Main App

Apple has now announced that all iPhone 4 Users can order a free iPhone case via Case Program app which is located on the App Store. Users will have to download the app onto their phone and then launch it. Once you have signed into your iTunes store account you can either select the standard iPhone Bumper Case or you can choose from the several third-party options such as:

Apple iPhone 4 Bumper – Black 
Incase Snap Case for iPhone 4 – Smoke 
Incase Snap Case for iPhone 4 – Clear 
Belkin Shield Micra for iPhone 4 – Clear 
Griffin Motif iPhone 4 – Diamonds/Smoke 
Griffin Reveal Etch iPhone 4 – Black/Black Graphite 
Speck Fitted Case iPhone 4 – Black Tartan 
Speck PixelSkin HD iPhone 4 – Black 

Cases

All cases will be shipped within 3-5 week and Apple will send you a confirmation email once they have shipped the item. Don’t forget that the offer is currently time-limited so if you bought your iPhone 4 before July 23, you must apply no later than August 22. Otherwise you have to apply within 30 days of your iPhone purchase. To qualify, you have to have bought your iPhone before September 30. 

Don’t forget you can get a refund from Apple if you have already brought a Bumper from them. Apple have automatically started to issue refunds on Thursday for online sales and if you bought your Bumper in a retail store, just bring it back with the receipt by September 30.

I have decided to order the Speck PixelSkin HD it looks pretty good and looks like it offers good protection. What did you order?

Earlier today Planetbeing confirmed via Twitter that the iPhone has been Jailbroken and Unlocked he posted the following on his Twitter account:

“Looks like I now have an unlocked iPhone 4. ” and “My soft-unlocked iPhone 4 (in Canada). I’ll have video in a couple of hours once I can top-up the SIM. http://twitpic.com/24ycdv.”

MuscleNerd has also given us a peak about the unlock as he stated “MuscleNerd: We think we have 3 different ways to unlock once inside BB (the 3rd way was first to fully work for @planetbeing !)”

So by the looks of it we have a steady Jailbreak and Unlock its just a matter of time till its released. my guess is they are waiting for the new Apple update but no one knows how long that game could be going on for. lets hope Apple release it asap

I would just like to thank www.ModMyi.com for the following information – it seems ModMyi spoke with plantbeing today and he said the following It seems Apple is purposly slowing the release of its new update to try and stop the jailbreak from comming we can see evidence of this by the following statement:

“Apple has thrown in a few extra tricks targeted specifically at previous unlocks (including blacksn0w and ultrasn0w) in order to mitigate the damage we can do (i.e. unlocking the phone) even if we found a bug. But we got around it. “

“it was a cool ride, and i’ve learned a lot about a lot. perhaps one of these days i’ll do a more formal goodbye.”

that was posted on his twitter account which has now been closed to the public. it seems that the pressure has become to much and the little genius is now exhausted from all the demand and abuse that the public seems to be dishing outwards him. although in my opinion if you are going to tease the public like he has done he was bound to get lots of interest and hassled like there was no tomorrow.

Before his Twitter post, he posted a quick update to his blog stating the following:

“Sorry, this post was probably a bad idea. Next time I won’t say anything. I miss when this blog was actually about technical things(I’ve been reacting too much to the feedback, which led it to the place it’s in now). I didn’t fully realize most of the current scene don’t care unless they are getting something. Now I do. It’s late tonight, I’ll think about what to do about this in the morning.

The real reason behind no release isn’t technical. It’s just that it will never stop, after blackra1n, people demand unlock, after blacksn0w, people demand untethered. I miss the days when jailbreaking and unlocking were difficult, it attracted a much higher caliber crowd. Also, to the haters, the picture is quite obviously fake”

The last thing Geohot said was “Please follow my good friend @mikecohenn for all future jailbreak updates” so don’t think just cause one hacker is gone that the whole game ends. there are plenty of great hackers out there a few have just confirmed that they have Jailbroken and Unlocked the iPhone 4.

So fairwell Geohot and thank you for all you have done.

Whats your opinions on Geohot leaving the Scene?

As far as a release goes, it probably won’t happen from me. limera1n is little more than a raindrop on a website; it was never mentioned by me previous to this post. pwned4life is a complete invention of some blogger in a basement somewhere. When I said pwned for life, I was referring to the original iPhone, 3G, and Touch; which of course are, by the aptly named PwnageTool.

Again, please don’t ask for release dates. Every person that does makes me want to release a little bit less.”

more than likely he wont be releasing this any time soon or ever. the best thing you can do is respect his wishes and not bother asking him for a release date. You do really have to respect this kid even though he plays the crowd he does know his stuff.  However do not fear as iphone-dev team have a userland jailbreak and they plan to release it as soon as apple bring out their new 4.01 update. so hopefully not long left now

iPhone 3GS (old bootrom non mc) users must have an already jailbroken device on 3.1.2 or must downgrade to 3.1.2 with SHSHs on file with Cydia before jailbreaking up to 4.0. iPhone 3G and iPod Touch 2G (old bootrom) users can simply upgrade to 4.0 via iTunes and jailbreak with redsn0w.However the New bootrom iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch 2G users can not currently jailbreak 4.0.

In addition, @MuscleNerd and @planetbeing are hard at work developing a carrier unlock for the new iPhone 4. Being in possession of the new iOS 4 jailbreak from comex, they can develop and ready an unlock before the new jailbreak is made public.

So the future of the jailbreaking scene is looking really bright at the moment so be sure to thank these people by visiting their twitter accounts and maybe donate to these hard-working hackers as without them we would be no where

Price

Lets start off with the price this case will cost around $80 and it can be brought from here: http://www.octovo.com/

Luckily for you Octovo has now reduced the price so visit the site and make a great saving.

Style / Design 

So let’s start this off you receive the case in a beautiful white box which has been made from recycled materials. When you set your eyes on the box you know you will be receiving a wonderful as you think if the box is this nice the product will be even better.

Once you open the box you will find your case which doesn’t disappoint, the case is made up off real embossed Italian leather which has the same effect as crocodile skin. On the inside it has a very soft suede type material which keeps the phone safe from scratches. This is one of the things I really like about this case as other cases have a plastic material on the inside which do scratch the acrylic on the back of the iPhone.  Another great thing about this case is the fact it uses a handcraftedHandcrafted Seamless Technologhand seamless technique which means no stitching is visible. The case itself is quite thin and very light but its rigid enough to protect your iPhone if accidently dropped and I have tested this thoroughly. 

The phone slips into the case from the top and it is easily removed by pulling on the ribbon on the back of the case. I currently have the Black version and it looks really stylish and very professional you can choose to have it in other colours such as: Red, Wine, Light Brown, Dark Brown and Navy.

In my opinion this case is definitely worth it as it has a very professional and stylish look to it but the most important thing is it is very protective. You know it will be well protected because the screen is fully inside the case at all times. One factor which does worry me slightly is if you accidently drop the phone head where you actually enter the phone into the case you do risk one part being damaged.

Octovo could have counteracted this by making the case slightly longer, by doing this there would have been a slight lip which could potentially saved the phone from any damage.  One thing I really like about this case is that it has a very snug fitting to it. It does take a bit of effort to put the phone into the case and it takes some effort taking the phone out.

The advantage of this is users want a nice tight fitting to stop the phone slipping out, believe me I have tested this by holding the case from the bottom end and repeatedly shaking the phone to see if it comes out. I am pleased to say the phone didn’t drop out at all. The Disadvantage is it can be a pain to take the phone out and if you need to answer a phone call you may find you cannot get it out in time. However I do believe after awhile the leather will start to loosen which means it should slip in and out of the case much easier so this is something to bear in mind.

Another unique feature is how you actually remove the phone from the case. You are given a Ribbon with a chrome handle which you conveniently pull on and the phone just slowly comes out of the case. As I just stated it is quite hard to remove the phone at first and the best way is to remove the phone is to pull the ribbon upwards and hold the case at the bottom.  

One of the classiest things about this case is Octovo haven’t plastered their name on the case and the only place you will see the name is on the chrome handle which is attached to the ribbon. This pleases me a lot as I love the simple things in life and I believe this contributes to the attractiveness of the case. Last but not least it can be difficult to hear your phone ring as the speakers are covered by case depending on which way you enter the phone into the case.

Like every case out there you will need to do some regular cleaning mainly on the inside of the case, as it does tend to accumulate some dust from your pocket etc. so please make sure you use your clean the inside of the case.

Conclusion 

Advantages:

1. Very attractive / stylish.
2. Unique.
3. Protective.
4. Lightweight and Slim.
5. Real Italian Leather.
6. Snug Fit.

Disadvantages:

1. No Screen Access.
2. Slightly Expensive.
3. No screen protector or microfiber cloth.
4. Hard to hear the phone ringing when case is on.

To be honest I do think this is a brilliant case some may say it is very expensive however the quality of the product doesn’t disappoint and the fact it looks so good and offers brilliant protectiveness just does it for me. I think Octovo do have some issues to address such as not being able to hear the phone ring whilst the phone in the case etc but overall it is a great product. One thing I am disappointed about is the fact Octovo didn’t add anything more in the box e.g. a screen protector or a microfiber cloth I would have probably given it a better rating however they didn’t so overall I rate this phone case 8/10

Thanks for reading.

Now Apple is renowned for having crazy prices for their iPhone and well they haven’t disappointed us either.

On the 24 month contract the cheapest you can get the iPhone 4 16GB is £169, this will cost £30pm. You will receive 150 minutes, 250 texts and unlimited data (don’t forget about the fair usage policy). It will cost you £269 to get the 32GB version and on the same contract as above.

The 18 month contract is a bit more expensive as you can imagine. The cheapest you can get the iPhone 4 16GB is £229, this will cost £35pm. You will receive 600 minutes, 500 texts and unlimited data (don’t forget about the fair usage policy). It will cost you £319 to get the 32GB version and on the same contract as above.

Now the PAYG deal well Orange have said it will cost £480 for the 16GB iPhone 4 and £570 for the 32gb. They have undercut Apple but most likely it will be locked to Orange whereas the Apple PAYG is unlocked. So the choice is yours.

Here are the full Tariff details: 

In my opinion the best deal is the 18 month contact at £35pm, not only do you get a good amount of minutes and texts but your only contracted for 18 months. Yes you will be paying some money for the phone but if you sell or trade your old iPhone you should be able to cover most of it. However if you don’t want to buy a contract you can get the PAYG version. What will you be doing?

Thanks for reading.

Apparently there was a page on the Vodafone website which confirmed this however it has now been taken down.

The page also has been rumored to say that the16GB version of the iPhone 4 will be available for £189 on the cheapest monthly plans, which start at £25 a month on a two-year contract or £30 for an 18 month contract. Finally the 32GB version will cost £280 if you decide to take out the cheapest monthly contract which also starts at £25 a month for two years, or £30 across 18 months. There is some good news which that Vodafone are apparently offering 1024MB of Data compared to O2’s 500MB.

Despite the prices above customers can get the latest iPhone for free but you will have to commit to a minimum £45 contract which will most likely be for 24 months. Vodafone is also offering a range of pricing between the low-end and top end prices.

In my opinion this is a fairly steep price considering AT&T will be offering the iPhone for $199 for the 16GB and $299 for the 32GB. There is also talk of one shop allowing customers to trade their electrical goods and use the money they receive for the iPhone.

iPhone pre orders should start tomorrow so keep checking back for Orange, T-Mobile and Threes pricing you can find O2′s Tariffs here.  

Thanks for reading