It’s true, no Photoshop! More pictures and the low down after the jump.

Today was a good day for me. Not only did I have a really productive day at work, but I also held a bona fide iPhone 3G in my hand. And yes, the iPhone is really on the Maxis network… but it’s not an iPhone that I got from Maxis.

The iPhone belonged to a client from Hong Kong. It’s actually on the Hutchison Telecommunications network but because he was roaming in Malaysia, the iPhone switched to Maxis while visiting my office.

Bottom line, gotta wait a while longer…

(Sorry for the bad picture quality, the only camera I had on hand was from my soon-to-be-discarded Sony-Ericsson).

   

The Edge Daily reports that Maxis may launch the iPhone 3G in Malaysia.. for under RM1,000.

Speculation has been rife about which would be the lucky telco to partner with Apple in Malaysia for the iPhone. However, this is the first time a major news publication in Malaysia has published such news along with pricing information.

The report, which quotes the Malaysian Insider, goes on to hypothesise that Apple has finally decided on its Asian distribution policy and which telcos to partner with, following its announcement that SingTel would be Apple’s Singaporean partner.

Good fodder for conversation for sure, but how likely will this ‘news’ turn out to be? What do you think?

I’ve been using my iPhone for nearly 8 months now and I still love it like the day I unlocked it.

The only major upgrades that the iPhone 3G have are 3G capabilities and the A-GPS function.  I don’t really use 3G that much and I know my way around Kuala Lumpur, so the GPS won’t really make much use for me.  Furthermore, the street price of the iPhone 3G is about RM4,200.  I’d rather buy an iMac with that kind of moolah.

My iPhone has been serving me well for the past few months and it still garners a few stares when I whip it out of my pocket and the cool App Store as well as the iPhone 2.0 firmware is already ported to the iPhone.  I don’t really see a “must buy” feature in the new iPhone.  Now all I have to do is to wait for the iPhone Dev Team to do their magic.

Question of the day:

Are you ditching your original iPhone for the iPhone 3G?

P.S. While Jibone is happily downloading applications from AppStore for his iPod Touch, I could only watch in awe.  My iPod Touch has been “kidnapped” by my mum and she is loving the games I installed previously.  Unlike Jibone, I jailbroke my iPod Touch the moment I got it and installed tons of games into it from Installer.app.

I am very tempted to update the firmware to 2.0 but then I might be disowned by my mum.  I am not going to take the risk!

I got a blank License Agreement that only says, “MZStore.iPodTouchSoftwareUpgradeSLA”. Clicked agree, and when to the next step. I’m not sure what I agreed to, then again at this point I’ll agree to anything to get my firmware 2.0 updates.

The updates when smoothly, my iPod Touch reboots a few times during the process. I didn’t notice anything much had changed except for one additional icon on my iPod Touch, the App Store icon.

Downloading apps is very easy. You can either download apps via iTunes and then sync to your device or, download it straight from your iPod Touch.

Here are currently some of the apps that are on my iPod. Twitterific for iPhone / iPod Touch does a great job in keeping track of your tweets. Pownce app is also a must if you are a Pownce user. Facebook app is a good interface to the Facebook site.

On the entertainment side, Tap Tap Revenge has successfully keep me occupied for hours. This is bad for my productivity and I predict it will get worst once I buy Bomberman and Monkey Ball. Gaming on iPod Touch, equals to lack of productivity.

For some fun yet useless apps, iPint a silly drinking game is one which you can showoff the accelerometer build-in your iPod Touch. Then there is an app called Light, that will turn your iPod Touch into a torch light. Yes it just turns the screen white.

One of the must-have apps would be the Remote app, which will pair your iPod to your iTunes and turns your iPod Touch into a remote for your iTunes. Skip, shuffle, select track, playlist, volume control and all that. Really cool.

By the way, you can now take screenshots of your iPod Touch, hold the home button and press the power button, the screen will blinked white once. You can find the taken screenshot in your photos.

This fine saturday morning I had planed to update my iPod Touch to firmware version 2.0. Note that I did not Jailbreak my iPod Touch. If you do have a Jailbreak iPod Touch or iPhone, updating it will locked it back down.

I was planing to use an iTunes gift card and an American home address, to have access to an iTunes Store account. You can read the little how-to written a while back on setting up an iTunes account in Malaysia.

Today however while I was at the iTunes Store, I notice that you could choose the country ‘Malaysia’. Click on the rounded Malaysia flag button, and I’m in the iTunes Store, however there are no music or movies and TV shows available for purchase. It is only the iTunes Apps Store that is available.

I registered an account with my credit card, which has a Malaysian billing address and it works. So there you go, finally a iTunes Store for Malaysia. But you are only limited to the iTunes apps, not the iTunes music collection.

This will make it possible for people with the iPod Touch here in Malaysia to enjoy the Apple experience of buying and downloading free apps for their device, without going through loopholes or some hackery. This also brings hopes for those planing to bring back unlock iPhone 3G, from countries that are going to sell unlock iPhone 3G.

However, I have yet able to update my iPod Touch to firmware 2.0. I’ve been trying since this morning and all I got were an error message dialog box:-

We could not complete your iTunes Store request.

The iTunes Store is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later

Reports are saying that Apple’s servers just weren’t prepared for the onslaught of new users. Guess I’ve to wait.

Right now across the world people are lining up and getting their iPhone 3G, Apple’s new mobile phone iPod like device that is not coming to our shores officially anytime soon. We are not even on the waiting list. This post is not about the iPhone 3G launch.

If you haven’t notice it yet, you will notice soon. Your Software Update will nag you about the new iTunes 7.7 in which will let you update your iPhone and iPod Touch to the new firmware hence the ability to download and install apps from the iTunes App Store.

Use iTunes 7.7 to sync music, video, and more with iPhone 3G, and download applications from the iTunes Store exclusively designed for iPhone and iPod touch with software version 2.0 or later. Also use the new Remote application for iPhone or iPod touch to control iTunes playback from anywhere in your home — a free download from the App Store.

I have not yet try to update and download any apps. Will try to do that on the weekend where I have a stable network connection. Looking forward to the remote app that turns your iPod Touch (or iPhone) into a remote for your iTunes. I’ll also try to use an iTunes Gift card, the has recently arrive in my mail box, to try update and buy apps from the iTunes Apps store. Oh perks of being a MyMacBUZZ co-blogger.

Happy iPhone Day everyone! The iPhone 3G goes on sale today.

Ed Baig of USA Today was lucky enough to already have reviewed the iPhone. “Apple has raised the bar with iPhone 3G. To which I offer an enthusiastic thumbs up,” he writes.

Walt Mossberg also had the opportunity to check out the new iPhone and also thinks its an improvement over the original. However, he advises that if you already have an original iPhone, get the 2.0 firmware update first before deciding if its worth upgrading to iPhone 3G.

What do you think and will you be getting the iPhone 3G?

iPhone 3G around the world

Pictures of newly bought iPhone 3Gs are flooding Flickr.

T-Mobile Netherlands is livestreaming the iPhone 3G launch in Rotterdam. (via TUAW)

Come July 11, the iPhone 3G makes its international debut. For those of us not even on the Coming Soon list, it will be an agonising wait without even the certainty that the iPhone will be available in our countries at all. And with the new in-store activation policy, unlocking US iPhones to be used here may not even be possible any more.

Fortunately, there is a glimmer of hope. Due to certain countries’ anti-competitive laws, iPhone 3G will have to be sold unlocked in certain countries. Here’s a rundown of where you can get yourself a legally unlocked iPhone 3G.

Belgium

Belgium is one of the few countries where you can buy the iPhone totally unlocked, unlike other operators where you’ll need to pay an ‘unlocking fee’. The Register reports

Belgian regulators forbid “koppelverkoop” (forced bundling), so as a result punters have to pay a very hefty price - the 8GB version in black will sell for €525 and the 16 GB version in black or white for €615.

Koppelverkoop. You gotta love that word.

Australia

The iPhone will be available on Optus, Telstra and Vodafone down under. Of the 3 telcos, Optus has confirmed you can buy an iPhone unlocked.

An Optus iPhone costs $AU729 and $AU849 for the 8GB and 16GB respectively, and unlocking it will set you back a further $AU80. However, unlocking costs nothing if you do it 6 months after initial activation. This means that if you’re studying in Australia and have another semester to go, you can switch to Optus now and bring back your iPhone for free at the end of the year.

Italy

InformationWeek reports that Telecom Italia Mobile will also offer an unlocked iPhone. They say that

In addition, the phone will be unlocked, meaning it can be used with other carriers.

which suggests that there won’t be any stupid unlocking fee. No news of how much it will cost though.

Europe

There hasn’t been any official news of the iPhone in the 2 countries, but legal developments in Germany and France late last year means that the current 2.5G iPhone needs to be sold unlocked. I’d say it’s a good bet that the iPhone 3G will also be sold unlocked. What’s unknown is what will it cost for the handset without contract (at the moment its €649) and whether it will be sold unlocked.

The Register article referenced earlier also confirms that T-Mobile in Germany and Netherlands will charge the unlocking fee if you want to free your iPhone.

Verdict: Best place to buy

At the moment, it looks as if the best place to get a legally unlocked iPhone 3G would be from Mobistar Belgium. Optus Australia. For those of us in Malaysia, Australia would probably be the easier destination unless you’re making a trip to Europe anyway. Unfortunately, the Australian dollar is appreciating quickly against the Ringgit so you may want to dig out that old piggy bank of yours..

(This post will be constantly updated as we get new information)

Updated 11 July to include information on Mobistar Belgium.

Updated 11 July to correct my lousy math

This is a little shot notice, but I receive an email about a free seminar on Final Cut Studio 2 and Final Cut Server that will be held at Kuala Lumpur. These are both high-end Apple pro apps.

Details of the seminar: -
Date:
8 July 2008 (Tuesday)

Time:
9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Vanue:
Prince Hotel & Residences Kuala Lumpur,
Level 3 - Prince 1
Jalan Conlay, 50450 Kuala Lumpur

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