tequila bomb

The Qualcomm MDM6600 chip supports HSPA+ data rates of up to 14.4 Mbps and CDMA2000® 1xEV-DO Rev. A/Rev. B. Datasheet can be downloaded at : http://www.docin.com/p-52040727.html

This is the same chipset as the Droid Pro world phone. It supports both GSM and CDMA—which means that Apple could have supported GSM!

Interesting. For reference here are some comments from Tim Cook about LTE support on Verizon…

Asked why Apple didn’t embrace Verizon’s LTE network, Cook said: “Two reasons — the first gen LTE chipsets force design changes we wouldn’t make. And Verizon customers told us they want the iPhone now. I can’t tell you the number of times we’ve been asked ‘when will it work on Verizon.”

He’s referencing LTE’s extraordinary demands on battery life here. Apple doesn’t usually jump on new technologies fresh out of the gate anyway, so it’s to be expected.

From Cult of Mac.

It would seem that the iPhone 5 will most likely rely on the GSM functionality of the Qualcomm chipset included in the Verizon iPhone 4. And that Apple simply did not want the complication of redesigning a dual system antenna (GSM & CDMA), or including a SIM slot out of the gate on a Verizon iPhone 4.

Apple does not publish in depth technical details of its iOS devices. Necessitating developers to root around in system files to find out specifics on the silicon inside by themselves. Asking Apple to confirm which specific GPU is inside an iPhone for example, or exactly how much RAM it has on board is likely to get a standard reply with no technical insight whatsoever.

Often it is web-sites like iFixit (and their “partners in crime”) who break the first details on the silicon inside Apple’s iDevices. At other times it is developers who filter the information out to us all, once they have got their hands on new hardware, and can run low level c functions to snoop at physical memory, or other more esoteric OS components.

One very good reason why Apple might obfuscate detailed hardware info is simply so that they can revise specifications in the future. As long as those changes in specifications don’t damage the end user experience, break existing apps, or undermine developers efforts, then there really is no harm in it. It happens all the time with consoles and handhelds as the manufacturing of components matures over a products lifetime.

A few iPhone 4 users are reporting that some system snooping apps are reporting their devices as only having 256MB of Physical RAM. These are later device models, purchased recently and running a current public version of iOS. Original iPhone 4s, such as mine, running iOS 4.2 still report 512MB of Physical RAM.

In every day use I rarely see my iPhone 4 drop below 200 – 240MB of free RAM. And I wonder if Apple has noticed the same.

So I am curious. Has Apple quietly dropped the iPhone 4′s specs to 256MB of Physical RAM? Or is something else going on here?

#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/sysctl.h>

static size_t phys_mem()
{
 int mib[] = { CTL_HW, HW_PHYSMEM };
 size_t mem;
 size_t len = sizeof(mem);
 sysctl(mib, 2, &mem, &len, NULL, 0);
 return mem;
}

What does this code report for you on your iPhone 4?

…iPhone model 3,2 — what everyone is assuming to be the Verizon (or at least CDMA-compatible) phone — just hit the “AP” testing stage. This is the very last stage before retail release; final hardware, almost final software. Here is the odd thing, though… the iPhone 3,2 unit, we have been exclusively told, contains a SIM card slot. This is interesting for a multitude of reasons, and presents several different scenarios:

The iPhone 3,2 could be the mythical CDMA + GSM/HSPA device that would support Verizon, AT&T, and the other current worldwide iPhone 4 carriers frequencies. The mid-cycle refresh would bring an updated antenna design for the current iPhone 4 and bring CDMA-compatibility; essentially, Verizon Wireless subscribers would have the same device as AT&T subscribers.

The iPhone 3,2 could be a CDMA-capable iPhone that houses a SIM card for global roaming capabilities; though that certainly seems more complicated than just having one single glove that would fit both hands.

One last possibility that the iPhone model 3,2 would simply be a slightly different design that doesn’t suffer from the same antenna attenuation as the current model; though that would be a little disappointing.

As far as the next generation iPhone 5, our source has also indicated to us that device has hit the “EVT” stage in the development cycle. The “EVT” stage is the engineering verification test phase, before the “DVT” phase.

So, both the “Verizon” iPhone and the iPhone 5 are on schedule then.

Synopsis: SquareTrade analyzed iPhone accidents for over 20,000 iPhone 4s covered by SquareTrade Care Plans and found a 82% increase in reported broken screens compared to the iPhone 3gs.

Highlights of the study include:

• iPhone 4 owners reported 82% more damaged screens in the first 4 months compared to iPhone 3gs owners.
• Overall, the reported accident rate for iPhone 4s was 68% higher than for the iPhone 3gs.
• An estimated 15.5% of iPhone 4 owners will have an accident within a year of buying their phone.

Full report available as a PDF.

The iPhone 4 has twice as much glass as the iPhone 3GS. So glass breaking incidents occurring just less than twice as often seems about right to me. Probably better than I would have guessed. But then Apple Customers do seem so much more clumsy and common to me, since the global phenomenon of the iDevice.

The moral of this story is that if you want to be able to throw your phone at your girlfriend, buy a Nokia.

Apple doesn’t want to mess with the first generation of LTE chipsets, since they will be bulky and power hungry. Instead, Apple will make a unified model that works across 3G networks on all carriers, and innovate with incredible new features like NFC which mirror what they accomplished with FaceTime on iPhone 4.

This is what Apple does with pretty much all of its hardware. And has done for some time.

Solid. Tried and tested. Stuff that works. Cheap and easy to manufacture.

All wrapped up in a nice box, with a bow.

Steve Jobs knows not to trust the hype that’s spewed by the carriers on 4G. The truth is that 3G networks have many more years of life, and the transition to LTE will be much slower than the carriers want you to believe (LTE doesn’t even have its voice standard fleshed out yet).

And, yes, the telcos are hopelessly lying about how viable 4G is right now, and how fast they will actually roll out a nationwide (working) 4G networks. Or they are smoking crack. The end result is the same.

So Apple is positioning itself to yet again provide the most solid, and least power hungry solution for mobile over the next 18 months. This strategy should surprise no-one. It’s how Apple rolls.

Why is it that other phone manufacturers don’t get this? Especially when they have the telcos telling them exactly how to build their handsets… Oh wait…

If you’re still not convinced…

Recall that Apple waited to support 3G for one entire cycle, opting to release the original iPhone on AT&T’s mature 2.5G EDGE network, despite wide availability of 3G by early 2007.

Tens of thousands of people in Chinese cities, who have procured iPhone 4 since it was launched on Saturday, will learn from the map function that the area that Indians know as Arunachal Pradesh is entirely Chinese territory.

…Geens, who blogs (at ogleearth.com) about how “neo-geographical tools” like Google Earth influence geopolitics, points out that India too plays similar cartographic games.

“On iPhones sold in India, the base map shows Jammu & Kashmir as wholly India, without acknowledging the Line of Control.” Or the fact that Aksai Chin is disputed territory under Chinese control.

Fun and games. One wonders what the point is, and why the people in government in these countries feel the need to delude themselves and their people in such a public and embarressing way. Our new wired world is just too small for this kind of censorship.

Google very obviously just wants to do business with everyone. But it is interesting that on the iPhone 4 China’s link to map data is hardwired, so that a Chinese iPhone 4 operating outside China will still show their unique world view.

A Facebook thread from SaudiMac points out that the website graphics for all those countries, plus several others in the Middle East, have lost their FaceTime graphic.

Security concerns, Telco conspiracy or the thought of video calls between young adults too much for those countries to bear?

After all, we’ve all set such a good example with our use of the technology to date…

At Apple’s flagship Beijing retail store, eager fans lined up as much as three days before Friday’s 8 a.m. launch of the iPad.

Retail employees for the Cupertino, Calif., company were on hand to distribute umbrellas, coffee and water to those waiting in line outside of Apple’s first retail store in China.

If only I had known it was possible to get an Apple Umbrella I would have been there!

In other news..

China Unicom began taking pre-orders for the iPhone 4 Friday at 10 a.m.

Apple has re-introduced field test mode in iOS 4.1, which will allow you to quickly check the quality of your cellular signal by simply dialing: *3001#12345#* and pressing Call on your iPhone.

The signal bars on your iPhone will be replaced by a number. The higher the negative number gets the worse your signal is. For example, -100 is worse than -79.  If you tap on the displayed number the display toggles between displaying the number and the normal signal bars.

Try the test for yourself and during the test hold your iPhone 4, the wrong way, by connecting the two metal bands on the lower left corner with your finger or hand over the black plastic strip. You’ll see the phone’s signal quality drop rather drastically due to the iPhone 4 death grip.

Testing my iPhone 4 on a bad weather day in Thailand I have -65 as my signal strength, with or without the “death grip”.

The pin for ejecting the iPhone 3G SIM card is made from Liquidmetal, an extremely hard and light metal alloy, according to Atakan Peker, the alloy’s co-inventor, who spoke to CultofMac.com last week.

It’s not clear how long Apple sourced Liquidmetal for SIM ejector pins. European models of the iPhone 3G have ordinary steel pins, and maybe also those shipped to Asia, Peker said. ”They’re not Liquidmetal,” he said. “They bend like paperclips.”

The iPhone 4 doesn’t ship with a SIM card pin.

My iPhone 4 shipped with a SIM card pin.