iPhone 4.0

Etón's iPhone 4 Rechargeable Battery Case went on sale today. The case features an 1800 mAh rechargeable lithium ion battery with recharging solar panel, and microUSB to charge and sync with iTunes.

It also includes a battery/solar charge indicator and a standby switch to turn off the charge dump to iPhone. The case retails for around $78.00. One hour of solar charge provides you with 25 minutes of extra talk time, 20 minutes of internet time and 35 minutes of video time. Check the chart below for complete charge time breakdowns.

It's been quite some time since we've heard any new or interesting news about Apple's iPhone plans. The newest case design leak didn't offer any new info about the iPhone 5 that we didn't already know, and I'm getting bored of hearing about the larger home button. However, 9to5Mac did have some interesting news to spread about the rumored low-end iPhone, and some possible bad news about the iPhone 5.

According to 9to5, the new low-end iPhone 4 look-alike is flying off the production line, and Apple should be armed and ready with 10+ million for the holiday season. The iPhone 5 isn't as lucky, and is seeing continued design and production delays. 9to5 believes that the iPhone 4 clone will be in abundance while the iPhone 5 will see shortages until 2012.

3G is better than 2G, and according to the latest Apple rumor T-Mobile iPhone users may be getting an upgrade in October. A T-Mobile employee told MacTrast that Apple is developing an iPhone that would operate at 3G speeds via T-Mobile USA's network.

In June, a T-Mobile spokesperson said they were carrying more than a million unlocked iPhones on their network. The unlocked devices are stuck using T-Mobile's EDGE network, and can't access T-Mobile's faster 3G or 4G speeds.

Some Verzion iPhone owners are finding their devices stuck at the Apple logo screen while trying to use the newest version of JailbreakMe. If you are experiencing this problem, Comex, the hacker who created the tool, has released this fix.

"A bug in JailbreakMe 3.0 could cause iPhone 4 (CDMA, i.e. Verizon) to get stuck at the Apple logo and be unable to boot. If you are in this situation, there are two options"

1. Hold down the home and power buttons until you see “Connect to iTunes”, then use iTunes to restore to the latest firmware. This will lose data stored on the phone.

2. Apply a quasi-experimental fix using redsn0w. Download:

redsn0w 0.9.6rc19: Windows / Mac (do not use an earlier version)

Fix bundle, depending on firmware version: 4.2.6 / 4.2.7 / 4.2.8

IPSW for your firmware version, if you don’t have it: 4.2.6 / 4.2.7 /4.2.8

Open redsn0w, select your IPSW, choose “Install custom bundle“, and select the fix bundle. Then follow the directions. If it works correctly, after installation your phone will boot normally.

"There is a separate bug where choosing “Re-jailbreak” would cause a device to be unable to boot. If you have this issue and don’t want to restore, contact me”

Apple is now offering unlocked iPhone 4 models in the Apple Store. "Unlocked" means you can use AT&T or T-Mobile's network in the US without having to sign a two--year contract with either carrier. Unlocked doesn't mean "jailbroken," you still have to buy apps and receive software updates through Apple via iTunes. Another catch is that the unlocked iPhone doesn't support T-Mobile 3G download speeds and won’t operate on Verizon or Sprint at all.

To be clear, the iPhone will "work" on the T-Mobile network, meaning it can be used. However, you'll be stuck on the slower EDGE network, which most individuals will find practically unbearable. When given the option of a brand-new Android smartphone on T-Mobile's 3G and 4G network, you'd be hard pressed to find a compelling reason to use an unlocked iPhone on EDGE, regardless of how much we all love the iPhone.