3g iphone

D-day, June 9th 2008 was a huge day for Apple and the future of their iPhone.  We already broke the news on the $199 3G iPhone hitting 22 markets this year, starting July 11th, but there was a whole lot more news.  Steve Jobs keynote filled with 52,000 attendees which included Al Gore and Walt Mossberg and as expected was sold out, completely.  Steve started out by going over the stats for the iPhone SDK, stating that over 250,000 people have downloaded the iPhone SDK with over 25,000 applications, but only 4,000 have been in the beta program.

Besides the stats, Steve went on to say that much of the iPhone code is the same as OS X and uses the same native APIs which helped tremendously on their OpenGL implementation.  Cocoa Touch, Media, Core Service, Core OS help bring the iPhone GUI and software development to the next level.  The development tools and Interface Builder for iPhone applications is what is going to set the device apart and revolutionize the industry.

The first application outlined was called ‘Nearby Friends’ which ties into the address book API and the core location API.  It works very similar to the Helio phones which offer the Buddy Beacon service, locating your nearby friends within 10 miles and placing them on the map in Google Maps.  Apparently the ‘Nearby Friends’ App only took 10 minutes to create and is a good example of XCode and the Interface Builder capabilities.

iPhone gaming kicked off next with the announcement of SEGA’s Super Monkey Ball.  Ethan Einhorn from SEGA broke the news and explained how impressed they were with the coding of Super Monkey Ball on the iPhone (development was so quick they were able to include over 100 levels and all the monkeys).  Ethan went on to demo the game and show the tilt control capabilities of the iPhone using the accelerometer.  It took 95 days to code Super Monkey Ball and it will be available in the App Store for $9.99.

The next order of business was eBay’s app which was not as exciting as Super Monkey Ball, but very useful.  Ken Sun was there to kick things off for eBay’s app by showing the bidding, browsing and navigation of the eBay app on the iPhone.  The eBay app will be free and also available through the App Store.

As we previously announced, one of the first two developers to get their software approved by Apple, Loopt, was there to show off their product.  Loopt’s location-aware app functions much like Helio’s Buddy Beacon by locating all your nearest friends, but also adding in Facebook-like status tweets for each person very similar to using Twitter.  The concept is to take social networking to the next level through the GPS and A-GPS supported on the 3G iPhone.

TypePad was next on stage with the announcement that they would be the iPhone blogging tool of choice (while we use Wordpress), we were still excited to see the photoblogging functionality and geotagging capabilities.  Best of all, much like the standard web platform, Typepad photobloggin will be free in the App Store.

Not to be outdone by the big giants of software development, the Associated Press (AP) was on stage to announce their Mobile News Network which brings thousands of news sources to your iPhone.  While we are big fans of RSS, the Mobile News Network will cache your news sources so that even without service you can get your fix of the daily news breaks around the world.  What really makes this software unique is that it takes advantage of the location based services and will display the news that is relevant to your current location.  It was pretty easy to see from the demonstration that this is the next generation of mobile news and a good sign that the iPhone location mapping will be some of the best we’ve seen on any device.

The Keynote then switched back to gaming with announcements of two games ported from OS X; Cro Mag Rally and physics-based game that you touch drag and rotate.  According to Pangaea, the creators of both games on the Mac, Cro Mag Rally only took 3 days to port over to the iPhone since all they needed to do was to change the controls so that tilting the iPhone would mimic the steering wheel.  Both of the two games were listed at $9.99.

The announcements continued with MLB.com entering the stage and talking about their baseball application for the iPhone which displays scores, stats and fantasy sports capabilities.  A doctor from Modality also entered the stage and showcased two new medical apps which use the iPhone as a teaching tool and this is about when the Keynote really took shape and answered our 3G iPhone prayers:  Steve Jobs announced the 3G iPhone, complete with GPS and 3G connectivity.  Best of all it will be priced at $199 and available in 22 countries starting on July 11 2008.  With an 8GB ($199) and 16GB version ($299) available in two colors, black and white, it will be very interesting how Apple sells the devices and ensures a carrier commitment.  If the iPhone 2.0 software is as easy to jailbreak as we think, the $199 price tag could just make the iPhone into the most popular phone, ever.

The WWDC is currently in progress and we MUST give you the latest information on the 3G iPhone.  After 2 hours of Exchange support and iPhone gaming, Steve Jobs finally broke the news we have all been waiting for.  The 3G iPhone is real, it has a black back panel with thinner edges (full plastic back).  Now it has solid metal buttons, a flush 3.5mm headphone jack, 3G support and of course GPS.

Steve went on by saying that the 3G iPhone is 2.8x faster downloading than the EDGE iPhone.  He also mentioned that the 3G iPhone is 36% faster than other 3G Phones (mainly the Nokia N95 and Treo 750).  Now for the big news, talk and standby time:  300 hours of standby time and 5hours of 3G talk time on the 3G iPhone.  Full battery specs: 5-6 hours of 3G web browsing, 7 hours of video, 24 hours of audio.

GPS breakdown: the GPS on the iPhone is built-in, but it also has A-GPS (assisted GPS support) which makes use of WiFi and cell towers to pinpoint position.  The GPS can work as a compass, very similar to what we have seen on Google’s Android platform, but it does not need a dedicated compass application.  It has full mapping capabilities within Google Maps, but most importantly Steve Jobs believes that location-based services are the future of mobile devices.

Now the moment we have all been waiting for: price and availability of the 3g iPhone.  The 3g iPhone will launch on July 11th and will be available in 12 countries.  Over the next few months it will become available in 25 countries and comes in both black and white.  Two colors and 25 countries, but what about the price tag?  The first generation iPhone sold for $599, but the 3G iPhone will sell for $199 on July 11th 2008.

WWDC Recap

• 3G iPhone is confirmed
• Two colors: Black and White
• Release Date: July 11, 2008
• Price: $199
• Full GPS and A-GPS support
• 3G HSDPA connectivity
• 5-6 hours of 3G web browsing, 7 hours of video, 24 hours of audio

With rumors that Spain will be getting the 3g iPhone for as little as £100, it comes as little surprise that a new rumor has surfaced.  According to MacRumors, the 3g iPhone will be available in the UK on O2’s network ‘from free’ depending on the plan and commitment.  The standard price of the 3g iPhone will be £100 on an 18 month contract, but additional perks such as ‘free upgrades, free phones for high-tarrif users and pay-as-you-go-deals are expected’.  For O2 users looking to get their hands on the 3g iPhone with the pay-as-you-go service, you can expect to pay the same as the current generation iPhone £269.

While this is a lot to absorb so close to the 3g iPhone announcement, the rumors continue with O2 and the 3g iPhone.  O2 is expected to offer the 3g iPhone for free if you sign up for the £75/month contract and existing iPhone users will get a chance to upgrade for free if they sign up for another 18 month deal.  While none of this information has been confirmed, we can’t help but feel envious of our European friends.  The pricing stateside is expected to remain the same, but with Verizon and Alltel merging maybe At&t will find a reason to boost their subscriber count.  Possibly a discounted ($199) 3g iPhone might spark our interest to join At&t this month?

While the iPhone deal did not work out for KTF’s Japanese partners NTT DoCoMo, things are looking much brighter for Korea’s KTF subscribers.  Originally the plan was to bring a joint venture for the iPhone to reach Korea and Japan as they did with the LG Wine in the past.  This time, Softbank made sure that it would be the carrier of choice for Apple’s iPhone in Japan, leaving NTT DoCoMo in the dust (for now).  While Korean Telecom Freetel (KTF) is looking for it’s own deal with Apple to be the carrier of choice for Korea, the definitive agreement has not been met between Apple and itself.  Unfortunately as much as KTF wants to add the iPhone to its portfolio of cell phones, technical issues are plaguing the deal.  Apparently there are technical issues in question related to iPhone’s Safari browser and the necessity for a local wireless Internet platform to be built around it.  On a side note we have also heard reports that Apple is double dipping by speaking with SK Telecom (another WCDMA provider) in Korea for a possible iPhone launch on their network.

With only a few days before the 3g iPhone announcement (iPhone 2.0 / iPhone version 2.0) we hope that a deal can materialize between KTF and Apple.  Whether SK Telecom can squeak out a deal before KTF and Apple can come to an agreement remains to be seen, but in either case Korea will be seeing the iPhone this year in 3g fashion.  These technical issues between KTF and Apple remind us way too much of the BlackBerry issues between RIM and India, but let’s hope for a quick fix and less headaches.

There are five days left until the Apple WWDC kicks off June 9 - June 13 and the 3g iPhone rumors are flooding the Internet.  While GPS support is not much of a rumor at this point, the front facing camera still falls into that category.  The origin of the rumor began with At&t announcing that they had completed 90% of their HSPA network which brings HSUPA (uploads) capable of transmitting at 800kbps.  With this type of upload speed, the capacity to transmit 3g video chats on At&t’s network is possible, but whether Steve Jobs decided to develop the next generation iPhone towards this goal is unclear.  Obviously the idea that iChat on the iPhone could mimic that of a MacBook or iMac would be nice, but with 10 million iPhone users all video chatting over iChat could At&t’s network handle the bandwidth load?  Probably not, but this is where the rumors meet the facts thanks to the latest iPhone patent by Cupertino’s camp.

The patent (seen below) describes several processes which are only going to stir up additional 3g iPhone rumors, but the most prominent is a front facing camera.  Within the Video Conference Module all the requirements for a front facing camera are met and now we have some concrete evidence.  Additional details of an “optical sensor” which is located at the top of the device are also within the patent filing.  With a Video Conference Module and an “optical sensor”, the front facing camera on the 3g iPhone might turn out to be a little more fact than fiction.  Whether or not we see the front facing camera in the second generation iPhone or not until version 3 remains to be seen, but at least we know it exists.

Everyday we get countless amounts of questions regarding cell phones and today we are going to answer the most common question; should I upgrade to the new 3g iPhone 2.0 coming out this June or stick with the original? Well to answer the question as simple as possible, yes. Honestly Apple has almost answered this question for potential buyers and existing owners with the lack of inventory and availability in both the US and Europe. Currently we are seeing iPhones selling for as much as $700 which faintly reminds us of the outrageous iPhone prices of iDay last June when the iPhone was first launched. Now for T-mobile subscribers and hopefully unlocked iPhone owners, the answer to this question might have a slightly different answer.

Clearly the main focus of the update to the iPhone will be the inclusion of 3g connectivity, but T-mobile USA uses the 1700MHz 3g band which will not be supported on the 3g iPhone.  The other factor contributing to the decision is that the new iPhone has not been unlocked, although unlockers are already capable of handling the new iPhone 2.0 Software which will be pre-loaded on the 3g iPhone.  So why upgrade to the 3g iPhone if you have T-mobile?  At this point there are not many reasons to do so, since ZiPhone is a solid unlocking, jailbreaking and activation bypass tool which gets the job done for all current generation iPhones running firmware 1.1.4 and prior.  If you want the safe bet, you can always stick with the current generation iPhone and then sell it unlocked once the 3g iPhone is released.  Our thoughts are that the best road to venture is to give the unlockers some time and confirm that ZiPhone will work on the 3g iPhone and then make that purchase since you will be paying the same $399 as the original.

So what will be different in the 3g iPhone versus the original iPhone?  Besides data speeds there are few details leaking any other prominent features.  What we can tell you is that first generation Apple products are always less stable and buggy than their future generations so this could be a big factor in your purchasing decision.  On the back burner, At&t has recently completed most of their HSPA network upgrade which would make it possible for the 3g iPhone to complete video calling so it is possible that we will see a front-facing camera on the new iPhone.  As far as dimensions go, the leaked icons for the iPhone in the new iPhone SDK and the MacOS X update hint that the bezel will be narrower, but no major size modifications are expected.

The real questions left to be unanswered are whether the 3g iPhone will sport an improved camera, since 2.0 megapixels is not cutting it these days and we really want to see 3.0+ if possible.  The existing 624MHz processor is plenty fast and we have no complaints on the multi-touch or computing speed of the existing iPhone since it has speedy performance and equally impressive battery life.  It will be interesting to see if Apple is able to maintain the battery life of the existing iPhone since more speed equals less battery, but we expect the settings option to disable 3g Internet to be the path of max battery life.

Overall, the 3g iPhone is still expected to be announced on June 9, 2008 at the WWDC and until then you can expect more and more rumors to break.  We would also expect an equal number of “possible” 3g iPhone images to continue to surface and we will leave you with one of the first “rumor” shots.

Go ahead and file this one under our rumors, but the Mac OS X update which went live today has slipped a new icon for the iPhone which we believe is the 3g iPhone.  With the WWDC kicking off in less than 2 weeks, June 9th seems as good of a time as ever for Cupertino’s camp to spill the beans of the upcoming second generation iPhone.  We know the iPhone will bring the 3g fruits, but with a questionable front-facing camera for 3g video calling, this icon image is killing our hopes.  While the Mac OS X update is not the end-all of 3g iPhone rumors, the same icon can be found in the newly launch iPhone SDK which also went live today.  With both of Apple’s new software updates showing the same icon, we are going to hope that these pictures are actually the update to the iPod Touch and not the 3g iPhone 2.0 coming this June 2008.  We are going to leave this one up for debate and hopefully the collective minds of gadget geeks will sift through the rumors and help us locate some official news on this one.  In either case, the updated icon features a much slimmer bezel while maintaining the same screen dimensions as you can see from the images below compliments of frijole over at MacRumors.

The demise of faster speed Internet has always been the additional taxing on our batteries. Sure it’s nice to have Wi-Fi on our phones, but honestly how much battery consumption is necessary to get more than 1000kbps download speed? Well thankfully, the latest news on the 3g iPhone 2.0 has leaked some very interesting details for those of you worried about battery consumption.

Rather than forcing users to run at 3g data speeds, iPhone users will be able to either enable or disable 3g within their Network settings. The source of this tasty bit of battery saving bliss comes from the 2.0 beta 5 preferences binary which had the details tucked away. Although this option is part of the 2.0 Software update, it will only be available for the new 3g iPhone launching in June since existing iPhones lack the 3g radio to take advantage of faster data speeds. Here is what the hacker who located this feature in the iPhone 2.0 software said:

Well, when you have nothing to do all day, this is what happens. Note that this is not fake, it is in the beta 5 .ipsw, but will normally not show up on an EDGE iPhone. Turning 3-G on will just crash the phone if you use an EDGE phone. If you do not believe me, then decrypt the beta5 rootfs dmg, and see for yourself in /Applications/Preferences.app/Network.plist

With the performance of the existing iPhone running off Wi-Fi, we can only expect impressive battery life of the 3g iPhone 2.0.  On the other hand, the inclusion of a feature to enable and disable 3g data speeds could mean that the battery life of the 3g iPhone did not meet the standards of Steve Jobs.  As a result, the feature might have been added in order to keep an option available to maintain the existing battery performance on first generation iPhones.  Let the countdown for the 3g iPhone 2.0 launch begin and prepare yourself for an endless amount of rumors in the coming weeks.

In accordance with Belgian law, the 3G iPhone will be available without carrier ties this May (or as late as June). That’s right ladies and gentlemen you can get your unlocked 3G iPhone straight from Belgium on one of the three major networks: Proximus, Mobistar or BASE. What makes this news bigger than an unlocked 3G iPhone is the potential for future iPhone releases worldwide. Is it time that Apple leaves behind the ridiculous restrictions and lock-ins for extra revenue streams? We think so and we are not alone as iPhoneless countries are being forced to wait until the iPhone version 2.0 breaks way this June. Unfortunately for the US, AT&T has sealed the deal in a 5 year exclusive contract with Cupertino’s camp, so the possibility of seeing legit unlocked 3G iPhones stateside will remain a pipe dream. Combine that with the falling value of the US dollar and the idea of importing an officially unlocked iPhone from a Belgian friend is out of the question.

[Source: Famous Belgians]