Sébastien Page

Sebastien is the Founder and Editor in Chief of iDB. Once a BlackBerry user, Sebastien instantly fell in love with the iPhone when it was first announced in 2007. Shortly after, he decided to start sharing his knowledge of the iPhone and its nascent ecosystem, which led to the creation of this blog. Sebastien currently owns 14 iPhones, 4 iPads, a MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, a MacBook Air, 2 Apple Watches, 3 Apple TVs, countless HomePods and AirTags as well as a few pairs of AirPods.

First Action-Class Lawsuit Filed Against Apple and AT&T Over iPhone 4 Antenna Issue

Sébastien Page ∙ July 1, 2010

It was only a matter of time until this happened. The lawsuit that obviously focuses on the iPhone 4 antenna issue, makes several claims:

General Negligence (APPLE and AT&T) Defect in Design, Manufacture, and Assembly (APPLE) Breach of Express Warranty (APPLE) Breach of Implied Warranty for Merchantability (APPLE and AT&T) Breach of Implied Warranty of Fitness for a Particular Purpose (APPLE and AT&T) Deceptive Trade Practices (APPLE and AT&T) Intentional Misrepresentation (APPLE and AT&T) Negligent Misrepresentation (APPLE and AT&T) Fraud by Concealment (APPLE and AT&T)

I don't like lawsuits as they usually don't solve the issue, they just compensate it. In this case however, Apple's audacity and lack of action is such that I can understand why a few people would want to sue the company.

Thank god MacGyver has a fix for this antenna issue.

[via Gizmodo]

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FaceTime on MiFi Works Great

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 23, 2016

I am currently at Tina's dad, in Nowhere, Michigan. They don't have cable internet here. They have MiFi, which I have to admit is pretty freaking cool.

Yesterday I had some FaceTime with my cousin back home in France. I took the Mifi in my pocket and went outside sit by the lake. The image and sound quality was as good as if I was on cable Internet. Very impressed.

When I see how well FaceTime works on MiFi, it gives me hopes that it will work ok on AT&T's slower 3G network once there is a jailbreak for the iPhone 4. In the meanwhile, you can already use FaceTime on 3G with this trick.

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How to Enable Emoji on iPhone iOS 4

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated December 15, 2017

Emoji icons disappeared for a while with the release of iOS 4. But they're back! This simple trick, compliments of Simon, will show you how to enable Emoji icons on your iPhone iOS 4.

Step 1: Download this free app from the App Store.

Step 2: Launch the app and tap "ok, let's do this".

Step 3: Go to Settings > General > Keyboard > International Keyboard > Add New Keyboard > Emoji.

Step 4: Reboot your iPhone.

You can now get emoji icons on your iPhone. To bring up the emoji keyboard, launch your Notes.app and tap the little "globe" icon next to the space key.

If you send an email containing emoji icons, the person you send the email to must have emoji enabled too. For some reason, I wasn't able to use emoji icons in the Email.app. It worked great for notes though.

How is it working for you?

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Should You Get An Insurance For Your iPhone 4?

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 23, 2016

With twice the amount of glass surface on your iPhone 4, your chances of shattering any side of your device are twice as high. Insurance company Asurion figured this out and decided to offer protection plans for the iPhone 4.

For $12/month this company will insure your spanking new iPhone against every possible event: theft, loss, hurricane, oil spill, broken screen, screen cancer, you name it.

That sounds great, doesn't it? Wait to read the fine prints then because there is a $200 deductible on this plan and replacing a phone can be costly. Although the iPhone 4 costs $199 or $299 with a two-year contract with AT&T, customers would need to pay the full retail price of $599 or $699 to replace a phone in the middle of the contract.

An insured owner who loses a phone after a year of use would have paid $144 in fees on top of the $199 deductible. That would be a total of $343, about half the price of a new phone. But the chances of losing or breaking a phone are far below 50 percent, making the price for the policy too high for the risk. And according to Asurion, the replacement phone might be a refurbished model.

Unless you drop your iPhone every other day, I think such a plan is useless and will cost you more in the end. If you break your iPhone in the first year, simply have it fixed by a repair shop, not by Apple as their prices are usually much higher than independent repair shops.

If you lose or get your iPhone stolen, simply look for an unlocked one on eBay or Craigslist. In the end, it will most likely cost you less than if you purchased this insurance plan.

That's my 2 cents. What do you think?

[via Yahoo via Todd]

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How to Fix iOS 4 Exchange Sync Problems

Sébastien Page ∙ June 30, 2010

After updating to iOS 4, you might have encountered issues when syncing your Microsoft Exchange account. I know I did. Immediately after setting up Google Sync on my iPhone iOS 4, the sync took forever to complete. I ended up deleting and adding the account several times but it didn't really fix the issue as it would still take forever to sync new contacts or new events in the calendar.

According to this Apple Support ticket, I am not the only one. Here are the symptoms: immediately after updating to iOS 4, some users may notice that Exchange ActiveSync Mail, Contacts, or Calendars do not sync, or sync very slowly. In addition, some Exchange Server administrators may notice their servers running slowly.

Here is the fix offered by Apple:

To work around this issue, users should install a configuration profile from Apple that increases the amount of time the iOS 4 device will wait for the Exchange Server to respond to its sync requests. For best results, the profile should be installed on as many iOS 4 devices at your company as possible.

To install the profile:

Use Safari on your iOS 4 device to download the configuration profile. It may be easiest to read this article with your iPhone or iPod touch and tap the download link there, but you may also email the attachment to another email account on your iOS 4 device, and tap the attachment to open it. Tap Install to install the profile, and enter your passcode if prompted. A warning message will appear because the profile is not signed. Tap Install Now. Tap Done to complete the installation, then power off your device and power it back on. Wait for your Exchange data to finish syncing.

After installation, the profile will be listed under Settings > General > Profile.

Have you had this issue? If so, did this fix work for you?

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If MacGyver Had An iPhone 4, This Is How He Would Fix The Antenna Issue

Sébastien Page ∙ June 30, 2010

Welcome to episode #649 of the iPhone 4 antenna issue program. Since Apple doesn't seem to be doing anything to fix this annoying issue, we have to be inventive and figure out our own way to get things to work as they should.

A discussion in the Mac Rumors forums suggests that the issue could actually be from the SIM card itself.

I just tried this. My sim contacts were under the edge of the tray too. I cut a piece of electrical tape to exactly cover only where the gold contacts of the sim touched the tray. I went back to the exact location in my house where I had 1 signal bar. I now have 3 signal bars. Unreal, I can't believe this did anything. Tested before and after with a bumper on the phone. I'll keep an eye on the performance outside the house tomorrow. I don't want to jump to conclusions that this helped my iPhone reception without more data. Looks promising so far though!

What seems to work for this guy didn't work for others, me included. Hey Apple, we're still waiting for an official statement from you about the issue!

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Apple’s iPhone 4 Antenna Troubleshooting Procedures Leaked

Sébastien Page ∙ June 30, 2010

By now you must have heard about the whole iPhone 4 antenna debacle. In case you don't know about it, let me give you a short recap. Basically, when held with the left hand, connecting the two antennas, the signal drops significantly, often cutting off cell signal. Steve Jobs' official statement on the issue: hold it different!

I personally think Steve-o is full of it on that one and apparently, Apple might be working on a software update that will hopefully fix the issue.

Now you might have called Apple or even visited an Apple Store about this issue. According to an internal document leaked to BGR, this is the answers you probably received:

1. Keep all of the positioning statements in the BN handy – your tone when delivering this information is important.

a. The iPhone 4’s wireless performance is the best we have ever shipped. Our testing shows that iPhone 4’s overall antenna performance is better than iPhone 3GS.

b. Gripping almost any mobile phone in certain places will reduce its reception. This is true of the iPhone 4, the iPhone 3GS, and many other phones we have tested. It is a fact of life in the wireless world.

c. If you are experiencing this on your iPhone 3GS, avoid covering the bottom-right side with your hand.

d. If you are experiencing this on your iPhone 4, avoid covering the black strip in the lower-left corner of the metal band.

e. The use of a case or Bumper that is made out of rubber or plastic may improve wireless performance by keeping your hand from directly covering these areas.

2. Do not perform warranty service. Use the positioning above for any customer questions or concerns.

3. Don’t forget YOU STILL NEED to probe and troubleshoot. If a customer calls about their reception while the phone is sitting on a table (not being held) it is not the metal band.

4. ONLY escalate if the issue exists when the phone is not held AND you cannot resolve it.

5. We ARE NOT appeasing customers with free bumpers – DON’T promise a free bumper to customers.

When I exchanged my iPhone last weekend, I asked the "genius" if she could give me a Bumper for the antenna issue. She said she would have given me one but there were all sold out. I guess she hadn't had the memo yet...

Now you'd better come with a software fix for this antenna issue, Apple, because buying a case or holding my iPhone differently won't cut it for me.

What's your take on it?

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Yet Another Verizon iPhone Rumor

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated October 23, 2016

Are you tired of the Verizon iPhone rumors yet? Or maybe you can't wait to dump the big bad awful AT&T for... well... the big bad awful Verizon. Personally I'm kinda tired of these but I always feel the need to pass the information rumors on because my goal is to keep you up-to-date.

The latest round of rumor claiming the iPhone will come to Verizon comes from Bloomberg, which was tipped by "two people familiar with the plans". According to the anonymous sources, the iPhone 4 will appear on Verizon network in January of 2011.

An odd date for the launch of a new product for Verizon as it comes right after the holidays madness. Even more odd is that Verizon spokesperson John Johnson said not even a month ago that there was no plan for Verizon to support the Apple mobile devices in the “immediate future”.

I still don't think Verizon will have the iPhone next year but hey, I might be wrong.

Thoughts?

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RedSn0w 0.9.5b5-5 Fixes MMS/APN Issue After iOS 4 Jailbreak

Sébastien Page ∙ June 29, 2010

The Dev Team just released RedSn0w 0.9.5b5-5. This updated version of the popular jailbreak tool will fix the MMS and APN issues that many users encountered after jailbreaking their iPhone with RedSn0w.

According to the Dev Team, it's safe to re-run RedSn0w 0.9.5b5-5 on an iPhone that was previously jailbroken with RedSn0w without restoring. Simply deselect “Install Cydia” if you do that.

Instructions to jailbreak your iPhone iOS 4 with RedSn0w remain the same. However, remember this is still a beta version. To date, this version of RedSn0w is only compatible with the iPhone 3G and iPod Touch 2G (non MC models). If you want to jailbreak the iPhone 3GS on iOS 4, you will have to use PwnageTool.

After jailbreaking your iPhone with either RedSn0w or PwnageTool, you can unlock it using the latest version of UltraSn0w.

You can download the latest version of RedSn0w from our iPhone downloads section.

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iPhone 4 Parts Cost $187.51

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated May 16, 2016

Have you ever wondered how much your spanking new iPhone 4 would cost to manufacture? According to iSuppli, Apple's 16GB iPhone 4 includes components that cost as little as $187.51.

The most expensive thing in the iPhone 4 is the retina display screen, which supposedly costs Apple $28.50 per unit.

When the iPhone 3GS came out last year, its estimated cost was $179. Since then, the price of components dropped and it is now estimated to cost $134.

Like Business Week notices, the estimate doesn't include costs for items such as labor, shipping, advertising, software development, or patent licensing.

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