Get A True And Accurate Visual Representation Of Your iPhone Signal Strength Using Bars For iOS

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The iPhone is a bit of an all rounder, that it handles its core purpose extremely well, while managing to carry out a whole host of other tasks. However, that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have its fair share of issues.

In the past we have seen Apple push out point releases of their iOS operating system in order to fix slight issues such as battery life, Wi-Fi connectivity problems and also signal issues. Back in July of 2010, Apple released iOS 4.0.1, with the only change mentioned being an improvement to the algorithm used to display the signal bars on the device which was welcomed with fury over the so-called antennagate scandal.

The company announced that the issues that some users were experiencing with the drop of signals was largely exaggerated due to the fact that the calculations used to display the signal strength in iOS 4.0 was erroneous, leading users to see a larger drop in visual indication than what was actually happening.

The signal bars issue is something that has pretty much been put to bed over the last twelve months, but for those who wish to have an accurate visualization of just what is happening with network strength, then iOS developer Paul Griffin has released a little side project he has had lying around for quite some time called Bars. The purpose of the Bars tweak is to give a better, and more accurate understanding of the iPhone signal strength by using stepped indicators that accurately portray what is happening. Signals are still represented by the familiar five vertical bars in the top left hand corner of the device, but Bars make a slight adjustment by making the last bar full or half depending on the strength. As an example, if a particular iPhone had 3.5 bars of real world signal, the last vertical bar would be displayed as a half bar to reflect that.

Bars is free of charge tweak, available to download from the BigBoss repository and requires iOS 5.0 or higher.

Of course, you will need to jailbreak your device to install this tweak. For jailbreaking the latest iOS 5.1 (tethered), follow the instructions posted here to jailbreak using Redsn0w, or here for Sn0wbreeze. For jailbreaking iPhone 4S and iPad 2, you can simply follow our step by step tutorial posted here to jailbreak iOS 5.0.1 using Absinthe on Windows or Mac. Those of you with an iPhone 4, 3GS, iPad 1, and iPod touches can use Redsn0w or Sn0wbreeze to untether jailbreak on iOS 5.0.1.

Be sure to check out our iPhone Apps Gallery and iPad Apps Gallery to explore more apps for your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

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New 3rd-Gen iPad Users Plagued With Weak Wi-Fi Strength Issues, Are You Affected?

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Apple’s recording breaking product, the new iPad, is not even a week old yet, but that hasn’t stopped a subset of users picking up faults with the third-generation device. The new iPad officially went on sale last Friday, with Apple announcing in the last few days the they managed to ship a staggering three million units within the first weekend, making it the most successful iPad launch to date. Users have been queuing up outside Apple Stores in the hope of getting their hands on the tablet which features an A5X dual-core processor, a 5 mega-pixel rear camera and a beautiful high-resolution Retina display which contains a whopping 3.1 million pixels.

Some users had made their feelings known early on believing that the new iPad was generating a lot more heat than the original iPad or the iPad 2. A non-official test was carried out yesterday which involved the use of a thermal imaging camera in order to get to the bottom of the problem with the results showing that the latest iPad does indeed generate approximately 5 degrees centigrade more heat in certain areas than its predecessor. However, on the grand scale of things, such a relatively small heat gain shouldn’t be a big problem when you consider the improved performance and power of the device along with the Retina display. when demanding more features, improved performance and better displays, users need to be prepared to accept a certain trade-off, something that was mirrored by a statement from Apple relating to the heat subject.

Putting the heat generating issue aside, it would seem that still not all new iPad owners are happy with what their new unit provides. The Apple Support Communities forum contains a thread, which is growing rapidly, about some reported issues relating to the performance of the wireless connection on the new iPad. Dozens of consumers are taking to the website to express their concerns about the inferior Wi-Fi performance when compared to that of the iPad 2. Some of the reports from the site make claims that in areas where they previously received strong wireless signals are now weak or non-existent.

The comparisons are being made with the new iPad against other Apple devices such as a MacBook Pro or an iPhone 4S. A number of the thread entries claim that a MacBook, iPad 2 or iPhone 4S can pick up a strong signal in their homes or place of work, while the new iPad fails to pick up any signal at all, or is noticeably a lot weaker when compared to the other devices. Some of the affected users have noted that they have returned their iPad to the place of purchase and received a product replacement that doesn’t seem to suffer from the same affliction. On the flip side, a user who goes by the name ‘HealthClif’ had let the forum know that he had reverted back into using his iPad 2 full-time after receiving multiple replacements of the new iPad that all suffered from the same issue.

The Wi-Fi concerns of users seems rather similar to those expressed in 2010 when the original iPad was launched, something that was solved by Apple through an iOS software update. At that time, Apple conceded that a very small number of devices had been affected by the issue, something which seems to be the case in this instance. I personally purchased two new iPads on launch day and have experienced no issue with either of them, but for those who have, we could soon be seeing an iOS 5.1.1 update if Apple finds there really is an issue.

If you’re affected by this issue, drop your thoughts on our Facebook and Google+ pages.

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