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| Friday, 19 June 2009 05:00 |
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applesinsider
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| By Slash Lane Published: 01:00 PM EST In a near repeat of problems that plagued last year's iPhone 3G launch, Apple's iPhone activation servers are showing signs of buckling under the pressure of hundreds of thousands of customers who are attempting to activate their new handsets and warning of delays that could span two days. "Your activation requires additional time to complete. Due to the current activation volumes, it may take up to 48 hours to resolve your issue," reads a message spit out by iTunes when attempting to activate a new iPhone 3G S after the hours of noon Eastern time on Friday. "We will send a confirmation to [your email address] once your activation is complete." Apple, in the same message, apologizes for the inconvenience and says that customers can proceed to setup their new handsets and explore features that do not require access to AT&T's network. After disconnecting from iTunes, a message appears on the iPhone 3G S's screen that says: "Waiting for activation. This may take some times." While many customers acquiring their new iPhones in Europe or during the early morning hours in the US reported activating their devices quickly and without issue, AppleInsider can corroborate that activations delays are spreading rapidly. Both our new iPhone 3G S's remain in the state seen in the below image. The activation issues draw parallels to the high-tech meltdown that spoiled last year's iPhone 3G launch from the onset, leaving thousands of customers with iPhones that couldn't function or make calls, as the iTunes servers required to fully activate them were knocked offline for extended periods of time. Friday's complications underscore the complexity Apple faces in orchestrating a multi-national product launch of such scale, but also signals that despite having two years of past experience under its belt, the Cupertino-based company is still unable to accurately prepare its systems for the beating they'll take on day one. |
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| Friday, 19 June 2009 02:20 |
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applesinsider
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| By AppleInsider Staff Published: 10:20 AM EST Not to be outdone by an earlier dissection, the tear-down experts over at iFixit came up with the intriguing idea of filming their own iPhone 3G S dismantling with the new video camera on a second iPhone 3G S. In a summary of the tear-down's points of interest, the parts and solutions provider notes that opening the iPhone 3G S is as simple as the iPhone 3G, requiring the removal of only two Phillips screws before the two halves of the phone can be easily separated using a suction cup. Externally, the new iPhone is differentiated only by its new model number -- A1303 -- and the lettering on the back cover, which is now shiny like the Apple logo. Similarly, the internal physical design is also virtually identical to the iPhone 3G, with iFixit reportedly "struggling to differentiate the two." Architecturally, nearly all of the handset's components have reportedly been relocated to the front side of the main logic board, including the Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Flash memory chips. The battery is identified as a 4.51 Watt-hours, or 1219 mAh, which is about 6% larger than the iPhone 3G's battery. Also discovered was an additional antenna connection near the dock connector, though its function remains unclear. As for the iPhone's camera, iFixit claims quality is much improved from the iPhone 3G. For example, close-up shots are now possible down to about 5 cm, and the brightness adjusted well when picking a focus area. Meanwhile, a test comparing the time it takes the Google Earth application to load reveals the new iPhone 3G S to be "bit faster than Apple's claim of 2X speed improvement" over the iPhone 3G. The iPhone 3G's oleophobic screen "does seem to clean slightly easier than the 3G's normal screen," according to the report. It notes that oil-proof technology evolved from waterproofing but is harder to achieve as oil has a much lower surface tension than water, so it spreads out easier and thus is harder to get rid off. For more on the iPhone 3G S's internal makeup, see an earlier tear-down conducted by Rapid Repair. |
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| Friday, 19 June 2009 01:00 |
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applesinsider
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| By Sam Oliver Published: 09:00 AM EST While the verdict is still out on how well stocked U.S.-based Apple retail stores will be for this morning's iPhone 3G S launch, some of AT&T's shops are reported to have already run out of their initial allotment of the new handsets. For example, AppleInsider reader Sherif arrived at the AT&T retail store on the corner of Suffolk Street and Delancey Street in Manhattan's Lower East Side at roughly 7:30 am Friday morning. Roughly 20 minutes later he was informed by staffers that he'd snagged the shop's last iPhone 3G S available for walk-in customers who hadn't pre-orderd: a white 32GB model, which was precisely the model he was after. The particular store reportedly received about 60 units, but said new stock would not arrive for another 5 days. It's no secret that Apple favors padding its company-owned shops over those belonging to its exclusive US wireless carrier on iPhone launch days. Both the iPhone 3G and original iPhone launches saw AT&T stores run dry of the handsets long before Apple retail stores. AT&T also announced last weekend that it had exhausted its initial supply of iPhone 3G Ss that were available for pre-order through its website. Customers placing their orders after last Friday were informed that their devices wouldn't arrive this Friday, but would instead see delivery delays spanning anywhere from one to two weeks. For its part, Apple's online store continued to take pre-orders for the new handset throughout the week, promising Friday deliver for those customers who'd confirmed their order by Wednesday. Those iPhone 3G S buyers determined to purchase their new phone from an AT&T retail store may be best advised at this point to call ahead and check up on availability. |
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| Thursday, 18 June 2009 23:40 |
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applesinsider
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| By Katie Marsal Published: 07:40 AM EST With Apple's new iPhone 3G S hitting store shelves in Europe overnight, the device was thrown within minutes onto the operating table and gutted, revealing a Samsung-branded system-on-a-chip (SoC) featuring a multi-format codec with untapped HD video playback and capture capabilities. The Orange wireless boutique in Paris, France held a midnight launch of the new Apple handset, allowing the folks at Rapid Repair to be amongst the first in the world to purchase the device at roughly 6:30 p.m. Thursday Eastern time. Wasting no time, the solutions provider took the iPhone to one of the shop's back rooms, busted out their tool kit, and began tearing the device down with the intent of comparing its internals to the iPhone 3G and identifying some of its more prominent components. The biggest news to come out of the tear-down thus far is a positive identification of the handset's primary SoC, said to be the Samsung S5PC100, a chip that -- true to previous rumors -- is based on ARM's Cortex A8 reference design running at 600MHz. A brief check of Samsung's website, however, reveals it can run even faster. "The S5PC100 enables the integration of various functionalities, such as, wireless communication, personal navigation, camera, portable gaming, portable music/video player, mobile TV and PDA into one device," the South Korea-based electronic maker says in a PDF published to its website. "The S5PC100 adopts a 32-bit ARM Cortex A8 RISC microprocessor and a 64/32-bit internal bus architecture, and operates up to 833MHz." Apple appears to have chosen run the chip, which is rebranded with the following markings, below its maximum clock speed for optimal power consumption. But the additional 233MHz aren't the only capabilities of the S5PC100 that Apple has chosen to forgo in the iPhone 3G S. Samsung 339S0073ARM K2132C2P0-50-F 0N1480911 APL0298 N1TVY0Q 0919 An Apple iPhone 3G S torn down and laid out to dry | Source: Rapid Repair. Samsung also notes that its chip sports a high definition multi format codec enabling higher resolution multimedia functions at low power consumption. Specifically, it states that the S5PC100 "features a built-in, 720p multi format codec (MFC) video Engine which ensures smooth 30fps video encoding and playblack at low power consumption, and supports three types of TV out interface (NTSC/PAL/HDMI)." A block diagram of the iPhone 3G S's primary SoC | Source: Samsung. An incomplete component comparison of all three iPhone models and the Palm Pre | Source: Rapid Repair. Apple has thus far decided not to take advantage of these HD capabilities for video recording, as the iPhone 3G S video camera will only capture clips in VGA-quality. Early reviews of handset were mixed in their assessment of... |
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