Archive for November, 2007

We’ve seen a good amount of iPhone DIY (Do-It-Yourself) projects out there, but this is one of the slicker DIY tutorials. The resident iPhone fanatics at GearLive have posted a DIY video detailing the iPhone’s battery replacement procedure. You shouldn’t really need to replace your battery, seeing as how your iPhone couldn’t be more than 6 months old. But hey, if you’re going to do it, we’re not going to stop you. Check out the iPhone battery replacement DIY video below - especially prior to any battery-replacement shenanigans you have planned.

Seriously though, make sure you know what you’re getting yourself into before you open up your iPhone (and void-out your iPhone). It would be a shame if you ended up with an iBrick just to squeeze a few more minutes of up-time out of your iPhone.

[Via: GearLive]

This is one of those purely speculative type of reports, but for all we know, it could turn out to be true. Following on the recent confirmation from AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson that the next-generation iPhone (the iPhone 2.0, if you will) will be sporting a 3G radio and will be available next year. Now, he didn’t mention when in 2008, but other rumors have indicated that a Q1 2008 launch is in the works.

We’re hearing that the iPhone 2.0 is already expected to miss the rumored March-ish launch window. According to Mehdi Hosseini, an analyst for Friedman Billings Ramsey & Company, the next-gen iPhone was slated for a March or April launch, but will now miss its mark - with the revised launch window predicted to extend into mid-summer of 2008. Hosseini cites information gathered during “recent checks,” and predicts that NAND memory demand will fall in the early part of 2008.

Again, we just want to stress that this is all speculation, and there’s no reason to believe that some “analyst” has information that would indicate that the iPhone 2.0 will be delayed. But, sometimes these things turn out to be true - we’re just hoping this isn’t one of those rumors.

[Via: EETimes]

We’ve been talking about the next-generation iPhone for almost as long as the current iPhone has been on-market. The 3G version of the Apple iPhone has been rumored time and again for a launch in early 2008. And, we’re expecting Steve Jobs to drop the 3G-bomb on us during his January Macworld keynote.

But, all that talk about a 3G iPhone has been rumor and hearsay. That is, until AT&T’s CEO Randall Stephenson slipped up and uttered those precious few words - “You’ll have it next year.” Stephenson confirmed the existence and near-term arrival of the next-generation iPhone with 3G data speeds at a meeting at Churchill Club in Santa Clara, California. As far as price is concerned, AT&T’s Chief could only say that Steve Jobs “will dictate what the price of the phone is.”

And, as any good CEO should do, Randall Stephenson took the time to undermine Verizon’s recent announcement that they’ll be opening up the CDMA network to “any app, any device” in 2008. The AT&T CEO said that Verizon’s plans were “overblown” and that AT&T is “probably one of the most open networks in the world, not just the U.S.” Take that, Verizon.

Apple’s doesn’t usually talk about future product developments or releases, and keeps those in-the-know on a tight leash. So, that begs the question - did Steve Jobs give Stephenson the go-ahead to confirm the 3G iPhone’s launch-window? Or did Randall Stephenson goof-up and let the cat out of the bag? Either way, we’re already saving up our couch-change for that 3G iPhone in 2008!

[Via: Bloomberg]

Now, let’s start this one off with a little disclaimer - the US iPhone launch did not go as smoothly as it could have gone. Don’t get us wrong, the US iPhone launch was in incredible example of Apple’s logistical prowess, but AT&T seemed to have largely underestimated the stress that more than a hundred thousand eager-beaver iPhone customers would place on their network.

In addition O2’s own iPhone activation nightmare and dealing with less-than-stellar iPhone sales (to put it nicely), it looks like O2 is having problems keeping its UK iPhone fleet connected to their network. Reports are coming in that O2 iPhone users are having problems acquiring a good signal in the UK, or any signal for that matter - many users are reporting that their iPhones usually present a “No Service,” or an occassional single-bar of wireless reception, status.

One suggestion on Apple’s Support Forums recommended a full-restore of the iPhone’s firmware in an effort to solve the problem. That suggestion came from a US iPhone user, so your mileage may vary. Our gut (as well as Alexandar Wolfe’s gut) tells us that the reception problems might have something to do with O2’s network, rather than being a defect in the iPhone itself. Furthermore, it seems that reception quality while indoors is especially poor - indicating that there might be a problem with O2’s 900Mhz frequency support for the iPhone (this is pure speculation, by the way).

It appears that Apple is replacing these iPhones on a case by case basis, rather than issuing a UK-wide recall or service bulletin. So, if you’ve been having problems with your new O2 iPhone’s wireless reception, take it into your nearest Apple or O2 Store and ask for a replacement (and give it a go with a full-restore before you ask for a replacement).

Oh, and we’d appreciate it if you could drop us a line and let us know how Apple and O2 resolved your problem.

Read more about this problem at Apple support.

[Via: InformationWeek]

As Stefan just mentioned, Sony Ericsson took the “greenest” spot in the Sixth Edition of Greenpeace’s “Guide to Greener Electronics,” while Nokia fell to 9th place. But, Greenpeace also bumped up Apple in the “green” rankings. If you’ll recall, Apple took a lot of flack recently for using some dangerous chemicals in the iPhone’s (and headset’s) plastics. Now, unless you shaved off that plastic, boiled it down, and drank the resulting cancerous mixture, no single iPhone user was going to birth any deformed babies. Nonetheless, the blogosphere lit up in a cacophony of iPhone-hating rage at Apple’s use of non-green chemicals.

Well, it looks like Greenpeace has had a change of mind - not that we could give an iota of a damn about what those hippy-freaks think. The hemp-wearing, daisy-loving folks at Greenpeace saw fit to move Apple up a bit in the rankings, giving the iPhone-maker an 11th-place score - snuggling up to Nokia’s 9th-place. Taking 10th place is HP sandwiched between Apple and Nokia’s green-ish whole-wheat buns environmental rankings. Isn’t that better now? Apple and Nokia, together at last.

Hit the link for the full rankings list.

Greenpeace’s list from best to worst (from Greenpeace):
7.7: Sony Ericsson - New leader due to improved takeback reporting, new models PVC free, but falls down on takeback practice.
7.7: Samsung - Big improvements, with more products free of the worst toxic chemicals. Loses points for incomplete takeback practice.
7.3: Sony - More products free of toxic PVC and improved reporting on recycling and takeback especially in the US.
7.3: Dell - Unchanged since the last version, still no products on the market without the worst chemicals.
7.3: Lenovo - Unchanged since the last version, still no products on the market without the worst chemicals.
7.0: Toshiba - Much improved on toxic chemicals but still lobbies in the US for regressive takeback policies.
7.0: LGE - Unchanged since the last version, need better takeback for products other than phones.
7.0: Fujitsu-Siemens - Unchanged since the last version, needs toxic elimination timelines, better takeback coverage and reporting of amounts recycled.
6.7: Nokia- A steep fall! Strong on toxic chemicals but penalty point deducted for deficiencies in takeback practice in Thailand, Russia and Argentina during our testsing.
6.7: HP - Finally provided timelines for eliminating worst toxic chemicals, though not for all products; needs to improve takeback coverage.
6.0: Apple - Slightly improved with new iMacs and some iPods reducing the use of toxic chemicals, takeback programme still needs more work.
5.7: Acer - Unchanged since the last version, needs better takeback coverage and reporting of amounts recycled.
5.0: Panasonic - Unchanged since the last version, need better takeback coverage and reporting of amounts recycled.
5.0: Motorola - Big faller due to penalty point for poor takeback practice in Philippines, Thailand and India revealed by our testing. Still no timelines for eliminating the most harmful chemicals.
4.7: Sharp - New to the guide - some plus points on toxic chemicals elimination but poor takeback policy and practice.
2.7: Microsoft - New to the guide - long timeline for toxic chemicals elimination (2011) and poor takeback policy and practice.
2.0: Philips - New to the guide - no timeline for toxic chemicals elimination and zero points on e-waste policy and practice.
0.0: Nintendo - New to the guide - first global brand to score zero across all criteria!

[Via: Business Week]

Having witnessed the ridiculous hype and initial demand for the iPhone here in the States, overseas iPhone carriers are going to have a hard time matching the feverish rate of US iPhone sales. But, that didn’t stop O2 from expecting to sell/activate upwards of 100,000 handsets during the O2 iPhone’s initial launch window.

So, how did O2 fare in their initial iPhone sales? Not as well as they would have liked, apparently. “Slow” would be one way to describe iPhone sales in the UK. The Register reports that initial iPhones sales figures have yet to break 30,000 units - with 26,500 iPhones having been activated in the two weeks since the iPhone’s launch on O2. Carphone Warehouse reported sales of 11,000 units over the launch weekend. And, an unnamed source told AppleInsider that the premier Apple Store in the UK, located on Regent Street, was still working to sell the entirety of their initial iPhone stock - which was shipped to the store prior to the iPhone’s UK launch on November 9. The Regent Street Apple Store has reportedly been selling a laggardly 100 iPhone handsets per day (compare that with the LG Shine that effectively sold more than 10,000 units worldwide for every day it was on the market this past year).

Even with an optimistic outlook, taking into account the fact that some iPhone stock may still be awaiting activation (as they wait to be gifted for the upcoming holidays), it seems unlikely that O2 will meet its sales goals by year’s end.

Part of the problem may lie in UK citizens’ reluctance to cough up £269 ($554) for a mobile phone - which is quite a steep price for a population used to getting handsets for free, or almost free, with activation/contract. While Brits are quite aware of the iPhone (the iPhone topped the GfK NOP ranking for brand awareness), with 78% of people associating the iPhone with music and 65% of people recognizing the iPhone’s email and internet capabilities, it’s just the higher-than-average price of the iPhone that’s going to keep it from replicating the US iPhone’s success in the UK. Keep in mind that many iPhone-bashers in the US cited the original $599 price-tag as the main reason that they predicted the iPhone launch would flop.

Are most Brits just waiting for the iPhone v2.0? We know we sure as hell are. All those missing hardware features and EDGE-only (although web surfing is still a much more pleasing experience than most 3G phones we’ve used) support might be keeping the iPhone from taking the UK by storm. Would we be singing a different tune if Apple had decided to simultaneously launch the iPhone around the globe? It’s quite possible that many people are just plain tired of hearing about the iPhone already. Regardless, we love our iPhone, so bully to you, O2.

[Via: MacUser]

So we all know that Nokia is working on an S60 Touch lineup. Touchscreens are the future and all the rage, so it makes sense that Apple’s starting to feel the pressure to keep ahead of the curve. Now, an analyst for London-based Nomura, Richard Windsor, is predicting that Apple may be unleash their legal hounds on Nokia over the 200+ iPhone-related patent filings.

Windsor said, “I think Apple will likely view Nokia as infringing on its user interface patents,” and may choose to affect “delays or holdups” in Nokia’s push to release their touch-based interface. Right, it’s one thing to sue a competitor to actually get a valid injunction or court-order levied against them. But, it’s a completely different story if Apple decides to pursue legal options in order to simply delay and cause grief for Nokia. Windsor predicts that any court-case would end in a settlement by 2009. Neither company would want another Qualcomm-style legal battle on their hands - especially Nokia.

We’re fairly confident that, should Apple decide to take Nokia to court, the end-game would be simply to make life harder on Nokia. The Finns have been making touchscreen devices for quite some time now, and Apple’s patent filings within the past several months will most likely not be sufficient grounds for any court-ordered injunction. Of course, there’s always the possibility that Apple could argue that Nokia is infringing on their iPhone’s user interface - but we know how well Apple was able to defend their Mac OS X user interface.

[Via: MacDailyNews]

As we expected, France’s exclusive Apple iPhone carrier will be offering their unlocked iPhone at a price that undercuts its German rival T-Mobile’s price point of 999 Euros. The French wireless carrier will be asking 749 Euros for the unlocked version of the Apple iPhone, a steep discount in comparison to T-Mobile’s unlocked iPhone.

The announcement of a relatively cheap unlocked version of the iPhone on Orange’s network makes sense. With Orange obligated by French telecom regulations, it makes sense for the iPhone operator to attempt to attract as many customers as possible with a lower-priced unlocked iPhone offering. T-Mobile’s unlocked iPhone price of 999 Euro seems to be more of a deterrent - an effort to coax customers into buying a subsidized version of the iPhone, while T-Mobile fights to have the court-order (that forced T-Mobile to offer an unlocked version of the iPhone) overturned.

Orange will be offering four iPhone-specific rate plans when it launches today at 6:30pm local time - all plans are Visual Voicemail-enabled and will include unlimited data. The cheapest plan will cost 49 Euros and include 120 peak minutes, 120 night/weekend minutes, and 50 SMS text messages. The most expensive plan will cost 119 Euros in return for 480 peak minutes, 480 night/weekend minutes, and 1000 SMS text messages.

We’ll have to wait and see if Orange will be able to meet their iPhone sales goal of 100,000 units by year’s end.

[Via: Apple Insider]

Remember GooSync, the service that allows you to sync the data from Google Calendar with your phone’s calendar? You certainly do — we’ve already covered them in a couple of posts earlier this year.

Now they’ve announced that their service — used by more than 100,000 people worldwide — is supporting the Apple iPhone. Yap, that means you’ll be able to access your GCal entries right from the beautiful interface of the built-in Calendar application on your iPhone.

I’m still not sure how this all works, but being the GooSync user for more than a year, I’ve learned to trust them. So go ahead, point your browser to GooSync’s website and take it from there…

So, with T-Mobile Germany forced to sell unlocked iPhones (at least for now), Debitel’s got a plan to help snatch-up some potential unlocked iPhone customers. Debitel provides its customer with leased network time from its German counterparts, and they’re offering a €600 bonus to all new iPhone customers. The sign-up bonus should help bring the unlocked iPhone’s €999 price tag down to a more manageable €399 - the same price that T-Mobile Germany charges for on-contract iPhones.

Debitel’s deal should appeal to Germans interested in an unlocked iPhone but wary of the prohibitively high price point from T-Mobile (which is probably T-Mobile’s intention). But then again, Debitel will probably require iPhone customers to sign a contract to get that €600 sign-up bonus - so the only advantage to signing with Debitel would be that you have an unlocked iPhone once your contract expires. Which would you choose - a T-Mobile locked iPhone with Visual Voicemail and unlimited data for €399, or an unlocked iPhone that’s essentially locked to Debitel’s network sans Visual Voicemail for the same price?

Of course, that unlocked iPhone is likely to be obsolete by the time Debitel lets you off their contract.

[Via: Engadget Mobile]

In terms of real-world applicability, this might be the most useful iPhone application to date. So, just what is this uber-useful third-party iPhone app? Well, it’s called “iLevel,” and it is, well, a level.

iLevel makes use of the iPhone’s integrated accelerometers to function as a digital level for all your picture-aligning, table-building, driveway-leveling needs. Ok, you probably wouldn’t use your iPhone to help level your new concrete driveway, but you could if you wanted to…

Grab iLevel from the iApp-a-day source in your Installer.app. What, you still haven’t installed it yet? What are you waiting for? Go here, run Installer.app, then install the iApp-a-day from the “Source” list, and then find and install iLevel. What are you waiting for? That picture ain’t gonna straighten itself, now is it?

[Via: iPhone Atlas]

It seems that Apple has heard our pleas to stop talking it up and get their official iPhone SDK out into developers’ hands. Well, in all actuality, Apple probably wasn’t responding to our singular call for the iPhone SDK, but we’ll take what we can get.

Electronista is reporting that Apple has started seeding the official iPhone SDK to a select few developers. An extremely lucky few software developers are reportedly getting rough-draft versions of the iPhone and iPod Touch Software Development Kit. We’re not sure exactly what comprises the iPhone SDK, but the “special” few that have the pleasure of using the SDK have confirmed that it creates native applications and works in much the same way as Google’s OpenSocial - acting as a middle-man between the iPhone OS and the programmer.

However, programming applications for the iPhone OS will not be the same as on the Mac OS X - the SDK has it limits. Again, details on the SDK’s capabilities are not yet known - the developers have reportedly only been working on the SDK for a couple weeks. And, as such, there is no available release date for any iPhone SDK-sourced applications.

It makes sense for Apple to choose a few high-level developers to get a head-start on programming native applications for the iPhone prior to the official iPhone SDK release in February. Having native applications up and running at the time of the iPhone SDK’s release is a prudent move on Apple’s part. We suppose Apple learned from Google’s Android announcement - you know, the super-hyped mobile phone platform from Google that soon lost steam and fizzled out due to lack of marketable hardware and software. Apple could keep third-party iPhone applications on the hype-radar by releasing working applications at the time of the SDK’s launch.

Bring on the iPhone SDK!

[Via: Electronista]

With the French iPhone launch just days away, the nation’s Apple-partnered wireless carrier is speaking up about its iPhone sales goals. Orange has announced that it expects to push 100,000 iPhones out its doors by the end of this year - merely a month after the iPhones launch on November 29. Orange Wireless’s CEO, Didier Lombard, stated that he expects sales numbers to reach “a little under 100,000″ by December 31 - amounting to approximately 3,000 iPhones being sold every day.

And, to help move more iPhones than its European counterparts in Germany, Lombard has promised that Orange will be selling unlocked iPhones at a price that’s significantly lower” than the 999 Euro ($$1,485 USD) price tag that T-Mobile German is charging for their iPhone. Recall that the iPhone’s future in France was put in jeopardy due to French telecom regulations that required all wireless carriers to offer unlocked versions of their handset.

We think it makes sense that France’s Orange would offer the unlocked version of the iPhone at a lower price-point than Germany’s T-Mobile. It seems that T-Mobile is only offering the unlocked iPhone to comply with a temporary court-ordered injunction, which T-Mobile is actively seeking to get overturned - so unlocked iPhones in Germany are something of a stop-gap solution, and is perhaps even discouraged from being purchased through the incredibly high price. In France, however, Orange will have to offer the unlocked version of the iPhone without question, and so will likely be giving customers more incentive to buy the iPhone, locked or unlocked, from Orange.

Orange’s subsidized (read: locked) iPhone will command 399 Euro and will require a 2-year contract that starts at 49 Euro per month for 120 minutes and 50 SMS text messages. Interestingly, customers opting for a 1-year contract will initially pay the same price for the handset, but will be charged about 4.50 Euro more per month for service.  We’d love to see this sort of tiered-contract offering from US carriers - it would be easier to pay a few bucks more per month than to shell out a couple hundred more dollars upfront in order to keep contracts down to a reasonable length. It’d be great to pay the same amount for the cellphone and just pay an extra $8 per month in return for a 1-year contract.

[Via: Apple Insider]

The Apple iPhone SDK is likely coming early next year, that much we know. And, as Apple’s Vice President of Hardware Product Marketing, Greg Joswiak pointed out in an interview with Fortune, Steve Jobs is planning to require any third-party iPhone applications to use a digital signature - much like Nokia requires for any third-party applications designed for their phones. That way, if some eager-but-novice iPhone developer releases some wonky software, we’ll be able to track down exactly what’s causing the problem - the same applies to malicious applications.

And, in classic pompous-Apple style, Joswiak pointed out that Apple is staying ahead of their competitors, and that they “tend to put the cross hairs on where we are now, and by the time they come up with a product that tries to match where we are now, we’re beyond them. We’re one or two generations beyond, moving faster than they are.” Thanks for the tip. We already love and use your products, there’s no need to get all uppity about it - but, then again, Apple’s elitist attitude has been working pretty damn well so far.

Just release the iPhone SDK already and stop talking it up, will ya?

[Via: MacRumors]

We all know by now that T-Mobile Germany has been forced to offer carrier-unlocked iPhones to its customers. But, until now, we had no idea how Apple and T-Mobile would go about unlocking those 999 Euro (about $1,500 USD) iPhones. Well, thanks to well-heeled iPhone hopefuls with the bankroll and desire to own an iPhone that can work on any GSM network in the world, we now know just how Apple will go about unlocking said iPhones.

It seems that Apple’s own iTunes activation-setup has been modified to unlock those premium iPhones upon approval from Cupertino. Anyone looking to purchase an uber-expensive, unlocked iPhone from T-Mobile Germany will be given a run-of-the-mill, locked iPhone.  The IMEI number is sent to Apple for remote-unlocking approval. Within 24 hours, Apple will send the unlocked iPhone owner an email confirming their unlocked status. Then, a simple iTunes-sync will result in a SIM-unlocked iPhone with the v1.1.2 firmware.

Pretty simple, eh? We think so too. And, with an Apple-sanctioned unlock method for the iPhone (one that doesn’t risk bricking your iPhone with every firmware update), we figure the iPhone Dev Team is hard at work trying to reverse-engineer the Apple unlock process. If Apple was fool-hardy enough to hide some iPhone-unlocking code into iTunes, the iPhone community could have an official, non-bricking iPhone unlock solution in the near future. We’ll be keeping our ears to the ground on this one, folks.

[Via: MacRumors]