Aidan MalleyEarly adopters of iPhone 3G have discovered an updated firmware build hidden from iTunes' update system that appears to fix several issues, including the yellow screen tint that some believe is a flaw.
Although clicking "Check for Updates" in iTunes continues to reveal no new firmware, touching "Restore" installs firmware two builds newer than what was loaded on to the new iPhones in the factory, bumping them from 5A345 to 5A347.
Many of those claim the lengthy process brings iPhone 3G's color point back to a more neutral position, eliminating the tint altogether.
Whether the new build was ever intended as public is unclear, but its existence as a later build suggests Apple may have ultimately chosen to scale back the tinting in a last-minute revision.
Separately, reports have also been received by AppleInsider that the newer build may also fix recurring app crashes experienced by some users, though this may also be due to the nature of the restore process rather than any particular updates in the 5A347 build.
Amber Neely
Andrew Orr
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
34 Comments
Has anybody read this article from arstechnica or whatever it is?
The whole premise is totally flawed. They are comparing to iphones, one with the update and one without and saying the one without the update looks yellower. Unfortunately two iphone 3Gs displays don't look the same. There are multiple accounts of this including my own. I applied the update and it did nothing to my 3g iphone which is much more yellow than my wife's 3g iphone.
Here is a pic of the two 3g iphones, tilted to EXAGERATE the difference, but even slightly off angle one looks greenish. If these displays are going to have color variance, there should be a way to adjust the white temp
I've had several apps crash today, apps from the App Store. AIM was one of them. I have even have the newest firmware. I put it on Friday when I was trying to get the thing activated. I ended up having to restart the phone.
I tried this and it may have reduced the yellow a little but by no means completely and not even really enough to be noticeable.
I think this is what Apple was afraid of at first - for 3rd party developers. Not every developer looks over their code as carefully as they should (Even Apple). Though this seems to be a consequence for eager adopters - and rest assured there will be more to come. Though one thing I really hope for in the next update is Dvorak Keyboard support on the iPhone!
*shrug* if that matters to anything