Posts Tagged ‘iOS 4.1’
“Limera1n” exploit delivers jailbreak for iPhone 4.1 software
The first iPhone operating system (iOS) 4.1 jailbreak has hit the streets. Hacker Geohot’s lets users hack their phones to install a variety of unofficial apps and tweaks.
The exploit currently supports the iPhone 4, iPhone 3G S, iPod Touch 3rd gen and 4th gen, and the iPad. It only works on official iOS releases at the moment, so don’t expect it to jailbreak any early beta software. Limera1n is Windows-only at the moment, but Geohot says that a Mac version is on the way. He stresses that the exploit is still a beta release, which means rough edges may get smoothed over with future releases.
We that the iPhone Dev Team, a rival hacker group, had come across an exploit for iOS 4.1 (dubbed “Shatter”) that targets a low-level portion of the OS, which makes it impossible for Apple to patch the exploit with a simple software upgrade. That means all existing iOS devices will be able to rely on their exploit forever, and Apple won’t be able to fix the security hole until it rolls out new hardware. But that group hasn’t released its exploit to the general public, making Geohot the first to make a jailbreak publicly available.
It’s unclear if Limera1n is taking advantage of the same security hole as the iPhone Dev Team, although Geohot says that his exploit is similarly “unpatchable” by Apple. (It can also technically jailbreak the Apple TV, .) By releasing his exploit first, Geohot has thrown down the gauntlet to the iPhone hacking community — potentially forcing other groups to finalize their own exploits soon. The iPhone Dev team is currently recommending that users wait for its Shatter exploit to be released, .
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iPod Touch accounts for 38 percent of iPhone-compatible devices
Using a bit of clever math, app maker and market analyst firm has determined that about 38 percent of all 120 million reported iOS device sales are iPod Touches.
The company got the value by subtracting the 59.6 million iPhones and 3.2 million iPads sold through June (figures presented in Apple’s SEC filings) and the estimated July and August iPad and iPhone sales of 12 million — a combined 74.8M iPads and iPhones sold to date — from the 120 million total iOS devices that have been sold to date. The 120 million figure was announced in Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ seemingly annual on Wednesday.
Jobs said the iPod Touch had become the number one mobile gaming platform — above the Nintendo DS and Sony Playstation portable — during the same presentation. Apple in the quarter ending June 26.
It looks to be in an even better position to advance into the portable gaming market with some new hardware. The new iPod Touch boasts Apple’s A4 processor, as well as a gyroscope, and front- and rear-facing camera. Apple will also release iOS 4.1 sometime this week, which brings the Game Center — a multiplayer gaming platform for iOS — live.
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Apple’s iOS 4.1 actually usable on the iPhone 3G (video)
We reported a few weeks ago that in iOS 4 for iPhone 3G users. We assumed he was referring to Apple’s update, and indeed it looks to speed up iPhone 3G performance, according to .
The video demonstrates both operating systems performing the same tasks — including general Maps, Photos, and Safari usage — on an iPhone 3G. iOS 4.1 seems faster overall, but the only major improvement is in the Maps application. Other tasks seem only marginally improved. Lifehacker adds that it’s still much slower than running iOS 4 on an iPhone 3G S or iPhone 4.
For iPhone 3G users who aren’t yet ready to upgrade and want the fastest experience possible, iOS 3 still seems to be the better option. If you’re a sucker for the new features in iOS 4 (which are limited to begin with on the iPhone 3G, since it lacks support for multitasking and wallpaper backgrounds) then iOS 4.1 is your ticket.
There will likely be further speed improvements down the line for the iPhone 3G, but since it’s now a discontinued model, I wouldn’t expect Apple to invest too much time in it. And given that it sports a much slower processor than more modern iPhones, and a paltry 128MB of RAM (compared to the 3G S’s 256MB, or the iPhone 4’s 512MB), there’s only so much Apple would be able to do to eke out more speed.
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Apple: iOS 4.1 still doesn’t fix problem with iPhone 4 proximity sensor
Along with the iPhone 4’s (a situation the tech press has dubbed “antennagate”), there were also complaints of an issue with its proximity sensor, which led to accidental button presses when the phone was held up to your face during a call.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs said that the company was looking into the issue when . But now Apple Australia spokeswoman Fiona Martin says that it still hasn’t fixed the issue, .
iPhone 4 users have been expecting a fix with iOS 4.1, the next major iPhone software upgrade that’s expected to be released in the next few weeks. noted that proximity sensor functionality seemed improved, but Apple has never officially said that the update would offer a fix.
There’s always the chance that Martin is mistaken, so we’ve dropped a line to Apple to see what its U.S. representatives have to say.
Personally, I’ve found the proximity sensor issue far more annoying than the antenna problem — it’s now practically impossible for me to hold my iPhone on my shoulder, and hands-free, like I would with a normal phone. Like AT&T’s notoriously finicky cellular network, the sensor issue is yet another iPhone problem that makes it a far more appealing portable computer than an actual phone.
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