This Is a Next-Generation iPhone 4 Part, China Ontrade Claims

China Ontrade calls this the iPhone 4 Generation Midboard. Not very exciting, but the last time they announced a next-generation iPhone part, they were right. A month later, the iPhone 3GS appeared with exactly those parts. What could this mean?

The iPhone 3GS display

Let’s review what we know: When we first covered China Ontrade’s iPhone 3G 2009 parts—back in May 2009—we thought they looked real. Since they didn’t have any track record, we treated it as a rumor. Potentially true, but a rumor. The iPhone 3GS announcement was going to happen that summer, so it was logical that factories had already manufactured parts for the assembled iPhone 2009. That is, in fact, what China Ontrade claimed in their site:

This is great honor for China Ontrade (HK) chinaontrade.com to be the 1st started to supply iphone 3gen 2009 parts directly from factory

In June 2009, the actual iPhone 3GS teardown confirmed that China Ontrade’s parts were indeed the real McCoy. Somehow, the Chinese wholesaler’s ninjas—who sell spare parts for all Apple iPod and iPhone products—got the next generation pieces one month before the product reached the streets.

Zoom in to see the comparison of the May 2009 and June 2009 parts.

Apple iPhone 4 Generation

Now, China Ontrade is claiming that this iPhone midboard belongs to the next-generation iPhone 4, which in theory is supposed to come out next summer, like all the previous iPhones. If confirmed, this means they have the piece about eight months before the actual iPhone 2010 release. That seems like an awfully long time for any factory to produce parts for a new product. Like every company out there, Apple’s products are built just-in-time to avoid stock congestion or last minute changes. They don’t have parts ready eight months before release.

Does this mean that a new iPhone 4 may appear in a month too? That seems crazy, and very unlikely. After all, we know that Phil Schiller said that the Apple holiday lineup was set. Some people argue that this means that the holiday lineup is set, but it hasn’t been fully announced yet. However, for now we can only speculate about the true meaning of his words, and the fact that Apple called us to tell us an exact quote to publish.

Some may argue that they have important reasons to accelerate the introduction of a new iPhone. One is gaining more strength lately, despite Apple’s domination of the cell market: Google’s Android. Even while Apple COO Tim Cook dismissed Android—saying that Google phones “are still just trying to catch up with the first iPhone two years ago”—the media mindshare is certainly shifting. Thanks to the latest batch of Android 2.0 cellphones, people are starting to look at Android with different eyes.

For now we can’t assume any of this means a new iPhone is around the corner. After all, the 3GS just came out five months ago. The only thing we know is that China Ontrade’s claims were true in the past, so it’s logical to assume this is an actual iPhone 4 generation part. But this makes little sense given Apple’s manufacturing practices and self-imposed yearly-upgrade cycle, so this may all be a publicity ploy. Especially because they claim they will publish actual shots of the product in their web site.

There’s one last implication in all this: Maybe this is the real Apple “iTablet” SIM tray, after all. [China On Trade]

Atom-powered Cowon W2 leaked, could be crowding in on imaginary tablet territory

If there’s one thing we like more than a flesh and blood slate tablet PC, it’s one with zero launch specifics or imagery, and hopefully a dearth of specs. Cowon’s delivering the former in spades, with the leak of the Atom-powered W2 MID on a Bluetooth.org certification page. Of course, calling it an internet tablet might be reading in a bit much, but it seems a good fit for Cowon’s sensibilities and background up against that Atom processor under the hood. We suppose we’ll just have to wait around to learn more, but this could be the start of a beautiful rumoring relationship.

[Via DAP Review]

Filed under:

Atom-powered Cowon W2 leaked, could be crowding in on imaginary tablet territory originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 01 Nov 2009 09:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Qooq recipe and cooking tablet launched for French speakers only


Cooking tablets and recipe readers have been pretty limited (and not very good) in the past — but this one looks extremely promising. Called the Qooq, the 10.2-incher boasts — in addition to a bunch of recipes, of course — complete meal prep videos, instructions and advice on choosing ingredients, shopping lists, meal planners — all which can be updated monthly via a subscription service. Specwise, we’re looking at a glass touchscreen, Ethernet and USB ports, an SD slot, WiFi, and a built-in stand. The custom UI looks pretty attractive, but there are some drawbacks. The Qooq does not have a browser (though it’s got built-in weather, digital photo viewing, and internet radio apps), and it’s only available for French language speakers for now. If you do speak the language of love, you can get one of these puppies for €349 (about $513), with the subscription service running an additional €12.95a month (about $19).

[Via Red Ferret]

Filed under: ,

Qooq recipe and cooking tablet launched for French speakers only originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Really, Really Old Apple Tablet Pictured

penmacclose.jpg

What’s this? A fuzzy photo of the Apple Tablet? Well, yeah, kind of. It’s a photo from around right around 1990 of a an unreleased tablet from the company–the Pen Mac. It’s a full-on Macintosh with a pen-based touch screen. According to reports, the whole thing was roughly an inch thick and had a port for a keyboard.

The image comes from Michael Arrington who is calling the thing an exclusive. The guy in the picture is Samir Arora, the current CEO of Glam Media, who worked on the project and recently informed the TechCrunch founder of its existence.

The device’s demise came when Apple’s then-CEO John Sculley vetoed the device in-favor of the not especially well received Newton.

Dell’s Latitude XT2 XFR rugged tablet gets official

As is often the case, the FCC spoiled the surprise on this one, but Dell’s keeping its PR machine chugging along with its new Latitude XT2 XFR rugged tablet nonetheless, and it’s fleshed out a few details in the precess. As expected, this one is more or less just a rugged version of the company’s existing Latitude XT2, including the same 12.1-inch multitouch display, a modestly upgraded Core 2 Duo SU9600 processor, up to 5GB of RAM, your choice of a standard hard drive or SSD, a range of hot-swappable modules (soon to include GPS) and, somewhat curiously, no Windows 7 option — just Vista or the ever popular XP downgrade. Of course it’s the ruggedness that’s the real selling point, and this one looks to deliver the goods on that front (for a starting price of $3,599) — just check out the video after the break.

Continue reading Dell’s Latitude XT2 XFR rugged tablet gets official

Filed under: ,

Dell’s Latitude XT2 XFR rugged tablet gets official originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

NEC working on an Android tablet for suits?

Super-vague report in the Nikkei this morning about NEC working on a seven-to-eight-inch “mobile device as capable as a personal computer” that’s aimed at business customers — no specs are given, but the tiny accompanying pic definitely shows the Android app tab at the bottom of that custom UI. Very mysterious. The report says NEC thinks it’ll move 100,000 to 200,000 of these a year after it launches next fall, and plans to sell a million a year over time, but we’ll wait to see what’s real and what’s not before we tackle that prediction.

[Via Slashgear; warning, read link requires registration]

Filed under: ,

NEC working on an Android tablet for suits? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

eviGroup’s Pad is a 10-inch 3G tablet with personality

Time to freshen up the old netbook market with a dash of Windows 7, a pinch of touchscreen functionality, and a generous helping of… Seline10? eviGroup, the crew responsible for the attractive 5-inch Wallet MID, has announced the 10.2-inch Pad, whose pièce de résistance is the Seline10 artificial intelligence software that’s been in development for a decade, if you can believe it. Its purpose is to act as your secretary / assistant, and while the novelty’s good, we all know how well Clippy worked out. Fret not though, it’s just an optional extra and shouldn’t detract from the appeal of a device that offers 3G and a/b/g WiFi connectivity, one VGA and three USB ports, multicard reader, webcam, microphone, and the old faithful 1.6GHz of Atom power. A price of under €500 is being touted, with further details set to emerge over the coming days.

Filed under:

eviGroup’s Pad is a 10-inch 3G tablet with personality originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Times Editor Leaks ‘Apple Slate’ News — Sorta

Bill Keller speaks to the digital group at The New York Times from Nieman Journalism Lab on Vimeo.

New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller may have let slip something about an upcoming Apple tablet — but you have to make a lot of assumptions to interpret his comment as confirmation that an Apple tablet is really coming. Speaking to the digital media group at the Times, Keller spoke of his hopes that the newsroom would get more involved in delivering the news via various online media:

I’m hoping we can get the newsroom more actively involved in the challenge of delivering our best journalism in the form of Times Reader, iPhone apps, WAP, or the impending Apple slate, or whatever comes after that.

Harvard’s Nieman Journalism Lab posted the video of Keller (embedded above — fast forward to 8:30 to see the quote) as well as a transcript of Keller’s talk.

Gawker pounced on the comment as, perhaps, an inadvertent case of letting the truth slip out. The Times has been rumored to have met with Apple on the future of digital media — as has Wired parent company Condé Nast — and many assume such discussions included talk of delivering the news to an upcoming, e-reader-like Apple device.

But the Apple tablet is also one of the most widely expected devices of the year, and it’s just possible that the executive editor of the Times maybe, you know, reads the news?

In short: It’s not much of a confirmation at all. But then, we all know an Apple tablet is coming, right? Right?

See Also:


Kohjinsha PA series tablet ships in November, value not guaranteed

Kohjinsha PA series tablet ships in November, value not guaranteed

Kohjinsha had a slew of portables on display at CEATEC earlier this month, including the classification-bending PA. Its design fits in somewhere between a MID and a tablet netbook, with its 4.8-inch, 1024 x 600 touchscreen and 1.33GHz Atom processor, but now we’re learning that it’s price roughly equates to a netbook and a MID. The device hits Japan early next month for ¥69,800, about $770. That’s certainly not cheap, but if you need one elsewhere you’re probably going to need to go through an importer, and their prices are ¥79,800 and up. That’s about $870. Yikes.

Filed under: ,

Kohjinsha PA series tablet ships in November, value not guaranteed originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Oct 2009 09:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

NT Times Exec Editor Talks Apple Tablet

I don’t suppose this would be news were it not part of a much larger pile of evidence that Apple is, in fact, prepping a tablet for early next year. During an in-house speech to his staff, New York Times executive editor, Bill Keller, said this,

We need to figure out the right journalistic product to deliver to mobile platforms and devices. I’m hoping we can get the newsroom more actively involved in the challenge of delivering our best journalism in the form of Times Reader, iPhone apps, WAP, or the impending Apple slate, or whatever comes after that.

See, toward the end there he made mention of that much anticipated device. The reason why people are jumping on what might otherwise be regarded as pure speculation is the fact that The Times is rumored to be a content partner for the device, so Keller and company may, in fact, have some inside information, something compounded by the fact that the editor never really expected the speech to get leaked to the Internet.

How could something like that happen in a room full of reporters, anyway?