You’ll be pleased to know that one member of the Chronic Dev Team is responsible for this, and it is specifically Pod2g that you should thank for the discovery. He hasn’t made the untethered iOS 5.0.1 jailbreak available to download publicly yet, but he has provided a video showing that it does actually work.

He has also informed all users with a jailbroken handset that they can now safely update to iOS 5.0.1, as a download will be coming sooner rather than later. Currently, there is no exact ETA on when the download will be available, but it’s a good idea to keep an eye on Pod2g’s personal Twitter account here to keep yourself in the loop.

Some important details to be aware of, as we can confirm that the untethered jailbreak on iOS 5 is only for A4-supported devices only, applying to the likes of the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPod Touch 4G and the iPad. That means that for the time being, this will not support newer Apple devices such as the iPhone 4S or the iPad 2, but let’s hope that changes in the future.

With the untethered jailbreak at users disposal, it will now mean that their handset remains in a jailbroken state whenever the device is rebooted or runs out of battery. At the moment, iOS 5 users need to connect their device to a computer every time to gain full jailbreak functionality, but this will no longer be the case once the Chronic Dev Team release it. We’re guessing that the release will coincide with the release of Apple’s official iOS 5.1 update which is now in beta.

For those of you that are not aware, Siri can also input dictation by voice and if you have a jailbroken iPhone 4 you can now download a few apps and get this running on your device too. Just like the main Siri app, Apple has restricted this feature for the new iPhone 4S only, but if you want to try this out yourself, you can via Cydia and a new jailbreak app called Siri0us.

If you are curious as to how Siri dictation handles on the iPhone 4, we have a useful video for you to check out below, courtesy of the iDownloadBlog. Dictation works via the Apple search bar either online or offline and also via the notes application as well. As you can see from the video, the accuracy isn’t 100% perfect, but it does work so perhaps a little microphone fine tuning is needed to get the desired passage of text each time.

As noted in the video, Siri0us works for the iPhone 4 but it should also run without any problems on the iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch 4 running iOS 5 as well. We’re not sure if this package is worth jailbreaking your iPhone 4 solely, but it is a very nice feature to have on your device nevertheless, especially if you enjoy taking notes when you are out but never have the time to write something down physically.

Are you going to try Siri0us out on your jailbroken handset? If you already have this running, let us know how it is handling so far, so other users can follow and install.

Another lengthy debate has been brewing on the Apple boards for well over a month now, and seems to have gone unnoticed amidst the other iOS-related problems that we mentioned above.

If you take a look at this thread though over at the Apple boards, you’ll see that complaints are still flying in today about WiFi-related problems on iOS 5, despite the thread being created on October 13th. After more than 230 replies from disgruntled users, it has become apparent that there may be another serious problem that Apple has to deal with in their next software update. Considering that replies are still coming in today, it does suggest that Apple’s recent iOS 5.0.1 update does not solve the problem either.

Devices affected by the WiFi problem include the iPhone 4, the new 4S, the iPad, iPad 2, the iPhone 3GS and also the iPod Touch as well, as noted by Engadget. It has been detailed that in some cases, iOS devices fail to connect to a WiFi network, often giving an ‘unable to connect’ message despite the fact that the WiFi network is working fine on other devices.

Here’s one example taken from the Apple support thread, posted just yesterday (November 21st):

”I am having wi-fi connection problems on my iPhone 4 & iPad 2 since upgrading to iOS 5. My devices see networks but sometimes take a very long time to connect. And then, once connected, it can take a while to actually be able to send & receive data. It’s very frustrating. I never had these problems prior to the iOS 5 upgrade. Apple, please help.”

After so much hype and promise about iOS 5, it looks like Apple’s biggest software update to date is causing users a lot of headaches. The company has yet to fully sort out battery life issues, and these ‘new found’ WiFi signal problems are likely to go away anytime soon.

If you have experienced similar problems to the ones mentioned above, get in touch with us. What device are you using and what iOS version do you have running? Are the problems frequent or do they just occur sporadically?

What’s unique about this case is the fact that you can customize it to suit your lifestyle (hence the name). The case comes with interchangeable corners which offer different levels of security, it is a pretty clever idea as most of the time you drop something like an iPhone the first part of the device to hit the floor is the corner.

Below you can see the small black corners which add little bulk and medium protection, whilst the red extra large corners are made of a thicker material and should help keep your iPhone safe if you were to drop it from great heights onto a hard surface. You get 5 black corners and 5 red corners, meaning that if you lose one you have a spare of each color.

Despite the fact that this case has been designed with ruggedness in mind it is still pretty sleek and minimal, the main body of the case is made from a strong rubbery material and once your iPhone is in the case it feels very secure. As you would expect the case has been perfectly crafted to ensure that the iPhone’s microphone, speaker, 30-pin dock connector, 3.5mm jack socket, camera and buttons are all still accessible

Below you can see that despite the difference in design between the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S the volume buttons line up perfectly, the same can be said about the power button. Note: We used the iPhone 4S in our review.

The back of the case is perhaps the most stylish part of it, it features Ballistic’s striking logo and leaves plenty of room for the iPhone’s camera and flash. One thing which you can’t really tell by looking at the photos is the fact that the back surface is textured, this allows you to keep a firm grip on your iPhone at all times.

Some people have criticized the Ballistic Lifestyle because it does not come with a screen protector, however we don’t really see this as a problem – here’s why. Firstly in our experience screen protectors are great for the first few days, however in the long run they often display air bubbles and smears etc. Ballistic has ensured that even when face-down your iPhone should avoid scratches etc, the image below shows how the case keeps your iPhone’s display slightly lower than the casing, it also shows how relatively thin the case is.

There is not much else to say about the Ballistic Lifestyle case for iPhone 4S and iPhone 4, in our opinion if you want a case which will keep your iPhone safer from damage than what most other cases will you should definitely head over to GoBallisticCase.com and pick up one for just $29.99 – there are three colors to choose from and in our opinion it’s a small price to pay to ensure that your iPhone 4S holds its value.

Below we have embedded some more photos from our hands on:

Unfortunately, it isn’t the untethered jailbreak option that most of you are looking for, but it is a way of gaining access to the Cydia store on iOS 5.0.1 if that’s what you’re after. Redsn0w 0.9.9b5 is what you need to download, and if you are new to the jaibreaking game, you should head to RedmondPie for the download links and instructions.

Before you go ahead and try this out, be warned that this will not work on the iPhone 4S or the iPad 2. It will work however on devices like the iPhone 4 and iPod Touch 4, but as we mentioned above you’ll need to connect your device to redsn0w on your computer each time you reboot since it is only a tethered jailbreak at the moment.

On a side note, those of you who are really desperate for an untethered jailbreak on iOS 5.0.1 may want to try the ‘Semi Tether’ patch that is available as well, allowing you to boot up your device in a jailbroken state, but with limited features enabled only. If this interests you, you’ll find the instructions over at Redmond Pie as well.

As we told you earlier on in the week, there still seems to be a battery life issue for many users, as Apple has now come out and stated that they are still ‘investigating’ battery life issues on iOS 5.0.1. If you have updated to the latest version, you’ll know that a supposed battery life fix had been issued, but as you can see plenty of frustrated users are still complaining.

Have you already jailbroken your device on iOS 5? If so, what benefits can you list for other users?

We are sure that some of you reading this will have owned the iPhone 4 and upgraded to the 4S, therefore it will be interesting to see if you think people complaining about the problems are over-reacting to minor issues, or has Apple actually got things wrong with both of these smartphones.

Last year Apple gave iPhone 4 owners a free bumper to help prevent people from experiencing the antennagate issue, but what will Apple do to to rectify the iPhone 4S battery problems? The battery is not easily swappable, so the only thing we can suggest is that future software updates could improve things, but is this really acceptable?

When you buy the iPhone 4S, Apple heavily promote its battery life, however they cleverly use the words “up to” (see below), which means that they never state just how little life your 4S will deliver. It all depends on how you configure your iPhone 4S, but we are still disappointed by the reports we are getting from our readers. Here is possible fix.

For those of you who have owned both iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S, please answer the poll question below so we can gain some feedback on the issue.

[poll id="407"]

Steve Jobs first thought the problems were down to Google and Motorola who were trying to be mischievous, in response to the release of the handset. The Guardian is reporting that the former Apple CEO felt the two companies were trying to “shoot Apple down“.

Jobs only decided to tackle the issue head on after Tim Cook had quoted someone that had suggested Apple could become complacent and arrogant, a criticism often leveled at Microsoft. This was when Apple called an emergency press event to deal with the problem. Many users were complaining of dropped calls or the signal strength dropping when the device was held in a certain way.

The biography says Jobs was in Hawaii at the time on a family holiday when the issue first broke, and he was at first very defensive. Once he had the conversation with Tim Cook, Jobs immediately flew over to the Apple headquarters in California.

Steve Jobs felt though the situation was blown way out of context by the media, which only saw a return rate of 1.7%. This turned out to be a much lower return rate the previous iPhone 3GS model had seen.

The idea is pretty simple, you upload an image and the site does all the hard work for you, whether you choose a photo or some artwork is entirely up to you, however for best results you must use a pretty high resolution image (1650 x 1650 or above is recommended).

Once you have uploaded an image there’s lots of things you can modify, firstly not only can you create the custom case for the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S, but if you want you can create a case for the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPod Touch 4G, Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant, BlackBerry Bold 9900, BlackBerry Bold 9700 and the BlackBerry Curve – all of which cost $34.99 – that said the iPhone 4 / iPhone 4S case is also available in a “Tough” variant which will cost an additional $5.

Now that you have chosen your device, case type and uploaded an image you can change the image’s positioning, rotate it and even change the level of magnification. I had a quick play and my un-artistic eye managed to come up with this case:

As you can see the cases should turn out pretty good if you take your time and ensure you use a high-resolution image to start with, that said you can alternatively select art from the gallery which you can then further customize.

When compared to other pre-designed cases the price is a little higher, but we think that you can’t really put a price on a completely unique design – so head over to Case-Mate to design your own case!

Apple has a patent that shows Game Center users being able to create their very own character, you will also be able to choose a pre-selected avatar if your design skills are not that great. According to the AppleInsider report it says that these avatars will also be ported to other applications as well, and we believe that Siri could be one of them.

This could be seen as a novelty, but we have seen in the past how fast ideas like these catch on, you only have to look at Xbox Live. Speaking of Siri, (which has been having accent problems) it’s no secret that it’s the biggest draw for the iPhone 4S, so you can imagine the disappointment when current iPhone 4 owners learned that they would not be getting it. Apple told us that it was due to the fact that the their latest smartphone had the A5 chip in, which made it possible – where’s the iPad 2 version then?

Well, you’ll be pleased to know that 9to5 Mac has news of a port to the iPhone 4 for Siri, which was all thanks to using Springboard files. In the video below you will see the port in action, but you have to bare in mind that it will not have all the features like the iPhone 4S has, as it cannot connect to Apple’s servers, as well as a little bit of lag to boot. However, it’s a start, one that should progress in time – the future is bright for iPhone 4 owners once again.

If you check out this Apple Discussions thread you will see that there have been over 170 replies to an issue titled “iOS 5 Upgrade Bricked My iPhone 4 (Stuck in Recovery Mode)” – this suggests that the problem is quite widespread, however exactly how this occurred is still unclear.

One user suggests that he ignored a message which read “An internal error occurred”, he then tried to run the update and his iPhone 4 became stuck in recovered mode, other similar reports suggest that the upgrade resulted in a 3004 error, the good news is that we have a potential fix thanks to someone going by the alias of ICHIBOI, here’s the fix:

I have successfully updated my iPhone to IOS 5.
Be sure you have iTunes 10.5 installed
Launch iTunes 10.5 and then…
Mac users: hold down the OPTION key then click on “Restore”, locate the aforementioned IPSW file
Windows users: hold down the SHIFT key and then click on “Restore”, point iTunes to the downloaded IPSW file.
Firmware files have an .ipsw extension and can be found at the following locations:
On Windows XP :
Documents and Settings\\Application Data\Apple Computer\iTunes\iPhone Software Updates

On Windows Vista/Windows 7:
Users\\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\iTunes\iPhone Software Updates

On Mac:
~/Library/iTunes/iPhone Software Updates

There are so many varying problems currently affecting people, so don’t be surprised if the above fix doesn’t work for you, instead have a read through the Apple Discussions thread and see what led other iPhone 4 users to a successful upgrade. Here’s some more tips from other people:

Jack L writes:
1) Turn the phone off and on again
2) Reconnect to iTunes
3) Update and restore

wookey 8 writes:
“disconnect phone from comp. Hold down power and home button until phone blinks black. Plug back into comp with buttons remaining pressed down…until USB screen appears on phone. Then iTunes recognizes phone and asks to restore – click restore.

We hope this brief article helps you resolve any issues you encounter, feel free to leave us a comment below with any problems / fixes you have found.