One More Tap

Thinking about getting the iPhone 3G? The place you live just happened to be given some love from Apple?

Think again. Maybe twice. Or thrice.

Retail Apple Stores in the US have just begun selling unrestricted quantities of the iPhone 3G at a full, non-subsidized price of $599 for the 8GB version and $699 for the 16GB version, as of this Thursday.

Apple’s partner in the US, AT&T, on the other hand, is planning to sell one phone per customer at the same price for existing customers. Apple’s deal is better in this case, not requiring an existing contract.

On the positive side, customers need not activate their devices from the store, but can be done so once they are home via iTunes. Note however, that the phones are basically still tied to AT&T’s network. But we all know that’s not an issue. Buyers may unlock the phones for use with other service providers – a move not supported by Apple nor AT&T.

We see this policy change by Apple as a move towards clearing off its existing inventory of iPhone 3Gs, in preparation for a coming launch of the new models (including iPod touch) slated for this middle of June – coinciding with the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference event from June 8 – 12, 2009.

Note: I’m calling the new, next-gen iPhone model, simply as iPhone HD, hence the title. Check out some of the other related rumors/postings.

written by xcool \\ tags: iPhone, iPod touch, Retail, Rumors

The cat is out of the bag. Coming this March 17 is a special event by Apple. Rumors on the internet are now travelling faster than the speed of light – Apple would be announcing the features of iPhone OS 3.0 during this event.

What’s in store for us? Well, to begin with, there’s Cut & Paste, as revealed by Kevin Rose during SXSW Live Diggnation. Here’s a description of cut and paste, Apple style – double-tap to bring up a magnifying glass with two quotes, you drag quotes around text string to select, and then you can cut/copy and paste.

Check out the following video recording of the announcement at SXSW Live Diggnation. Pardon the strong language, though.

Besides that, expect to have the iPhone now on par with the Palm Pre, features wise. I foresee this to be the integrated social network contacts, unified messaging, notifications and multi-tasking features the the Pre touted. Let’s see how Apple does their version of these features.

No word on whether MMS will make the cut or not, but seriously, I personally use MMS just to post pictures to Facebook. The iPhone can do much better in terms of posting pictures to Facebook using the official client. Video recording doesn’t seem to be making it as well due to technical limitations – writing too often to the NAND flash memory would burn it out.

There you have it, version 3.0 of the iPhone OS seems to have only two notable new features. But again, these are just rumors. March 17 is just right around the corner. Heck, there’s no indication that the firmware will be released on the same day itself. We’d probably see this coming in a few months time? And, what do you think of Kevin Rose’s claims? Will he finally get it right this time?

written by xcool \\ tags: 3.0, Firmware, iPhone, OS, Rumors

Gizmodo has just posted another concept of the coming iPhone by Rodolphe Desmare. Naming it the iPhone 4G, this is the second concept that he’s made and it sure is beautiful. Inspired by the MacBook Air, this one has got the same curves and tapering. There’s also a front camera for video conferencing, which is something yet to be seen on an iPhone. Click on the image for a larger view and drool.

Previously, Gizmodo also highlighted another concept, which borrowed a lot from the recently released Unibody MacBooks. However, the battery cover would probably go away – Apple don’t make iPods with removable batteries, do they? Credits for this one goes to Kyle. Again, drool by clicking on the picture for a larger version.

Which one do you prefer? I’m going towards the MacBook Air version, but minus the tapering towards the bottom. I don’t like my gadgets too thin.

written by xcool \\ tags: 4G, HD, iPhone, iPod touch, Rumors

Just like previous firmware releases, there are bound to be some who would dig deep within the updater files to see if there’s something new coming. Well, this time around, it seems to have paid off.

MacRumors reported that the next generation iPhone is somewhat confirmed in the latest 2.2.1 firmware that Apple recently released a few days back. This is evidenced by the string “iPhone2,1″ which appeared in one of the updater files.

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written by xcool \\ tags: HD, iPhone, iPod touch, Rumors

News of a large-formed iPod touch with screen sizes of 7 or 9 inches are currently spreading on the interweb. Note that this is just rumors, which have yet to be confirmed.

The report which stemmed from TechCrunch, claims that three independent sources close to Apple told buyers to expect a large screen iPod touch device this coming fall of 2009. The sources claim that the rumored device will sport a 7 or 9 inch screen. One of the sources claimed to have even played around with a prototype build and that Apple is currently sourcing OEMs in Asia to mass produce the device.

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written by xcool \\ tags: iPhone, iPod touch, iPod touch HD, MacWorld, Rumors