and the problem no longer exists for later batches of phones which also tells me that the problem most likely was occurring in the manufacturing process (maybe that’s why we haven’t seen the white IPhone yet). Although this is pure speculation on my part I feel it has a decent foundation.

Proximity Sensor

Another common issue seems to come from the proximity sensor just not working. The sensor is supposed to detect your face when you are on a call so that the screen turns off and you don’t press buttons with your cheek. This problem also can’t be reproduced on my iPhone.

Apple seems to be getting a lot of bad rep and if they in fact did know of the issue then silently fixed it and blamed it on software but left many pre ordered iPhones with the problem then they deserve the bad rep. It also very convenient that with the release of the new iPhone their very own rubber case which insulates the antenna was also released. I am sure many users bought the case and may not have even realized they had a problem at all. Either way I am very satisfied with my own iPhone 4.

iPhone 4 Design

The new design and shape of the iPhone 4 makes the invisble shield an awesome added protection. Since the new design has 2 glass sides, and 1 band around the outside there are no hard curves to apply the shield to. This should make the new invisible shield very very easy to put on the new phone from day 1 and keep my investment protected for a long time. Of course the shield won’t protect the bands but that is what bumpers or fat rubber bands can be used for. All in all so far I am glad I decided to try out the invisible shield again, especially since the only problem I had with the original was caused by the curvey phone design.

The Pricing

The Invisible Shield is very fairly priced for the amount of protection you get. Starting at $14.99 for individual front and back pieces or $24.99 for the full body protection you are getting a great deal of coverage for the cost lower than that of your average case.

You can check out ZAGG’s website here. They have shields for hundreds of different phones, computers, gps’s, and tons of other devices. They also have a bunch of videos showing the strength and durability of their shields, as well as how to apply the shield.

Enjoy and have fun protecting your awesome gadgets.

Yellow Dots and Streaks on the Screen

The yellow dots and streaks have been reported by a number of people, the problem really isn’t that severe and just seems to be from the adhesive for the glass not fully setting. The solution is simple use the phone and after a day or so of screen activity the adhesive will fully set and you will no longer have streaks or yellow dots.

Reversed Volume Buttons

I haven’t seen much information on this except for the occasional picture. The pictures seem to show that some iPhone’s were shipping with the buttons swapped putting the “-” on top and “+” on the bottom. This of course causes the “-” button to turn the volume up and the “+” to lower the volume. Whether this is a real problem or hoax, it doesn’t seem to make that big of a difference, how many people actually look at the buttons when adjusting the volume? Put a case on and you can’t see them anyway. For people who can’t live with this “unique” blunder, which could be worth money later on, take it to an Apple store and get another phone!

Reception Issues / Signal Bars / Grip of Death

Well this problem definitely seems to be getting the most attention especially, with the strange response from Apple. Apple claims that the formula to determine the number of signal bars to display has been wrong since the original iPhone came out, making the phone display up to 2 more bars than there really is. Okay so you say the problem has existed since the first iPhone, fine, you say my signal is actually 2 bars less, fine, but how does this have anything to do with losing signal this only describes the fact that the software displays two bars more than it should. The problem Apple seems to be focusing on would be the signal quality since the grip of death drops your bars all the way down. So is Apple saying that the software is wrongly displaying 5 bars, but when you change the way you hold the phone it changes the formula to display the actual 1 bar that you have always had? I don’t think so. On the other hand most of these popular youtube videos show the user losing all signal by using the grip of death, only one place actually did the test while on a call and guess what? The call would not drop or reduce quality no matter what the bars said / how he held the phone. I think this problem is some kind of software glitch that should be fixed in the next couple of weeks and is not that big of a deal, or at least not as big of a deal as everyone is making it out to be.

Lack of Supply

This has been one of the biggest disappointments and it seems like the disappointment could have been avoided. While selling 600,000 units in 1 day is quite a feat, actually that is 10x more than the 3GS launch. That being said why not stockpile the devices? Maybe there were development delays and they didn’t completely finish the iPhone until a few months before the release, if that is the case why not push the release back further to better accommodate demand? From a marketing POV they have done a great job of driving hype, but what happens when they over hype? If the product doesn’t live up to the hype then demand will fall and the supply will rise. If on the other hand the device does live up to its hype (which it seems to have for most people) then demand will increase and supply will continue to decrease, causing demand to increase even more since the device is so scarce and hard to get a hold of. Well most of this is my own theory and could be completely wrong but, why not just delay the release until they had adequate supply? My guess is they wanted to continue the annual tradition around the same time each year.

Price of the Bumpers

Well what did you expect? Apple put their name on the bumpers of course they are going to be $29. A few people have but the Lance Armstrong – Live Strong wrist bands to good use and say that with a small incision in the wrist band you can actually wrap the band around the outside of the phone and still have access to the dock and speakers. So spend your $29 because Apple told you to, or spend $1 and have a nice DIY bumper for your iPhone. Oh and if you happen to buy a breast cancer band, congrats you are also helping charity at the same time!

Waiting for my New iPhone

Well some of the problems will have to wait until I can actually test them out my self. My phone is due to arrive on 7/13 and I plan on getting it all set up and registered as a developer phone. Once this is done I can do some more examination in the “existing” problems and see if I can find any more. So I will be posting a review of the iPhone with in the next 2-3 weeks and hopefully have some positive posts as well!

Do you have a problem I didn’t mention? or just want to chime in? Feel free to leave comments!

-Chris