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iPhone 1.1.3 Update Confirmed, Breaks Apps and Unlocks

Posted by Zonk on from the peak-into-the-itech-future dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Gizmodo has gathered conclusive evidence which confirms that the iPhone Firmware 1.1.3 update is 100% real. It installs only from iTunes using the obligatory Apple private encryption key, which nobody has. The list of new features, like GPS-like triangulation positioning in Google Maps, has been confirmed too. Apparently it will be coming out next week, but there's bad news as expected: it breaks the unlocks, patches the previous vulnerabilities used by hackers and takes away all your third-party applications."

7 of 412 comments (clear)

  1. Not remotely GPS-like.. by Junta · · Score: 3, Informative

    It gives a vague couple-mile area that you should be in or around. Google has been working to give this to phones lacking aGPS, but it's not a good excuse for lacking the feature when my zero-charge (one-year contract zero money) phone does have it.

    --
    XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
    1. Re:Not remotely GPS-like.. by Nyeerrmm · · Score: 4, Informative

      It changes depending on your location. Down around my house, in a suburban area, the circle is about half a mile, but it tends to be accurate within a quarter mile. However, when I was downtown a few nights ago, I noticed that the circle was within about .2 miles i think, and the location within .1 mile.

      I'd imagine towers are denser in most dense walking areas, allowing more accurate positions (with more intersecting hyperbolae), and that's where I see the feature being most useful. T

      That is, the feature isn't a replacement for something like a Garmin or TomTom, but I can see it being very useful for when you're lost in a pedestrian area and have time to look at a street sign and get your precise position once it gets you very close.

  2. Re:Tis the Season by Doomstalk · · Score: 3, Informative

    By "small minority" you mean almost 18% of all iPhone owners.

  3. Unlocking is not the same as running applications by SuperKendall · · Score: 3, Informative

    The original poster was talking about users running applications. Apple is also taking away region unlocks, but that's a different matter and a very different issue and there are arguments that make sense for both sides of that conflict.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  4. Re:Tis the Season by bushelpeck · · Score: 3, Informative

    Apple's not fighting their users, they're protecting them, from their perspective.

    The jailbreaks are dependent on vulnerabilities which really can't be allowed to remain, for the security of the entire userbase. When the SDK is released all the developers who've already made apps will have a big head start and the good ones will even have an opportunity to get paid for their hard work if they choose.

    Should be unnecessary to point this out on /. but a hack is, well, a hack. Isn't that the fun of it?

  5. Re:Just need to wait until it's jailbreaked... by longacre · · Score: 3, Informative

    This isn't unique to iPhone. The beta of the latest version of Google Maps Mobile (except the Palm version) offers a "My Location" feature for non-GPS phones, and is also integrated with GPS.

    --
    Airplane Photos, Airline News, Planespotting Guides
  6. Re:Jesus Christ, iPhone is not life or death by reidconti · · Score: 4, Informative

    If you're determined to pay too much for a calling plan and an overpriced phone, this is what's going to happen. Sure, it looks cool, but it's locked down enough to make Microsoft blush. I mean, come on. Verizon 900 minutes + unlimited data = $105ish after taxes. I know, I had a Moto Q just before the iPhone price drop, when I bought mine.
    AT&T iPhone 900 minutes + unlimited data + rollover minutes = $85ish after taxes.

    As for the 3rd party apps, I'll reserve judgment until after the SDK comes out. Like any half intelligent consumer, I bought the iPhone because I was happy with what it did, out of the box, at the price they charged. I did install the jailbreak + some third party apps on the original OS, but none of them were that useful. When the software update came out I knew it would trash my 3rd party apps but didn't care, so I installed it.

    To be honest, I didn't need any of the apps and am not really missing any functionality. I didn't even know there were ways to install 3rd party apps on the newer firmwares, that's how little I care.

    Once the SDK comes out and apps are "officially" available I'll take another look and see if there's anything I can't live without.