iPhone
Written by Zack MIlls
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Monday, 21 June 2010 22:00 |
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ytech_gadg/20100602/tc_ytech_gadg/ytech_gadg_tc2354
AT&T just did away with its all-you-can-eat smartphone data plans — bad news for those who stream video on their iPhones all day, but potentially good news for the rest of us, given that the cheapest of the new capped plans goes for just $15 (rather than $30) a month. Also: AT&T is finally ready to offer iPhone tethering.
First, a little background. Up until now, AT&T was charging all of its smartphone customers — including iPhone users — $30 a month for unlimited data usage. Starting Monday, June 7, the unlimited data option will be going away for new subscribers, to be replaced by two cheaper, capped plans. (If you're currently on an unlimited AT&T smartphone data plan, you don't have to switch to the new, capped options, which are required for new subscribers only. But AT&T says you can opt to make the switch without extending your contract.)
DataPro: Heavy smartphone users will probably opt for this $25-a-month plan, which offers up to 2GB of data a month at a $5 savings over the current unlimited plan. If you go over your 2GB monthlyallotment, AT&T will charge you $10 for an additional gigabyte. No, overage charges are never fun, but it's certainly better than typical per-MB overage rates, which result in those catastrophic $50,000 cellphone bills you see on CNN.
DataPlus: A $15-a-month option that offers 200MB of monthly data, good for (as AT&T puts it) 1,000 e-mails without attachments, plus 150 messages with attachments, plus 400 Web pages, plus about 20 minutes of streaming video. If you crack the 200MB monthly cap, you get another 200MB for $15.
So, which plan is right for you? That depends on how much data you're using a month, which you can typically check on your smartphone's settings menu (for the iPhone, tap "settings," then "general," then "usage," then scroll down to the "cellular network data" heading).
I consider myself a pretty heavy iPhone user, so I was leaning toward the $25-a-month DataPro plan. But to my great surprise, I found that I'd used barely a gigabyte of AT&T 3G data in the past seven — count 'em, seven — months, or about 133MB of data every 30 days. I guess that means I do the majority of my iPhone browsing and streaming over Wi-Fi. So I just might switch to DataPlus rather than to DataPro. I'd save $15 a month over my current $30-a-month unlimited plan, give or take the occasional overage charge.
To help keep track of your data usage, AT&T says it will send you up to three text-message warnings when you approach your monthly cap: when you've used 65 percent of your data, then 90 percent, then when you've run dry. You can also check your data usage using the myWireless app for the iPhone or by calling *DATA#.
What about those $30-a-month unlimited prepaid plans for the iPad? They're going away too, unfortunately, to be replaced by the $25-a-month DataPro plan — and that's a bummer, considering the iPad's aptitude at streaming video. But at least AT&T is offering up free, unlimited use of its 20,000 Wi-Fi hotspots.
Last but not least: Almost a full year after Apple first announced that the iPhone would support Internet tethering, AT&T is finally set to offering a tethering plan for U.S. iPhone users (starting "when Apple releasesiPhone OS 4 this summer"). Welcome news, but keep in mind that you'll fork over $20 a month extra to tether your iPhone (via USB or Bluetooth) to your laptop.
Overall, I have to say that I'm disappointed to see AT&T dumping its unlimited data plans, especially for iPad users — and don't be surprised if the other big U.S. carriers follow suit. Then again, depending on how much data you use on your smartphone, you actually might end up saving money on a cheaper, capped plan without feeling a thing. Indeed, based on my surprisingly low monthly data usage, I might fall into the latter category.
What do you think? Happy with AT&T's revamped data plans? Bummed that the unlimited plans are going away?
• AT&T: News release |
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Written by Zack MIlls
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Monday, 11 January 2010 14:10 |
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=7825754
15-MIN SOLUTION: CONNECT TO ITUNES AND REBOOT 3 TIMES TO AVOID RESTORE
So this has happened to me more times than i can count, and I've recovered both my phones (2G + 3G) using this method. I've seen some people in this thread allude to this solution but let me just spell it out completely and hopefully this will save you a few restores on your phone.
1. Connect to iTunes via USB. Do not disconnect for rest of these steps. iTunes may appear frozen or stuck with spinning beachball....this is okay, do not Force Quit iTunes. I tried a few times w/o it being connected to iTunes and it doesn't work. 2. Once connected, hold Home + Power until screen blinks then Apple logo comes back up. 3. Wait until Apple logo dims slightly (~5 minutes or less). Do NOT reboot until the apple logo dims. 4. Hold Home + Power again until it reboots and Apple logo comes back up. 5. After 2 min or so, the phone may vibrate once or twice. Continue waiting for the full 5 min until Apple logo dims slightly. iTunes at this stage MAY recognize the phone...do not sync or do anything in iTunes. 6. Hold Home + Power for the 3rd time until it reboots. Phone may vibrate again after 2 minutes or so. Eventually you'll break into your Home screen.
Hope that helps and let me know if it does.
Apparently what causes this endless loop is that the SpringBoard crashes upon launch (over and over again) and launches CrashReporter on the phone itself. It goes into an endless loop until somehow iTunes while connected via USB triggers some sort of fix on the SpringBoard or its preferences/database.
buzz |
Last Updated on Monday, 11 January 2010 14:11 |
Restore to 3.0.1 For iPhone 3G |
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Written by Zack MIlls
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Thursday, 29 October 2009 22:13 |
This is what I did to successfully Downgrade my iPhone OS from 3.1 to 3.0.1
First off I used a laptop that was not the main PC I have been getting backups from.
You will need to install iTunes 8.2.0.23.
Make sure you have a current backup of the phone, pull off any Notes, Pictures and or other Data that could be lost.
Completely remove any version of Itunes on the Laptop and Install iTunes 8.2
DOWNLOAD
- Connect iPhone to Laptop with iTunes 8.2
- Hold down Shift key while pressing restore
- Select Firmware
- http://www.felixbruns.de/iPod/firmware/
- Let it Run
- I got a 1015 Error at the end and the Phone is stuff in a iTunes connection mode.
- Now Disconnect iPhone
- Power off iPhone
- Shutdown iTunes
- Install iRecovery as well as move files to a easy path to get to.
- Run the *.exe inside a command prompt and issue the following commands
- Launch iRecovery
- ./iRecovery -s
- Issue Commands
- setenv auto-boot true
- saveenv
- fsboot
- and Once More
- fsboot
- Phone will reboot and eventually iTunes should pick it up Activate it ... and you are good to go.
I have attached all the files I used on a Windows XP PC's to pull this off.
Last but not least
- Connect iPhone to Desktop PC (the one that has the backups)
- Click restore from backup and pick a backup that was before you upgraded to 3.1, it should give you a nice warning if you select too new of one.
- I then synced my Apps from the PC to iPhone and I was back to how it was running nicely with firmware 3.0.1

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Last Updated on Thursday, 29 October 2009 23:23 |
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Calendar & Contacts Sync: Set Up Your iPhone or iPod Touch |
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Written by Zack MIlls
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Sunday, 13 September 2009 14:46 |
Requirements and Upload
1. Make sure your device has version 3.0 firmware or above. You can check your current version by going to Settings >General > About > Version. To upgrade, follow the instructions at http://www.apple.com/iphone/softwareupdate/.
2. Perform a sync with iTunes to ensure that Contacts and Calendars from your iPhone are backed up to your computer.
Note: Mail sync is not yet supported. You may receive error messages if you attempt to turn on Sync for Mail.
Getting Started
1. Open the Settings application on your device's home screen. 2. Open Mail, Contacts, Calendars. 3. Tap Add Account.... 4. Select Microsoft Exchange.
Enter Account Info
5. In the Email field, enter your full Google Account email address. If you use an @googlemail.com address, you may see an "Unable to verify certificate" warning when you proceed to the next step. 6. Leave the Domain field blank. 7. Enter your full Google Account email address as the Username. 8. Enter your Google Account password as the Password. 9. Tap Next at the top of your screen. 9a. Choose Accept if the Unable to Verify Certificate dialog appears. 10. A new Server field will appear. Enter m.google.com. 11. Press Next at the top of your screen again.
12. Select the Google services you want to sync. Currently only Contacts and Calendar are supported. Now supports Email
13. Unless you want to delete all the existing Contacts and Calendars on your phone, select the Keep on my iPhoneoption when prompted. This will also allow you to keep syncing with your computer via iTunes.
You've set up Google Sync for your iPhone. Synchronization will begin automatically if you have Push enabled on your phone. You can also open the Calendar or Contacts app and wait a few seconds to start a sync.
Next learn how to choose which calendars to sync, if you'd like to enable multiple calenders.
Tip: If your business, school, or organization uses Google Apps, your administrator will first need to enable Google Syncbefore you can take advantage of this feature.
OS Version 2.2.x
Requirements and Upload
1. Make sure your device has firmware version 2.2 or 2.2.1. You can check your current version by going to Settings >General > About > Version. Google Sync won't work on earlier versions of the firmware. To upgrade, follow the instructions at http://www.apple.com/iphone/softwareupdate/. If your iPhone or iPod has firmware version 3.0, it's important that you follow different setup instructions.
2. Upload any Contacts and Calendars from your phone to your computer before proceeding. The iPhone will delete Contacts and Calendars during setup. Learn how to upload your Contacts with iTunes: Instructions for PC - Instructions for Mac
3. The contacts that are replaced on your device will be the contents of your My Contacts group. This is the only group supported at this time, so make sure to clean up your My Contacts before syncing. Tip: If you have a Mac, make sure that Synchronize with Google in the Address Book app is OFF. Otherwise all of your contacts will sync to Address Book.
Note: Mail sync is not yet supported. You may receive error messages if you attempt to turn on Sync for Mail.
Getting Started
1. Open the Settings application on your device's home screen. 2. Open Mail, Contacts, Calendars. 3. Tap Add Account.... 4. Select Microsoft Exchange.
Enter Account Info
5. In the Email field, enter your full Google Account email address. If you use an @googlemail.com address, you may see an "Unable to verify certificate" warning when you proceed to the next step. 6. Leave the Domain field blank. 7. Enter your full Google Account email address as the Username. 8. Enter your Google Account password as the Password. 9. Tap Next at the top of your screen. 10. A new Server field will appear. Enter m.google.com. 11. Press Next at the top of your screen again.
12. Select the Google services you want to sync. Currently only Contacts and Calendar are supported. Make sure that you have uploaded your data before proceeding.
13. Press Sync twice when warned about data loss.
You've set up Google Sync for your iPhone. Synchronization will begin automatically if you have Push enabled on your phone. You can also open the Calendar or Contacts app and wait a few seconds to start a sync.
Next, learn how to choose which calendars to sync, if you'd like to enable multiple calenders.
Tip: If your business, school, or organization uses Google Apps, your administrator will first need to enable Google Sync before you can take advantage of this feature.
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Last Updated on Friday, 09 October 2009 15:46 |
Written by Zack MIlls
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Wednesday, 02 September 2009 20:11 |
I got my first iPhone, I ended up getting it right before the launch of the new iPhone 3GS so I ended up with a 8GB for only 99$. For the Cost I thought it was a pretty good deal. First thing to do was to test out tethering he phone (this was the key reason I got it) |
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