All Articles Tagged iPhone 3G

Another day, another iPhone 3G sighting. This time is comes courtesy of iphoneclub.nl [currently down, via engadget mobile] and the image seems to confirm our previously posted image of the iPhone 3G inside a case – which is to say it’s a little bit bigger, a little bit whiter, but otherwise looks like an iPhone sans the metal casing on the back.

Does anybody think that this is coming later than the expected June launch date anymore?

Update: you can see a few more images here

According to Gizmodo, people “in the know” have let slip that the launch date for the iPhone 3G is quite a bit closer than we had thought: June 9th. The launch will be followed up by a nearly immediate release of the iPhone 3G for sale — that’s right away folks. Worldwide availability will follow very quickly with some mysterious “new sales policies.”

Last thing’s first: Giz believes that these new ‘policies’ will be more tightly integrated deals like “point-based upgrades, discounts for switchers, and service based subvention packages.” We humbly submit another idea: have you noticed that there has been a avalanche of carrier announcements worldwide in recent weeks. It’s becoming clear that Apple wants to sell this thing on as many carriers as possible as is much less likely to set up exclusives.

What if, and we’re just saying what if here, what if the iPhone 3G is unlocked by default. You take it home, you plug it into iTunes, and it offers to set you up with the carrier of your choice in your country (provided they’ve set it up with Apple) and a rebate check. If you’re not interested, no worries, the just get it set up with iTunes and stick your SIM in there.

First thing’s last: June 9th?! That’s much earlier than we expected, but we sure as heck aren’t complaining!

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Yow.  Accessory-maker EXO [via Engadget] has posted the above image of a sample iPhone 3G case. Engadget seems to think that it’s possible the here-to-for little-known company is just trolling for link and we’re not disinclined to agree. Still, let’s assume that these are relatively legit. That gives us two pieces of news:

The good news: it seems to be in line with the earlier “iPhone 3G case guidelines,” which means that we’re getting closer to confirming the look of the iPhone 3G.

The bad news: it seems to be in line with the earlier “iPhone 3G case guidelines,” which means that this thing looks a little fatty fatty 2 by 4, don’t it?

We all know it’s coming. Steve Jobs said so. AT&T said so. Everyone and their blog has posted so. But it’s still super sweet to see Apple code confirming it!

Apple Insider (via Chronic Productions) brings word that deep delving the latest iPhone SDK firmware has yet again revealed buried treasure. This time, Beta 5 gives up the strings for 3G:

Most notable is a setting that will allow users of the second-generation iPhone — expected for an unveiling sometime in the coming weeks — to disable 3G access in favor of prolonging the handset’s battery life. “Using 3G loads data faster, but decreases battery life,” reads a caption beneath the setting toggle.

The ability to toggle 3G data on and off — in other words, manually handle the transition — is an interesting decision for Apple, and one they’re squarely labeling the blame for on battery life.

Is this a way to cover still poorer-than-needed power efficiency on the 3G chipset? Something that may annoy users? A beta feature for people testing the mythical 3G right now inside Apple? Something that might not survive to the release version?

My guess is yes to all the above. What do you think?

Have you been hiding under a rock lately? If so, come on outside, it’s springtime and springtime means (this year, at least) that iPhone 3G rumors are flying around so fast and furious they’ll make your head spin faster than the first time you heard about the birds and the bees. So what’s the word?

The word is basically that the iPhone 3G is going to look and feel a lot like the current iPhone, with a few small changes. The first is that the aluminum backing is going to be replaced by plastic — plastic is generally bad but we trust that Apple has it in them to do it right. This plastic-backed iPhone will also apparently not be exactly the same shape as the current iPhone, but close enough for government work. Well, closer than that. Anyhow, what this means is that the iPhone will be all black.  Actually, a single type of plastic for the entire shell of the iPhone 3G means that Apple can release multiple colors.  White, for example, seems like it would be the obvious choice.

Oh, and that “3G” part in “iPhone 3G” means that, yes, it will have 3G. We can also expect it to have full GPS and maybe, just maybe, another surprise or two.

Of course, there are naysayers for all of the above

Last but not least: release date.  Nobody knows.  The consensus seems to be that it will be announced at WWDC this June and released later in the year.   We can pretty much guarantee a release by the end of the year — AT&T said so, so there.  There are other rumors swirling about, though.  For example: AT&T employees are not allowed to go on vacation until after May 15th “”due to projected increased traffic and an exciting new promotion/product launch.” The only other time that’s happened was when the original iPhone was launched.  Likely?  No.  Intriguing?  Sure.

There’s also the fact that there are a bunch of 3G rumors coming out of Europe.  This makes sense — a lot of industry folks believe that the iPhone’s poor performance in Europe is due to the fact that they’re all 3G snobs: if it ain’t 3G, it ain’t a real phone.  The latest is that the iPhone 3G is going to be tested in Austria very soon

Apple Insider reports that, according to T-Mobile, the 3G iPhone is slated for immanent testing in Austria:

Specifically, a German-laguage report in derStandard.at states that officials from the carrier said a “UMTS version” of the iPhone would be made available in Austria “shortly,” and that the country would be one of just a handful to serve as a “testing” ground for the next-generation device.”

Why Austria and, most importantly, why UTMS and not the specific UTMS-extending protocol everyone and their Laporte bandies about in the US, HSDPA?

More controllable territory combined with more widely spread technology standard and deeper market penetration, perhaps? Or is this just T-Com talking out of their collective assumptions again?

What do you think?

Real? Fake? Really fake? We don’t know yet, but Gizmodo is joining the growing crowd of logo distorted, cheesy-photoshop artifact’ed, no way this thing got within 100 miles (how far is Redmond again?) of Jonathan Ive, doubters.

While the accessory makers may have struck them some gold on the specs-side, it’s looking increasingly like our French compatriots were either duped, or helped consipire up some duping. Merde indeed:

Some frogsters* with no track record are claiming that this piece of scratched plastic—which in the photo looks like a cheapo LG cellphone clone wannabe—is the new iPhone 3G. Although it matches the rumored all-black and specs, we don’t believe it’s the real thing. The reason: these photos have been up since 12:04AM Central European Time and it’s now 4:04PM. That’s 16 hours up with no Cease and Desist order—and Apple Europe is as aggressive with leaks as Cupertino. In any case, check its back and tell us what you think after the jump.

What do you think?

Check out this Translated version of http://www.iphon.fr/ [via Engadget] – it looks very close to the iPhone 3G dimensions we told you about yesterday. The shots are anonymous, unverified, etc etc. They could be face, but they sure don’t look it based on the fact that we can see evidence of real use (scratches) and based on the general un-photoshopped-appearance of the images.

It’s certainly still iPhone-esque, but to my eyes looks a little more like a generic smartphone than I’d prefer. What do you think? Legit? Good-looking?

We’ve seen accessory makers spill the beans on upcoming products before. In the Treo space, an accessory maker went so far as to put their demo unit on a convention show floor. There was also the “fatty nano” rumor that seems ludicrous right up until the moment that Apple released precisely what the accessory maker had leaked. Things on the iPhone side are, of course, quite a bit more hush-hush, so apparently what these accessory makers have is just some rough dimensions, according to iLounge:

Companies overseas have already started working on products for this one, which is basically the same size as the current iPhone, but has slightly different curves, coloration, and materials.

We also get confirmation of the tip-top “Black and basically the same” rumor. The glossy black plastic is apparently quite a bit fancier than what you’re imagining, and toss in a very slight taper across the back as well. A few slight adjustments to the location of the various sensors on the iPhone and the story looks pretty complete and pretty legit.

Oh, yeah, looks like color options besides black might be thrown into this heady mix of iPhone 3G stew as well. MMmmmmm ….HSDPA.

This week on the Phone different podcast we compensate for Mike’s absence by bringing on PD Writers Chad Garrett, Brian Hart, and Rene Ritchie. We talk up iPhone 2.0, iPhone 3G, and discuss what’s wrong with Canada. Listen in!

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