iPhone 2.0 - 3G Settings!
We all know it’s coming. Steve Jobs said so. AT&T said so. Everyone and their blog has posted so. But it’s still super sweet to see Apple code confirming it!
Apple Insider (via Chronic Productions) brings word that deep delving the latest iPhone SDK firmware has yet again revealed buried treasure. This time, Beta 5 gives up the strings for 3G:
Most notable is a setting that will allow users of the second-generation iPhone — expected for an unveiling sometime in the coming weeks — to disable 3G access in favor of prolonging the handset’s battery life. “Using 3G loads data faster, but decreases battery life,” reads a caption beneath the setting toggle.
The ability to toggle 3G data on and off — in other words, manually handle the transition — is an interesting decision for Apple, and one they’re squarely labeling the blame for on battery life.
Is this a way to cover still poorer-than-needed power efficiency on the 3G chipset? Something that may annoy users? A beta feature for people testing the mythical 3G right now inside Apple? Something that might not survive to the release version?
My guess is yes to all the above. What do you think?
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May 12th, 2008 at 10:15 am
Great! iPhoneiPodTouch Blog
May 12th, 2008 at 10:31 am
Unless Apple can do more radio managment ninjary than I believe is even possible, I hope they leave the toggle option there. It’s very nice to have on WinMo.
May 12th, 2008 at 10:51 am
What is this WinMo you speak of?
May 12th, 2008 at 11:38 am
Maybe trinary options? Off/Auto/On, whereby Auto Apple tries to manage it as automagically as possible (on for high-bandwidth content like media, off for low-bandwidth content like text?
No, wait, that’s too many options, isn’t it?
May 12th, 2008 at 11:38 am
By WinMo he means Windows Mobile. There is a option on Windows Mobile devices to shut off 3g.
May 12th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
Who says “on” doesn’t mean “auto?”
May 13th, 2008 at 8:53 pm
iPhone can’t compete with BlackBerrys radio and battery management..
May 16th, 2008 at 10:34 am
@Cliff
Good point!
@AK
If by “can’t compete” you mean “had Mobile OS X rather than outdated Java-based mini-OS” than we agree
June 4th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
[...] 12, 2008: Apple Insider brought word of developers discovering strings that indicated 3G data support. While some controversy surrounding fake/mocked-up screenshots distracted from the news, this was [...]