support – SomeGadgetGuy

August 23, 2014

Apple Admits to Potential Battery Issues with iPhone 5

It was a pretty common complaint in my circle of friends, that the iPhone 5 battery life just wasn’t as good as the iPhone 4S.

A common theory of the day was that the dual radio solution found with Apple’s first LTE enabled phone wasn’t as well optimized as the 3G only iPhone 4S. It was sort of true for early 4G Android phones, maybe Apple fell prey to the same teething pains?

Announced yesterday, Apple is acknowledging that the iPhone 5 might have had some manufacturing issues:

Apple has determined that a very small percentage of iPhone 5 devices may suddenly experience shorter battery life or need to be charged more frequently. The affected iPhone 5 devices were sold between September 2012 and January 2013 and fall within a limited serial number range.

If your iPhone 5 is experiencing these symptoms and meets the eligibility requirements noted below, Apple will replace your iPhone 5 battery, free of charge.

This specific issue is apparently not affecting 4S or 5S owners.

As we rapidly approach the release of the iPhone 6, it’s not terrifically helpful for iPhone 5 owners dealing with this problem, as they’re likely nearing the end of a two year contract anyway, just in time to buy Apple’s latest and greatest…

Better late than never I suppose. Hit the link below if you think your phone might be affected, and Apple might replace that battery for you.

iPhone 5 Battery Replacement Program

January 16, 2014

Microsoft Extending Anti-Malware Support for Windows XP through July 2015

Seriously folks. If this article is relevant to you, you desperately need to move on. No Joke.

April 8, 2014 is becoming something of a doomsday date. That’s the day official support and updates stop for Windows XP. The OS is over 12 years old now, and a shocking number of computers still run it. After that date, the more dramatic tech commentators among us are expecting calamity as holes, bugs, and exploits will no longer be fixed by Microsoft. There’s a certain expectation that waves of malware will be introduced into the ecosystem, preying on folks who probably aren’t the tech-savviest users on the net.

Microsoft is in a difficult situation. As a profit generating corporation, they genuinely need more people to update to newer software and hardware. They also have a responsibility to not allow one of their most successful products to become a malware infested zombie hulk of an operating system. It’s a scary proposition as some estimates place XP at 30% of the consumer computing market. XP by itself still outpaces OSX and Linux combined in households. Microsoft would be perfectly within their rights to hold to their current support plans, but it would leave a lot of people in the lurch.

And this brings us to the current farce of moving the goal posts. Official support is still ending in April, but now Microsoft is announcing an extension to certificates and anti-malware support through July 14, 2015. This move could backfire, providing XP users a false sense of security. It’s not particularly clear how effective anti-malware support will be on an OS receiving no updates.

And those users might be in for a shock if the upgrade now. The move from XP to Win7, they still would’ve recognized most of how the OS was organized. Now a move to Windows 8 will be more of a culture shock on first boot. It’s a testament to how good XP was that so many people continue using it, but all good things must come to an end.

Full PR below:

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October 21, 2013October 20, 2013

PSA: Only Two Years left to Update from Windows 8 to 8.1 to Continue Receiving Support

Better get to it folks! The clock is ticking!

Looks like Microsoft is getting a touch more aggressive in making sure consumers stay up to date on OS updates. The Windows 8 support life cycle is scheduled to end in 2023, but to continue receiving support, it looks like Microsoft is going to require people stay on top of updates.

Announced on Microsoft’s site:

Windows 8 customers will have two years to move to Windows 8.1 after the General Availability of the Windows 8.1 update to continue to remain supported under the Windows 8 lifecycle.

Well, “General Availability” started last Thursday, so at the time of this blog post, you have less than 727 days to jump on the Windows 8.1 update to continue receiving support.

It would appear Microsoft is trying to be a bit more proactive in communicating with consumers when products hit End Of Life. There’s still a substantial base of users still on Windows XP, which could create a nightmare scenario for many when support officially ends April of 2014. The fear being that those who create malware for Windows could be waiting for support to end before unleashing new attacks on the XP platform.

So now, Microsoft is not only communicating what the total support time is, they’re stipulating more consumer participation in keeping the Windows ecosystem a bit more up to date. As for those of us on Windows 7 and Windows 8, we’ve got PLENTY of support time left, so long as we keep up with our updates…

September 17, 2013

Apple extends older app support for legacy iOS users

Fragmentation is a fact of life. As new gear arrives, older gear will stop receiving support. As developers move on to newer operating systems users can become frustrated when some devices get updates and others don’t.

Apple weathers this storm better than most of their competition, but even they aren’t completely immune. They are taking a savvy step towards improving the experience for people using older iOS devices. The iTunes store now allows you to install older versions of apps. That way, if developers are supporting newer version of iOS than what’s on your phone or tablet, you’ll be able to backtrack to versions which do support your iDevice.

This kind of legacy support really improves the experience for people who hold on to their tech for as long as possible. If you’ve got an older phone, tablet, or iPod Touch give it a whirl.

(pic via Reddit)