If you’re a gadgetophile like me, you love firmware updates because it’s like giving your smartphone, camera, or other mp3 player a mini-makeover. If you’re normal, however, don’t rush into it—the best thing to do is wait a bit and see what problems are reported from the front line. Take for instance this issue between 3G iPhones and Exchange servers, which no longer play well with each other after yesterday’s 3.1 iPhone OS upgrade.

According to this Apple user forum discussion, if your company’s Exchange server has encryption enabled on its ActiveSync settings, then anyone with the 3G model running the new 3.1 OS will find that they can no longer connect. Instead they get this error message: “The account ‘——-‘ requires encryption which is not supported on this iPhone.”

Hopefully Apple will release an update to the update shortly, or your company’s IT department will get all “who cares” about security and turn off encryption. In the meantime, clutch your phone dearly and keep away from any OS improvements until at least a few days have passed to reveal any hidden problems.

“iPhone 3.1 Won’t Sync w/ Exchange” [Apple Support Discussions] (Thanks to Casey!)
(Photo: thms.nl)

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