When the iPhone 4 was initially released on UK networks, the limitation of a 500MB cap of data seemed to deter most of us from iPhones or turn to Wi-Fi for downloading large files.
How unreasonable is 500MB of data per month?
As an iPhone user since the 3G came out, the satnav function has always been somewhat limited and never really worked until the 3GS and the digital compass were released. There had always been this little bit inside of me thinking – how can Nokia make OVI and Nokia Maps for free though Apple still decide to charge us.
Co-Pilot, TomTom and a whole other array of sat-nav programs are now avaliable on the iPhone but come with a price tag which made me cringe a bit. If we 
were to take TomTom as a reputable sat-nav for the iPhone, you have to purchase the software RRP £49.99 and then the in-car cradel which is a further £99.99. Not only do you have to pay for both of those but when you come to changing your iPhone 3GS to an iPhone 4, the cradle you have for your 3GS wouldn’t be compatible for the iPhone 4.
Now not a lot of people were happy with the prices of this as not only does TomTom take up over a gig on your iPhone but you have to purch
ase all of the accessories for it to make it full functional - and for the price of it you could go out and purchase a TomTom XL from a reputable retail store.
The point of the blog article is that iPhone users don’t have to pay for in-car GPS navigation programs like TomTom or Co-Pilot thanks to Navmii.
No cost, high quality.
NavFree does everything you’d expect from in-car GPS/satellite navigation, enabling you to search for an address by postcode, city, street or house, and be instantly routed there with full voice directions. NavFree will also re-route you if you take a wrong turn and provides you with handy information on journey distance, estimated time of arrival, points of interest and live Google Search for local facilities. Regular map updates will also be provided free of charge.
The only thing you’ll have to pay for is the addition of extra functions such as speed camera locations, local petrol prices and traffic information, which will be available as in-app purchases.
Allowing auto-rotation, it seems to work pretty well on the iPhone 4 (user experience can vary dependent on iPhone) and according to Navmii there is going to be an Android version out soon.
Changing the face of iPhone sat-nav?
Peter Atalla, CEO of Navmii, talking about the app:
“NavFree changes the face of GPS navigation on the iPhone. Anyone with an iPhone can now have satellite navigation for free. Mapping is provided by OpenStreetMap and is stored on the iPhone, making NavFree faster and more accurate than other free navigation services. What’s more, because the maps are stored on the phone, there are no mobile data charges – just high quality, no cost navigation. Users will be able to contribute to the success of NavFree, by providing feedback on the maps, making NavFree a community built, free to use, navigation app for iPhone and iPad.”
-Via Lifestyle Phone
While the iPhone has had multitasking and iOS 4 for quite some time, iPad users unfortunately are still st
uck with iOS 3. Never the less Apple aren’t going to be releasing this firmware (.ipsw) until November. Ironic time of release possibly as this could be when the other smart tablets are going to be released.
What’s in store for the iPad in iOS 4.2? Well a lot of things have made the transition from the iPhone version, including multitasking, but we didn’t get too many juicy details unfortunately.
-For more information go to the original article source here at Zath
Do you currently have an iPhone but find that with the release of 4.0-4.0.1 its running slower than ever and the battery is being consumed too quick?- If your answer was yes, you were in the same situation as me a few weeks ago when Apple released their iPhone 3G unhappy firmware which absolutely killed my poor 3G.
I found that not only the battery life was going faster than ever, but the actual phone was freezing at the sight of applications like TomTom, Games, Searches and texting – definitely what it is not meant to do on the tin.
1. Disabling Spot-light Search
Disabling Spotlight search will remove the search function from scrolling left on your home screen. This is useful if you want to search through archived information in your iPhone but not helpful if you have a 3G which needs as much processing power as possible.
If you want to disable this feature-
Settings > General > Home Button > Spotlight Search – ‘and just simply uncheck all of the options’
2. Disabling Location Services
Location Services is a useful option if you are running applications like Co-Pilot, TomTom or using Google Maps for your GPS as it helps determine where you are.
If you were to disable Location Services, you are just disabling the GPS function within the phone. Now, as much of an annoyance it may be having to go back through your main menu to re-enable Location Services, a quick short-cut would be to open Google Maps – it will simply display it’s been disabled and give you an option onscreen to re-enable it.
If you want to disable this feature–
Settings > General > Location Services > Off
3. Disabling 3G
This is really an optional extra if you want to disable 3G – it will mean that your internet browsing will be a bit slower than what it normally is.
3G definitely comes in use for faster web browsing but every little bit of battery helps especially with a 3G/3GS iPhone. You must also remember that you get a more consistent network type if you are on 2G compared to 3G. Data, Voice and Text services will still run like clockwork on a 2G reception and won’t be affected.
If you want to disable this feature –
Settings > General > Networking > Enable 3G – Set as ‘Off’
4. Disabling auto-rotation (applicable for iPhone 3GS/ 4)
Disabling auto-rotation in itself is a good feature to have as an enable/ disable feature giving the user more ways to customize their iPhone. Having an option for any iPhone to free up more processing power and keeping the response there – the autorotation disable feature is worthwhile.
The unfortunate thing is Apple have only enabled this feature with the iPhone 3GS and the iPhone 4 leaving the 3G to its own accordance which is rather unfair as the iPhone 3G is the phone which struggles the most with processing power and always lagging.
If you want to disable auto-rotation –
‘Double Tap Home Button’ > ‘allow multi-tasking function to open’ > ‘scroll to the left to iPod controls > select the locked padlock and circle around it’
5. Clearing any Cache, Internet History and Cookies
All of the three above are created from applications such as Safari where it stores login details from pages e.g. Facebook. As nice as it is to have all the information stored in Safari for this, you can download specific apps for Social Networking through the App Store.
In essence, the more temporary files are created, the large these get then the slower your phone gets.
You can download an application which does all of this for you called ‘Memory Sweep’ and you can download it here
Or if you feel ambitious, you can do it manually here –
Settings > Safari > Clear History/ Clear Cookies/ Clear Cache
6. Select other Domain Name endings .co.uk/.com etc
This is a really good top-tip whilst you’re in Safari and it enables you to easily put the extinction of a URL into the address bar. If you now hold down the ‘.com’ button, it will now display a whole load of new endings e.g. .com/.co.uk/.org and more
7. Disabling Wi-Fi
This is good practice to keep your Wi-Fi as disabled as it will preserve your battery for longer. If you decide to keep it enabled, your iPhone will look for new networks whenever it wants to and simply alert you when a new hotspot is available. When you want to stream anything like BBC iPlayer or Catch-up TV on Demand (www.iphone.tvcatchup.com), I would recommend re-enabling your Wi-Fi to save the data on your data plan.
To disable you’re Wi-Fi –
Settings > Wi-Fi > Off
8. Most important of them all – Backing up your iPhone
One of the first thing anyone should do when they get an iPhone and maintain doing it once or twice a week for best practice would be backing up your iPhone.
In iTunes, where your iPhone name appears on the left hand side, right click on the iPhone name and select ‘Backup’ and ‘Transfer all purchases’. This will create an image of backup storing all contacts, images and settings onto your computer as well as put all your applications into your iTunes library ready for re-sync.
This comes in use if you need to send your phone away for repair or if you have to claim through an insurance policy for a new iPhone. With restoring the image, when you get your new iPhone and you come to the configuration screen, it will automatically prompt you with a previous backup option of restoring it.
After finally getting hold of an iPhone 4 two weeks after being released on the 24th June, I’m defiantly one to say that I have been waiting for this to come around for a while thanks to the rumours, leaks and teasing information Gizmodo have published. Not only have Apple increased certain areas within the phone with a new A4 1Ghz processor, but the resolution of the screen through to the design of the outside and the robust rugged stainless steel band is one of a few new features the iPhone holds to make it that little bit more desirable and stylish opposed to its competitors such as the Nexus One and numerous HTC phones.
With an all new Retina Display, the Apple have now crammed a 960X640 backlit LCD display which has a 326pixel per inch making it one of the highest resolution phones on the market. However, to compensate for the energy hungry screen which is very good for watching films on, Apple have also increased the battery life to 300hrs stand-by and 14hrs talktime (2G) lithium-ion polymer battery opposed to the 3GS’s lithium-ion 300hr stand-by and 12hr talktime (2G).
The design to the iPhone is certainly different with its two ‘aluminosilicate glass’ front and back cover with Stainless Steel band outside which is made from Apples ‘own alloy’ which is ‘five times stronger than steel’ . Just to make it all fancier, Aluminosilicate Glass is used in helicopter windshields and high-speed trains. The iPhone’s central processor has been upped from the 3GS’s 600MHz processor to a staggering 1 GHz A4 processor which is best suited for multi-tasking, quick execution of programs and a faster response from the phone.
We’ve seen no change in the multi-touch iPhones capacitive touch screen as virtually all smartphones now incorporate this feature as it’s more reliable and precise to pressure driven touch screen on handsets like the Nokia 5800. Capacitive Touch screens work by relying on the electrical properties of the human body to detect when and where on the display the user is touching. Because of this, capacitive touch screens don’t work with styluses or a gloved hand; with this type of screen, it also means that the handset can support multi-tap for those quick texters.
With capacity available in either 16 or 32GB storage, there’s always enough room to sync your music, films and apps to the phone. We still have applications like the Compass which is very precise in pointing where you are longitudinal and latitudinal values which means that within Google Maps, you have enable an auto-rotation feature for the maps meaning when you turn, the maps turn; this is good if you are walking around but with no voice turn-by-turn feature, you have to refer back to a sat-nav or purchase either TomTom or Co-Pilot.
For the entertainment factor, we’ve got features such as the ‘App Store’ which allows users to purchase and download applications over the air to keep them amused and entertained; applications range from Social Networking right through to Utilities. Where previous users of iPhone before the release of 4.0 firmware, iPhone users would have had numerous amounts of pages cluttered with applications but since the release of 4.0, Apple have now allowed Folders from a main screen. This means you can have your Twitter, Tweetdeck and Facebook in a Social Networking folder and then have Sky Sports, BBC News apps in a News folder making your interface nice and clean.
With all of the new features Apple have managed to cram into the their handset, compatibility with exchange 2010, an improved 5megapixel camera with LED flash, video calling, front facing camera and new firmware have all been worthwhile updates for Apple to stay competitive within the market and keep all of their current and new customers eager to get hold of one of these new wave of technology handsets and for the public to show their devotion to the Apple brand, queues ranged anywhere between 4hrs-over 24hrs dependent on how much you wanted it and where your position was in the queue.
However, if you are getting ready to upgrade and thinking about going for the iPhone 4, unless you are wanting the higher megapixel camera, sharper density within the screen, faster execution and more speed whilst multi-tasking, there’s not a lot of difference between the two. The mobile phone industry is changing rapidly and rumors have of Qualcomm who design CPU’s for mobile phones are working on 1.3GHz processors for Windows Mobile 7 phones; this means that again, within the fourth quarter another load of phones will come out through LG, HTC and competing manufactures.
For a phone which was discovered in a bar in Redwood City, USA as someone had lost it and from Gizmodo getting hold of it and then leaking it onto the internet, Apple got the media engaged as well as their customers straight away and kept everyone eager to get hold of one, when the iPhone was released Apple managed to sell over 1.7million phones in just three days.
