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Apple’s iOS4 is hurting many an iPhone 3G, slowing them into uselessness for many who have installed the update. Whatever is going on, a fix is due soon, according to an email from Steve Jobs.

According to Mac Rumors, a disgruntled iPhone 3G owner mailed the Apple boss about his sluggish device:

I’ve waited patiently through 4.0.1 and 4.0.2, looking for a fix that will make my phone work again. I’ve read the forums that advise me to jailbreak my phone or use some other method so I can downgrade back to a version of iPhone 3, however I’m not prepared to use a method that is not supported by Apple.

The answer? You won’t be surprised at its brevity:

Software update coming soon.

Sent from my iPhone

That there is a problem with running the shiny new OS on a grubby old iPhone is clear: Apple admitted as much when told Wired.com, in customarily terse fashion, that “We are aware of these reports and we are investigating.”

Some have speculated that the 3G hardware wasn’t fast enough to run iOS4, but that seems unlikely. Not only are several new features disabled (multi-tasking, for instance), but Apple software updates have a habit of making old hardware seem faster, not slower (unlike Windows, which does the opposite). Also, pure processor speed is unlikely to be the problem: The iPhone 3G uses a 412 MHz ARM 11 chip, against the 600MHz ARM 11 processor used in the 3GS model. The MHz difference isn’t that big.

If this short new email exchange is legit, then it means one thing: that Apple has found the problem and fixed it. So hold on, iPhone 3G owners: The solution is near. Or just go out and buy an iPhone 4 already. It’s not like your contract hasn’t expired, is it?

Jobs: Software Update to Address iOS 4 Performance Issues on iPhone 3G ‘Coming Soon’ [Mac Rumors]

Photo: (twenty5pics/Flickr)

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Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

After Google’s Nexus One, HTC’s Evo 4G phone is the first device to get upgraded to the latest Android 2.2 Froyo version of the operating system. But some users are not happy about it.

The Froyo update has broken the syncing of multiple Gmail accounts on the device. The results is that only the primary Gmail account is updated automatically. Second and third Gmail accounts have to be manually refreshed to pull in new e-mails, say Evo users on forums such as Android Central and Google’s Android support board.

“My two Gmail accounts have always worked great on 2.1. Moving to 2.2 my primary Gmail pushes instantly. My secondary Gmail account doesn’t sync at all. I have to manually sync to get it to work,” says ‘tommy m‘, an Evo user who first posted about the issue on the Android Central forum.

The problem also means that users don’t see new e-mail notifications from secondary accounts.

HTC hasn’t responded to a request for comment yet.

HTC and Sprint, the exclusive carrier for the Evo, started pushing out Froyo to customers on August 3. The update offers features such as voice dialing over Bluetooth, the ability to store apps on the external memory card and browser improvements including a faster JavaScript engine and Flash support.

The problems with syncing of multiple Gmail accounts flared up right after the Evo moved to Android 2.2. Some Froyo users have been offering homebrewed solutions on message boards including deleting the accounts and adding them again with a change to the mail setting of ‘notify once.’ But the solution hasn’t worked reliably for all users.

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews