Hasta La Gadget!

If you’re not a Verizon customer or you don’t want to wake up at 3 a.m. tomorrow morning to fight all the other Apple fanatics for “a first come, first served” pre-ordered iPhone 4, you can get one next week. Apple just announced that the Verizon iPhone 4 will be up for general sale on Thursday, February 10th at 7 a.m.

If you want to make sure you get your hands on an iPhone 4, qualified customers can order an iPhone 4 on Verizon through the Apple Store for delivery or r in-store pick up beginning February 10. On the 10th, it will be available to the masses at Apple’s retail stores, online at the Apple Store, on verizonwireless.com, at select retail partners, at more than 2,000 Verizon Wireless Stores, or by calling 1-800-2 JOIN IN.

So, if you want it, go get it! 

We woke up this morning in Dallas to 20 degree temperatures and a parking lot covered in ice. Not exactly the kind of weather the NFL was hoping for when it selected the new Cowboys Stadium to host Super Bowl XLV, but it didn’t stop both teams and media from making their way — however slowly — to Arlington for Super Bowl Media Day. Naturally, the likes of ESPN were there in full force, but rather than picking apart defensive schemes and seeing who could outgun Troy Polamalu for the longest mane in North Texas, we spent our time asking about mobile OS preferences and soaking up knowledge from Cowboys CIO Pete Walsh. With a price tag well north of $1 billion on the new Cowboys Stadium, the home to the world’s largest HD display is certainly one of the most technologically advanced in the world. It’s packing 884 wireless access points throughout (not to mention an internal network operations center that constantly monitors activity on each one), 260 miles of fiber optic cabling, capacity to handle over 100,000 simultaneous wireless connections, over 3,100 IPTVs and micro cell towers for each major carrier within — you know, so that kickoff video that just can’t wait actually sees its way onto YouTube prior to the start of the second half.

Head on past the break to catch of a video of us talking smartphone platforms with Green Bay Packers center Scott Wells, as well as a lengthy (and insightful) interview with the Chief Information Officer of the Dallas Cowboys. Everything from the Cowboys’ rejection of FanVision to their hopes to blanket the stadium with gratis WiFi is covered, and we’re even given a hint that contactless payments and mobile food ordering systems could be just a season or so away.

Continue reading Super Bowl XLV Media Day: Packers split on iOS / Android, Cowboys CIO talks mobility

Super Bowl XLV Media Day: Packers split on iOS / Android, Cowboys CIO talks mobility originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Feb 2011 19:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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No word on what’s inside it just yet, but Apple has just released iOS 4.3 beta 3 (build 8F5166b) to developers, so we’re sure we’ll be getting plenty more details soon enough. If recent beta versions of the OS are any indication, there’s likely to be at least a few surprises in there.

Update: It turns out it’s not specific to beta 3, but App Advice has discovered that iOS 4.3 includes another new feature that hasn’t been documented so far: the ability to cancel App Store downloads.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Apple releases iOS 4.3 beta 3 to developers originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Feb 2011 14:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The grapevine did already hint at the timing of the Verizon iPhone 4 pre-orders, but now, to be absolutely sure nobody misses them, we have a countdown! Eager iPhone bandwagon jumpers will have to stay up till 3AM EST on February 3rd to get their orders in from a “reserved quantity” of handsets, which will be assigned on a first-come, first-served basis — presumably to be delivered on that February 10th launch date everyone’s been anticipating for so long. Sadly for Verizon newcomers, a contract with the network will be a prerequisite for signing up when the countdown expires.

[Thanks, Jarrett and Anthony]

Continue reading Verizon turns on iPhone 4 pre-order countdown, existing customers can order on February 3rd at 3AM

Verizon turns on iPhone 4 pre-order countdown, existing customers can order on February 3rd at 3AM originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 29 Jan 2011 01:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Remember glassgate? We covered it back in October of last year. It was something of a less successful sequel to the much more widely covered antennaegate. Glassgate, essentially, surrounded the ease with which the glass on the phone cracked. The story as we covered it back then, involved the rear glass on the device. When dirt or other particles worked their way in between the iPhone 4 and a case, scratches led to a shattered phone.

Glassgate is rearing its ugly ahead again, this time in the form of a class action lawsuit. Donal LeBuhn, a California resident, filed the suit after his daughter dropped the phone from three feet, shattering it, despite the presence of a protective bumper (a result, no doubt, of the aforementioned antennaegate)–and despite Apple’s claims that the material on the phone is “ultradurable” and “the same kind used in the windshields of helicopters and high-speed trains.”

LeBuhn took the phone to a non-Apple repair shop to save $50, voiding the warranty in the processes. The irritated iPhone owner is suing for attorney’s fees, monetary damages, and to force apple to replace damage glass and refund the cost of replacement.