3G iPhone Preference Found in Beta 5 Firmware?

[MacRumors]

While we haven't been able to independently verify this ourselves, but one blog post claims the latest Beta 5 iPhone Network.plist file contains 3G preferences, and that somehow can be activated. The claim reads:

Note that this is not fake, it is in the beta 5 .ipsw, but will normally not show up on an EDGE iPhone. Turning 3G on will just crash the phone if you use an EDGE phone. If you do not believe me, then decrypt the beta5 rootfs dmg, and see for yourself in /Applications/Preferences.app/Network.plist

If anyone is able to verify, please let us know.

Article Link

[Virtualball]

I can verify:

{
items = (
{
cell = PSGroupCell;
id = "ENABLE_3G_GROUP";
},
{
cell = PSSwitchCell;
default = YES;
get = "is3GEnabled:";
label = "ENABLE_3G";
set = "set3GIsEnabled:specifier:";
},
{
cell = PSGroupCell;
id = "3G_TEXT_GROUP";
isStaticText = YES;
},
{
cell = PSTitleValueCell;
label = "3G_TEXT";
},
{
bundle = EDGESettings;
isController = NO;
requiredCapabilities = (
telephony,
);
},
{
cell = PSGroupCell;
requiredCapabilities = (
telephony,
);
},
{
cell = PSSwitchCell;
default = YES;
defaults = "com.apple.commcenter";
key = "InternationalRoamingEDGE";
label = "EDGE_ROAMING_TOGGLE";
PostNotification = "com.apple.commcenter.InternationalRoamingEDGE.changed";
requiredCapabilities = (
telephony,
);
},
{
cell = PSGroupCell;
isStaticText = YES;
requiredCapabilities = (
telephony,
);
},
{
cell = PSTitleValueCell;
label = "EDGE_STATIC_TEXT";
requiredCapabilities = (
telephony,
);
},
{
cell = PSGroupCell;
},
{
bundle = VPNPreferences;
isController = NO;
},
{
cell = PSGroupCell;
requiredCapabilities = (
wifi,
);
},
{
bundle = AirPortSettings;
isController = NO;
requiredCapabilities = (
wifi,
);
},
);
title = Network;
}

[brianbobcat]

I wish they had this option for wifi as right now it's either all or nothing. I wish I could turn my EDGE off but keep wifi on. Granted there's limited uses for this, but it's still an option I'd like. Nice to see Apple caring about battery life when you don't need 3G for voice only.

-Brian

[chuckles:)]

So this means that a theoretical 3G iphone would run the same software as existing iPhones. Also, it probably means that a hardware update wont be overly substantial, as the screen must remain the same size.

[AudiA4]

Interesting. If it does truly lower battery life, it would be nice to have the option to disable it. Why? Because as much as people complain about Edge service, I find it completely tolerable. In fact, it was very comparable to the AT&T 3G phone I had prior. Even Wi-Fi isn't that much faster than Edge...certainly not worth reduced battery life depending upon the situation.

[StealthRider]

Originally Posted by brianbobcat

Nice to see Apple caring about battery life when you don't need 3G for voice only.

-Brian

I'd like to see an "Automatic" setting, where it turns on 3G only for selected apps, and turns it off when the app is closed. 3G is really only needed for the App Store and for Safari (at least out of the default app set).

[wildcardd]

Originally Posted by brianbobcat

I wish they had this option for wifi as right now it's either all or nothing. I wish I could turn my EDGE off but keep wifi on. Granted there's limited uses for this, but it's still an option I'd like. Nice to see Apple caring about battery life when you don't need 3G for voice only.

-Brian

You wouldn't get any phone calls then, right?

[Bernie-Mac]

I thought that they were working on making it 3G while maintaining the same battery life? If it wastes batter life faster than edge then why are they taking to long to implement it? They should have had it to begin with

[bigmc6000]

Originally Posted by wildcardd

You wouldn't get any phone calls then, right?

EDGE is only the data side. You can be out of range of EDGE and still get phone calls. I agree with the other poster about having an "auto-on" 3G version. Except maybe add YouTube to that list of apps that need it. I wonder tho - doesn't this mean that there's no 3G iPhone until 2.0? I mean - all of these options are being put into the 2.0 software. That would be pretty crappy - the current supply of iPhones are basically gone and the 2.0 software is what has the 3G options so there aren't going to be ANY iPhones until 2.0 released?

[Nightkrawler]

could this mean we wont get a front side camera for videocalls?
I mean that what if someone gets an videocall and has 3g disabled, or want to make a videocall.

it only says "using 3g loads data faster"...

[bacaramac]

As I already posted, I think they would release 1.1.5 if the 3G comes out before 2.0. This would simply be a software release to work with new hardware.

EDIT: How is this not front page news. Guess everyone is getting sick of 3g, 3g, 3g. I am not.

[psychofreak]

Originally Posted by Nightkrawler

could this mean we wont get a front side camera for videocalls?
I mean that what if someone gets an videocall and has 3g disabled, or want to make a videocall.

it only says "using 3g loads data faster"...

Personally, I doubt videocalls are coming (in the next iteration at least). However, as bacaramac stated (below), this screen could be part of 1.1.5, with videocalls coming in 2.0

Originally Posted by bacaramac

As I already posted, I think they would release 1.1.5 if the 3G comes out before 2.0. This would simply be a software release to work with new hardware.

[joshysquashy]

Originally Posted by Bernie-Mac

I thought that they were working on making it 3G while maintaining the same battery life? If it wastes batter life faster than edge then why are they taking to long to implement it? They should have had it to begin with

I should imagine that the new iPhones will have higher capacity batteries, so they will last slightly longer without 3G, and slightly less long (or the same) with 3G.

I imagine that apple has spent the time implementing 3G whilst minimising the impact on the battery, along with extra features for the new phone like GPS and possibly video conferencing.

[newyorksole]

So basically all of this time Apple has had and they couldn't make a good battery? That's what this means right? Because if you have the option to use 3G because it reduces battery then Apple must have just not worked on getting the battery to last longer.

Well anyways, I hope this 3G iPhone comes with more apps atleast.

[Matthew Yohe]

Originally Posted by newyorksole

Well anyways, I hope this 3G iPhone comes with more apps atleast.

Are you serious? That is the whole point of the SDK, and the release in June and etc etc etc.

[psychofreak]

Originally Posted by newyorksole

So basically all of this time Apple has had and they couldn't make a good battery? That's what this means right? Because if you have the option to use 3G because it reduces battery then Apple must have just not worked on getting the battery to last longer.

Well anyways, I hope this 3G iPhone comes with more apps atleast.

Apple buy the parts, and are not battery-makers. Battery technology seems to be almost at a standstill, and this is part of the reason that power-efficiency is so widely touted as a great feature of Intel's Core architecture.

[yoyo5280]

This is great!But like others have said Auto 3G would be good. All my japanese phones have had it...

[neven]

Originally Posted by chuckles:)

So this means that a theoretical 3G iphone would run the same software as existing iPhones. Also, it probably means that a hardware update wont be overly substantial, as the screen must remain the same size.

Ummm...

The next generation of iPhone will run the iPhone 2.0 software, the beta versions of which have been in the hands of developers for a while. That's what this rumor is about.

Any notion of the screen size changing etc. is just nutty - come June, Apple wants to run an app store that will sell the same exact software to current and new iPhones.

[newyorksole]

Yeah that's another thing, the 3G iPhone is gonna have to have the same software and screen size (well maybe not screen size) to accomodate for the apps that the developers have been hard at work on. Apple knows what they are doing. I just hope the battery life is good.

[Shadowriver]

Originally Posted by chuckles:)

So this means that a theoretical 3G iphone would run the same software as existing iPhones. Also, it probably means that a hardware update wont be overly substantial, as the screen must remain the same size.

lol theoretical to run exiting software? It will be exact the same! If it is not the SDK won't have sens, also they can't kill such big project like iPhone OS, remember that ARM11's inside the exiting iPhones/iPod touch's have extra 250MHz power in hideout that can be use in later versions ;] that means same software will rise in all generations

In iPhone theres no firmware, there full working OS based on Darwin core, named iPhone OS.

[O and A]

Originally Posted by chuckles:)

So this means that a theoretical 3G iphone would run the same software as existing iPhones. Also, it probably means that a hardware update wont be overly substantial, as the screen must remain the same size.

Well the screen size can change. The resolution won't. Although i doubt they'll change the screen size at all.

And i think its been pretty obvious the same software would be used since apple is building a mobile platform.

[sushi]

Originally Posted by psychofreak

Personally, I doubt videocalls are coming (in the next iteration at least). However, as bacaramac stated (below), this screen could be part of 1.1.5, with videocalls coming in 2.0

I wonder how popular videocalls really are?

Case in point, is that all my Japanese friends who have this feature basically explain it this way. They use it at first because it's new. After the newness wears off they no longer use this feature. So after a short period, basically no one uses videocalls. One reason is the expense of the call. They all seem to mention this. Another reason some mention, is that you have to use a headset of some sort to use this feature, so it is not convenient for them. What I find really interesting is that none say they still use videocalls.

As for me, I've never done one except when my friends demonstrated it. My cell phone is old so it doesn't have this feature.

On a side note, the ability to watch TV shows with your cell phone is very popular when ridding public transportation. When you figure that most Japanese spend a good chunk of their day on the trains/busses this makes sense for them.

[yoyo5280]

I only use video calls when im/somebody is lost so they can see rather then me giving directions or when I am at the shop and don't know what to get etc.

I don't think that the iPhone will get mobile TV just because you can buy your TV shows online...

[schield]

Originally Posted by yoyo5280

I only use video calls when im/somebody is lost so they can see rather then me giving directions or when I am at the shop and don't know what to get etc.

I don't think that the iPhone will get mobile TV just because you can buy your TV shows online...

I think that the at least the new iPhone will use ATT's streaming TV service however it will probably be an add-on feature. I don't know if the current gen can handle live TV since it is EDGE data transmission.

Right now the only phone in ATT's lineup that does the live TV would be the LG Vu. You'd think ATT would want iPhone to have the ability to do live TV. Why have such a service if only one phone can take advantage of it?

[sushi]

Originally Posted by yoyo5280

I only use video calls when im/somebody is lost so they can see rather then me giving directions or when I am at the shop and don't know what to get etc.

This makes sense -- a reason to use the video portion.

Originally Posted by yoyo5280

I don't think that the iPhone will get mobile TV just because you can buy your TV shows online...

FYI, I wasn't implying that the iPhone will get normal TV reception like so many cell phones here in Japan. I just was stating that this feature is currently popular to the Japanese. Although, I must admit that receiving regular broadcast TV shows for free is rather nice. This is a much better solution than any streaming solution provides since you can receive TV anywhere there is normal TV reception.

On a side note, it is interesting to see the cell phones that the top part rotates just for watching TV like the F905i. The P905i has a very interesting solution to this as it can open two different ways.