Hasta La Gadget!

Now, we’re hoping this isn’t some elaborate hoax perpetrated on the kind citizens of the internet, because if it’s real, it’s amazing. Here’s the deal: a man capturing video poolside with his iPhone 3GS somehow loses control of the device and ends up dunking the entire phone… while filming. Miraculously, he manages to fish out the handset and it’s still rolling. We don’t know what the lifespan was / is beyond this clip, but obviously long enough to upload the video or transfer it to a computer. Impressive stuff, though we strongly suggest you don’t test this one out on your own. Check out the full video after the break.

[Via George Ruiz]

Continue reading iPhone 3GS takes plunge in pool while shooting video… and lives to tell the tale

Filed under: Cellphones

iPhone 3GS takes plunge in pool while shooting video… and lives to tell the tale originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 27 Jun 2009 14:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Not long ago the best smartphone you could buy was the iPhone. No contest. The uncanny combo of beautiful chassis, intelligent OS, super responsive touchscreen, and app store was unparalleled. There was no device on the market that came remotely close to touching the Jesus phone’s near mythical marriage of hardware and software.

Them days is over.

Now each major U.S. carrier has a device that can legitimately compete with the iPhone. To help you make sense of it, we took three major upstarts and stacked them up against the great white hype from Cupertino. Sprint with its Pre, T-Mobile with its G1, and Verizon with its Storm. So have a gander at how the specs from these four devices compare to one another. Think of it as a way to cut through a lot of the dumb hype that clouds these smartphones.

* Price is with a two-year contract

** Includes voice, text and data

*** Includes price of plan and cost of phone. Does not include taxes, activation charges or overage fees

Graphic by Dennis Crothers

Yep, I’ve succumbed. After waiting since 2007 for the iPhone to come to T-Mobile or Verizon, I’ve pulled the trigger and ordered a shiny new iPhone 3GS during the first wave last week. Never mind that it took until Wednesday of this week to get to me, but that’s another story.

I acquired a few holster-style cases from various sources, and I can tell you this: the Compass/Magnetometer in the iPhone 3GS does not like magnetic closures on the cases. I first used Speck’s odd but very protective SwitchWay case, and after using it, I found that I had to recalibrate the compass  every time I took the iPhone out of the case. I also used a no-name holster that I’d used with an iPod Touch, and that also garnered the same results.

The no-name case uses two magnets to keep itself shut, and the SwitchWay uses four magnets (it can be worn vertically or horizontally). Apple’s support docs have warned against using magnetic cases since the iPhone 3G last year, but I’d used the no-name case with the first generation iPhone while I tried it out back in 2007 with no ill effects.

According to a review on iLounge.com, the SwitchWay was redesigned with a Velcro closure, and I’d certainly recommend one if you like a holster for convenience. In any case, I’m off to the Apple Cube to get a DLO HipCase, which I know has Velcro.

I should point out that calls, emails, and text messages came through fine in any of the cases, magnetic or not, so that’s not an issue, but it is exceedingly annoying to have to re-calibrate the Compass everytime I needed to use it (including in maps). It also took progressively more time to reclaibrate the Compass the longer I kept the iPhone in the magnetic cases. Buyer Beware!

Video uploads to YouTube have increased 400 percent a day since the launch of the iPhone 3GS, according to YouTube.

In a blog post, YouTube officials Dwipal Desai and Mia Quagliarello cited three factors driving an overall growth of 1700 percent in uploads in the last six months: new video-enabled phones on the market, improvement of the upload flow and a new, streamlined process to share videos on social networks.

Yowza — 400 percent a day due to the iPhone 3GS? We’re guessing AT&T is going to hate this: The company already prevented the TV streaming iPhone app SlingPlayer from working on the 3G network, saying it “could create congestion and potentially prevent other customers from using the network.” How will AT&T handle video uploads? That’s bound to stress the upstream of the 3G network. Guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Via Macworld

There’s another shiny new gadget on the market, and that means it’s time for another teardown from the folks at iSuppli. This time out the team tackled the new iPhone 3GS. According to the company, the 16GB model has an estimated price tag of $178.96–that’s $172.46 in parts and $6.50 for manufacturing expenses.

That’s a bit of a bump from $174.33 that the company estimated it would cost to put together the iPhone 3G this time last year. All things considered, it’s not a huge profit margin, given the phone’s $199 price tag–at least it’s not before the carrier costs are factored in.

For a full break down of manufacturering costs, check out iSuppli’s site.