Running the new iPhone OS on an old iPhone 3G

Users of older iPhones and iPod touches don't get the best features of iOS 4, the new iPhone operating system. But we do get a few new goodies.

The big new feature of iOS 4 is multitasking -- the ability to run selected applications in the background while doing other things in the foreground.

But don't get too excited, my fellow iPhone 3G users. We don't get multitasking. The processor in the 3G just isn't powerful enough. Same thing for the iPod touch G2, which is pretty much the same device as the iPhone 3G, without the phone parts.



However, users of the iPhone 3G and iPod touch G2 aren't entirely abandoned. We do get a few of the good new features in iOS 4.

The biggest new feature for us: Icon folders, to help tidy up your home screens. If you have dozens of apps for your iPhone, it can be hard to find a specific one. Icon folders make it easier. Just press an icon and hold it until all the icons on the screen start to wiggle, then drag one icon onto another. When you lift your finger, the two icons will have merged into a single, black square the size of one of the original icons, with the two icons in miniature inside. It looks like this:



Tap one of the folders, and it expands like this, giving you access to all the apps inside.



The second major feature of iOS 4 that's relevant to the iPhone 3G is a universal inbox for the Mail app. Instead of having separate inboxes for each of your e-mail accounts, you can view all your e-mail for all accounts in a single inbox. And messages are threaded into separate conversations.

Mail users can also connect to multiple ActiveSync accounts. That means you can sync to your Microsoft Exchange server at work and your Gmail server for personal mail. Nice!

Other iOS 4 features available to iPhone 3G users: Spell-check, character counts in composing text messages, the ability to show and hide individual calendars, and organizing photos by Events, Faces, and Places (but you have to set that up on iPhoto 09 on your desktop),

Other iOS 4 features not available to iPhone 3G users: Bluetooth keyboard support, custom wallpapers, FaceTime video calling.

Here's a rundown of iOS update compatibility, for all iOS devices:

- The original iPhone and iPod touch G1 (2007) don't get the update at all -- they're not compatible.

- The iPhone 3G and iPod touch G2 (2008) get the update, but don't get multitasking, custom wallpaper, and Bluetooth keyboard support.

- The iPhone 3GS and iPod touch G3 (2009) get all the features except those requiring iPhone 4 hardware, mainly FaceTime video chat.

- The iPhone 4, which ships in a few days, gets all the new features of course.

- The iPad gets the update in the fall.

I upgraded my trusty iPhone 3G to the new iOS as soon as it became available yesterday. I was one of the people who experienced problems. The process took a long time, three hours. I just let it run during that time, and busied myself with other things. Like, y'know, work.

I've tried out most of my major applications, and they all work fine, except one: Push Gmail, a $1.99 Gmail client, which now crashes as soon as I try to open an e-mail message. No big deal, I've just gone back to using the iPhone's Mail app.

As for performance: There doesn't seem to be any net change over iOS 3.x. My faithful iPhone 3G doesn't seem to run any faster under iOS 4, but it doesn't seem to run any slower either.

All in all, the iOS upgrade is no big deal for iPhone 3G users. But it does add a couple of nice features to my trusty iPhone 3G.

I'm looking forward to getting the iPhone 4; it's due to be delivered in about two weeks.

By the way, I've noticed when I start referring to devices as "trusty" and "faithful," it means the thing has become old and decrepit and I'm about to replace it, sticking the old device in the back of a closet for eventual recycling.

Don't tell my iPhone 3G about my plans, though. I haven't told it it's being replaced. I've told it that I'm going to send it to live on a farm where it can play with all the other phones all day.

Microsoft releases eight bug fixes and warns of IE zero–day vulnerability

Microsoft's March Patch Tuesday monthly security update was relatively light, but the software maker also issued an advisory, warning of an unpatched vulnerability in Internet Explorer.

Microsoft released only two bulletins aimed at eight vulnerabilities in Windows Movie Maker and Microsoft Office Excel in all versions of Office, including Mac Office 2004 and 2008.

This is in stark contrast with February's 13 bulletins dealing with 26 vulnerabilities, but IT administrators will still have to deal with a new zero-day vulnerability in Internet Explorer 6 and 7 that could potentially allow hackers to execute code remotely.

Internet Explorer 8 is not affected. "Another good reason to update to the latest version of IE," said Wolfgang Kandec, CTO of vulnerability management firm Qualys in a blog post.

There are not a lot of details available on the vulnerability, but for IE 6 and 7 workarounds apply, which are detailed in the advisory, he said.

Kandek suggests that IT administrators should make the patch for MS Excel a priority. Although an attacker needs to trick the target to open a specially crafted Excel document to be able to take control of the system, exploitability is high for the majority of vulnerabilities listed, he said.

The Windows Movie Maker vulnerability also needs a user has to open a malicious file to launch an attack, and like the Excel vulnerabilities, the exploitability index is high, said Kandek.

He noted that Windows XP and Vista ship with vulnerable versions of the movie making software, and that while Windows 7 does not, a user could download and install version 2.6, which is affected.

Office 2010 ready for business on 12 May Upgrade from Office 2007 free until October

Office 2000,the latest version of Microsoft's office productivity suite, will ship to business users on 12 May.

The product tackles document sharing by using SharePoint 2010 to allow users to share Office documents. It also features Office Web Apps, which enables users to view and make light edits to Word and Excel documents through their browser.

Microsoft Office 2010 also allows users to work offline through new software - SharePoint Workspace 2010. According to Microsoft, when users reconnect their laptop to the network, the changes they made while offline will be synchronised.

Businesses and consumers who purchase and activate Office 2007 - or a new PC running Office 2007 - between 5 March 2010 and 30 September 2010 will be able to download Office 2010 at no additional cost.

To qualify for the free upgrade, users also need a Windows Live ID and must claim it before 31 October 2010 by visiting Microsoft's Technology Guarantee page.

Steve Jobs: The official biography

Steve Jobs is a notoriously private man. But that could all be about to change, with reports that Jobs has agreed to work with biographer Walter Isaacson to publish an in-depth examination of the Apple founder's life. Will this official biography be a comprehensive tell-all, or a marketing fluff piece?

Much has been written about Jobs in the past, including iCon: Steve Jobs, the Greatest Second Act in the History of Business and The Second Coming of Steve Jobs. You may also remember the premature publication of Jobs' obituary, which surfaced during his highly publicised health concerns.

Smartphone blogs: Windows Phone 7 series

As we reported in our news section, Microsoft yesterday at MWC unveiled the next version of its operating system for mobile phones. Microsoft Windows Phone 7 Series features a move away from applications and towards functions.

"It's all about the phone and how consumers react to the device," said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

"Phones looked like PCs, but a phone is not a PC, it's smaller, more personal," said Joe Belfiore, vice president for Windows Phone.

Apple blog site Macrumors was quick off the mark, recording Microsoft's announcement:

"One of the software's key features is the use of integrated "hubs", offering content views based on content rather than specific applications. Hubs will include People, Pictures, Games, Music+Video, Marketplace, and Office."

"In addition, "live tiles" on the system's Start screen will offer real-time information updates, and a dedicated hardware button will provide one-click access to Bing search tools."
Windows 7 Phone Series: why?

So much for the what, but why has Microsoft done this - and is it a good idea?

According to Michael Fitzhugh blogging at Daily Finance, reinventing the Windows mobile software experience is crucial for Microsoft.

"Following the company's early success in creating a sophisticated mobile phone OS, its share of the smartphone OS market has slipped to just 18%."

That puts Microsoft miles behind BlackBerry and Apple, and with Google Android recently doubling its market share to 5.2 percent, this is dangerous territory, Fitzhugh.

According to Daily Finance: "The new Windows Phone 7 software is an effort to deliver a mobile experience that's 'modern and takes advantage of people's complex lives to deliver something that's unique and individual'."

Not only that, says DF, but: "Microsoft is also using the new OS as part of an effort to unify, to some degree, the hardware specifications for Windows phones, which have varied widely in the past, leaving some underpowered."
Windows Phone 7 Series: but is it any good?

According to Gizmodo, Windows Phone 7 Series certainly is.

In a post entitled 'Microsoft Has Out-Apple Apple', Jesus Diaz said: "I'm sorry, Cupertino, but Microsoft has nailed it. Windows Phone 7 feels like an iPhone from the future. The UI has the simplicity and elegance of Apple's industrial design, while the iPhone's UI still feels like a colorized Palm Pilot."

Furthermore...

"Instead of becoming another me-too cellphone, like Android and the rest, the Windows Phone 7 team came up their own vision of what the cellphone should be. In the process, they have created a beautiful user interface in which the data is at the center of user interaction. Not the apps-specific functions-but the information itself. At some points, in fact, it feels like the information is the interface itself.

"Out of the box, this information is organized into areas called hubs, which follow the user's areas of interest. Accessible through live tiles in the home screen, the Me (the user), people, pictures and video, music, and games-plus the omnipresent search-hubs give views into several data sources, connecting and presenting them into an interweaved panoramic stream. These hubs dig heavily into many databases, both locally and into the cloud."

Gadget blog Engadget is similarly impressed.

"The phone operating system does away with pretty much every scrap of previous mobile efforts from Microsoft, from the look and feel down to the underlying code - everything is brand new.

"7 Series has rebuilt Windows Mobile from the ground up, featuring a completely altered home screen and user interface experience, robust Xbox LIVE and Zune integration, and vastly new and improved social networking tools."

"Gone is the familiar Start screen, now replaced with "tiles" which scroll vertically and can be customized as quick launches, links to contacts, or self contained widgets. The look of the OS has also been radically upended, mirroring the Zune HD experience closely, replete with that large, iconic text for menus, and content transitions which elegantly (and dimensionally) slide a user into and out of different views."
Windows Phone 7 Series: a good start

So it's earlier than early days, but the portents look good. Microsoft has made a radical departure in the mobile space, and key industry bloggers are impressed. Watch this space.

Visit: PCAdvisor.co.uk/smartphone-focus

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