Category: Mobile Tech

Apple Sells 1.7-Million iPhone 4 Units in Three Days

As expected, Apple’s iPhone 4 has conquered the world. The company issued a press release that revealed that 1.7-million iPhone 4 units were sold between its launch on June 24 and Saturday June 26. Apple CEO  His Royal Worshipfulness High Commander Steve Jobs said:

This is the most successful product launch in Apple’s history. Even so, we apologize to those customers who were turned away because we did not have enough supply.

1.21 gigawatts 1.7-million units is just a hugely impressive number that’s a testament to Apple’s brand marketing. Despite being saddled with a network that simply blows chunks in New York City and San Francisco, as well as the reported problems with the phone’s display and reception, I completely expect Apple to dominate the consumer smartphone market. Sure, there will several strong competitors that do well and I’m certain Google Android’s installed base will continue to rise, but as far as a single smartphone model goes, I sincerely doubt anything will come close to the iPhone 4.

Samsung On All Four Major American Carriers with the Galaxy S

Samsung has hit a rare grand slam by getting variations of its Galaxy S Google Android phone on all four major American mobile carriers. In addition to the Sprint Epic 4G and T-Mobile Vibrant that I wrote about earlier today, the Galaxy S is hitting AT&T as the Captivate and Verizon as the Fascinate. I’m pretty sure the Galaxy S is the first smartphone to hit all four majors since the HTC Touch Pro 2 (correct me if I’m wrong).

For Samsung, it’s an aggressive move that backs up the company’s stated goal of capturing at least 10 percent of the smartphone market. Being on all four major American carriers is just huge. Furthermore, Samsung hasn’t been doing well in America with its high-end phones. For years I was jealous of the excellent Samsung phones released in Asia and Europe. For various reasons, most of them never made it (in subsidized form) to an American carrier. The Galaxy S should help bolster the company’s image with American consumers.

For Google, it’s another big step in the burgeoning Android market. While a ton of attention is being (deservedly) focused on Apple’s early success with the iPhone 4, the Android space is having an excellent year in 2010.

T-Mobile Differentiates Samsung Vibrant with Avatar and The Sims

Last week T-Mobile unveiled the initial specs on the Samsung Vibrant, its variant of the Google Android Samsung Galaxy S phone. While it’s not the most interesting take on the Galaxy S (see Sprint’s Epic 4G, for better hardware), T-Mo is trying to differentiate the Vibrant through value-added features including Avatar and The Sims. Here are some tidbits from the official site:

  • Preloaded with T-Mobile exclusive The Sims 3 Collector’s Edition from EA
  • Preloaded with James Cameron’s Avatar
  • Watch live and on-demand TV with MobiTV
  • Read the most popular books with Kindle for Android
  • Access to GoGo Inflight Internet and Slacker Radio

Finally, you can watch Avatar the way James Cameron intended — on a four-inch screen in a video format that’s compressed as hell to fit on a 2GB MicroSD card. Ha!

As a T-Mobile customer (that’s on the verge of leaving), I was curious to see what the company would do with the Galaxy S. Unfortunately, the Vibrant is missing some key features. While some people find front-facing cameras to be gimmicky, I’m looking forward to using them through Skype. The curious omission is the camera flash. I have no idea why that was dropped — it just seems silly to me. The Vibrant’s lack of a front-facing camera and LED flash make the Vibrant less appealing to me.

Having said that, this will still be a great phone with a beautiful screen and an excellent CPU/GPU combo. Any T-Mo customers out there drooling over this one?

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Sprint Launches Samsung Epic 4G (Google Android) Teaser Site

Sprint has gone all official with the Samsung Epic 4G, its seconds 4G handset. A variant of the Galaxy S, the Epic 4G is a Google Android 2.1 phone that has a slide-out keyboard and WiMax radio that differentiates it from other models. The fine features it has in common with its Galaxy brethren are a 1GHz Hummingbird processor, a four-inch Super AMOLED screen, Google Android 2.1, and Samsung TouchWhiz interface. Despite its slide-out keyboard, the Epic 4G is only slightly thicker than the HTC Evo 4G.

Compared to the T-Mobile Vibrant (which I’ll be writing about shortly), the Epic 4G is a better version of the Galaxy S. In addition to WiMax, Sprint’s model also has an LED camera flash and a front-facing camera for video calls. Ultimately, it comes down to which carrier works best where you live/work/play and whether you need a physical keyboard or not.

Pricing and availability of the Epic 4G were not revealed in the press release. Most people are expecting a July launch at the customary $199 (after rebate) price point.

Sprint has made a great move with the Epic 4G. When it launches, the company will have top-notch Android offerings with a keyboard and without. Only Verizon can say it offers the same, but that company’s service is much more expensive than Sprint’s.

Anyone digging the Epic 4G?

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iPhone 4 Reception Details: What’s Bad for Righties and Lefties

It’s almost like a pick-your-poison situation. While the iPhone 4 is a beautifully designed piece of consumer electronics and is capable of excellent things, its novel antenna design has proven to be problematic for some users. I mentioned in a few comments that the issue hits lefties (or people that use their phones with their left hands) more than their right-handed counterparts. The Los Angeles Times explained why this is the case:

Apple redesigned the phone so the steel frame around the handset doubles as its antenna. The left side of the frame is used to broadcast a cellular signal; the right side is for other bands, such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

As a result, people who tend to hold their phone in the left hand may be plagued by the signal problems more than those who hold the phone in their right hand.

As a lefty, I’m kind of bummed about the whole thing. I can take solace in the fact that righties making Skype calls through WiFi should have issues too. Ha ha!!!

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T-Mobile Drops Details on the Samsung Vibrant (Android)

T-Mobile has dropped details on the Samsung Vibrant, its upcoming Google Android “superphone” (God, I hate that term). With AT&T rocking the iPhone 4, Sprint selling out of the HTC Evo 4G, and Verizon dropping the Droid X in July, T-Mobile needed to show its superphone cards. Here are some details on the Vibrant:

  • The Vibrant offers a 1GHz Samsung Hummingbird processor which is optimized for superior media viewing and game play.
  • The Vibrant has a 4.0-inch Super AMOLED touch screen display that gives you a bright, vivid viewing experience.
  • The Vibrant benefits from enhanced speeds with T-Mobile’s HSPA+ network, but it’s not an HSPA+ device.
  • The Vibrant is one of the slimmest smartphones on the market. The dimensions are 4.82” x 2.54” x 0.39”; weighs 4.16 oz.
  • The Vibrant’s 5 MP camera is equipped with digital zoom and autofocus. Comes with an HD video recorder too!

The Samsung Vibrant is expected to be available in late July 2010. Anyone hyped for this phone?

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Newer HTC Evo 4Gs Shipping with Inferior Screens?

Newer versions of Sprint’s HTC Evo 4G could have LCD screens that are inferior to those in the first batch. According to Android and Me, the older Evo model (hardware version 002) uses a better screen than the newer versions (hardware version 003). Here’s the skinny:

The newer Evo we had just purchased had a more “washed” out look to it while the older Evo had richer colors and better contrast.

There are two versions of the EVO (002 and 003). It appears the 002 models have a Novatel LCD while most of the newer ones feature an Epson LCD, although I’ve seen reports of these being mixed.

This is a bummer for those that are waiting to get their Evo 4Gs. It’s potentially bad for Sprint too. If the screens are really that different then people might flock to Verizon’s Droid X, AT&T’s iPhone 4, or T-Mobile’s Samsung Vibrant. And just in case you were wondering, my Evo 4G is a 002.

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Fake Steve Jobs Addresses iPhone 4 Reception Issue

In a post titled “You @ssholes need to stop sending emails to me about this antenna issue“, Fake Steve Jobs has hilariously addressed the iPhone 4 reception issues plaguing numerous first-world countries. The post is the funniest thing I’ve read all month and I highly recommend checking it out. Here are some choice clips:

First of all, this is not a big issue. If you’re experiencing this, most likely it’s not the phone at all — most likely you’re just living in a place where there’s bad reception, in which case the solution is simple: you need to move.

Or maybe you’re living in a place with good reception but you just need to buy a bumper for your phone and/or wear latex gloves while holding the phone.

Or you can try going bare-handed and just learn how to hold your goddamn phone properly. Either way, it’s no big deal.

AllThingsD says if it’s really true that all mobile phones have this exact same problem, “why haven’t we heard complaints like this about `every wireless phone?’ Why hasn’t RIM issued instructions for a proper BlackBerry handhold?”

The answer, of course, is that RIM doesn’t care about customers the way we do. Honestly, what other company has a billionaire CEO who will sit at his desk for hours and hours personally answering thousands of emails, one after another, telling people how to hold his product? And can I tell you how hard I am fighting the urge to suggest to people that they try shoving the thing up their butt and see what kind of reception they get then?

It’s just brilliant, brilliant stuff. Head on over to Fake Steve’s site and read it in its glorious entirety!

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Apple Gives Official Statement on iPhone 4 Reception Issues

Apple has released an official statement on the iPhone 4 reception issues that some users have been complaining about. I think it’s pretty hilarious. Check it out:

Gripping any mobile phone will result in some attenuation of its antenna performance, with certain places being worse than others depending on the placement of the antennas. This is a fact of life for every wireless phone. If you ever experience this on your iPhone 4, avoid gripping it in the lower left corner in a way that covers both sides of the black strip in the metal band, or simply use one of many available cases.

I agree with RPadholic smartguy — Apple should be giving away its “bumper” cases for free if they really clear up the issue. Now don’t get me wrong, I still think the iPhone 4 is an impressive piece of hardware, but Apple’s “solution” to this problem cracks me up.

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Coffee Talk #164: Five Things That (Sadly) Weren’t at E3 2010

As brilliant as E3 2010 was, there were a few things I was hoping to see that didn’t make it. In some cases, perhaps they were just rumors. In other cases, the publisher wanted to save the game for another trade show. Whether the product is too early or the development team is in disarray, I was still bummed not to see the following.

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, American football (soccer) totally rocking, 10+ hours matches at Wimbledon, or whether sleeping with a Kardashian results in a championship, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

As brilliant as E3 2010 was, there were a few things I was hoping to see that didn’t make it. In some cases they were just rumors. In other cases the publisher wanted to save the game for another trade show. Whether the product is too early or the development team is in disarray, I was still bummed not to see the following.

  1. Windows Phone 7 and Xbox Live: Microsoft has a ton of work to do if it wants to successfully compete with Apple iOS, Google Android, and Palm WebOS. Connectivity with Xbox Live  is one way Windows Phone 7 can stand out.
  2. The Last Guardian: This was on my most wanted list going into the show. I was severely bummed it wasn’t there.
  3. Beyond Good & Evil 2: So many writers were sure this game was going to be at the show. It wasn’t. Never trust game writers (verbal entertainers are another story).
  4. PSP2: I was pretty sure this wasn’t going to happen at this year’s show. Going head-to-head with Nintendo’s 3DS outing would have been silly. Still, I really wanted to see what changes Sony planned to make with its second at-bat in portable gaming.
  5. Final Fantasy Tactics (iPhone): Shortly before the show started, I heard that my favorite game of all time was headed for the iPhone. While Square Enix showed a teaser video of the iPhone version of FFT, I really wanted to get my hands on it. Oh well, it’s only a few months away.

Now it’s your turn! Was there anything you were expecting to “see” at E3 2010 that no-showed? Leave a comment and let me know (please)!