iPhone users in New Zealand have been reporting a strange bug with the latest version of iOS that appears to be causing the in-built Clock app to malfunction.
Users are reporting that their iPhone alarms are going off an hour early ever since the country switched to Daylight Savings Time earlier this week.
Affected users have also reported that the alarm sometimes goes off at the correct time thereby making it difficult for them to reliably use their iPhones to set alarms. While the issue is currently restricted only to users in New Zealand, it is expected to affect Australia early next month when the country will start DST.
Apple is yet to acknowledge this bug and it is likely that a fix to the problem may not arrive before the public release of iOS 4.2 in November this year. Incidentally, American users are expected to switch back to Standard Time on November 7 while European users are going to switch back a week earlier. For the moment though, affected users have noted that changing the alarm mode from recurring to non-recurring appears to be fixing the issue.
iPhone 4 Displaying Censored Maps In China
Ogle Earth, a geopolitical blog are reporting that Apple may have instituted a significant change to their Maps app in iPhone 4 that was launched in China over the weekend.
They're reporting that the application has been "hard-wired" to Google Maps' dataset for China, which means that the maps application will display censored maps that echo the claims of the Chinese government even while accessed via VPN. It is worth noting that the older iPhone models were known to display uncensored Maps while accessed via VPN as you can seen from the screenshots below:
Hong Kong iPhone 3GS online in Beijing, no VPN
Hong Kong iPhone 3GS online in Beijing, VPN enabled
Chinese iPhone 4, online in Beijing, VPN enabled
The Ogle Earth blog notes:
"The built-in Maps app is crippled. My phone's base map is hard-wired to Google Maps' censored dataset for China, where the depiction of China's borders complies with the official propaganda of the Chinese government. It does not, for example, show the region of Arunachal Pradesh as being disputed by China and India. On my phone, it belongs to China, even though the facts on the ground belie it — it is currently administered by India.[...]
The Maps app always shows China's borders as the Chinese government would have them — regardless of whether I use my VPN or not. If I take this phone to the US or Europe, it will still show the same crippled, semi-fictional base map. And there is no way that I can change it."
We have also learned that the street names for several locations outside China too appear in Mandarin, which could prove to be a hassle for international travellers who have purchased their iPhone 4 in China.
Hong Kong iPhone 3GS, online in Beijing, no VPN
Chinese iPhone 4, online in Beijing, VPN enabled
If you are a reader from either New Zealand or China, we would like to hear more from you regarding these reports so please drop us a line in the comments below.
Thanks Andy for the tip!
[via Ogle Earth, TUAW]
Got to love China and political propaganda. The Chinese people should revolt, a free China would be a welcome addition to the the world marketplace.
Hi there. I am from New Zealand and not experiencing any problems with my alarm, however I am only on version 4.0.1 on my iPhone 4. It seems strange that this would effect a later firmware version and not mine. The reason that some users are not experiencing problems is because the alarm has to repeated. There are now reports however that this has been fixed in the latest 4.2 beta push. Full info can be found at http://www.iphonewzealand.co.nz/
I am affected by the daylight savings bug in NZ. Recurring alarms go off an hour earlier, non recurring alarms go off at the stated time. Most annoying bug ever since if compounds the earlier wake up of daylight savings.
In Australia the alarm issue is now causing me to lose sleep….. literally!
Had a 3G for over a year, a 3GS for over a year, now purchased a shiny new 4 & my alarms are all stuffed!! Not real impressed!!!
I am in Australia, I got problem with my alarm as well since the day light saving started weeks ago. The alram wakes me up 1 hour earlier everyday. Apple, PLS fix it!
I think Chinese iPhone Maps is pointing to http://ditu.google.cn/ which shows different maps from http://maps.google.com/ , and it always displays Chinese language for all the cities.
that's no surprise…The Chinese government is always censoring stuff. that's just one of a long lists
I am tired of all the iPhones out there. I stick to my Dell Streak. I will try the new Samsung Galaxy Note though when it comes out. I think it will beat the Streak severely in performance.