Windows Phone 7.8 Start Screen Potentialy Use Massive Data also Drains Battery

After several months of waiting, Microsoft and Nokia have delivered the Windows Phone 7.8 update as promised.

However, it appears that all smartphones that were upgraded to WP7.8 are now affected by a critical bug that will massively take advantage of data usage, thus draining the battery. Discovered by the guys over at WP7RootTools, this problem only affects Windows Phone 7.8 handsets. So far there have been no reports that the issue might cause huge data usage on devices powered by Windows Phone 8 smartphones. It appears that when a new application is pinned on the start screen, it makes a request to a server for an icon to be put on live tiles and that website is unavailable, causing an endless loop to try and get that data.

This results in huge data usage and battery drainage. However, as we mentioned earlier, this issue does not affect Windows Phone 7.5 and 8.0 devices as Microsoft made it so that particular app sending requests to a server is set to try again in 30 minutes, so it will not continue to use data. Windows Phone 7.8 developers made it so Wi-Fi connection enters sleep mode 1 minute after the screen is locked, in order to save battery.  The good news is if users are in Wi-Fi range, this issue with the start screen will take advantage of Wi-Fi connection rather than data network.

Obviously, this will drain the phone’s battery even faster, but at least you won’t have to pay a lot of money on your next bill. For the time being, there are no known workarounds that might fix this issue, so make sure you check the application pinned on the live tiles is correctly displayed and has the correct icon attached to it, otherwise the phone will continue to use data.

Windows Phone Start Screen
Image credits to Nokia

Read more »

Evasi0n Untethered iOS 6.1 Jailbreak Tool Released Today

The evasi0n jailbreak is almost ready! The evad3rs have posted 95% progress with the confirmation that the next step was the tool’s official release.

Evasi0n is now undergoing “final testing and preparation,” according to the team of hackers who is responsible for the software. A jailbreak tool targeting all iDevices running iOS 6.0 through iOS 6.1, evasi0n will be released as soon as today, February 4, 2013. At least that’s what hacker @planetbeing says. “Yes, tomorrow is a concrete release date. It's also the only release date we've ever given,” writes the jailbreak expert. On the evasi0n.com site, the hackers have released an important “read me” note mentioning a few dos and don’ts.

Future users of the jailbreak tool are told to back up their device using iTunes or iCloud, as well as to disable the passcode lock – “it can cause issues,” according to the evad3rs. As the jailbreak is running, users must be patient and wait for the process to end. “Be patient while the jailbreaking process is running, don't start iTunes or Xcode in the meanwhile. The best is to not touch the computer until the end of the jailbreaking process,” according to the notice. Some users might experience hangs or crashes. The team says not to worry. Simply restart the process and, if necessary, reboot the iPhone / iPad / iPod touch.

“If the process gets stuck somewhere, it's safe to restart the program, reboot the device (if necessary by holding down Hold and Home until it shuts down), and rerun the process,” according to the hackers. Evasi0n will be a free download for Mac OS X, Linux, and Windows users. In other words, pretty much anyone with a relatively new iDevice and a computer will be able to jailbreak iOS 6 today. 

Planetbeing tweet
Image credits to Planetbeing twiter stream

Read more »