Google denies reports of Google Now battery drain issues on iOS

Jordan Kahn

Google-Now-Google-Search-screenshot-01In the days following the launch of Google’s predictive ‘Now’ feature now baked into its Google Search iOS app, some users complained of experiencing noticeable battery drain due the app’s process of accessing location data. Today, Google has weighed in with an official response to LifeHacker calling reports of battery drain “incorrect”:

Reports that Google Now drains battery life are incorrect. We understand people’s concern about seeing the Location Services icon stay on when they use Google Now. Many apps that keep the icon on actually do drain the phone’s battery because they require very accurate location. (For example a navigation app has to run your GPS all the time to keep you from missing your turn.)

Google explained that Now is “built very differently” than other apps that utilize Location Services by using “cell towers and wifi hot spots for much lower battery impact.” 

Google’s response continues by noting it didn’t receive any reports of battery drain during its extensive month of testing the feature on iOS and encouraged users to contact them if they continue to see a problem: Read more

“3200 error” in iOS 5 installations as Apple’s activation servers fold

Jake Smith

Users on Apple’s help forums have begun reporting that they’re not able to activate iOS 5, noting that Apple’s activation servers are beginning to go down. Users are left with a 3200 error code, and unable to finish the activation. This isn’t a good situation by any means leaving users, in some cases, with almost bricked devices until Apple can get things back up to speed. Many users on the forums have reported that they’re able to get their devices activated after trying a few more times. You’ll recall Apple had similar outages during the iPhone 3G release.

It was undoubtedly a smart move by Apple to release the iPhone 4S two days after iOS 5. All of these activations of both iOS 5 and 4S together would have just been a mess. Also looking through the support forums you’ll find reports of OS X 10.7.2 and iCloud issues probably related to Apple’s overcrowded servers.

Update: GDGT has noted how to bypass this error by installing iOS 5 manually. Simply hold down option + click “Check for update” in iTunes, and navigate to the IPSW file. The links are after the break (directly from Apple):

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