Hasta La Gadget!

Manufacturer Foxconn has again come in for criticism after an undercover reporter described dire working conditions in one Chinese facility, with the OEM promising an immediate investigation into the claims. The report by the Shanghai Evening Post (translated by M.I.C. Gadget) revealed unhygienic dormitories, poorly maintained leisure facilities, and frantic overtime as Foxconn pushed to produce sufficient iPhone 5 units to meet expected demand, with workers subjected to strict punishments for dropping the pace.

The undercover reporter was apparently put to work on the part of the Tai Yuan plant producing iPhone 5 back panels, applying masking tape and plastic stoppers to sections of the plate – such as the earphone jack – which are not to be painted. He calculates that he must mark five iPhone plates every minute in order to keep up with the production line:

“I have to pickup the back-plate and marked [sic] 4 position points using the oil-based paint pen and put it back on the running belt swiftly within 3 seconds with no errors. After such repeat action for several hours, I have terrible neckache and muscle pain on my arm. A new worker who sat opposite of me gone [sic] exhausted and laid down for a short while. The supervisor has noticed him and punished him by asking him to stand at one corner for 10 minutes like the old school days” Wang Yu, Shanghai Evening Post

Meanwhile, Foxconn’s on-site accommodations also come in for criticism, with dormitories unclean and other facilities, such as the games center and theater, said to be in a poor state of repair.

“The first night sleeping at Foxconn dormitory is a nightmare. The whole dormitory smells like garbage when I walked in. It’s a mixed of overnight garbage smell plus dirty sweat and foam smell. Outside every room was fully piled up with uncleared trash. When I opened my wardrobe, lots of cockroaches crawl out from inside and the bedsheets that are being distributed to every new workers are full of dirts and ashes” Wang Yu, Shanghai Evening Post

Unsurprisingly, Foxconn has reacted quickly to the public criticisms, promising an internal investigation and swift rectification of any problems uncovered. In a statement provided to The Next Web, it conceded that it “is not perfect” but insists that it is “making progress everyday”:

“Foxconn takes our responsibility to our employees very seriously and we work hard to give our over one million employees in China a safe and positive working environment and compensation and benefits that significantly exceed government-mandated rates and that are competitive with all of our industry peers in each location where we operate. We also work hard together with the local government and third parties to provide housing, dining, recreational and other facilities that meet the needs of our employees and we are committed to a process of continuous improvement in those and other benefits.

We do this to ensure that we continue to attract the best workers in the industry. Foxconn is not perfect, but we are making progress everyday and we continue to lead our industry in meeting the needs of the new generation of workers in China. Anything, such as the report in question, that indicates that the high standards set by our company are not being followed is immediately investigated and addressed.”

Apple is yet to comment on the report, which of course comes shortly ahead of the launch of the iPhone 5 itself. The company has taken a strict line on worker conditions, co-investing significant amounts into new production facilities with Foxconn, and inviting inspections from the Fair Labor Association which gave the manufacturer a clean bill of health.

Not all of the bad press in recent months has been accurate, either. This American Life was forced to retract a controversial “exposé” of poor working conditions at Foxconn, after it was revealed that its creator had blended no small amount of fiction with the facts, making up interviews and fabricating other details.

Foxconn contrite after new production exposé is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Vodafone UK has readied 500,000 nano SIM cards suited for Apple’s iPhone 5, with the carrier briefly spilling the SIM stockpile stat in a post on its official blog. That post – since yanked (though Google’s cached version reveals all) – claimed that “the first devices have now been announced” that use the new nano SIM size, though of course that’s not actually the case; in fact, the first such phone is all but certain to be Apple’s new iPhone, and that gets its official reveal tomorrow.

“Vodafone has now got 500,000 of the new 12.3 mm x 8.8 mm nano-SIMs in stock” the carrier pre-emptively crowed. “Stripped of all excess plastic, this fourth generation SIM card is 40 percent smaller than a micro-SIM, but supports the conventional eight electrical contacts and fits backwards into current micro-SIM slots so that you can use it during any changeover period.”

The photos, meanwhile, show the nano SIM still fixed inside the credit-card sized shipping plastic, as well as in size-comparisons with today’s micro SIMs as in the current iPhone 4S and other devices. For those not in the UK, the two coins are British 20 pence and 5 pence pieces.

It’s potentially a case of premature publishing and, with no specific mention of the iPhone 5, it’s unlikely to get Vodafone into any trouble with Apple. The conspiracy theorists among us might wonder, however, whether Vodafone revealed the SIMs early on purpose, to distract from new UK LTE carrier EE’s hint at ranging the new iPhone earlier today.

[via Pocket-lint]

Vodafone iPhone 5 nano SIMs prematurely pictured (but was it on purpose?) is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

We’re on the cusp of Apple’s sixth iPhone launch, and there’s very different expectations than there were last year. The 2011 rumor cycle left more than a few people burned: the later-than-usual October launch and repeated claims of a heavily-remade design led some to a disappointment when the iPhone 4S arrived, even though the final product had a slew of camera, speed and voice command upgrades. This year, the rumors have been grounded well before there was an event date in our hands.

There have been fewer instances of wild rumors. Instead, it’s been based more around pragmatism, using either tangible leaks or sources that have a solid track record. Think of the perennial leaks from the Wall Street Journal or the increasingly well-established sourcing from iMore and The Loop. Whether you’re conspiracy-minded or not, it’s been hard to ignore the sheer number of claims that have tamped down expectations rather than inflated them. It’s as though there’s a collective fear we’ll see a repeat of the 2011 hysteria and deal with fans (or detractors) complaining about missing features that were never promised in the first place.

Where last summer was full of uncertainty, this year there’s a mounting consensus as to what we’ll see, how we’ll get it, and when. Tracking everything that’s been mentioned may be a handful, however. With that in mind, we’ll dive in and gauge what’s likely to emerge from behind Apple’s curtain on September 12th — as well as what we can rule out from the get-go.

Continue reading iPhone 5: the rumor roundup

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

iPhone 5: the rumor roundup originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Sep 2012 10:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

I can be honest and say that I’m a horrible photographer. I have a fancy DSLR camera that I bought a few years ago and I always use it in automatic mode. The reason I wanted the camera was that it had a fast shutter so I could actually take a picture of my kids, rather than an ear or an elbow at sporting events. For me, the $900 that camera cost was definitely the high end of what I would spend for a digital camera.

Many people out there spend way more money than that on cameras because they’re artsy and stuff. For those of you who have a big bank account and like high-quality cameras that also happen to be compact, the Sony RX1 has leaked online. This is a strange little digital camera that appears to be quite compact yet offers a full-frame imaging sensor.

The photo was leaked, but the official announcement is expected to come on the 12th. The camera looks like it has a Zeiss 35mm, F/2.0 lens and interestingly the lens appears to be fixed. I say interestingly, because the price for the RX1 is rumored to be about $2799(USD). Typically, for that price, you’d be looking a camera with a huge variety of lenses available to meet your specific needs. I’m not sure many people will pay three grand for digital camera and be stuck with a single lens. Guess we’ll have to wait a couple of days to get the full details and to find out the full specs and retail pricing for the RX1.

[via Engadget]

Not content to wait for official phone announcements? The folks at EVLeaks have got you covered — outing another handset’s vitals on Twitter. The team’s latest breach appears to be the LG Escape, an Ice Cream Sandwich powered Android handset sporting a 4.3-inch qHD display, a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, a 5 megapixel rear facing camera, NFC and a 2150 mAh battery. EVLeaks also says the device is primed for AT&T’s LTE network, which corroborates nicely with Federal reports. No word on price or availability just yet, but we’ll let you know when we hear more details.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

LG Escape breaks out of obscurity, sets sights on AT&T originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Sep 2012 05:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments