News from category ‘Hardware’

The main topic of the new Macworld will be iPhone 4. That's why the image of the new iPhone 4 was photographed and post-processed entirely on another iPhone 4. This was done by Peter Belanger.

Shooting and editing only on the iPhone had its challenges. Normally Peter shoots Macworld covers with a Phase One P65+ digital camera, which offers 12 times the resolution of the iPhone 4’s camera. That meant getting an image as close to the size of the Macworld cover as possible, because any cropping would reduce the resolution of the image even further.

For post-processing Peter used two iPhone apps - PhotoForge ($3) to remove green cast and the Resize-Photo ($1) to increase the resolution from 216 dpi to 290 dpi to meet the printing requirements.

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After using two iPhones 4 for six weeks Wall Mossberg finally reviewed the newest Apple’s handset.

So, one phone was obtained by Mossberg personally, while the second was provided by Apple. Walt found that iPhone 4 works better than iPhone 3GS in those areas where there is a "strong AT&T coverage", but when it comes to weak coverage areas iPhone 3GS performs better, because it drops less calls and 'no service' status can be seen rarer. That became a reason for Mossberg to not recommend iPhone 4 with its limited AT&T data plans to people who "live, work or travel" in areas with poor reception signal.

Walt also found that the 'death-grip' issue is not a problem as it causes signal bars to fluctuate only and even to rise in some cases.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple started to investigate the compatibility problems of iOS4 and iPhone 3G. The company's spokesman explained that such a decision was made because of numerous user reports, which reveal that after installing iOS4 on iPhone 3G the latter started to work more slowly, became overheated and its battery life had significantly decreased.

Some people are annoyed and disappointed because of the situation:

“This phone has gone from being a dream to constantly annoying me. Not a way to make friends. I would upgrade to an iPhone4, but I’m feeling pretty angry that Apple has forced my hand by making my 3G unusable”.

iOS4 version for iPhone 3G does not support multitasking and Bluetooth keyboards, which was disabled because of RAM requirements, according to Apple.

This Friday iPhone 4 will become available in 17 more countries, but South Korea will not be among them. Steve Jobs explained why:

"It's going to take us a little longer to get government approval there".

Korean government and people were discomfited by these words. According to The Wall Street journal, there is nothing to approve yet.

"The main communications regulator said last week that neither Apple nor KT [local iPhone carrier] had yet submitted the iPhone 4 for approval here".

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Here is an interesting video demonstrating an iPhone speed test across all four generations of the smartphone (iPhone 2G, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4).

It’s fantastic to see how far the speed of the iPhone has advanced. As you’d expect, the iPhone 4 is obviously the fastest, closely followed by the iPhone 3GS. Interestingly, the difference between the 3GS and 3G is pretty big, as is the difference between the iPhone 3G and the first-gen handset.

Watch the video:

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And here is another Apple's video to prove that almost every mobile phone in the world has an antenna issue similar to iPhone 4's. This time Motorola’s Droid X is the victim, which drops from three to zero bars after the "death grip".

Now doesn't it look like Apple is overreacting on the antenna problem?

Today Apple released a statement where it is said that white iPhones 4 will not available until late 2010.

"White models of Apple’s new iPhone® 4 have continued to be more challenging to manufacture than we originally expected, and as a result they will not be available until later this year. The availability of the more popular iPhone 4 black models is not affected."

Month ago Apple stated that the shipping of white iPhones delays due to manufacturing challenges. It remains unknown what those challenges are, but they are obviously very significant.

As you know, recently Steve Jobs gave a promise that every customer that has problems with antenna in iPhone 4 will have a free bumper case. But that didn't stop Samsung to continue mocking on the situation.  The company's latest advertisement of Galaxy S smartphone just says "Hello", but those who experienced antenna issue on iPhone 4 will clearly get the hint.

Yesterday LG Display's Chief Executive Officer Kwon Young-Soo revealed that LG cannot currently produce enough iPad displays for Apple.

"Demand (from Apple) keeps growing and we can't meet it all."

It was also said that LG is going to increase the production of such displays but the demand will be met only presumably in the second quarter of 2011.

Even Apple didn't expect the iPad will be so popular, according to its Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook. Last financial quarter there were 3,27 million iPads sold. But that will not slow sales down - this Monday Apple announced that since Friday the iPad will be available for sale in nine more countries.

It is interesting that while LG cannot meet the iPad display demand it had already invested over $500 million in producing its own mobile phones and tablets.

Silicon Alley Insider created an interesting chart using yesterday's Apple revenue numbers. It visually shows how much money Apple makes and the progress for the last years. It shows that the iPad has a great impact on Apple's product matrix. In the June quarter the iPad business generated $2.2 billion of revenue for Apple.

Apple company goes forward in explaining antenna issue to the users of other phones. Recently Apple published a nice little video on their website and YouTube channel that displays the Nokia N97 Mini and it's problems with antenna. Take a look:

Apple also posts on their antenna website that the "death-grip" on this Nokia device causes a drop from 7 to 2 bars.

CNet made a quick testing of one of the most interesting smartphones on the market today: Apple iPhone 4 and HTC Evo 4G. Guess who is the winner? Let's take a look:

You can find spec comparison here.

Another group of creative guys continues to make videos on latest Apple's events and releases, and here is their video on iPhone 4 antenna issue that was recently discussed on Apple's press conference.

Yesterday new unknown Apple product was approved by Federal Communications Commission.  Page 45 in the FCC documents reveals that the product is named as a"Bluetooth Trackpad". It's a rectangular shaped device with a model number of A1339. It can connect to a MacBook via Bluetooth, but Wi-Fi or cellular data wireless radios were not mentioned in the filings.

The documents about this device were submitted to the FCC last October, the same time when its initial testing was completed.

Last year it was rumored that Apple prepares a multi-touch standalone trackpad style device which was called as the "Magic Trackpad". Looks like this is finally it.

Last week organization Americans for Fair Patent Use filed a lawsuit in a U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Texas. Apple, Samsung Telecommunications America, Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp. are named as the defendants. The lawsuit says that these companies produce and/or sell falsely marked products with a patents that are expired or do not cover these marked products, with a purpose "to deceive the public about the patent coverage for their products."

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