In the last week, we have had a constant barrage of iPhone issues break through the lines... so much so that we feel it is our duty to inform the two of you who haven't updated what you could experience by updating to version 3.1 of the iPhone OS. This is no small problem, as you can read from the discussions on Apple's website here, here, here, and here.

The first two links are where we're getting the majority of our tips -- random shutdowns and very poor battery life. The second two, bricked phones and general slowness are still worth a mention -- even prompting our own Erica Sadun to do a live walk-through for debrickifying iPhones. We received a lot of praise for her help in that session and we'd encourage you to go back and read through the chat if you're experiencing trouble with a bricked iPhone.

I've spent quite some time reading the hundreds of posts about the "mysterious random shutdowns" and have determined that it really is what it is. As of this writing, there have been 409 posts and 28 pages in that discussion -- I've seen very little repeats and no real solutions. Some people have said that they've gone to Apple and received replacement phones because of this issue but for those of us who have out-of-warranty phones, Apple has merely said "It's $199 for a replacement." I have to agree with our tipsters -- this needs to be addressed. These people simply did not break their phones, it's a well-documented issue which we, as consumers, shouldn't have to pay to fix.

Battery life is a completely different debacle. I cannot seem to find a trend in the discussions at all. Some people claim to have removed certain apps, some claim that MobileMe sync is the culprit -- all of them agree that there is an issue with 3.1 and that battery life shouldn't dramatically decrease overnight. I'd really love to get into one of these phones and replace the battery to see what happens because the hardware guy in me says that it's not impossible. However, deductive reasoning says that there's something in the software. Whether there's a memory leak in 3.1 itself, or some apps that we're running aren't as "compatible" as they should be... we need to see another update soon to help alleviate the issues with version 3.1 of the iPhone OS.

Please feel free to use our comment system to express your concern, anger, resentment... whatever. Try to be helpful if you've come across a solution and be nice if you're not having these problems. Until Apple issues a fix or acknowledges the problem at all, just hope that you're still in-warranty.

Remember hearing that one of the new features of iPhone OS 3.1 was an anti-phishing capability for Safari? Jim Dalrymple over at The Loop wondered if it was working properly, and asked Apple what was going on. The response?

"Safari's anti-phishing database is downloaded while the user charges their phone in order to protect battery life and ensure there aren't any additional data fees," Apple spokesman, Bill Evans, told The Loop. "After updating to iPhone OS 3.1 the user should launch Safari, connect to a Wi-Fi network and charge their iPhone with the screen off. For most users this process should happen automatically when they charge their phone."

What this apparently does is allows Safari to completely download the anti-phishing database, which is necessary before the feature will work. It also appears that you'll need to update the database on occasion in the same way -- charge your iPhone with Safari up and the screen off.

As always, TUAW urges you to practice safe computing, so enabling anti-phishing in this odd Apple-approved manner is highly recommended.

[Thanks to LoopInsight.com for digging into this]

The Apple Support forums are a'buzz with reports of several users upgrading to iPhone OS 3.1 and discovering a new "feature" which was not available previously. As mentioned in our comments, after upgrading to 3.1, some original iPhone and iPhone 3G owners with Exchange accounts are having trouble accessing their email. Apparently the server-side encryption policy option for mobile devices (only available as of Exchange 2007 SP1) is now being appropriately enforced.

This is not affecting owners of the iPhone 3GS, due to the newer device's support for Exchange encryption. Prior to iPhone OS 3.1 the encryption policy was ignored for all models. Now that 3.1 is available, users are seeing this policy being correctly enforced and older iPhones without encryption support are left without access to Exchange services.

I have yet to find any reports of issues with the iPod touch, but I suspect that it will also be affected by this software change. We're awaiting confirmation from Apple on whether this will impact the newly announced iPod touch models as well.

While many are reacting to this issue as though it's a bug, and are reporting it as such, the reality is that the Exchange encryption requirement is a feature and the fact that it was not being correctly enforced was actually a security hole. IT administrators with Exchange 2007 SP1 servers and iPhone clients are probably going to be fielding an above-average level of incoming questions, but at least they can rest easy knowing that Exchange encryption is now working correctly. Cold comfort for their users, though.

If you are running into this issue, the straightforward (though pricey) solution is to upgrade to the iPhone 3GS; or consider bribing your IT guy with Red Bull so he will disable the encryption requirement for mobile devices. But we want to hear from you; are you using an Exchange account? Can you still access it following the upgrade to 3.1? Which device are you using, iPhone or iPod touch; 3G or 3GS? Is this a little thing that means a lot to you from a security perspective or have you been left high and dry without access to critical email?

Update: MacRumors points out that Apple has now covered this situation in a new KB article.

[Via Broadband Reports]

iPhone OS 3.1 made the scene today at the Apple event, with a number of new features and fixes that should make iPhone owners happy (and iPod touch owners -- although for them, the version number is 3.1.1 instead). After a slow start to the download, I was able to get the update loaded onto my iPhone 3GS and I gave some of the new features a test drive.

The first big new feature is the Genius for Apps. To turn it on, you go to the Featured screen the App Store, and click the Genius button at the top of the display. After approving the license agreement, Genius is up and running, and clicking on the Genius button gives you a list of what it considers to be good suggestions based on what I have purchased. I wasn't very happy with the first list it produced (see screenshot at right), since I don't live in NYC, don't read Time, and really don't want something called The Most Useless App Ever.

The Genius lets you refine this list by swiping items to remove them. I did notice by the third screen of suggestions that the Genius was starting to pick apps that were more my style, so I think it's going to work out.

Read on for more impressions of 3.1.

The iPhone Blog is reporting what's purported to be in the next, and hopefully imminent iPhone update to version 3.1. As we've reported, developers were seeded with the beta Tuesday.

Here's the list:

• Voice Control now works over Bluetooth
• Updated AT&T profile to 4.2 (MMS is now enabled)
• Improvements to OpenGL and Quartz.
• iPhone vibrates when moving icons
• Non-destructive video editing means trimming a clip no longer saves over the original video but gives you the option to "Save as copy..."
• APIs to allow third party apps to access videos and edit them.
• Updated modem firmware to 5.08.01

If true, it will put smiles on a lot of iPhone owners' faces. The omission of Bluetooth voice control seemed downright silly. Losing your original video after an edit seemed pretty counter-intuitive as well. It also appears MMS will appear in the update, but that only matters if AT&T turns it on.

No firm dates for the update of course, but if the above is accurate it will be a good one.

Thanks Brad for the tip