iPhone 4 with Maxis: Pre-orders when?
We’ve pretty much correctly predicted when the iPhone 4 will be coming to Malaysia. Now we’ll look into our crystal ball to see roughly when Maxis will open pre-orders for the device.
In our earlier post we mentioned that the most likely date for a Malaysian iPhone 4 launch is August. We highlighted a few reasons why we think August will be the month, one of the main point is Maxis would want to do get the launch over and done with before Ramadhan kicks in – which will be roughly around the second week of August.
Ok, assuming the launch will be before Ramadhan (roughly around the first week of August), we can work backwards and roughly have a feel of when the pre-orders for the iPhone 4 will open. And judging by Maxis’ previous trends with pre-orders, you’re looking at probably a two-week buffer before the launch date.
This will give the PR and Marketing people in Maxis enough time to create buzz and run some PR stunts and God forbid, run another top 10 review program. Pre-order for the iPhone 4 won’t start more than two weeks before its launch as from our own experience starting pre-orders more than two weeks ahead of the actual launch date of any device will be challenging. PR and Marketing will have a difficult time maintaining the excitement.
Apple knew that the iPhone 4 is flawed
What did we tell you about the iPhone 4? The hardware is flawed.
External antennas are not new or “revolutionary” as Apple and Steve Jobs would like you to believe; and on the iPhone 4, the installation is terribly flawed causing signal reception to drop from two to five bars.
We explained that anything with an external antenna must have an insulating sheath covering the antenna to avoid contact with other objects causing performance to drop significantly. Unsurprisingly, we found out that a Professor who is an expert in antennas and mobile technology mentioned the same thing.
Now, through an apparent leak of an internal document, it appears that Apple actually knew about the flaw and created a procedure to handle customers who call in to complain about any reception issues.
It is revealed in the document that Apple is still adamant that there is nothing wrong with iPhone 4 and will continue telling customers that many other mobile phone ssuffer from the same problem. Also, if you’re hoping that Apple will be shipping the iPhone 4 with a free Bumper to solve the problem, you can forget about it. The document explicitly mentioned that Apple will not give free Bumpers, period.
In a country where you can almost sue anyone for anything (we’re talking about the US here), it might not be long until Apple gets hit with a class-action lawsuit from customers demanding compensation.
This will definitely make for some interesting blogging.
In the meantime, if you’re wondering when the flawed iPhone 4 will hit Malaysia, we predicted it will be here in August and Maxis COO seems to agree.
Head on after the jump to have a look at the leaked document.
A stand for your iPhone in the shape of a mini plunger. Nifty and cute. Works with almost anything lese with a flat surface too.
Click here for pre-orders. We’re not sure if they ship to Malaysia.
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DiGi stops preorders for MiFi device, officially available July 6
DiGi has closed its pre-booking for its MiFi device. Those who prebooked were informed by email this morning that plan and pricing details will be revealed next week 6th of July 2010.
If you’ve followed us earlier, we mentioned about the severe limitation of not being able to use it as a WiFi router while being charged. Shortly after that, DiGi amended its FAQ and says that it is now possible to do so.
With that charging limitation sorted out, DiGi’s MiFi would be a worthy contender for D-Link’s DIR-457 pocket router. We’ll find out more next week. More details on DiGi’s site here.
Samsung Epic 4G Slider WiMAX smartphone
Right after the introduction of Samsung Galaxy S, Samsung has been working overtime by introducing a total of 5 variants of the Android device! One of the notable ones is the Epic 4G which will be offered by Sprint. This also comes with 4G WiMAX capabilities just like the HTC EVO 4G.
Maxis COO says iPhone 4 could be here in August, iPad 3G in the works
Maxis COO, Jean Pascal van Overbeke broke the news that Maxis could be offering the iPhone 4 in Malaysia as early as August. However he didn’t reveal any pricing but mentions that the data plans would not be expensive.
This is what we have predicted earlier this month and we believe the pricing shouldn’t be too far off from Maxis offering for the iPhone 3GS.
Several days back, we also received confirmation that Maxis will be offering the 8GB version of the iPhone 3GS.
These signals that Maxis is preparing for imminent launch and we simply can’t wait for them to start accepting pre-orders soon. We also just hope that Apple would step up its supplies amidst strong demands.
In the same report, the COO also mentions that Maxis could be offering the iPad 3G but now it seems that decision depends on Apple right now.
[ Source ]
Latest FRF85B pushed to Nexus One the real Froyo deal?
Google is pushing out the another Android 2.2 Froyo update to Nexus One owners as highlighted earlier. If you have a Nexus One, do keep a look out for an update notification that will appear on your screen. The new update carries the build number FRF85B.
So why another update? According to Android Central, the first Froyo update numbered FRF50 wasn’t the final version. It seems that Google has pushed it first on Nexus One as a trial run experiment. Now with this upgrade, users will be getting the real deal although we are unsure if there’s any significant new features or they are just mere bug fixes.
Maybe this could be the reason other handset manufacturers are holding up. Hopefully this latest build is improved especially the external app storage option which seems to be left hanging in our review.
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HTC Desire, Legend & Wildfire to get Froyo in Q3
While Nexus One is getting another Froyo update as we speak, there’s some good news for HTC Android owners that bought a phone released this year. According to Recombu, HTC is currently busy updating its HTC Sense on Froyo and they are eager to distribute them soon. HTC mentions that the upcoming Froyo update is slated for HTC Desire, Legend and Wildfire beginning of Q3 this year.
This couldn’t have come in a better time as just recently there was some commotion over HTC Legend not getting Froyo. Since they mentioned early Q3, we hope it the updates are being pushed out as soon as next month.
[ Source ]
P1′s WiMAX 1NSiDE Plan revealed for WiMAX Inside 4G laptops & netbooks
The WiMAX Inside plan for WiMAX embedded laptops and netbooks have been revealed, which is called 1NSiDE and it goes for RM89/month with 15GB monthly data.
Download speeds are uncap which allows you to download up to 10Mbps. However they are quick to point out that the average download speed is between 1-3Mbps and upload 300-500Kbps which is roughly what we got for average speed during our Road Test.
Read the rest of this entry »
WiMAX Inside Laptop: The Outdoor Road Test
Laptops today are getting more demanding with users requiring both work and play on the go. With growing dependence on online application and services, connectivity has become a vital need. P1 is launching a new breed of laptops today with the Centrino Advanced-N + WiMAX 6250 embedded inside allowing users to connect to the Internet using WiMAX.
P1 claims this new breed of WiMAX-Inside laptops offer the ease of use and flexibility of WiFi but with the performance and range advantages of WiMAX. To find out if this claim is real, we took a WiMAX-Inside laptop on a roadtest. Our roadtest covered ride on the LRT and also a drive drove around on some of KL’s busiest highways.
Head on over to after the jump to see what we found out.