For those concerned about the battery-draining tendencies of 3-G chipsets, there's new evidence that Apple may be planning to include a 3-G kill switch of sorts in its forthcoming second-generation iPhone. The option, although hidden, was found to be a part of the latest firmware update for the regular EDGE-based iPhone and was found in the 2.0 beta5 Preferences binary. This, of course, implies that Apple will be using common firmware/software for both models of the iPhone, but the developer who made the discovery notes that the 3-G on/off option will only be available to those who purchase a 3-G iPhone.
A screenshot of the new preference appeared Saturday on an independent Chronic Productions blog, which is also a part of iPhone-hacking Chronic Dev website. It was accompanied by code references that support the screenshot from the latest firmware.
Here's what the hacker who discovered the hidden feature has to say:
Now there are plenty of 3-G phones that tout decent battery life these days, but recall that Steve Jobs specifically mentioned the battery-draining problems associated with 3-G phones when he introduced the iPhone in the U.K. If the company wasn't able to remedy those problems -- at least to Jobs' satisfaction -- such a feature would make a whole lot of sense. To date, no one has independently verified these new 3-G claims, but we suspect this we'll be hearing a lot more about this in the coming week.
[Chronic Dev via MacNN]
Photo courtesy of Chronic Dev
