iPhone owners report that the latest software update for
their smart device has significantly boosted its wireless reception.
Gregg Keizer, Computerworld
Wednesday, August 22, 2007 2:00 PM PDT
iPhone owners are reporting that the
latest software update for their smart device has significantly boosted its
wireless reception.
The second update issued this month went live Tuesday via iTunes, the usual update mechanism for iPhone
owners. Although Apple Inc. only said 1.0.2
included unspecified "bug fixes," owners on several popular message forums,
including those on the MacRumors site, have come forward with claims that the
iPhone now connects to wireless access points once written off as out of range.
"My wifi reception is definitely better," a user identified as schulzmc said
Tuesday. "While in my office I have never been able to connect to the wifi hub
in the conference room down the hall [but after the update] I was surprised that
the Edge connection seemed faster, until I realized I was connected to the wifi
hub with two bars. For me, this is a huge issue, as I was preparing to try to
deal with whatever hassle it would take to get the wifi connection extended to
my office area."
"Wifi reception and connection is much improved," seconded snowboarder on the
same thread Tuesday. "The phone works better. Some places I had problems with
before now work like a charm."
Reports of other changes were more mixed. Some who applied the 3.7MB update,
for example, swore that speakerphone volume -- a long-standing issue for users
who complain it's too low -- was boosted by the new software. Others, however,
said it was as low as ever.
Problems with the update appeared to be centered on those who had changed, or
"modded" their iPhones with unsanctioned hacks to, among other things, let them
add their own ringtones. Applying the 1.0.2 update meant owners of modded
iPhones had to restore the device from scratch. That wasn't unexpected, however,
since Apple's 1.0.1 update did the same thing.
iPhone users can wait out the update interval -- iTunes automatically checks
Apple's update servers once a week -- or retrieve 1.0.2 manually by selecting
"Check for Update" under the iTunes Help menu and then docking the iPhone to the
PC or Mac.
I found this at
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,136296-c,iphone/article.html
Well
would you look at that, instructions are now available for downgrading
your iPhone from 1.1.1 to 1.0.2. It won't downgrade your baseband,
meaning so far you can't re-unlock an iPhone that's been 1.1.1-ified,
but it's still 1.0.2 in all its third-party application glory. The
iPhone Dev Team folks are working on a way to downgrade the new
firmware to let people unlock their phones again, but for now AT&T
users sitting pretty, and non-AT&T folks can at least do the WiFi
thing. There's a video tutorial after the break.
