iPhone Insider

3G iPhone case molds leaked in pre-WWDC hysteria?

noreply@blogger.com (iphoneinsider.blogspot.com) — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 23:16:00 +0000

The spy shots just get weirder and weirder in the breathless run-up to the presumed WWDC 3G iPhone launch. In fact, this is the first time we can recall seeing case molds -- in this instance, from Griffin -- leaked prior to an announcement. Nevertheless, that's exactly what iDeals China Insider claims they possess. While consistent with the XSKN case, specs, and other leaks we've already seen, it's proof of nothing except a lot of self-perpetuating nonsense. Check the 3D images purportedly used to make the silicon molds after the break.

TomTom already has iPhone navigation software ready to roll

noreply@blogger.com (iphoneinsider.blogspot.com) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 22:22:00 +0000

That sound you hear is the not-yet-released nüvifone trembling in fear, as TomTom has just announced that an iPhone-ready version of its famed navigation software is practically ready to rock 'n roll. More specifically, a TomTom spokesman was quoted as saying that its "navigation system runs on the iPhone already," and he made the statement hot on the heels of the iPhone 3G announcement. Sadly, he wouldn't disclose an estimated release date for the software, but it's safe to say that the TomTom touch could make Apple's darling a formidable nüvifone opponent.

Sizing it up: iPhone 3G vs. the rest

noreply@blogger.com (iphoneinsider.blogspot.com) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 22:21:00 +0000

We thought you'd like to see how the new iPhone 3G stacks up against the ol' EDGE-based iPhone, Sony Ericsson's Xperia X1, and HTC Touch Diamond and Touch Pro handsets. To QWERTY or not to QWERTY, that is the QWEstion.

Model	Weight (grams)	Size (mm)
iPhone 3G	133	115.5 x 62.1 x 12.3
iPhone (EDGE)	135	115 x 61 x 11.6
HTC Touch Diamond	110	102 x 51 x 11.35
HTC Touch Pro	165	102 x 51 x 18.05
Sony Ericsson Xperia X1	158	110 x 52.6 x 17

iPhone 2.0 free in early July for all iPhone owners, $9.95 for iPod touch

noreply@blogger.com (iphoneinsider.blogspot.com) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 22:20:00 +0000

Steve just ran through a bunch of features of iPhone 2.0, and while we saw most of them back in March, some of them were new, like being able to draw in Chinese characters. There's also new support for iWork documents and better Office doc support, as well as new abilities to save images from email to the photo library, and new contact search functions. There's also finally bulk delete and edit of email / SMS, and the App Store will be making it to 62 countries, up from 22 in March.

Looking through the gallery now live on Apple's site, there are some other changes as well: the Maps app now has a slightly different "peel back" icon, there's a new 3G icon (obviously), and the calendar app has been redesigned, probably to work better with MobileMe.

Firmware 2.0 will hit in July free for iPhone owners (we'd say July 11, when the 3G iPhone launches, is a good bet) and the price has dropped to $9.95 for iPod touch owners -- still high, but better than the $19.95 we heard in March.

iCall enables seamless GSM to WiFi switching on iPhone

noreply@blogger.com (iphoneinsider.blogspot.com) — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 22:19:00 +0000

VoIP has been ushered onto the iPhone in quite a few incarnations, but we'd wager than none of 'em are as useful as iCall. Said application is currently in beta form, though a release isn't quite ready for the public at large. Put simply, it enables iPhones to switch from GSM to WiFi (when WiFi is nearby, of course) on-the-fly in order to save cell minutes and bypass the hassle of manually changing over. Interested? We thought you'd be -- hop on past the break to see a demonstrative video of the app in action, and keep a close eye on the read link for a sure-to-surface-soon download.

3G iPhone touchscreen leaks out?

noreply@blogger.com (iphoneinsider.blogspot.com) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 22:18:00 +0000

We're just four days away from WWDC, so the rumor mill is churning at a fever pitch -- and the latest context-less bits of info to emerge from the churn are these purported photos of the 3G iPhone's touchscreens over at iLounge. Yeah, that's touchscreens, plural -- if these are to believed, Apple's got two sizes of iPhone in store for us on Monday: a 3.2-inch model, and a smaller 2.8-inch model. Note that both of those sizes are smaller than the current iPhone's 3.5-inch screen, which seems slightly implausible -- but kinda-sorta matches up with other rumors we've heard, including those persistent "iPhone nano" whispers from last year. We still really doubt that Apple will shrink the iPhone's screen size, however, and there are literally hundreds of touchscreen iPhone KIRFs these panels could have come from, so we'd say there's a better chance this is just more hype -- but we know y'all have your own ideas.

Softbank to sell (UMTS 3G) iPhone in Japan

noreply@blogger.com (iphoneinsider.blogspot.com) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 22:15:00 +0000

Japan's third-largest mobile phone operator now has rights to Apple's iPhone. As has been the norm recently, the announcement is a one-liner without any details related to exclusivity (NTT DoCoMo and KDDI still can has a chanceburger) or model... though it should be noted that Softbank is a W-CDMA (UMTS 3G), not GSM/EDGE carrier. Softbank only says that they'll be selling the iPhone "later this year."

Movistar nabs iPhone in Spain

noreply@blogger.com (iphoneinsider.blogspot.com) — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 22:14:00 +0000

Apple's relentless quest to spread the iPhone to every corner of the universe has officially nabbed yet another carrier. Movistar has been announced as an official partner for Spain, though no clues have been given about the launch date -- a common trend with the iPhone carrier partnership press releases as of late, we've noticed -- and the best that interested parties can do right now is sign up to be notified when more information becomes available. Any suckers out there want to bet us that they'll be launching the EDGE model? No?

iPhone SDK contains a 3G iPhone icon?

noreply@blogger.com (iphoneinsider.blogspot.com) — Wed, 28 May 2008 22:12:00 +0000

Take this one with a huge grain of salt, but some enterprising members of the MacRumors forums went poking around the iPhone SDK files and unearthed what might be an icon representation of the 3G iPhone. (We looked ourselves and it's definitely there.) There's only one tiny image (scaled up on the left), but it's clearly different from the other iPhone icons in the bundle, and it matches up nicely with some of the other leaked images we've been seeing. Of course, this is more likely a bad render or even just temporary art for the SDK, but things certainly seem like they're starting to domino here -- June 9 can't get here fast enough, can it, Steve?

Orange France calling iPhone users with offers of subsidized 3G upgrades?

noreply@blogger.com (iphoneinsider.blogspot.com) — Tue, 27 May 2008 23:14:00 +0000

When it comes to subsidy rumors for Apple's 3G iPhone, some are more believable than others. In this case, we'll leave the likelihood judgments up to you. Readers of French tech site PCInpact say that they are getting calls from Orange with offers of an upgrade to the upcoming Apple wonderphone. For only 50€, readers say they have been told they can swap out their current-gen iPhone for the new one. Or, say the French, the upgrade will be offered at a "generous" discount. With Orange's recent 3G iPhone distro deal in the books, we had to give this rumor some airtime. Either way, this could mean everything -- or absolutely nothing -- for those of you residing stateside and looking to bump your iPhone this summer.

iPhone getting game thanks to the iControlpad

noreply@blogger.com (iphoneinsider.blogspot.com) — Fri, 23 May 2008 23:12:00 +0000

iPhone gaming aficionados -- your wildest dreams will soon be coming to fruition. Apparently, CraigX (one of the masterminds behind the Pandora project) is also busy whipping up a physical control pad add-on for the Apple device. The peripheral -- dubbed the iControlpad, of course -- will attach to the dock connector on the bottom of the phone and wrap around the sides, and is said to provide a PSX-like feel. The pad's site claims that compatibility is already built in to popular iPhone game emulators, and units are being sent out to other developers as well. The model pictured here is a prototype design -- but frankly, they had us at "Hello."

3G iPhone revealed in third-party case render?

noreply@blogger.com (iphoneinsider.blogspot.com) — Mon, 19 May 2008 23:09:00 +0000

Look, we're not saying this means anything, but the above rendering from iPhone case-maker XSKN sure does look like those supposed design changes we've been hearing about. You'll note the larger, more curvy back, space opened up near the earpiece for the rumored front-facing camera, and what appears to be a non-recessed headphone jack. Sure, this could be a ploy to get eyes on their pages, but even if they're citing the specs we've heard, this is still the first case design we've seen for anything other than the original iPhone.

Swisscom to launch iPhone in Switzerland -- 3G, GPS, mobile TV, video conferencing rumored

noreply@blogger.com (iphoneinsider.blogspot.com) — Wed, 14 May 2008 20:06:00 +0000

Swisscom confirmed the deal while saying little else. What's interesting then is what the rest of the rumor, started by the leading Swiss newspaper, Le Matin, had to say. Namely, the 3G iPhone will be on sale in Switzerland this summer (on sale in the US by June) offering 2-way video chats, mobile TV and GPS navigation all powered by an even beefier processor.

O2 to announce 3G iPhone in "the coming weeks"

noreply@blogger.com (iphoneinsider.blogspot.com) — Wed, 14 May 2008 19:56:00 +0000

After getting a general ballpark courtesy of AT&T store employee vacations last week, and a hint of "next month" on Monday, O2's own CEO is promising a 3G iPhone announcement in "the coming weeks."

SingTel ropes iPhone distro in Singapore, India, Australia, and Philippines

noreply@blogger.com (iphoneinsider.blogspot.com) — Mon, 12 May 2008 19:53:00 +0000

Singapore Telecommunications (aka SingTel) announced that it's secured agreements to distribute the iPhone in Singapore (on SingTel Mobile) and its partly-owned subsidiaries in Australia (on Optus), India (on Bharti Group), and the Philippines (on Globe Telecom). Vodafone's also distributing the iPhone in India and Australia though, so we'll have to wait until later this year to find out who gets to shoot first.

AT&T listing "iPhone Black" model, O2 gets the original back in stock

noreply@blogger.com (iphoneinsider.blogspot.com) — Mon, 12 May 2008 19:52:00 +0000

O2 apparently got another batch of 16 giggers in stock, since it's currently accepting orders, while the 8GB remains out of stock, and both phones remain unavailable on the US and UK Apple Stores. More encouraging, however, is the new listing of an "iPhone Black" model on AT&T's account management site. There's nothing else on the site to hint at specs or release or whether this is indeed the upcoming 3G iPhone, but it does fall in line with the word we have on a glossy black back for the much anticipated phone.

Apple finally settings its legal sights on the HiPhone?

noreply@blogger.com (iphoneinsider.blogspot.com) — Sun, 11 May 2008 09:18:00 +0000

There are plenty of bad Chinese iPhone knockoffs out there, but the HiPhone may be the reigning champion these days -- so it kind of seemed like a matter of time before Apple loosed the hounds on distributors of the device. We don't have confirmation or proper human translation of the above legal notice, but it would appear Apple's European counsel Bird & Bird has delivered at least one notice to an unnamed distributor threatening €25,000 in damages (and €15,000 in legal fees) for HiPhone sales.

Firmware 2.0 hints suggest Apple might be working on a 3G iPhone

noreply@blogger.com (iphoneinsider.blogspot.com) — Sun, 11 May 2008 04:52:00 +0000

You'll never believe this, but it looks like Cupertino might be getting ready to drop a bomb this summer -- a 3G bomb, in fact! The latest beta release of firmware 2.0 for the iPhone has apparently revealed a preference screen that allows users of the new model to disable the 3G radio and fall back to GPRS / EDGE because the faster service "decreases battery life." Gotta pay to play, as they say. The ability to disable 3G service in favor of improved standby performance is a pretty common one in modern phones, so we're not surprised to see it here.

Apple Store's US and UK sites run dry of iPhones, 3G imminent?

noreply@blogger.com (iphoneinsider.blogspot.com) — Sat, 10 May 2008 04:51:00 +0000

If we saw the typical "Ships in 1-2 weeks" here or whatever, we wouldn't be sounding an alarm, but something is going on here. Both Apple's US and UK online stores are joining the O2 choir and are now reporting the iPhone as "currently unavailable" -- no 8GB, no 16GB, no nothing. It seems that Apple either significantly underestimated demand for the 2.5G models ahead of the 3G release that's still a few weeks (or months) down the road, or the 3G model is a whole heck of a lot closer than we could've imagined.

AT&T Changes its Mind Again, No Hotspot Access for iPhone Users

noreply@blogger.com (iphoneinsider.blogspot.com) — Fri, 09 May 2008 04:45:00 +0000

AT&T has flip-flopped yet again on the issue of iPhone customers getting free access to AT&T hotspots. While yesterday the iPhone plans page clearly stated that access to the hotspots was included with all plans, that statement is now gone again.

AT&T Officially Lists Wi-Fi Hotspot Access with iPhone Plans

noreply@blogger.com (iphoneinsider.blogspot.com) — Thu, 08 May 2008 21:33:00 +0000

AT&T's iPhone website (under 'Plans' tab) has been updated to reveal that each iPhone plan now includes access to their "more than 17,000 Wi-Fi hotspots, including Starbucks all for use in the U.S."

It was first revealed last week that AT&T had quietly begun offering iPhone users access to their Wi-Fi hotspots for free (including Starbucks and Barnes & Noble). No official announcement had been made, however, and the service was abruptly turned off a few days later.

AT&T has remained quiet about this new offering, but it's clear they will be officially delivering this service shortly.

iPhone is good and done in the UK -- until the 3G version, anyway

noreply@blogger.com (iphoneinsider.blogspot.com) — Thu, 08 May 2008 09:48:00 +0000

The headline kind of says it all, but if you weren't already sure enough that the first gen iPhone's stint in the UK was coming to a close, O2's pushing to make things crystal clear. It's hard to imagine both companies are going to just stop selling such a high profile device for too long, but clearly we're all still in the dark as to when its 3G replacement will officially be out.

Details emerge on Apple's acquistion of chip designer P.A. Semi

noreply@blogger.com (iphoneinsider.blogspot.com) — Thu, 08 May 2008 08:07:00 +0000

There weren't a whole lot of firm details on the reasons behind Apple's acquisition of chip designer P.A. Semi to be had back when the deal was announced last month, but it seems that a bit of the veil of mystery may now be lifting, at least if the word EETimes is hearing from its unnamed source is to be believed. Apparently, Apple was keen to have P.A. Semi's crack chip-making team design a new chip for them, but P.A. Semi had "more or less burnt through its venture capital funds," leaving them unable to take on the project. According to EETimes source, that meant that the only way to get P.A. Semi involved was for Apple to pay off all of P.A.'s investors and bring the company in-house, something they were able to do for a mere $280 million or so. Of course, as EETimes points out, the big question remaining is exactly what it is that Apple wants P.A. Semi to help it out with, and that's a detail we'd expect to take considerably longer to trickle out.

More "leaked" 3G iPhone shots hit the web

noreply@blogger.com (iphoneinsider.blogspot.com) — Thu, 08 May 2008 08:06:00 +0000

For those that need to be in the know about the very latest supposedly-leaked 3G iPhone shots that hit the web this week, we've got you covered -- but we're not convinced, especially of the device on the right. The shots on the left do at least seem to be crafted around those supposed size and shape leaks we saw the other day though, so bonus points there for playing into another current rumor to rack up a small bit of credibility.

Apple's iPhone coming to Latin America on America Movil

noreply@blogger.com (iphoneinsider.blogspot.com) — Thu, 08 May 2008 08:05:00 +0000

Just a day after we heard that Vodafone was taking the iPhone on a world tour, in comes word that Apple's darling will be headed to Latin America via America Movil. We aren't told if the deal is one of exclusive nature, nor were we given a specific launch date, but residents of 16 countries in Latin America will have their shot at latching onto an iPhone sometime "this year."