A few tricks, apps for disabling lengthy iPhone backups

By David Chartier | Published: July 30, 2008 - 01:24PM CT

With great iPhone OS 2.0 power comes great responsibility—in the form of an excruciatingly long backup process that precedes every sync operation. From complaints across blogs, our forums, and Twitter, these backups can last anywhere from 5 to 45 minutes or, in the case of one Apple support discussion, a whopping 15 hours. Thankfully there are a few simple workarounds, but as usual, they have a catch.

The first trick to getting around an epic iPhone backup is simply to hit the (X) button in iTunes' status window during the backup process. This will stop the backup and begin the familiar sync process, but clicker be warned: doing this will leave you with a corrupt backup since iTunes apparently trashes each backup on the fly when beginning a new one. Smart move, Apple. We guess we should be thankful that Time Machine doesn't exhibit the same behavior.

Still, if you're on a crunch for time or simply don't care about having a clean backup to restore from, this simple trick is an easy way to go.

The second method to prevent iPhone backups is simply to remove that step of the process from iTunes' to-do list. This can be done with a Terminal command, as Gizmodo details, or with a simple donationware utility like Backup Disabler. This way, you can perform a backup when you know you have time, then use one of these methods to manually disable the operation until you've finished whooping some Bomberman, Enigmo, or de Blob arse to the point where saving your progress becomes a prudent idea.

Naturally, we join the rest of y'all in hoping that Apple will both improve the iPhone backup process and give us a little more control over how often they're performed. Having a backup of a device like the iPhone is a no-brainer, but like other arguably more significant iPhone OS 2.0 problems, Apple really needs to slap some polish on here.

credit - arstechnica.com

Sluggish iPhone 3G interface, text input reported

Posted By benwilson On July 17, 2008 @ 10:15 am In Troubleshooting | 6 Comments

Several users are reporting inordinately sluggish system performance from the iPhone 3G, particularly with regard to scrolling, text input, and return to the home screen. The issue appears to be endemic to iPhone OS 2.0, as users of first-generation phones who have updated to the new software are also experiencing lag.

A sampling of reports from this Apple Discussions [1] thread:

• “I did a […] side by side test and yes the new operating system on the iPhone 3G is much slower for every application…typing is a pain because of the obvious response delay”
• “Both my wife and I are having the same problem. We both have 1st Gen iPhones which have been upgraded with the v2.0 software release.”
• “Same problems here. Sometimes the typing goes quick, but most of the times right after startup of the phone. Afterwards it goes slow.”

A series of YouTube videos, embedded below, demonstrate the issues:

Slow SMS text input:

Slowness in various interface elements:

iPhone OS 2.0 Unlocked

The new iPhone OS 2.0 software has been unlocked and jailbroken. It was released just hours ago and it has already been cracked by the iPhone Dev Team. The first one took a couple of months, but this one was actually unlocked before Apple released it to the public. And you have had the proof in front of you all morning.

If you were wondering how I was doing push email tests on iPhone OS 2.0 and Vodafone UK, this is the reason why. The code wizard commandos at the iPhone Dev Team have been working on this non-stop since the early days of beta testing. In fact, I had iPhone OS 2.0 running on my iPhone since last week. That was version 5A345, two below 5A347, but identical in functionality.

Now that the official iPhone OS 2.0 is out, the iPhone Dev Team will release their Pwnage tool for everyone to unlock and jailbreak their iPhones soon, although the specific date/time is not firm yet. It may not be as interesting as before—since most countries now have the iPhone and it will be impossible to buy without doing a contract first—but people looking to install unsigned applications and buy pay-as-you-go cards while traveling—instead of roaming—will find it very useful.

And besides, we don't get tired of seeing the Death Star exploding again and again. [iPhone Dev Team Portal]