Apple releases iOS 5.1 Beta 3 - Updates Baseband Again, 3G Toggle is Back
by Brian Klug on January 9, 2012 4:18 PM ESTWe've been tracking and updating our iPhone 4S' to each beta of iOS 5.1, and today Apple has pushed out an OTA version of iOS 5.1 Beta 3 (build 9B5141a). The update changes baseband firmware on the 4S to 1.5.04 (from 1.4.00 in iOS 5.1 Beta 2) and also reintroduces the 3G toggle on our AT&T iPhone 4S. This is a very welcome and timely change especially considering that AT&T WCDMA is almost unusable in Las Vegas, making EDGE sometimes the only way to stay connected.
iOS 5.1 B3 Above - And yes, that's AT&T in the Venetian in Las Vegas this very moment.
I'll be testing the heck out of iOS 5.1 B3 to see whether the baseband instability introduced by 1.4.00 has been fixed finally, or whether the problem persists. In the meantime, having the 3G toggle back is a huge breath of fresh air. I'll be updating as necessary.
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contradel - Monday, January 9, 2012 - link
Any news on regards of the battery issues which affected some iPhone 4S? My girlfriends iPhone 4GS got worse battery than a laptop pre 2000, losing half battery over night.kmmatney - Monday, January 9, 2012 - link
My 4S goes from about 100% to 95% overnight. It gets better battery life than my 3GS. Maybe she just got a bad phone? I haven't done anything special to my phone, except for turning off push for email.kmmatney - Tuesday, January 10, 2012 - link
I paid attention to it last night - my 4S battery went from 99% to 97% overnight...JNo - Monday, January 9, 2012 - link
They didn't give users control of 3G?!?! No wonder people are flocking to android - it's a radio button on my homescreen (a widget) too so I don't even have to drill down into a menu... ok I know I sound like a fanboy - I genuinely don't have irrational hatred of apple but that is baby sitting of the worst kind: "No you can not have control of your phone's radios! You're not old enough to understand it silly!"TuxDave - Monday, January 9, 2012 - link
We used to have it, and then it went away... and now it's back. So no it's not like we've never had it but for whatever reason they decided to punt it.kmmatney - Monday, January 9, 2012 - link
I haven't missed it, but 3G coverage seems to be good everywhere go, so I have used the option when I had it. You also have airplane mode if you want to turn off all the radios.Brian Klug - Tuesday, January 10, 2012 - link
The iPhone 4 always had a 3G toggle (and still has it). The iPhone 4S never had a 3G toggle, and now has one. So this is the first time we're *finally* being treated like adults and able to control WCDMA or EDGE on the iPhone 4S.My latest conspiracy theory is that they disabled the 3G toggle because *surprise* MDM6610 does not support Rx diversity on GSM/EDGE. (aka, it deathgrips just like the 4 on GSM/EDGE).
-Brian
doobydoo - Friday, January 13, 2012 - link
It's not about Apple saying 'you're not old enough to understand it' - it was an oversight An oversight which has been duly corrected. It has existed on previous models for a long time.As for having a toggle on the homescreen, I guess you could say that Apple assumes most of its users have better things to do with their home screen then to toggle 3G on or off. An assumption with which I concur.
rwes - Monday, January 9, 2012 - link
Apple had allowed ATT users to toggle 3G on and off until the introduction of the 4S. It seems as though a -bug-/oversight in iOS, due to the single handset for all carriers (GSM/CMDA) created the issue.Most, if not all, iPhone 4 users still had the ability to toggle 3G on and off on ATT, just the 4S users (myself included) were stuck for a bit.
Still, we don't have a cool widget to toggle it on and off with though, now that it's back.
Derment - Wednesday, January 11, 2012 - link
So Apple's only answer to fixing the battery issues on this 4S LEMON is to let you nobble the 3G because it uses too much power? In other words, they've given up.Am I the only one who's embarrassed to be seen with its products?