Filed under: Macworld, Rumors, Software, Software Update, Apple, iPhone
iPhone v1.1.3 screenshots leaked?
Fire up that chunk of your brain known as the Macworld Rumourbuster, readers! With just a little over two weeks before Macworld kicks off, let's officially call the crowd to order, and let the rumour-mongering, blurry 'leaked' pictures, and Photoshop-ing begin. Gearlive kicks off the "fortnight of faux" with a gallery of screen shots appearing to be from iPhone firmware v1.1.3. Among the highlights: rearranging icons on the home screen, and pseudo-GPS (based on cell tower proximity) for Google Maps. Are they authentic?
Whilst all the features shown in the gallery are certainly welcome, we can't help but feel that if this is the only feature-update to the iPhone at Macworld (barring the SDK in February), folks will be a little underwhelmed.
Update: Whilst MacRumors may say that Gearlive is the new kind on the block, that isn't necessarily true - they brought us news of the iPod nano a few years back. On the topic of Photoshop-ing - and undoubtedly we'll see plenty of that in the coming weeks - talking with the folks at Gearlive, this does indeed appear to genuine 1.1.3 goodness. Thanks, Andru!
Thanks to all those who sent this in! The Gear Live servers seem to be having difficulty so you might have to be patient to feast your eyes on the shots.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Jon Makkinje said 9:13AM on 12-29-2007
If you want to see pics theres some on modmyifone.com until it gets back up :)
Reply
alex said 9:47AM on 12-29-2007
I have been able to rearrange my icons for months now thanks to Customize, and if that Navigon app ever worked right, I'd have the cell-based gps capability too. Its called jailbreaking, anyone with an iPhone who hasn't done it is an ignoramus.
Reply
Nik Fletcher said 9:53AM on 12-29-2007
Alex,
I haven't unlocked or jailbroken my phone. Yet. You've unlocked the phone - good work. But it's not everyone's cup of tea (I rely on my phone far too much to leave it to chance that once hacked, it will work after an update).
Alex said 10:26AM on 12-29-2007
Well Nik, all I can say is WOW. I think the "I rely on my iphone" argument is pretty flimsy. I do too -- its my phone, email, web center, and itunes-synced ipod when I'm out and about, which I am often on business. But because of the 3rd party apps, its much much more. I live in Germany, and was forced to BOTH jailbreak and unlock it (you do know that there is a difference there, right? And that both are reversible?) since the plans that T-Mobile and Apple offer here are an incredible rip-off. But back to the jailbreaking, I have a 1.1.1 OTB and used it for 3 months jailbroken and unlocked before deciding to upgrade to 1.1.2, which I did 3 weeks ago and guess what? For the entirety of almost 4 months I haven't had one major problem, EVER. What exactly are you worried about? That your phone is going to explode in your pocket because its jailbroken?? I for one, having now used many 3rd party apps, could never do without. PDF Reader, eBook reader, Mobile RSS Viewer (how I keep up with TUAW), Voice Notes, VNSea, WeDict, not to mention the occasional game of solitaire. The only app that OCCASIONALLY gives me problems is the Mobile RSS Viewer, and guess what? I just force shutdown, and restart, and everything is back to normal. And I'm no geek. It took me like 10 minutes to jailbreak it (following the instructions on modmyifone.com), and then just installing the AnySIM app to unlock it for use with my non-ATT sim card. And like I said, all you have to do to upgrade officially is use the itunes restore feature to restore your phone to its official state, upgrade, and then jailbreak again. No sweat. How again does this pose a problem for you??
Nik Fletcher said 11:26AM on 12-29-2007
Alex,
Yes - of course I'm fully aware of the difference between Jailbreak and SIM Unlock :P
I've read stories of how jailbreaking works fine for users. But I'm also aware of others having issues after jailbreaking. As ever it's a case of YMMV, and on this one I'm sticking to leaving phone untouched for now.
With regards to 3rd party apps, sure the developers have done an amazing job (don't get be wrong: I'm in awe of the work they do). But to say you just force a shutdown and restart, isn't that what we berate Windows for? o:-)
-N
Tim said 11:44AM on 12-29-2007
Tried jailbreaking, didn't provide me with enough to be worth it. And my iPhone became slower and relatively more unstable as a result of the extra apps. I don't like hard-resetting, even if it's only occasionally; it's a bad bad thing. I mean, it was cool to customize the look of stuff and have some interesting applications, but I realized that all the additions were functioning as toys for me. They didn't help me be more productive in any way. Some people really need a VNC client and voice recorder, some people don't! I like tinkering, but I'm kind of glad my needs are simple.
Alex said 11:50AM on 12-29-2007
Well, in all honesty, I don't care what you do with your iphone. Hell, use it as a paperweight for all I care. But for something that, at least to me, was so incredibly easy to do, and has so many benefits over not doing it, the benefits immeasurably outweigh the completely REVERSIBLE risks (if you can even call them that). And I for one, use Vista and XP Pro on my notebook and desktop, respectively, while my mom uses all Apple products, and has since 1984 (IIc or IIe I think it was) and I switched over after realizing that I had passed her in computer knowledge around age 12 and actually liked being able to "go under the hood" so to speak, even if that meant dealing with the occasional hiccup. But maybe I am more of a geek than I give myself credit for. I have been able to solve every problem I ever had on a windows computer (and those of my friends and colleagues) by googling, trial and error, and applying common sense. When my moms new external HDD didnt work OOTB with her Macbook (but did with both my Vista and XP systems) she was basically screwed. No way to fix it, no way to see what the problem was. So she returned it and bought one that was extra "Mac compatible." For me Macs are exactly like one of their commercials says -- Simple. I mean come on. A one button mouse? What the hell is that? But this is a discussion for a completely different time and place. As for the Iphone, although there are a bunch of things I really do not like about it (no copy/paste, no 3G which is big here in Germany, no multiple SMS, etc) I still think the interface is incredible and if they continue to update and add features, then it will truly be the best thing since sliced bread. Way better than any Symbian or Windows CE phones. But without the 3rd party apps, it wouldnt be half as cool as it is. So maybe you should buy another Iphone off ebay, and jailbreak it just to see how you like it and how well it works FOR YOU.
Alex said 11:57AM on 12-29-2007
@ Tim & Nik - Unfortunately, I have never used a non jailbroken iphone. The whole German thing made it a requirement. And I do notice it slows down every now and again, as well as needing to be hard reset sometimes. So maybe I'm just used to it like this, but since you guys have something to compare it to, you like your way better. That is definitely a possibility. I still use the VNSea, RSS, and WeDict apps like crazy though. And solitaire is fun every now and then. Hopefully when the SDK comes out and some of these apps become official we'll get the best of both worlds!
punkassjim said 7:14PM on 12-29-2007
Alex,
So many valid observations from you, yet I can't get past the fact that you so easily call a huge number of people ignoramuses. Yet another example of the widespread "it's just the internet" mentality. Who'll listen to you after that?
--Jim
Carlos Fonseca said 10:05AM on 12-29-2007
That's a lot of change for a x.x.3... I mean... if that's real, it seems it would be more of an 1.2 update.
Anyway, MacWorld might bring real apps to the iPhone, so it makes perfect sense to organize the home screen.
That paper effect on the Maps look preatty neat :P
Reply
gareth said 10:41AM on 12-29-2007
If there is one icon on the row (itunes store) then it will be right aligned. Add a second icon and the whole row becomes left aligned. I discovered this the other day while adding and hiding applications.
Reply
Andru Edwards said 12:14PM on 12-29-2007
Wow - great reporting you guys did here. You know, alleging that the photos are fake, but not contacting us, like, at all - that's awesome. Kudos.
Oh, and Gear Live being "new" to the Mac rumors "game"? First, what we posted aren't rumors. Those are real pictures that I took of my "real" iPhone running the real 1.1.3 firmware. Secondly, we've been around for almost four years.
So, who knows, maybe some fact-checking might do you guys a bit of good. Just because you weren't able to get it before we did doesn't automatically make it false.
Reply
Ben said 12:48PM on 12-29-2007
hilarious!
Brian said 12:55PM on 12-29-2007
Andru,
Keep in mind that this is TUAW, where if it wasn't scooped by Erica and her so-called elite hacing team," it must be false.
Nik Fletcher said 12:58PM on 12-29-2007
Hi Guys,
Any implications that this is a Photoshop job are purely unintentional. Andru and I have been conversing this afternoon, and we're editing the post as clearly the story is not about a Photoshop job: it does indeed appear to be the real deal.
Brian, If it's not scooped by Erica, then we don't have a way of proving it - hence the large disclaimer and snarky introduction. Andru's been in touch to clarify and hopefully he's not miffed with us :-)
Thanks,
Nik
Andru Edwards said 1:46PM on 12-29-2007
Thanks for clarifying things, Nik. So, yeah guys, this is the real deal. I hope to get a video posted by Monday ;)
Reply
James Donevan said 1:54PM on 12-29-2007
Andru don't be too concerned. Regulars know that TUAW is not a news site per se, but a blog in the true sense of people writing about their interests, not necessarily with expertise. A week or so ago Erica was advising on her latest discovery that iTunes purchases were limited to five accounts - something that had been around even longer than your four year old site.
BTW kudos for your impressive and informative Gear Live site.
Reply
Dorv said 3:02PM on 12-29-2007
Yeah, I mean, its not like the word "blog" is in the title of the site or anything :)
Michael Rose said 8:27PM on 12-29-2007
a) We've been burned in reporting rumors before. Nik and Andru are clearing this up, but the skeptical tone is usually warranted.
b) If you're referring to Erica's post
http://www.tuaw.com/2007/12/10/ipod-account-limit/
then you either didn't read it or didn't understand it. The interesting point was not that iTunes purchases are limited to playback on five computers; it was that a single iPod could only sync songs purchased under five different iTunes accounts.
Jack Welde said 3:14PM on 12-29-2007
The feature that is most sorely missing, to me -- and I hope makes it into v1.1.3 -- is the ability to specify a "from" email address from which to send new email messages. Currently, if you create a new email message, it uses whatever account you are currently in, without giving you an option to change the address. This is a huge inconvenience for people with multiple email addresses -- which is pretty much everyone these days. Not only is it unprofessional to send an email intended for work colleagues or clients from your personal email, but those intended recipients might not get your email because they don't recognize your personal email address -- or vice versa. This seems like a huge oversight on the part of Apple, and an incredibly simple fix (just add a dropdown menu with your email addresses to the compose screen). Hoping it makes it into v1.1.3. (And yes, I'm aware that all I have to do is back out of one account, and go into another account, but that's time consuming and awkward -- especially after you have already composed an email, only to realize you're in the wrong account.)
Reply