Latest 3G Rumors Due To iPhone Shortages
It is evident that Apple’s iPhone retails have been cut down, arousing speculation over a new version of the mobile device with the support for faster 3G wireless technology.
Last week O2, the iPhone’s service provider in the U.K., announced that they sold out all iPhones. U.S. customers recognized similar shortages. This Monday Natalie Kerris, Apple spokeswoman, confirmed that they are currently out of stock.
Most U.S. stores have run out of iPhones, however some AT&T stores have both 8GB and 16GB iPhones available.The U.K iPhones are out of stock everywhere. During an April conference call for Apple’s second-quarter income the fact that the company’s U.S. stores experienced an inventory shortfall during the previous month was acknowledged. The reason was higher than forecasted post-holiday shopping rates.
The main assumption of the iPhone shortage on the Internet is that Apple prepares the release of a new version of the phone in the next few weeks. Not once did AT&T give hints that a 3G iPhone is coming soon, “I mean months” claimed during April’s CTIA Conference.
Interestingly, this Monday Apple declined to comment about its plans to integrate further into Europe and Asia. Also in recent weeks India, Australia, and Italy have announced deals with Apple. Many countries Apple is entering into have more widespread 3G coverage than in the most U.S. cities.
The Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference is held in June annually, where opening keynote is delivered and the iPhone will be a major focus. But what is the point to make such a long gap between the disappearance of the current iPhone and potential arrival of a new iPhone!
Market research experts presume either a deliberate sell-off before another device is introduced or component shortages.
New Touch Diamond Compete With 3G iPhone
High Tech Computer introduced the HTC Touch Diamond, a smartphone with the support of Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Pro. The main advantage of it is a touch screen designed for one-handed use.
The new phone device is the next generation of HTC’s Touch smartphone, which boasts over 3 million units sold in 10 months since its debut. The Touch Diamond features advanced third generation mobile technology 3G, and so becomes the main rival to Apple’s future release of 3G.
Last year HTC had its first Touch handset a month before the iPhone’s debut. The story repeats. The Touch Diamond will be retailing in Europe from June, followed by Middle East and Asia. North and South America will be hit in the second half of the year. And within the next few months we expect the launch of 3G Apple iPhone.
The Touch Diamond works on Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) networks with data rates up to 7.2Mb/second and the use of High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) due to a Qualcomm chipset.
Peter Chou, HTC CEO, is so excited about the future release that he predicts an even bigger selling results than the original Touch. He calls it “the biggest product of my life”. Their intensions to compete with iPhone are serious. HTC focuses on advancing touch screen technology on the 2.8-inch display and 640 pixel by 480 pixel. TouchFlo software will give a 3D effect to screen images. Users can use touch screen to access photos, messages, -e-mails or music and more.
HTC also improved the Web browser, which is based on an engine from Opera Software, designed specifically for HTC. The browser’s dimensions fit the screen, so users can zoom and pan sites with one hand. If you turn the device someway, the view automatically rotates as well.
The HTC’s Touch Diamond has customized apps for YouTube videos watching and Google Maps using. The device has a GPS receiver as well. Video-calling is possible with the 3.2-megapixel auto-focus cam. Although screen size is big enough, Touch Diamond is quite small, just 102 mm by 51mm by 11.33 mm.
The handset also features Bluetooth and Wi-Fi 802.11b/g for wireless data transfer and Internet access. The battery is 4 hours long.
But the HTC’s Touch Diamond has only 4Gb of flash memory, while the iPhone has 8Gb or 16Gb.
iPhone Users Got Stats On Multipurpose Dependence
Today I read an interesting report regarding iPhone use. Recent market research from iSuppli Corporation revealed that many people use iPhones in various ways that differ from other phones, I mean the categories that until recently were not important to most users.
We still text message as often as owners of other phones, we often check e-mail, surf the Web, watch YouTube clips or other video, or viewphotos.
iSuppli’s statistics reports that iPhone users spent less than half the time making calls (46.5%) compared to 71.7% of other phone users’ calls. And that model shows that Apple has succeeded in producing a product for multiple purposes.
Actually, similar to the report findings, I use my iPhone for making calls about half the time. The other half I browse the Web, check e-mail, play games and add unofficial apps. And I found that I use it a great deal of my personal and work time, more often than any other portable device I’ve owned. Now it’s time to admit our iPhone dependence.
Let me illustrate a typical day of iPhone user:
iPhone alarm wakes you up each morning, brings up the weather widget, provides information to plan wardrobe and departure time, remembers the last-used application before for immediate one touch access. Clicking on Home button gets E-mail and the Calendar options. User can even link iPhone to a car stereo, with mute option when a call comes in. And you can plan your routes with Google Maps. It’s always on cloud connectivity for services access and downloads.
Apple was the first to make successful flat touch panels for mainstream use. Only Apple has clever, intuitive, slick multifinger interaction with convenient interface.
Just in the next few months, faster and redesigned 3G iPhones will arrive, as well as the release of a software development kit for some of new applications. And it would be hard to resist this new invasion. Let’s hope that it would be the device we’ve always dreamed of.
Visit Starbucks Wi-Fi Hotspots With iPhone, Get Free Connection
iPhone users who need a speedy over the EDGE connection pay attention to functional and handy Wi-Fi system. The only problem is lacking of various hotspots to use it on.
At the 2008 AT&T Annual Meeting of Stockholders, Randall Stephenson, chairman and chief executive officer, announced that the deployment of AT&T Wi-Fi service at Starbucks locations takes place. Also, AT&T Wi-Fi internet customers will have complimentary Wi-Fi access at a number of 7,000 Starbucks locations across the USA. For the great army of AT&T customers, that means speedy and free connection.
Earlier this year Starbucks and AT&T had a deal that the coffee retailer’s T-Mobile Wi-Fi hotspots will be switched to the AT&T network. So iPhone users can reap the benefits of it.
Interestingly that the newly launched AT&T hotspots are providing absolutely free Wi-Fi access to all visitors with iPhones (surely you should have a valid iPhone number given by the official provider). But that’s only in theory.
Many Starbucks are still using T-Mobile’s service for providing Wi-Fi access. Some Starbucks has AT&T hotspot available, but with no free Wi-Fi service to iPhones. Some have Wi-Fi networks provided with T-Mobile with AT&T log name. Evidently AT&T’s intentions to roll out the service started this spring. The company’s initial press release claimed to finish integration in coffee chain’s hotspots by the end of the year.
The strategy suggests that the Wi-Fi service for customers of AT&T and U-verse Internet customers will be for free, with the extension of Wi-Fi service for wireless customers at Starbucks. AT&T’s fees for other users are $19.99 per month or $3.99 for a two hour block.
In the United Kingdom the situation is quite different. The mobile phone provider O2 is offering free access to iPhone owners at hotspots of The Cloud network (about 7,500 units throughout Europe). To add a contrast, AT&T boasts 70,000 hotspots internationally.
All You Need to Know About Apple iPhone: Gadget Specs
I would like to supply you with some major technical details of the iPhone. I would touch upon the size, screen, audio specs, requirements etc. All the data is taken from the official web-page, so you can trust them for sure.
Size and weight
- Height: 4.5 inches (115 mm)
- Width: 2.4 inches (61 mm)
- Depth: 0.46 inch (11.6 mm)
- Weight: 4.8 ounces (135 grams)
In the box
- iPhone
- Stereo Headset
- Dock
- Dock Connector to USB Cable
- USB Power Adapter
- Documentation
- Cleaning/polishing cloth
Capacity
- 8GB or 16GB flash drive
Display
- 3.5-inch (diagonal) widescreen Multi-Touch display
- 480-by-320-pixel resolution at 163 ppi
- Support for display of multiple languages and characters simultaneously
Operating system
- OS X
GSM
- Quad-band (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
Wireless data
- Wi-Fi (802.11b/g)
- EDGE
- Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
Camera
- 2.0 megapixels
Audio
- Frequency response: 20Hz to 20,000Hz
- Audio formats supported: AAC, Protected AAC, MP3, MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 1, 2, and 3), Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV
Video
- Video formats supported: H.264 video, up to 1.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Low-Complexity version of the H.264 Baseline Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; H.264 video, up to 768 Kbps, 320 by 240 pixels, 30 frames per second, Baseline Profile up to Level 1.3 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats
Headphones
- Stereo earphones with built-in microphone
- Frequency response: 20Hz to 20,000Hz
- Impedance: 32 ohms
Mac system requirements
- Mac computer with USB 2.0 port
- Mac OS X v10.4.10 or later
- iTunes 7.5 or later
Windows system requirements
- PC with USB 2.0 port
- Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Enterprise, or Ultimate Edition; or Windows XP Home or Professional with Service Pack 2 or later
- iTunes 7.5 or later
Environmental requirements
- Operating temperature: 32° to 95° F (0° to 35° C)
- Nonoperating temperature: -4° to 113° F (-20° to 45° C)
- Relative humidity: 5% to 95% noncondensing
- Maximum operating altitude: 10,000 feet (3000 m)
Input and output
- iPhone
- 30-pin dock connector
- 3.5-mm stereo headphone minijack
- iPhone Dock
- Dock connector
Power and battery
- Built-in rechargeable lithium ion battery
- Talk time: Up to 8 hours
- Standby time: Up to 250 hours
- Internet use: Up to 6 hours
- Video playback: Up to 7 hours
- Audio playback: Up to 24 hours