Towards the end of last week Vodafone sent out a message to all their customers with an iPhone 4S that they should hold off updating to 6.1 because issue with 3G and also certain performance issues. Thankfully these have now been resolved with the release of iOS 6.1.1, but there seems to be some confusion.

The reason we say this because Apple had said that iOS 6.1.1 was going to offer updates to the Maps app for Japan. However, we are now being told that this will be put back and included in iOS 6.2. It does seem strange how Apple has been quick to resolve the 4S issues when it’s clear that there are still problems with the iPhone 5.

We had hoped that this latest iOS update was going to be made available for the iPhone 5 as well, so being shunned like this is not going to sit well with those who are still experiencing Wi-Fi, battery and other issues with their iPhone 5.

Having said that, iPhone 4S owners have also been experiencing issues with their battery, in some cases these handsets have been running a little on the hot side, which is why we find it strange that there is no mention of this in iOS 6.1.1.

We have now downloaded and installed the update on my wife’s iPhone 4S and had no trouble at all. However, we have heard reports that some users have had issues, with one reporting that the update caused their 4S to brick itself. Have you had any issues with iOS 6.1.1?

Apple’s iOS 6 beta 2 has just gone live to developers and shows an install size of 322MB on iPhone 4S. When developers login to the iOS Dev Center they are greeted with the normal documentation, but this now includes the full iOS 6 beta 2 release notes as well. They also have expanded beta 2 information for Apple TV, and the ability to download the new software for numerous generations of iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch.

Before developers install they do get a quick “read me before download” guide, which explains that users can install iOS 6 beta 2 over Wi-Fi as long as the current software is iOS 6 already. Devs are also warned that they cannot downgrade the iOS after updating to iOS 6, and that iTunes 10.6.3 should be used for backing up devices.

The release notes for iOS 6 beta 2 are pretty extensive although main changes include a small change to keyboard clicking sounds, which might have seen fast typing cause missing clicks, although this should be fixed after installing the latest software. There were several fixes that related to crashing within iOS, and included a fix for crashing when new iCloud accounts are created during setup and also when in a phone call some users saw iOS SpringBoard crash. Have you experienced crashing with iOS 5, and if so share a comment and we’ll try to find out if this has been fixed with the latest iOS 6 beta 2.

Apple’s iOS 6 will release this Fall around the same time as the new iPhone 5. You might want to read our earlier articles about less-publicized iOS 6 features and how a new iPhone 5 adaptor could answer worries over a connector change.

What iOS 5 problems do you want to see fixed within iOS 6?

Understanding why some people hate cases – it’s pretty obvious why you should use a case, although some users like to risk not protecting their iPhone 4S and keep the stylish device on display without covering up. People normally change their minds about cases after breaking a phone or causing a problem that would’ve been protected if they had a case, does this sound like you?

If you’re going to cover up the lovely phone you bought, partly for its looks, then you’ll want some protection that adds to the style and not ruin it. We’re all going to have a different opinion when looking for feasible iPhone 4S cases that are convenient and stylish, so we’ve listed a few on this page that demonstrate a number of useful ways to protect and add something extra. Let us know the type of protection you have on your iPhone 4S, if there is some that is.

Meet the Wood Camera iPhone 4S Case – this is a strange looking case but we had to list it thanks to the popularity of wood with some people, and not to mention it certainly shows the range of cases iPhone owners can buy. We’ve been to a few gadget events showing wood laptops and other devices, so there is definitely a market for this but it’s not our favorite by a long way. More images and information can be found here.

The Incase Snap Stand Case for iPhone 4S is great for desktops – some people like to stand their iPhone up on a desk, and if this sounds like you then you might want to consider a case that has this feature built-in. This is certainly convenient for users that want to stand their iPhone 4S up, which also includes an enhanced grip and thicker protective hardshell while you use it hands-free. The official Apple Store has more details and some nice photo shots of this case.

DESTROYER ULTRA is an iPhone 4S case for those that need some serious protection – this case from Incipio features a silicone surrounding that will absorb a lot of shock, and the polycarbonate frame makes sure your precious iPhone is well protected when dropped. The case comes with some nice extras like a vanity kit, belt clip, and more.

The Michael Kors Essential Zip Wallet keeps my wife happy – my wife is using this case and she loves it, which is certainly one of the most stylish for women that like a designer clutch, and also keeps their iPhone 4S/4 safe inside with money, cards, and more. It comes with a wrist strap for holding safely and can fit an iPhone inside even when it has an Apple Bumper on, but you’ll find this product has a high price thanks to the designer name.

Last of our featured cases is one that gives the iPhone 4S some needed battery life – thousands of 4S users have experienced battery problems since its launch, although this has been fixed with the latest iOS 5.1 update, but some people might have already purchased a battery case for extending the life of their iPhone. One such case is the PhoneSuit Elite that is said to be the fastest charging battery case and more importantly the thinnest, which gives over 100% more power. You can double your power, charge within 2 hours thanks to the quick charge and it’s also Apple certified. Full details and more images can be found here.

The iPhone 4S cases on this page show some varied options but there are many more like these and totally different, although we’d love to hear your favorite type of case and also if you don’t like using cases why that is?

The iOS 5.1 update has reportedly fixed over 80 security issues, which can be seen in a full report here on the official website. The patch notes have also pointed to a fix for battery life, but it wont be the first time this has been promised and failed, so we thought it would be important to report that Apple has made a lot of progress with the latest update.

Before installing iOS 5.1 the battery would lose nearly half of its juice on standby overnight, and since installing the update we can confirm a loss of fewer than 15% each evening. This is a massive difference and while not as good as the figures stated on Apple’s website, it’s a vast improvement.

Not all iPhone 4S setups are equal – while it’s strange that 4S models are experiencing massive differences in battery life, it has been shown that the same setup can give varied results in such a way that it had to be software related and not hardware in most cases. Apple has proven this with the latest update, which made a lot of users happy after suffering with issues since buying an iPhone 4S.

There will always be problems and this can be seen right now in the Apple forums, which show users complaining of iCloud draining their battery really fast and then other users are reporting no issues. It has amazed us that some people claim the 4S battery to be better than iPhone 4, which under our tests on a number of models has shown the opposite.

Did iOS 5.1 install without problems for you, and how is your battery life on the iPhone 4S model since installing the latest update? The results might be different for each user, but we can confirm this update increased battery life for most iPhone’s. We’d love to hear your experience with iOS 5.1 and especially related to battery life, so feel free to share a comment below.

The story about iPhone 4S battery problems – Just a few days after the iPhone 4S launched in the UK one of our editors noticed extremely bad battery life, and this stuck around after giving iOS a fresh install. Then a few days after we posted our findings it became obvious this was a major problem affecting thousands of 4S owners, but the battery life issue had not been fixed in an update (iOS 5.0.1) that Apple claimed would help battery life. Although many months on it looks like those suffering are now enjoying much better battery life thanks to iOS 5.1, but we should point out that not every 4S owner had issues to start with.

Earlier on this week we told you that iOS 5.1 had just gone live along with the unveiling of Apple’s third generation iPad. A jailbreak wasn’t available the moment iOS 5.1 but live, but hackers have once again found a way to bypass Apple’s latest release, although it isn’t a untethered jailbreak if that’s what you’re after.

Instead it’s an improved tethered version of Redsn0w which now stands at version 0.9.10b6. At the moment this jailbreak is compatible with Apple A4 devices only, which means that only the likes of the iPhone 4, iPod Touch and original iPad are supported. If you have an iPhone 4S running iOS 5.1 at the moment, don’t bother attempting to install this as you’ll probably end up with a bricked device.

One word of warning to those that are planning to try this out – eBooks doesn’t work at the moment so avoid this if you use this feature on your device regularly. If you’re looking to jailbreak iOS 5.1 as soon as possible, you’ll find the instructions and download links over at the iPhone Dev Team blog here.

It’s pretty ridiculous at the speed of which these jailbreaks now come out after Apple has released a new version of iOS. At the moment, the iPhone 4S is locked on iOS 5.1, but how long will it be until the latest version falls victim to RedSn0w as well? Let us know if you plan to jailbreak your device on iOS 5.1, or if you’re waiting for a jailbreak on the iPhone 4S or iPad 2.

The SIM is called the Gevey Ultra S and a new video demonstration coming out of China claims that consumers in the US or anywhere in the world will be able to unlock their GSM iPhone 4S without the need to jailbreak it first.

This of course would give US consumers the option of using the iPhone 4S on T-Mobile if they desire, since traditionally the standard iPhone 4S model is locked down to AT&T, Verizon and Sprint. If you’re familiar with the way Gevey SIM works, you’ll want to know that the Ultra S SIM has support for basebands 1.0.11, 1.013 and 1.0.14 on either iOS 5.0 or 5.0.1 – anything other than that and it won’t work.

Since you don’t have to jailbreak your device, it’s essentially a plug and play method which can unlock your device in a matter of ease. Given the high demand for such as solution, you shouldn’t be surprised to hear that the new Ultra S Gevey SIM for the iPhone 4S won’t be available on the cheap.

ApplenBerry are now taking pre-orders for the new SIM cards which will be shipped between March 3-7, but each one will set you back $55. That’s not exactly cheap we agree, but we’re sure most of you won’t mind paying for this device if it means being able to use your iPhone 4S on carriers such as T-Mobile.

Another pleasing aspect of the new Ultra S SIM is that you won’t need to physically modify or cut the SIM in order for it to fit inside your iPhone. If you have used a Gevey SIM in the past on the iPhone 4, you’ll know that this was one of the main hassles of using it.

There’s a video demonstration below showing how the process works exactly. Are you still craving an unlock for your GSM iPhone 4S, or do you feel it’s not really worth spending $55 on with a possible iPhone 5 announcement coming later on in the year? Let us know if you have used a GEVEY SIM in the past and if it worked for you.

The carrier currently sits third in the US behind AT&T and Verizon, but it has announced that it managed to shift 1.8 million iPhones during the fourth quarter of 2011. According to an article on AppleInsider forty percent of these were brand new subscribers.

During the busy holiday season the carrier saw both the iPhone 4 and 4S become available for the first time, which saw records broken for the carriers one day sales, and now we have some indication of the figures involved.

Sprint managed to add 1.6 million subscribers during the quarter that was the best results the carrier has seen in six years. Out of this figure 720,000 of the new subscribers took up the iPhone, which represents 45 percent.

Dan Hesse Sprint CEO said that over the last year the network had added over five million new subscribers and added that the “momentum gives us confidence as we execute our Network Vision upgrade and 4G LTE roll-out”.

These figures compare to AT&Ts 7.6 million iPhone activations, which accounted for over eighty percent of the carriers activations during the holiday season. Meanwhile Verizon managed to add 4.2 million iPhones during the same quarter, which accounted for over fifty percent of the smartphones activated by the carrier.

Sprint saw its largest increase in revenues in over five years and now has over 55 million subscribers, which is the highest ever total. The iPhone has come at a big cost to Sprint though as according to Cnet the carrier reported a loss of $1.3 billion. Like rival carriers Sprint had to pay out big subsidies to Apple to offer the iPhone.

The carrier has also had the added costs of rolling out its own 4G LTE network, but long term having the iPhone will see revenues increasing. Before the device was available on the carrier many subscribers left to join rival networks who could offer the iPhone. Did you join Sprint because of the iPhone?

That network is China Telecom, a carrier that makes up about 12 percent of China’s total wireless subscriber base. China Mobile is obviously the biggest and is in actual fact the world’s largest mobile provider, but this will be seen as a huge coup for China Telecom, given the huge, almost bizarre interest in Apple’s latest iPhone.

According to a press release from China Telecom, the iPhone 4S could be available on their network in a matter of months, possibly even at the end of next month, but definitely in March if that doesn’t happen. ‘Preparatory work’ has already been finalized as noted by Apple Insider, but there are no solid release date details at the moment, and no indication on how much Chinese consumers will have to pay.

Apple has yet to confirm the news in an official statement of their own, and it will be interesting to see how China Telecom plan to handle enthusiast crowds this time around. Earlier this month news spread around the world about violence breaking out for the China Unicom iPhone 4S launch in Beijing, an event which even forced Apple to postpone sales in the capital and Shanghai until further notice.

It was a similar situation in Hong Kong too as crazy shoppers could not wait to get their hands on the new device at the first opportunity, with many even willing to queue for numerous days just to get one on launch day. We’ve seen at first hand that even when consumers in China finally purchase an iPhone 4S model, they go on to sell it anyway to other retailers – a very popular hobby which can earn an individual almost a hundred dollars per unit.

Have you ever bought an iPhone, only to resell it for a higher profit straight away?

The company has more than doubled its profits for the quarter with $13.06 billion, which compares to $6 billion for the same period in 2010. The latest results for the company smashed analyst’s forecasts, and comes after shares in the company dropped last October after iPhone sales missed their forecast according to The Guardian.

It has been revealed that the company managed to ship a record 37.04 million iPhones during the period, which is a 128 percent jump from a year ago. CEO Tim Cook stated the company could have sold even more if they had more stock, and comes as the iPhone 4S just launches in China.

The iPad saw record sales with 15.43 million being sold, which was more than HP managed to sell with its PC range. Mac sales also increased by 26 percent with 5.2 million units being sold, but it wasn’t good news for sales of the iPod though that saw a sales drop of 21 percent. This still meant the company sold 15.4 million units though, but the company did see higher average prices for the iPod Touch.

Cook revealed that the company has now sold 55 million iPads since it was first introduced less than two years ago. Even the company’s iTunes store saw massive revenues with $1.7 billion generated. Apple’s revenue climbed 73 percent to $46.3 billion, which again beat analysts’ forecasts.

Meanwhile Apple’s little hobby Apple TV also saw record sales during the quarter, selling over 1.4 million units. Cook praised the device and said the company continues to “add things to it”. The company has long been rumored to be entering the TV market, but the little black box continues to sell.

Are you surprised by Apple’s latest results?

According to a report on SlashGear the iPhone Dev team has announced that the jailbreak is almost complete. All that is left to do is streamlining the user’s experience of the jailbreak. So far Apple devices using the A5 processor have been resistant to various hacking attempts, which haven’t been helped by Apple making it more difficult for users wanting to install unofficial software.

The Dev Team has revealed that all the “technical hurdles” with getting the jailbreak working have been fixed. Now all that is left is to get the final build as bug free as possible, and to suit a variety of users systems. There will also be several different ways of actually using the jailbreak tool.

A GUI for PC and Mac is being promised, along with a command line interface which will help beginners with the process. It will also help to debug and set up different options. Eventually the Corona tool will be integrated into the existing redn0w jailbreak tool, which will offer a different GUI and better compatibility.

The iPhone 4S using iOS 5.0 (9A334), 5.0.1 (9A405) and the other 5.0.1 variant (9A406) will be compatible, and along with the iPad 2 using iOS 5.0.1 (9A405). iPhone 4S users are urged to stick with iOS 5.0 if they haven’t already upgraded. Update: The jailbreak is now live and you can get it here.

Will you be jailbreaking your iPhone 4S or iPad 2?