Hasta La Gadget!

Well, that was a surprise. On a day where the attention was focused on Apple’s own stores for the formal launch day of the iPhone 4, Best Buy, Radio Shack, and Wal-Mart came through with their own iPhone shipments.

Best Buy had expressed doubt that it would be able to supply enough iPhone 4s. Radio Shack had said that it wasn’t sure if it could obtain enough iPhones.

“Approx. 1,500 Walmart stores will have iPhone in limited quantities @ 8am. Pls call local Walmart 2 see if they have it,” Walmartkevin tweeted.

Radio Shack also confirmed that it had phones: “We have heard you loud and clear,” the company said on its Facebook page. “We regret any confusion that may have been caused by the limited availability of iPhone 4 units at launch.”

Radio Shack had previously announced that some stores might not receive supplies of the new iPhone 4 on launch day, including units in black as well as white; Apple delayed the white iPhone because of an unexplained manufacturing issue. Radio Shack also said that it would extend its accessory bundle deals throughout July and work to obtain more iPhones as well.

Best Buy also announced that the company had begin filling “some” preorders, but @Coral_BestBuy, one of the members of its “twelp force,” told one customer that “[I]deally we’d have had more than enough to fulfill
all preorders and then some, unfortunately that was not the case.”

I had to do it. While Mobile Managing Editor Sascha Segan is busy in the labs benchmarking and pounding away at the new Apple iPhone 4, I just wanted to have some fun. As far as I can tell, FaceTime Apple’s new video calling over Wi-Fi utility may be the funnest thing on this new phone. However, I wouldn’t know for certain until I tried it for myself. My partner in crime for this little experiment was none other than former PCMag EIC Michael J. Miller (he blogs regularly on Forward Thinking).

He called me, we selected FaceTime and we were on our way. Check out the video to find out why we think FaceTime is so much fun.

You’ve got to love the simplicity of MoviePeg. This just-announced block sells for $7.47 and works as a clip-on stand to hold your iPhone at a comfortable viewing angle in either a horizontal or vertical position. It’s made to fit the first three generations of iPhone. An iPad version will be out by the end of June and an iPhone 4 version will be available in late summer. (Really? It takes that long?)

Because the MoviePeg is mainly for video-watching, the six versions have been given movie-inspired names: Black Rain, Yellow Submarine, Soylent Green, Blue Velvet, Pretty in Pink, and Red Dawn. Not to get too picky here, but Black Rain? That’s the best you could do? Why not a violet version called Purple Rain? And I’m a little afraid of the Soylent Green version. What exactly is that one made of?

It usually takes a couple of days before the negative reports about hot new products crop up. People are just starting to receive their new iPhones, and there’s already a slew of online complaints that point to what appears to be one major design flaw in the latest iPhone.

According to numerous reports, holding the phone’s new external antennae
band has the tendency to completely block reception. The issue seems to
have first popped up (as many do) on a Mac Rumor board. Gizmodo put out a call to readers with the new phone and got a flood of responses from
users who seem to be having the same issue.

Perhaps it’s because a product like the iPhone 4 is bound to be under the microscope upon its release–or maybe this is a legitimate concern. Either way, it seem like this is something Apple is going to have to address soon.

Do you have an iPhone 4? Are you having this problem? Let us know in the Comments section.

From the London store

Welcome to the latest installment of our annual tradition: the iPhone launch day queue experience in pictorial form. London’s getting the party started early (not as early as some, admittedly) with a sizable crowd turning the corner from the Apple Store at Regent Street, but we’ll keep this post updated with imagery from all over the place. Wouldn’t mind if you helped us out with a few of your own pics, either. You know where to send them in by now, and once you’ve done that, feel free to slide past the break to see how everyone else is doing it.

Update: Now with reports from San Francisco!

Update 2: NY joins the fray!

Update 3: We added some of the more interesting reader-submitted stories.

Update 4: Reports from Palo Alto and San Jose, California!

Continue reading iPhone 4 launch day line watch (updated)

iPhone 4 launch day line watch (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Jun 2010 19:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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