Hasta La Gadget!

Think the megapixel race is bad? Now we’ve another to worry about, with both Toshiba and Intel hastily approaching 0.01nm technology in order to make chips faster, more nimble and smaller. According to undisclosed sources at Digitimes, Intel has actually canned production plans for its 45nm Havendale processors, which were originally slated to slip into machines later this year. The cause? It’s heading straight to 32nm, reportedly hoping to ship its Clarkdale line in Q1 2010 with entry-level prices ranging from $60 to $190. In related news, Toshiba is joining the likes of IBM, Samsung and Globalfoundries in an effort to dish out chips based on 28nm process technology. Needless to say, the move is being made in an effort to “stay relevant in an area dominated by the likes of Intel Corp and Texas Instruments.” Now, if only we could get one of these potent, low-power chips inside of a netbook, we’d be pleased as punch.

Read – Intel cans Havendale in move to 32nm
Read – Toshiba speeds to 28nm

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Nanometer wars heat up, Toshiba and Intel enter unofficial race originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Jun 2009 10:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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However you slice it, Apple’s newest iPhone, the 3GS, is a success. The early reviews like it, and more importantly, the public likes it. So much so in fact, that Apple has shifted one million of them in the first weekend.

Compare that to T-Mobile’s G1 Googlephone, which took half a year to reach the same total, or the Palm Pre, which sold a measly 50,000 units in its opening weekend, according to one analyst’s estimate.

For the iPhone 3GS, these are the official Apple numbers, not some analyst’s guess. One million isn’t bad, but if we look at it another way, it shows that the iPhone is truly a superstar. Let’s translate those figures into real cash money:

We suspect that Apple sold more 32GB iPhones than 16GB, but for the numbers we’ll call it a 50/50 split. We’ll take the unsubsidized prices, as the is what AT&T will be paying Apple for the handsets, more or less. That gives an average unit price of $650. Multiply that by one million and you get $650,000,000. This is $2 million more than Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones has managed worldwide in seven years. Not bad.

One more takeaway from this announcement: Even Apple is struggling with the plural form of “3GS”, opting in its headline to use the term “3GS Models” instead of “3GS’s”. Or is it “3GSes”?

Apple Sells Over One Million iPhone 3GS Models [Apple]

Worried that Apple might not be doing so well? Concerned the company will have to start breaking open the collective piggy banks to keep the lights on? Well rest easy, friends, as the folks in Cupertino have just issued a compelling piece of PR that will surely put your mind at ease — one stating it managed to move a million iPhone 3G S units over the weekend. That’s right, in a fashion not completely dissimilar to last year’s iPhone 3G launch (though with far less hiccups), bucketloads of happy buyers flooded Apple’s coffers with sweet, delicious cash money for the new smartphone. The buying frenzy was apparently even exciting enough to rouse recovering CEO Steve Jobs from his convalescent state. The seemingly-now-returned honcho is quoted (for the first time in months) in the press release as saying “Customers are voting and the iPhone is winning.” Winning indeed Steve… and welcome back.

Filed under: Cellphones

Apple moves one million iPhone 3G S units in a weekend — just in time for Steve’s return originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Jun 2009 09:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple must be sick of constantly apologizing for the bad behaviour of its iPhone business partner AT&T. Time after time it messes up — no tethering or MMS on the 3GS launch day, a botched 3G launch a year ago — and Apple has to mop up after it. If this were a family, AT&T would be the drunken uncle who always throws up at wedding receptions, and Apple would be the long suffering brother who always has to drive him home.

This time, Apple is offering a $30 iTunes credit for 3GS buyers who couldn’t activate their new phones. New customers hooking their iPhones up to iTunes were seeing a message saying there could be a wait of up to 48 hours before activation — hardly what you want when you were excited enough to buy the phone on its first day. If you were one of the unlucky ones, keep an eye on your inbox for this mail:

Dear Apple Customer,

Thank you for your recent Apple Store order. We appreciate your patience and apologize for the inconvenience caused by the delay in your iPhone activation.

We are still resolving the issue that was encountered while activating your iPhone with AT&T. Unfortunately, due to system issues and continued high activation volumes, this could take us up to an additional 48 hours to complete.

On Monday, you’ll receive an email from Apple with an iTunes Store credit in the amount of $30. We hope you will enjoy this gift and accept our sincere apologies for the inconvenience this delay has caused.

Thank you for choosing Apple.

Sincerely,
Apple Online Store Team

Of course, Apple isn’t completely innocent. AT&T may have added a couple of days to the wait times for the iPhone, but remember MobileMe? That took Apple months to get right, and it’s still little more than Geocities mixed with a buggy sync-engine.

Apple Stuck Apologizing For AT&T Yet Again With A $30 iTunes Credit [Tech Crunch]

Apple Offers $30 iTunes Store Credit for Activation Delays [MacRumors]

T-Mobile has announced the MyTouch, the company’s second Googlephone, and on paper it is smaller, lighter and just plain better.

The MyTouch is essentially the same phone as the Google Ion, also known as the HTC Magic. The biggest change between the MyTouch and the original Android handset — the G1, also manufactured by HTC — is the physical QWERTY keyboard. It’s gone, replaced by an-onscreen soft keyboard. It was ironic that the old G1 keyboard, the major differentiator between the iPhone and the first Google phone, was one of its biggest problems, featuring a large “chin” which would trip up all but the longest of thumbs.

The soft keyboard one-ups the Palm Pre, too, with predictive text (the Pre has neither prediction nor correction to help you use its tiny buttons), and it vibrates when you touch a button to let you know you’ve, well, touched a button.

The other physical change is the size. It’s slimmer (early reports compare it to the iPhone) and lighter, at 4.1 ounces against 5.6 ounces (116g vs. 160g). It’s also colorful-er: Along with white and black the phone will come in “merlot”, a shade of burgundy sure to join Zune-brown in the history books of bad taste.

Memory is provided by microSD cards which augment the internal 512MB. The $200 MyTouch will come with a pathetic 4GB card in the box, a move which looks even worse now that the old 8GB iPhone 3G can be had for just $100. On the other hand, SD is certainly handy for upgrades.

The biggest problem with the G1 was the terrible battery life. The multi-tasking applications meant that the power would be sucked dry in a matter of hours. A new 1340mAh battery should give a claimed six hours of talk time versus the five hours of the old 1150mAh battery. In the real world, of course, it will be much less.

T-Mobile hasn’t revealed all of the hardware details of the new handset, but as it is essentially a rebadged HTC Magic, it’s not to hard to anticipate the other internals. The camera is the same 3.2MP camera found in the G1, the headphone socket still requires a stupid adapter (why no standard 3.5mm jack, T-Mobile? C’mon already).

What the handset does have, though, is Android. The Google OS was roundly considered to be the best part of the G1, despite the fact that the hardware wasn’t really up to the task of running it properly. Sure, Apple has hit yet another home run with the iPhone 3GS, but we fully expect to see a slew of very good Android phones take their rightful place in the market. T-Mobile itself has said it will launch “a few more” android devices this year. One thing is certain. Right now is probably the best time ever to be buying a cellphone.

T-Mobile is even treating its customers right. They will be able to get the MyTouch on July 8. New customers will have to wait until August to sign up for their two-year contract.

Product page [T-Mobile]

See Also:

• Hands on with the HTC Google Ion
• Second HTC Android Phone Peeks Out
• T-Mobile G1, aka First ‘Googlephone,’ Carries High Expectations …
• HTC, Vodafone Show World’s Second Googlephone