Articles tagged with: 3g

As ever, take this with a lethal dose of salt, but a French website claims to have been anonymously sent two photos of the 3G iPhone.

Debate has been raging online about whether they are fake or not but, if true, the emergence of the snaps could suggest an European launch coming sooner than in the 3G-backward States. Earlier rumours have even placed the launch in Australia so suggestions of a non-US launch might not be inconceivable for Apple.

The device itself is an all black affair with a squarer finish to the original. Some have pointed out the lack of an obvious front-facing camera but then whispers have already pointed to the video-calling cam being hidden from sight behind the front glass.

Don't expect these to be the last 'spy shots' we see - Apple does like to keep people guessing.

Yet more evidence that the 3G iPhone will launch first in Europe. derStandard - the Austrian newspaper that first tipped that the original iPhone would be arriving in Austria on T-Mobile - is reporting that the 3G version of the phone will be tested there - also on T-Mobile.

The beta release of the iPhone's 2.0 firmware is turning up some interesting surprises. The chaps at ZiPhone have pointed out a line of code that refers to the "SGOLD3". It doesn't take much imagination to work out that could refer to the successor to the iPhone's current Infineon S-GOLD2 chip, responsible for, among other things the phone's GPRS and EDGE data. It just so happens that Infineon has already released the S-GOLD3H, which, would you believe it, is a 7.2Mbps HSDPA chip? We'll add that little fact to the mounting pile of evidence that a 3G iPhone is on the way soon.

[Via Engadget]

We'd been hearing that sales were brisk of the cut price 8GB iPhone following last week's £100 price slash but now it seems the handset could actually be selling out sooner than some had expected. Carphone Warehouse's website lists the phone as 'out of stock' but more telling is an email sent to members of the affiliate network, Tradedoubler.

With all the buzz about the 3G iPhone (latest ETA: June) Blackberry maker, RIM, has been largely ignored. Not for long though, according to the NY Times, the Canadian firm is busy working on its own answer to the iPhone, codenamed the A.K. No, not an homage to the Kalashnikov, but its so-called 'Apple Killer'.

In an interview with Mike Lazaridis, the RIM chief executive remained tight lipped but the NYT says its spoken with two outside developers writing software for "a touch-screen BlackBerry," that RIM engineers privately refer to as the A.K.

All Lazaridis himself would say is that, “I wouldn’t underestimate the amount of research we’ve done on user interfaces and technologies. We are not afraid to reinvent ourselves.”

Sounds like an iPhone challenger to us. Watch this space.

It seems HSDPA dongles are selling like hot cakes at the moment. Phones 4U is reporting that its doubled its sales targets in some stores - making up for a falling demand for mobile contracts. Meanwhile some Vodafone stores are reporting fifty sales a month on mobile broadband deals.

Sales there have been boosted by the introduction of Vodafone's £15/month for 3GB offer in February. Not to be outdone, rival 3 now says mobile broadband sales account for more than one in five of its new contract customers. It's now offering 50% off its £10/month for 1GB tariff to existing contract customers.

In total, dongle sales hit a staggering 18,000 per week last month - that's a four-fold increase in just six months. Could it be the networks have finally found 3G's 'killer app'?

[Mobile]

It already seems certain that Apple is readying a 3G iPhone for launch this year, but now further confirmation has surfaced. Existing 8Gb and 16Gb models are listed as “currently unavailable” in Apple’s UK and US stores, and the stock in O2 stores is already running low, thanks in part to a £100 price cut on the 8Gb model.

The concrete proof, however, comes in the form of beta 5 of the iPhone 2.0 firmware currently in the hands of software developers. As the screenshot from its Network settings screen clearly shows, there's a manual 3G toggle.

The Times Online has been speaking to 'industry insiders' with the inside track on Apple's hotly anticipated 3G iPhone. Alongside some depressing European sales figures for Apple, which it's claimed led to last week's price cut, it says orders have already been placed with suppliers in Asia to make 200,000 of the new phones by the end of May, with a further 2 million in June.

That would point to a high profile announcement from Mr Jobs on stage at the Worldwide Developer's Conference that very month but there could be one more surprise. The same sources are suggesting that, not only will the 3G iPhone look "radically" different to the current handset, but there could be more than one model to choose from. The Times predicts a flip phone and a QWERTY slider to join the tablet form factor. Looks like we might have to expect the unexpected this June.

A bizarre message on the O2 website states "8GB and 16GB iPhone - iPhone no longer available". Cue a slew of rumours that O2 had cleared the decks for the 3G iPhone's imminent arrival.

Not so says O2. It's come out this afternoon saying that 16GB iPhones are only temporarily out of stock and that fresh supplies are on the, way while stock of the 8GB iPhone is "under review". It's also pointed out that there's still handsets available in O2 stores.

Still, there are plenty of other 3G iPhone news bits about. AT&T has apparently cancelled leave for its US retail staff from 15th June - pointing to an imminent US launch - while Apple itself has been posting adverts for "Field Validation Engineers" in Europe and Australia. High up on the skills requirements: 'experience with UMTS and 3G'...

Remember the stampede created by the auction for 3G licences? It could all be about to happen again. Ofcom is has confirmed it'll be auctioning off a colossal 205MHz of spectrum - its largest ever release - in the bands most suited to mobile broadband.