Worst-case scenarios may see phones losing hours of power, and even running unusually hot. The v3.1.3 firmware was in part meant to correct battery meter trouble on the iPhone 3GS.

Another major problem involves iTunes playlists, which in some cases are failing to sync properly with the iPod touch. While files will copy over properly, playlists may be empty or simply absent. The glitch is believed to affect only smart playlists, and potentially only those with multiple criteria. Temporary workarounds may include reducing criteria to a single field, and/or deleting and remaking previous playlists.

Apple has yet to formally address or fix either of the cited errors.

Redsn0w software can only be broken before the original version of the iPhone as well as the escape of all mobile phone version of the iPod touch, not to crack the iPhone 3G. Now, with the iPhone DEV group Ultrasn0w new software release, iPhone 3G can be cracked. Redsn0w and the use of two software can break Ultrasn0w any version of the iPhone 3G handset as well as any version of iPhone mobile phone.

Apple iPhone3G S SMS speed of 2.1 times over the past, run a simulated city is compared to the past rate of 2.4 times faster running speed of Excel attachment of 3.6 times over the past, and the speed to open a large page of 2.9 times compared to the past.

A Yahoo spokesperson confirms:

We are reprioritizing some products to help us better deliver the best possible experiences to consumers on mobile. To streamline our services, we will not develop Yahoo! Mobile for smartphones to focus our efforts on mobilizing Yahoo!, improving Yahoo! Mobile for web and Yahoo! Mobile for iPhone as well as developing new and engaging experiences for consumers, partners and advertisers.

We currently have mobile products that reach hundreds of different devices (including Blackberry), and we continue to expand that comprehensive list.

The company announced a revamped Yahoo Mobile in February, and rolled it out in April with a new iPhone app and browser support for more than 300 devices. Yahoo Mobile now combines mobile search, your email, IM, and social messaging streams, and personalized Yahoo content such as news, sports, stocks, and RSS feeds.

Standardizing on the mobile browser certainly makes economic sense. When it comes to developing apps, Yahoo needs to pick a platform and it is clearly going with the iPhone. Every other phone will have to do with the mobile browser for now. (Although, Yahoo says it will develop apps for other platforms when it sees enough demand. Update: Indeed, I have been able to confirm that new apps for the Blackberry and other mobile platforms with a different look and feel than the discontinued smartphone app are in the works). While Yahoo is putting a lot of effort into making the mobile browser experience more app-like, it will still never be as fully-functioning as a customized mobile app. There is nothing wrong with betting on the mobile browser. But just last March during a briefing I had with Adam Taggart, head of product marketing for Yahoo Mobile, when I asked whether Yahoo was leaning more towards distribution through apps or mobile browsers, he replied:

We are embracing both, apps and browser. We as Yahoo are all about ubiquity. We have a renewed appreciation for the browser because they are getting materially better, but you can always do more with an app on your phone. In the immediate time frame you will see a lot more standalone vertical apps coming out of Yahoo.

He positioned the other smartphone apps as a way to address people with Blackberies and other Web-capable phones who have iPhone envy. Here is how he positioned the smartphone apps which Yahoo is now abandoning:

The smartphone app is a way to turn your smartphone into an iPhone at no additional cost, if you are envying the iPhone.

The smartphone app actually included some features not found in the iPhone app, such as a socially aware address book which could pull contacts from the phone’s native address book and merge that with your Facebook friends, IM buddies, or other contacts on the Web. Don’t expect that feature to come to a mobile browser anytime soon.

Here is the text of the email sent to interested beta testers:

Yahoo! has decided to cease development of the Yahoo! Mobile smartphone app
effective Wednesday, May 20th. So you will not be provided access to the
beta program for this product.

For the time being, we will be focusing our efforts on the newly-launched
Yahoo! Mobile experience for browsers (available at new.m.yahoo.com) and
for the iPhone (available via the Apple App Store).

We really want to thank you for your interest in being a beta tester. The
feedback we receive during these programs is extremely helpful in improving
the customer experience across all of Yahoo!s mobile products.

In the meantime, stay tuned for more exciting new mobile product releases
from Yahoo!. Theres a lot coming and we want to hear your feedback!

Many thanks,
The Yahoo! Mobile team

IPhone screenshots are easy enough to fake, and lord knows some odd claims come from the Boy Genius Report, but this seems such an obvious addition to iPhone hardware that we’ll bite.

The shot above is from a debugging menu inside the 3.0 beta iPhone OS, and shows options to save logs of a compass, as well as the current accelerometer and also “motion”, which we think is either a combo of the others or a log of the GPS unit’s findings. It makes complete sense. The iPhone hardware was mature at its first launch, and there’s not much — bar a decent camera and a thinner case — that could be added.

The G1 Googlephone already has a compass and it powers the neat but slow live street-view function, where the phone rather redundantly overlays pictures of the world onto the actual real world. Knowing the position of the phone and also the direction it is pointing in opens up some neat options.

This seems like a juicy and accurate rumor. In fact, now we have read it, it seems very odd that Apple wouldn’t include this in the new iPhone.

News from wired.com