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iPhone 1.1.2 firmware came out recently and many iPhone users have now updates their iPhone’s from 1.1.1 to 1.1.2 firmware. One of the issues that some of my colleagues have experienced with their iPhones is the low sound volume. In other words, the volume is so low that you can’t hear the sound that is coming from the other side. Here are what you may be dealing with here:

iPhone Hardware problem: iPhone is not perfect, and you may have gotten the wrong phone. If you got your iPhone with 1.1.2 installed on it, then there is probably no way for you to tell if this was a hardware problem or a soft issue. I would suggest downgrading to 1.1.1 to fix the issue if you can. Of course, if you are still experiencing the issue then you should take your iPhone to an Apple Store to see if they can fix it.  Of course, make sure you have your volume turned up before taking it to Apple Store. I have not heard anyone having this experience with 1.1.1 firmware so I suspect it is soft issue, but you may have a bad iPhone in your hands too! Please feel free to share your experience if you have seen any issues with the 1.1.2 firmware.

Another horrifying news about iPhone has broken out as some forums are claiming that Apple uses the information that it receives from iPhones to tie them with its users. In other words, Apple spies on iPhone users. Of course, there is no way to prove that Apple is using the information at all, but it is certainly a big concern for those who value their privacy. Will this stop people from buying and using iPhone? That is hard to say. Maybe a small portion of iPhone maniacs.

GreenPeace is the latest environmental group to take issue with iPhone’s greatness. Now these guys are claiming that iPhone is not green enough. For heaven’s sake, is iPhone the solution to our green problems? I doubt it. It seems as though people attach everything and anything that is successful these days, and iPhone is certainly that. Don’t get me wrong. I am all for green and their movement, but in case of iPhone, I have three words for you. GET A LIFE!

So I was checking Google the other day to figure out what sites are getting ranked for the word “iPhone” on Google. Not to my surprise, Apple, Wikipedia, CNET, Engadget, Gizmo, and YouTube were all in the top 10. But the funny thing was that Linksys’s iPhone was also in the top 10 for the word “iPhone.” I wonder what portion of people who are searching for iPhone on Google are going for Cisco’s iPhone and not Apple’s iPhone. The moral of story is while I understand there is an agreement between Cisco and Apple over the use of “iPhone,” if I were Cisco I would not humiliate my product by trying to use the popularity of iPhone to get some cheap traffic. After all, how many of us will end up buying Cisco’s iPhone instead of Apple iPhone?

We all have witnessed the greatness that iPhone has realized over the past few months. iPhone is a digital powerhouse that plays well with the needs of everyday consumer. But business people are totally different animals when it comes to texting and staying in touch all the time. Apple iPhone has the potential to be one of the best business phones out there. But it is not there yet, and it will probably not be until the introduction of the next generation or iPhoneGen2. A recent study shows that business people are less productive with iPhone due to errors that they keep making with the touchscreen interface. The fact is that it’s almost impossible to text at the net speed/accuracy of Qwerty mobile owners as you end up pushing the wrong buttons on iPhone’s touchscreen keyboard. Here is what iPhone has going for it:

• Intuitive interface: it’s easy to learn and play with and needs literally very little time to get used to and master.
• Mobile Safari: The best mobile browser resides on your iPhones. Mobile Windows smart phones can’t claim that.
• Widget potential: iPhone users will be able to make widgets (consumer or business) in the near future especially after the introduction of iPhone SDK.

There are of course many things to like about iPhone, but hardcore business people may want to hold off for now until the next generation iPhone comes out. While I believe that Apple considered business people in its customer-centric approach to iPhone, it certainly didn’t go after them. Obviously, iPhoneGen2 will have more features for business people as Apple goes for the broke against Win OS mobile device market.