When iOS 4.1 is released by Apple next week, it will have a number of new bells and whistles enhancing the iphone and iPod Touch experience. Whether or not the highly-anticipated update will finally fix the proximity sensor issue plaguing iphone 4 users, though, is still uncertain.

When Steve Jobs presented iOS 4.1 he focused on the new features being introduced. Applying the iOS update will add the new iTunes Ping feature, the ability to rent TV shows via iTunes, HD video uploads via W-Fi, HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography, and the Xbox Live-like Game Center for social gaming. Jobs also mentioned in passing that iOS 4.1 will fix nagging issues with Bluetooth, 3G performance, and the notorious proximity sensor issue.

Cries of “hallelujah” (or maybe “finally”, or “it’s about time”) arose from iPhone 4 users haunted by putting calls on speakerphone, or hanging up on customers or co-workers with their cheek thanks to the flaky proximity sensor failing to disable the touchscreen display while engaged in a call. Some developers, however, suggest it may be premature to celebrate just yet.

One developer who has had an opportunity to work with and test the beta releases and the Gold Master (GM)–the official release–of iOS 4.1 has identified that the proximity sensor still has issues. Ryan Thomas Bell has even taken the time to compile and post YouTube videos demonstrating the continuing problem with the proximity sensor.

Bell, who goes by the alias “mistabell” on the Apple Forums, posted “I hate to be the naysayer (i love you apple!) but I don’t think the GM that went out today with the announcement fixes the problem all the way. At least not for everyone under every condition. (I played with it for about an hour today.) My last posts got deleted because I mentioned a pre-release, so I won’t post the technical reasoning. I’m going to move my discussion over to the private developer forums. Good luck, guys.”

Another post on the Apple Forums from dbk9999 says “it isn’t just about the sensor activating at a certain distance, but it changes according to how you use it. It has to be software making these “decisions”. So it could be possible that software could fix it. It could be that a hardware problem is too much for the software to compensate for.”

This may be a case like the iPhone 4 antenna “death grip” issue that is possible to mitigate or minimize, but not entirely fix via software. Perhaps the rumors that Apple is developing a re-engineered iPhone 4 with a hardware fix for the antenna problem will also include a hardware engineering solution to fully resolve the proximity sensor issue.

Of course, for all of you with Jailbroken iOS devices, you know the drill. Don’t upgrade to 4.1 until the iPhone Dev Team releases their tools that will jailbreak iOS 4.1. However, if you are on the normal iOS, then feel free to go ahead and have at iOS 4.1. Until next time, this is Adiman423 on behalf of iPhone Tutorial Videos signing out.

Well, it has come and gone. Apple’s september media event has finished. For those of you who were watching the whole live feed right here, you would have seen some awesome hardware and software as well.

Steve Jobs on stage, points out “partner in crime” Steve Wozniak in the audience. Thanks audience for coming. “Really cool stuff” to show you.
- Apple retail update: Showing off new stores in Paris, Shanghai, Covent Garden (London). Now 300 stores in ten countries with Spain coming soon. Some days see over 1 million visitors to retail stores. 80,000 One to One classes per week. Over half of Mac purchasers in retail stores are new to Mac.

- iOS update: Have now shipped 120 million iOS devices. Activating 230,000 new iOS devices per day. We think some of our friends are counting upgrades in their numbers, but we think strictly new activations is a better metric. Over 6.5 billion app downloads, 200 per second. 250,000 apps in App Store – 25,000 for iPad.

- Introducing iOS 4.1: Fixes bugs (proximity, Bluetooth, iphone 3G performance), Adds High Dynamic Range (HDR) photos, HD video upload over Wi-Fi, TV show rentals, Game Center

- Showing off HDR photo quality. Both regular and HDR photos saved on device…choose which you prefer. Showing examples of how HDR can pull out details that are typically washed out.

- Game Center: Standalone app, as well as APIs for developers. For multi-player games, allows you to challenge friends. Showing off screenshots.

- Mike Capps of Epic Games on stage to show off Game Center on new iOS RPG game codenamed “Project Sword”. Showing off 3D virtual world in high detail. Showing Game Center-mediated multi-player action.

- iOS 4.1 due next week for iphone and iPod touch

- Sneak peek at iOS 4.2 – “all about iPad“. Brings everything to iPad….multitasking, folders, Game Center, HDR photos, wireless printing, AirPlay

- Showing off wireless printing in Pages. “Print Center” app now shows up in multi-tasking tray to manage jobs.

- AirPlay: Formerly known as AirTunes, now allows streaming of audio, video, and photos.

- Demoing iOS 4.2 on iPad with multitasking, folders

- iOS 4.2 set for November release. Free for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch.

- iPods: “Our entree” for the day. We’ve sold 275 million iPods. All-new designs for every model of iPod this year. Biggest change ever.

- iPod shuffle: Highlighting history of the device. New model now has buttons, VoiceOver, and playlists, rear clip. 15 hours of music, five different colors, $49 for 2 GB.

- iPod nano: Multi-touch screen, clip, 46% smaller, 42% lighter, volume buttons, Nike+, pedometer, 24 hours of audio. Now demoing controls.

- iOS-like interface with four icons on home screen, multiple home screens with ability to reorganize icons. Album art, photos, etc. Rotatable home screen using pinch gesture.
- Same colors as shuffle, plus graphite and Product RED. $149 for 8 GB, $179 for 16 GB.

- iPod touch: In the last year, has become most popular iPod. “iPhone without the phone, and the contract”. #1 portable game player…outsells Nintendo and Sony combined.

- New iPod touch is even thinner, Retina display, A4 chip, gyroscope, iOS 4.1, front-facing camera with FaceTime, rear-facing camera with HD video recording.

- Can run iMovie on iPod touch, can FaceTime between iPod touches and iPhone 4s.

- Three models: 8 GB $229, 32 GB $299, 64 GB $399

- All iPod models (shuffle, nano, touch) available for pre-order today, shipping next week.

- Now showing new iPod nano and iPod touch ads

- iTunes: 11.7 billion songs downloaded, 450 million TV episodes, 100 million movies, 35 million books, 160 million accounts with credit cards. #1 online media store in the world.

- iTunes 10. With iTunes set to surpass physical CD sales next year, so new icon with no CD.

- New “hybrid” view. With albums of at least five songs, now shows album art right in list view.

- Social features: New feature called Ping. Facebook and Twitter meet iTunes…social network for music. Follow favorite artists and friends, find out what they’re listening to and talking about. Customized top-ten songs and albums lists based on the people you follow. Showing off artist page for Lady Gaga with posts, favorite songs, concerts, etc.

- Discussing how to be followed: can allow anyone to follow, can have approved followers, create “circle of friends”…as private or public as you want.

- Demo of Ping

- Ping available in iTunes and on iPhone, iPod touch…new button in iTunes Store app.

- iTunes 10 available today…free download at apple.com

- One more thing…no, one more hobby.

- Apple TV: Never been a huge hit, but no one has made a hit in this sector. Users love the Apple TV though, so what have we learned?

- Users want Hollywood movies and TV shows whenever they want them, everything in HD, lower prices, no computer on the TV. Don’t want to manage storage or deal with syncing. Want hardware to be silent, cool, and small.

- New Apple TV…one-fourth the size of the previous model. Back has power cord, one HDMI connector, optical audio out, and Ethernet. Wi-Fi 802.11n built-in.

- Movies, TV show, and music, all HD when available. All rentals, no purchases, so no storage management. Can stream from computers, no syncing required. Photo slideshows.

- Can rent first-run HD movies for $4.99. Prices drop over time. HD TV show rentals at $0.99…commercial-free. Big step for the studios, so ABC and Fox at first. Rest of them will see the light and follow along.

- Netflix streaming included for subscribers. YouTube integration, including HD content, photos from Flickr, video and photos from MobileMe, stream from Mac or PC.

- Apple TV interface similar to existing, but simplified somewhat.

- Demoing browsing and rental process…showing off “Iron Man 2″.

- TV shows: Can list favorite shows, with icons showing how many unwatched episodes from the current season there are. Showing off “Glee”.

- Netflix: Showing Instant Queue…”by far the best implementation of Netflix”.

- Demoing streaming photos from a networked Mac.

- AirPlay coming to iOS 4.2 in November. Can stream content from an iOS device to an Apple TV. Demoing streaming Pixar’s “Up” from iPad to Apple TV…audio is quickly and easily pushed to the Apple TV.

- New Apple TV priced at $99. Available in 4 weeks, pre-order today.

- Recapping today’s topics: iPod shuffle, iPod nano, iPod touch, iTunes 10 with Ping, iOS 4.2, Apple TV

- Talking about philosophy of music focus. A lot of people at Apple love music, and we like to remind ourselves of why we do this. Special guest: Chris Martin of Coldplay. 50 million albums sold, 7 Grammy Awards. On stage to play a song. “We’ll keep goin’ until you feel like lunch.”

Please excuse me for this being a long blog post. Anyway, it seems that apple have warmed to the idea of live streaming their events. Who knows, possibly we will see apple doing this more often in the future. So in brief, iOS 4.1 is coming out september 8th. If you are jailbroken then stay away from it until further notice. Otherwise, you can go ahead and have at it on your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad. iOS 4.2 is coming out sometime in november and it is free for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.

iTunes 10 is available today as well, but at the time of writing this apple has not made it available for download yet.

Of course, there is a new iPod Touch on the way, which will come pre-loaded with iOS 4.1 so no jailbreak for that until further notice. With that aside, that is one crazily thin iPod Touch and it has an A4 processor and a retina display which makes it an iPhone 4 without the phone part. On top of that, you have the iPod shuffle which has not changed at all, and the iPod nano which has a multi-touch interface like the iOS devices. And these devices will be out on the same day as iOS 4.1.

Until next time, This is Adiman423 on behalf of iPhone Tutorial Videos and iPad tutorial videos signing out.

With Apple’s media event just two days away, iPod rumors are swinging into high gear. Rumors of a smaller iPod nano kicked off late last week and have been quickly followed by a flurry purported case leaks and additional claims supporting the belief. 9 to 5 Mac and AppleInsider share some additional cases and screen protectors that have popped up on Asian e-commerce sites with claims that they are for a forthcoming iPod nano model.

Mockup of next-generation iPod nano – almost certainly a speculative design concept
One of the new case leaks offers enough detail that we can begin to guess at some of the physical features of the next-generation iPod nano. A long slot on the edge of case certainly appears to be designed to accommodate Apple’s 30-pin dock connector, which has been claimed to be included on the new device. An elongated hole on the opposite edge likely represents an on/off or hold switch as found on several previous and current iPod models.

Speculative identification of next-generation iPod nano physical features
The remaining three holes visible on the claimed iPod nano case are less obvious in their functionality, but one (possibly the one next to the dock connector) is certain to be a headphone jack. The remaining pair of holes in close proximity along the opposite edge could accommodate physical volume buttons similar to those found on the iphone 4, although that conclusion is the most speculative of the identifications.

Finally, all of the purported cases contain either a completely open back or an open slot on the rear of the case, a feature that is rumored to accommodate a clip as was found on earlier-generation iPod shuffle models.

Well if the rumors are true, then tomorrow, a lot of iPod Nano users will be able to jump on the iOS bandwagon with their iPod Nanos. Based on the screenshots you see above, it also looks like that this iPod will also have wi-fi integrated into it. However, I can’t see any of the regular iOS apps working. If anything, you will be lucky to see the weather app working on there. I should also say that if the screen is going to be that small, then I don’t see how you will be able to watch music videos or movies on such a small screen.

I should also use this as a reminder that if anyone is doing video coverage of the event then I will try and put it here 30 minutes before the event is scheduled to start.

Until next time, This is Adiman423 on behalf of iphone Tutorial Videos signing out.

This quirky-looking iphone 4 case by USB Fever has one unique feature most other cases lack: a dual SIM card slot. For $30 you get a case, room for an additional SIM card, and a dual-SIM adapter. Once you have your piggy-backed SIM card attached, you can toggle between the two cards using the iphone’s settings menu. Unfortunately you can’t use both SIM cards simultaneously, and when you switch from one SIM card to the other, it takes a few minutes for your iPhone to search for a signal. During this time you may get a “No SIM Card Installed” warning, but this will disappear after a minute or two. Not a deal-breaker compared to needing two phones on a long trip.

This case isn’t the most attractive case out there (by far), but what it lacks in looks it makes up for in utility. The hassle of using more than one phone while traveling makes this case one to consider if you think you’ll be traveling internationally. Another bonus: no iPhone death grip problems, but all cases can of course make that claim.

This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 600×450.

,

This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 600×450.

Don’t get me wrong, it looks very useful especially if you don’t want to take 2 phones with you. However, the problem I see straight away with this case is that the integrated dual-SIM card adapter could cause the phone to get scratched.

Until next time, This is Adiman423 on behalf of iPhone Tutorial Videos signing out.