iPhone OS 3.1.2 Released
A month after Apple made iPhone OS 3.1 available, version 3.1.2 for the iPhone and iPod touch can now be downloaded via iTunes.
Besides achieving version synchronicity (3.1.1 came with the 3G iPod touch), the update addresses issues with waking from sleep, cellular network disruption, and crashes while streaming video.
The most notable problem, the “iPhone coma” issue, resulted in some iPhones becoming unresponsive, touch controls not working, and phone not ringing when called. This required a hard reboot, but that was only a workaround. It’s still too early to tell whether 3.1.2 is a true fix for that pernicious issue.
Unfortunately, what was not addressed in the terse update log at all was battery life. That’s a little irritating because the problem has been acknowledged by Apple as “under investigation.” While fixes for issues relating to loss of network connection or random crashing/freezing are always welcome, those issues seem to affect a relatively small number of users. The battery life problem likely impacts most iPhones, if not most iPhone owners, the latter being dependent on how the individual uses the iPhone. Still, one hopes there is an iPhone OS update coming that will address the power management issue, and sooner rather than later.
In addition to the iPhone OS update, there is also a carrier update, version 5.6, but no info on what it does.
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Video: Apple’s Awesomely Improved iPhone Remote App
I like the Apple TV as a device, but it’s remote is awful. It’s the same little dinky white one that used to come with all Apple computers a few years ago. While it’s pretty good for using the FrontRow feature on a computer, your computer also has a keyboard for navigation and things like searching — the Apple TV does not. And so the white remote by itself is painfully slow navigating the Apple TV. But with an update to both the Apple TV and its Remote app available for the iPhone and iPod touch, Apple has completely revamped the way you can navigate the system using gestures and multi-touch.
Watch the videos below to see it in action, but to say this is improved is beyond an understatement. Rather than clicking those little buttons dozens of times, you can now just slide around the iPhone screen to move around. And it’s much easier to get to the iPhone’s keyboard to do things like searches — a funtionality which is basically unusable with the white remote.
Find the updated Remote app in the App Store here, it’s a free download and will work with iTunes on your computer as well.
Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
