The first murmured details about the pricing for the HTC Dream, perhaps better known as the phone that will introduce the world to Google’s Android OS, are starting to filter through. An insider involved with the development of Android has whispered to CrunchGear that the HTC Dream will be $200 on contract.
If Google is looking to go head to head with the iPhone 3G, then entering the market at the same price point is probably a good way to start. The unnamed insider also claimed that T-Mobile’s subsidization isn’t very large which could mean various things.
First of all it suggests that the carrier-free version of the handset won’t cost an unreasonable amount more than a contract version. It could also mean that the contract fees are slightly less than the iPhone’s, with less of each monthly payment devoted to paying off the cost of each unit.
Hopefully, if the pricing is true, it will translate into the same set-up in the UK with the device coming in at around the £100 mark on contract. As soon as we have the confirmed prices, we’ll print them here.
(Via TechCrunch)
Stop press! The HTC dream has been leaked! At least judging from this video we think it has. Remember that ‘reference design’ that a Google employee used to demo of the Android operating system to a BBC reporter a while back? Well this looks uncannily like said reference design, albeit in white.
It certainly looks very slick and the inclusion of a hidden QWERTY is bound to go down well with the business world (eat that iPhone’s awkward touchscreen keyboard). Of course all of this is unconfirmed at the moment, though the video that some very sharp eyed tipster sent The Boy Genius Report does look very convincing indeed.
So now in glorious blurovision, introducing (what might very well be) the first Android handset *rapturous applause etc.*
Hang onto your hats people, it’s rumour time. The internet is awash with talk today about an imminent announcement from US store Best Buy, concerning the chain’s plans to sell the iPhone 3G in-store. Up until now, the only way to get your hands on an iPhone or an iPhone 3G in the US was to buy one from either an AT&T store or an Apple store.
The supposed forthcoming announcement will apparently detail that the iPhone 3G will be available as of next month from Best Buy, for the same price as it is sold elsewhere. This would make Best Buy the first reseller to be punting the devices outside of Apple and AT&T in the US.
Here in the UK, we already have an established third party reseller in The Carphone Warehouse, but could the Best Buy deal (if true) pave the way for Apple to embrace a broader remit of retail outlets for selling the iPhone internationally?
It would certainly make sense, given the popularity of the device and the inevitable impending Christmas surge (oh yes, I went there). But something tells us that Apple is somewhat particular when it comes to the stores it chooses to sell it’s products in. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
Maybe some of the bigger, dedicated Apple resellers will get a look-in.
The iPhone attracts more rumours than most handsets but the one about the iPhone nano is perhaps the most persistent. Still, seeing as the Daily Mail isn’t exactly the leading voice when it comes to technology news, we are going to file this one under ‘it’s probably not going to happen the way they say it is but we wish it would’ (we had to get an extra wide filing cabinet in to fit that one on).
Anyhoo, the new rumour is that an iPhone nano will released in the UK before Christmas with O2 taking care of the retail end as usual. The device will apparently cost £150 and will be a pay-as-you-go handset. Sound familiar? Well yes the rumour has surfaced in almost the exact same form this time last year from the shiny crystal ball over at analyst firm, JP Morgan.
Continue reading ‘Daily Mail claims iPhone nano to land before Christmas…’
With the iPhone 3G dominating a frankly unfair amount of space in the blogosphere right now, it’s good to remember that Nokia is about to ride in on dashing black stallion horse to bring about some much needed balance.
That horse is of course the N96 and according to Electricpig, the date we are all waiting for is Wednesday, October 1st. For those of you that haven’t been following Nokia’s hotly anticipated successor to the N95 8GB, the N96 is not leaving anything to chance in the specs department.
Continue reading ‘Nokia’s N96 due October 1st (maybe)’
According to that ever nefarious, ‘word round the campfire’, the iPhone 3G could be making its way to an Orange store near you before very long. The report comes from Electricpig which has heard from an undisclosed apparently very credible source that with O2’s exclusive iPhone contract coming to an end just before Christmas, Orange will be allowed to sell the iPhone on its network from October onward.
Now normally we would dismiss all rumours out of hand this late on a Friday afternoon, purely as a point of principle. But the fact that Orange already carries the iPhone in France, Austria, Belgium, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Jordan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Switzerland and Africa does tend to lend weight to the possibility.
There is also the notion that Jailbreaking iPhones has been most common in the UK, with Apple subsequently looking for ways to offer more choice in order to curb the public desire to take iPhones on jaunts to other networks the dirty way. Throw in O2’s less than stellar performance with the launch of the iPhone 3G and you are looking at a very tidy little package of rumours and speculation that could well add up to more than the sum of their parts.
So the only question remaining is, if the iPhone was available on both networks in the UK, which one would you choose?
Various sources today are reporting that Apple is currently circulating near finished prototypes of QWERTY keyboard equipped iPhones (as in actual functioning units, not just mock-ups) among high ranking mobile carrier executives in order to gauge demand for such an addition.
The design is said to be a slider with the keyboard hidden underneath the screen. This would presumably mean that all of Apple’s patented touchscreen goodness would remain intact on such a handset, with the QWERTY merely there as an alternative to using the iPhone’s oft-criticized touchscreen keyboard.
Though it does seem unlikely, given Steve Jobs’ very open and frank comments about why he dislikes physical keys, there is no getting away from the fact that companies like Nokia, Sony Ericsson and RIM have made some serious bucks peddling handsets with physical keys and QWERTY keyboards. Indeed, the corporate crowd, which has a habit for buying handsets en mass, is particularly fond of physical keys, so it is hardly surprising that Apple is weighing its options in this area.
As far as we see it, it would seem that an iPhone with physical keys would dilute Apple’s strong mobile ethos somewhat with its focus on clean and precise input. But then, there are no guarantees that just because a device has got to the prototyping stage that it will actually make it to market, especially where Apple is concerned. Looks like, this one is a ‘wait and see’.
As far as camera phones go, the N93 was certainly something of a high watermark, making the lack of a successor after two years all the more conspicuous. A reasonably new patent uncovered by The Nokia Blog however, seems to suggest that a new camera focused handset from Nokia is on the way.
Already numbered as the N85, it looks as though the device will be Nokia’s next flagship video/camera phone (and hence the spiritual successor to the N93). The patent images suggests that the clamshell form factor is gone and replaced with a slider but with a swiveling camera unit on the top.
We are guessing that a 5MP snapper (or maybe even a 6MP one if that photo is the real deal) and a better screen than the N96 are probably a certainty here. Which would be great, though we can’t quite get over the chunkiness of the thing. Sure we understand the need to have a bigger lens in the device than in your typical handset (much like the N93 did) but this is ever so slightly brick-like.
The rumour is that the N85 is scheduled for a summer 2009 release so expect much more info to surface between now and then.
Hold onto your handsets everyone. Assuming these photos intercepted by AppleInsider are not photoshopped and are not pictures of cheap iPhone knock offs, it looks as though some of the specs that we heard about from iLounge may in fact be legit.
The glossy plastic shell is very evident in these pictures, as is the tapered rear and extra sensor on the front. Also matching iLounge’s claims is the modified microphone and speaker grills at the bottom of the device. It is quite possible that these are images of 3rd party outer shell casings, or as we mentioned, fan mock ups, but there is a slight chance they could be the real deal, especially seeing as China is where the devices are currently being manufactured.
We are not gambling sorts, but if we had to put money on it, we’d say that the final 3G iPhone hardware will not look terribly different from this. Roll on June 9th.
Ok we have held off for long enough, we are practically drowning in 3G iPhone rumours just now so it’s time to round them up in one bumper post.
Before we even start thinking about the device’s new innards, there’s all this talk of a revised form factor to take into consideration. Earlier in the week, Engadget, claimed to have had contact with a top secret source who had a chance to check the new iPhone out.
Apparently the most obvious difference in appearance is that the metallic back has been replaced by a glossy black plastic shell while the volume buttons are now said to be chrome. It is also supposedly a little less angular and slightly thicker than the first iPhone, though overall it is said to be roughly the same size as the original unit. It is also said to include a flush, as opposed to a recessed, headphone jack and the battery is still not removable.
Continue reading ‘2nd gen iPhone rumour round-up - 3G, GPS, iChat camera, boosted graphics chip, new colours…’
