Category Archives: iPhone 4S
Samsung Demands Apple To Hand Over iPhone 4S Firmware Source Code
I am sure all of you would have read one thing or another on the on-going legal battle between Samsung and Apple, well here is some more for you; Samsung is now asking the Australian court for the source code of the iPhone 4S’ firmware, and also any agreements that have been made with Vodafone, Telstra and Optus prior to the launch in Australia.
Obviously this fight between these two massive corporations is hitting turmoil now with Apple getting the Galaxy Tab 10.1 temporarily banned in South Korea, and very nearly banned in Australia until Samsung made Apple an offer they could not refuse, which apparently didn’t turn out that well for Samsung as well.
With Samsung now filing these bans against Apple and their use of their wireless patents, Cynthia Cochrane told Australian courts today:
“It goes to show that since the iPhone 3G was made available in Australia in July 2008, the impact on the market for every iPhone product has been significant, and has lead to a substantial increase…in market share by revenue”
And in order for there to be any legal cause, the company (Apple) would need to show all the source code of the iPhone 4S and deals made prior to launch in the future. Samsung is looking to see all of this information so it knows the exact amount Apple pays in comparison to what Samsung pays for.
Apple deny the infringement claiming Samsung agreed to license the three patents in question under Fair, Reasonable, and Non-Discriminatory terms (FRAND) standard.
One major problem striking Samsung is the fact the iPhone 4S has been on sale in Australia for over two weeks, Apple in the past have filed their problems before launch days, but I feel Samsung have lost this battle before it even makes it’s way to the light.
C Spire Wireless To Offer Apple’s iPhone 4S On November 11th With Unlimited Data Plans
Couple of weeks back, Regional carrier C Spire Wireless surprised everyone by announcing that it will be offering Apple’s new iPhone 4S in the coming weeks.
C Spire has now announced that it will be offering both iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 from November 11th and will start taking pre-registrations from today.
C Spire has announced:
iPhone 4S will be available starting at $199.99 for the 16GB model, $299.99 for the 32GB model and $399.99 for the 64GB model with a new two-year contract and data plan. In addition, the iPhone 4 8GB model is available for $99.99, also with a new two-year contract and data plan.iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 will be available at C Spire Wireless retail stores, online at www.cspire.com/iPhone and through the Telesales group at 1-855-CSPIRE4. C Spire customers can pre-register for iPhone beginning today at www.cspire.com/iPhone.
C Spire has also announced competitive voice and data plans for iPhone customers, which includes unlimited data.
As you can see from the pricing chart above, Plan 1 and 2 come with a peculiar restriction, it doesn’t include streaming. MacRumors reports according to C Spire’s streaming policies:
the company typically offers 30 minutes of free streaming of “videos, music and game broadcasts” in each 30-day billing cycle, although unlimited streaming is currently free through the end of the year. Unlimited streaming access is available as an add-on for $30 per billing cycle, or separate streaming passes can be purchased for $5 (two hours), $10 (five hours), or $30 (unlimited for 30 days) as needed.
In case you didn’t know,
iPhone 4S To Be Launched In 15 More Countries Next Week
According to an official press release, Apple will start rolling out the iPhone 4S to fifteen more countries.
The news comes directly from Apple, Inc. in the form of an official press release posted on their website in which the company announces that the iPhone 4S will be available in fifteen more countries starting Friday, November 11th.
From the official press release:
Beginning Friday, November 11, iPhone 4S will be available in Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, El Salvador, Greece, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Malta, Montenegro, New Zealand, Panama, Poland, Portugal, Romania and South Korea. iPhone 4S is available today in 29 countries around the world and will be available in more than 70 countries by the end of the year.
After being announced at Apple’s Let’s Talk iPhone event on October 4th, the iPhone 4S was launched on October 14th in seven countries to extraordinarily high demand. Apple has called this phone’s launch the most successful iPhone launch in history – with over a million pre-orders and four million units sold through the first weekend alone. Strong sales are expected to continue as Apple has promised to make the iPhone available in more than seventy countries by the end of the year.
The countries included in November 11th’s rollout include: Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, El Salvador, Greece, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Malta, Montenegro, New Zealand, Panama, Poland, Portugal, Romania and South Korea. If you’re located in one of the countries mentioned above, you can pre-order an iPhone 4S for yourself by visiting Apple’s Online Store and choosing your country from the bottom of the page.
Using Siri and MailShot Pro to send email to groups
One of the more useful features of Siri on the iPhone 4S is the ability to send email messages by asking Apple’s intelligent assistant to do it.
Telling Siri to “Email [name or nickname] about [subject]” produces a nicely formatted, but empty Mail message that Siri asks you to complete via dictation. This works fine with sending email to individuals, but what about sending to groups?
Erica Sadun and I pondered this question as we were writing our popular ebook “Talking to Siri: Learning the Language of Apple’s Intelligent Assistant.” We found the answer in a US$3.99 app called MailShot Pro.
Installing the app on your iPhone 4S lets you create custom groups which Siri can use to send emails to several recipients at once. With a quick tap, you can import individual names from the Contacts app or groups from Address Book on your Mac.
You can also add names and email addresses manually. The groups end up in your Contacts list, accessible to Mail (via Siri or directly), FaceTime, Messages, and any app that can use an address from Contacts.
For the OCD folks out there, MailShot Pro includes a nice touch — being able to sort the names in your group. If you only have a few groups with a handful of people in each group, you might wish to check out the free version of the app — MailShot.
Should you need
Location Services Bug May Be Responsible For iPhone 4S Battery Life Issues
Substantial battery drain on the iPhone 4S, reported earlier, might be because of a bug in the way iOS 5 handles location services.
Switching on “Setting Time Zone,” an option buried deep in the Settings app, might result in location services being called too frequently resulting in the excessive battery drainage.
Location services, as we all know, if not used efficiently can result in huge battery consumption reducing device standby time. Background location calls are even riskier, since they can keep happening even when your phone is in sleep mode.
“Setting Time Zone”, it seems polls location services even when the user hasn’t moved a lot. The way background location services API works is, if the user moves a set distance, say 10 km, then iOS sends a notification to the app after which the app can take required action. Since “Setting Time Zone” is an internal service, its implementation isn’t known, but switching off the option seems to do the trick for a lot of users.
So you can switch off the “Setting Time Zone” preference (Settings>Location Services>System Services) to see if it improves your iPhone 4S’ battery life. You anyway don’t need this option turned on unless you travel between different time zones.
If this doesn’t work, try
