iPhone Updates

Many iPhone owners are wondering whether they should follow the iTunes prompt and update to iOS 4.3.4 or not. There are a few questions you might ask yourself before making this decision to help determine if the 4.3.4 (4.2.9 on Verizon) firmware update is for you. Skipping the update leaves your device at iOS 4.3.3 or earlier, which could be useful down the line.

First it's important to understand what Apple is trying to accomplish with the iOS 4.3.4 update. The primary purpose is to fix a PDF security vulnerability on your iPhone. This may sound bad, but read on for more details. This vulnerability is the same weakness that makes the remarkably easy and fast JailbreakMe 3.0 procedure possible.

Thinking you can keep your iPhone 3GS and take advantage of all the new features and improvements that iOS 5 will offer this fall? Think again. Apple is rumored to be leaving the 3GS hardware behind when it updates its mobile operating system to the latest and greatest version. Already the previous discontinued model iPhone 3G is stuck at iOS 4.2.1 and can't take advantage of many iOS 4 features.

The move could signal major changes in iOS 5 that will require improved hardware such as that found inside the iPhone 4. Apple is expected to focus on the next version of iOS and mobile software development at the annual WWDC coming in the first week of June. The fifth generation mobile operating system is expected to support new cloud-based features including streaming media and storage solutions provided by Apple.

Apple has been releasing iOS updates left and right lately, greeting iPhone owners with a prompt every time they start up iTunes. Many are wondering if these updates are important, what the purpose of the updates are, and whether or not it's actually worth the time to continue installing. When it comes to the latest update, iOS 4.3.3, Apple has made significant changes to the way in which location data is stored on your device.

Responding to criticism and questions from across the board, Apple is reacting to a discovery by security researchers Alasdair Allan and Pete Warden. The pair discovered a log file on the iPhone and iPad that keeps location data from cellular tower triangulation indefinitely. With software they wrote, they were able to see maps of where they had been with their iPhones ever since the iOS 4.0 update was installed.

BGR already has its hands on a copy of the upcoming iOS 4.3.2 firmware update for iPhone and iPad. According to their sources the update will be released before the end of April, possibly even next week. Several fixes and changes are expected in this minor update.

For one, the 4.3.2 update should address the strange FaceTime issues that iPhone 4 and iPad 2 users have been experiencing lately. These include video freezing, having to restart the iPad, and the iPhone 4 leaving behind random photos of users on the screen. iOS 4.3.2 will not presumably be available on the Verizon iPhone 4, which is still running 4.2.6 firmware.