Camera Phones Plaza

According to Sprint, Samsung Instinct broke records after the release on the market. It was released on June 20 and became the fastest-selling EVDO handset in the first week of availability.The high-end functionalities that we saw during the Sprint’s live presentation we were invited at, plus the amazing price of just $129.99 with a 2-year contract after a $100 mail-in rebate, convinced us of its upcoming success, but we would expect some numbers from Sprint, to backup its announcement.
And now it’s iPhone 3G’s turn to prove what it is capable of.

The latest Apple’s press release says that the company sold 1 million new iPhones with 3G capability in the first weekend, three days after the release to be more exactly, which is really impressive, but as we’ve expected, because the iPhone 3G had a longer promoting campaign than Samsung Instinct, plus that Apple had the first version available since a long time on the market.



iPhone 3G appeared at AT&T on July 11, at $200 for the 8GB model and $300 for the 16GB version with more storage, and is not available in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland,
Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New
Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, US and France, totalizing 21 countries. The price includes a 2-year contract.

"iPhone 3G had a stunning opening weekend," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "It took 74 days to sell the first one million original iPhones, so the new iPhone 3G is clearly off to a great start around the world."

The 3G technology support makes the transfer speeds 2 times faster than the previous model, and in addition it brings also built-in GPS, iPhone 2.0 software supporting Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, and access to 800 third party applications.

On July 11, the cool new iPhone 3G will be released on the market at a starting price of $199 via AT&T US for a new 2-year plan. Besides United States, the other countries that will have it starting on the same date are: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and UK.



TeliaSonera, the telecommunication services provider for Nordic countries, Baltic countries, Spain, Russia and Turkey, announced that it will introduce the iPhone 3G on July 11 in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, while later this summer it will arrive also in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

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In addition to the known iPhone functionalities, the 3G-nabled model brings 2 times faster transfer speeds, built-in GPS module, the iPhone 2.0 software with Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync support, and lots of cool third party applications developed with the help of iPhone SDK.
It measures 4.5 x 2.4 x 0.48 inches at 4.7 ounces and sports a 3.5-inch multi-touch display.

Among its large capabilities list we enumerate accelerometer, proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, 5 hours talk time in 3G mode, 10 hours talk time in 2G mode, 300 hours standby, 7 hours video playback time, GPS, built-in 2MP camera, and picture geotagging. More 3G iPhone specs are available on BindApple.

The other countries that will welcome the new iPhone 3G are listed on the Apple's website.
Update: The 8GB model will be available at $199 and the 16GB model at $299, with the AT&T 2-year contract.

The winners of the Design The Next iPhone, Win The Next iPhone Contest were announced in The Free iPod + iPhone Book 4, a magazine designed as a comprehensive resource of the latest iPod and iPhone news including sneak peaks, tutorials, pictures submitted by iLounge’s readers, and special announcements.



The winners of the Next iPhone contest who submitted cool concepts representing their vision of how the future iPhone model will look like and what would be its best functionalities, are:

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iPhone twist designed by Christopher Doan from Toronto, Canada. He won the Grand Prize consisting of 1 2008 iPhone. Christopher sees the next iPhone as a handset that transforms into a smart device at a twist of your hand. When flipped open it reveals a touch-sensitive keyboard and a multi-touchpad, while if you twist and close it back, it becomes the full-featured iPhone that you already know.



iPhone Twist has 3G support, Bluetooth, fast wireless connectivity, Mobile iChat for video conferences, picture-to-text conversion tool, e-book/PDF reader, native to-do lists, multimedia player, copy-paste function, and VoIP support.



Heir Apparent was created by Robert Davis Cornelius from North Carolina, USA, who the Runner-Up of $100 iTunes Gift Card for the thin, crystal clear handset design, featuring Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard operating system, 3G, 64GB hard drive, a built-in 5MP camera and customizable user interface.



iPhone shuffle designed by Michael Hornbek from Hornslet, Denmark won the Grand Prize, 1 2008 iPhone. The design concept here is simple but amazing. iPhone shuffle has no display and calls random people.



iPhone 3G, the Aaron Besson’s version, a guy from Trinidad + Tobago, received the Grand Prize consisting of 1 2008 iPhone, while
iPhone Mirage from John Mars (Ballston Lake, New York, USA) won the Runner-Up of $100 iTunes Gift Card.



Iphone Mirage has a glossy black exterior and when turned On the logo and home button come to life and change color depending on the iPhone’s status. Mirage would feature also haptics, like the Samsung Instinct for a tactile feedback at fingers’ touch, stylus, handwriting recognition, biometric fingerprint, induction surface for cable-free charging, a built-in 1.3MP camera for video conferences, and a built-in 5MP camera with flash and zooming functionality at a pinch of the screen.



Aaron Besson’s iPhone 3G concept measures 4 x 2.75 x 0.55 inches meaning smaller and lighter than the known model, and sports a black satin housing with chrome buttons. There would be a built-in 3MP camera with LED flash, and a user-configurable sliding QWERTY keyboard featuring haptics.

Remember the recent video demonstration from M80 of the GPS capability of Samsung Instinct and Apple iPhone? Here are the next 4 showing the Internet connectivity, live TV, how to shoot a video and how fast you can download a song with both handsets:



The problem with the Internet connectivity at Apple’s iPhone is explained like this:
Working on AT&T’s Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution, a 2.75G standard, iPhone proves high-speed transfer rates but there is a delay specific to packet-switched communications, which consists of routing blocks of data (packets) between nodes over data links shared with other traffic, and in each of these network nodes the packets are queued or buffered, which produces the variable delay, leading to transfer speeds of up to 236.8 kbit/s for 4 timeslots.

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With 3G EV-DO Rev A at Samsung Instinct, things are a bit different because this type of connectivity is based on Code Division Multiple Access and Time Division Multiple Access techniques, which increase the user’s throughput and the system’s throughput, by allowing several data transmitters to send simultaneously via the single communication channel. Transmitters have codes assigned and they have to take turn in sending information with the access divided by time.
The EV-DO channel has a bandwidth of 1.25 MHz and the Revision A standard improves the latency increasing the rates on the forward link up to 3.1 Mbit/s and on reverse link up to 1.8 Mbit/s.









About the other aspect, music download, to be able to get music with the Samsung Instinct you’d have to get it from Sprint’s Power Vision Network.
With the iPhone you have to tap the iTunes icon to go on iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store and browse, preview, buy and download what you like for your collection, but for this to work you have to be in a Wi-Fi hot spot and it seems that it doesn’t work every time...

(Source: Techpin.com)

Schmap is a famous US publisher of several applications and services designed to improve our travel experiences.
Among these useful tools we mention the Schmap Guides series of digital travel guides including dynamic maps with suggested tours, text description and pictures from different reviews of public attractions, restaurants, hotels, parks, theaters, and museums, all covering 200 destinations in US, Europe, Australia, Canada and New Zeeland. These guides can be found online or downloaded on your mobile computer and browsed via Schmap 2.0 application.



One of the features of Schmap Guides is that it allows you to publish your own interactive online maps with pictures and reviews from your trips, for sharing with the others.
Also, with Schmap Widgets you can show maps with event schedules like concert tours or sports, on websites or blogs.

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The latest Schmap announced by the company is the special application designed for the iPhone and iPod touch, which comes with the City Guides and Local Search features enabled via Rotate’n Map. When you turn your iPhone sideways this application comes to life displaying all the places on the map. It updates dynamically as you scroll the list on the right.

With Schmap Rotate'n Map enabled on your iPhone you can browse through 100 cities from all over the world and read reviews or watch pictures with different locations to decide the perfect vacation.
You can find all you need, from coffee shops and banks to golf courses and dentists, and all you have to do to locate these on a map is to turn your handset sideways.