Techy Kid

Globe Telecoms: Accepting Pre-registrations for the iPhone 4

Globe now accepts pre-registrations for iPhone 4. On Globe’s iPhone 4 microsite, they have a form there that you could fill out to let them know you are interested with the iPhone 4. I noticed in the form that they’re asking from what telecoms provider you are currently with and if you are a postpaid or a prepaid subscriber. They’re also asking if you’re a current iPhone 3G/3GS user.

It’s quite disappointing though that they do not have any information (on the website) on the pricing of the iPhone 4. There’s also no mention of a specific date when will the iPhone 4 be officially launched here in the Philippines.

Take note that Globe is not taking those form submissions as pre-orders. They just like to know how many are interested and how many subscribers from other networks that will probably change to Globe Telecoms. You will receive information from Globe when you can pre-order online.

If you’re currently a Globe Telecom subscriber, you need to get a micro-SIM. Or you can just have you existing cut from stores that offer that have micro-SIM cutters. Read more of the FAQs of iPhone 4 pre-registration in Globe’s microsite.

Blackberry Curve 3G 9300 is BlackBerry OS 6-ready

After the announcement of BlackBerry Torch and the BlackBerry OS 6, RIM (Research in Motion) now comes up wit the BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300. The BlackBerry Curve 3G, unlike the BlackBerry Curve 8520, will support HSDPA (yes to high-speed 3G!)

Even though the BlackBerry Curve 3G will be shipped with BlackBerry 5, its hardware is BlackBerry 6-ready. This smartphone is already available in Canada from Rogers Wireless at $399.99 (phone only and without contract). However, you can get it for as low as $79.99 (with a 3-year contract).

BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300 Specifications and Features:

• support for 3G network and Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE networks: 850/900/1800/1900MHz
• Optical trackpad
• Full QWERTY keyboard with backlight
• Simultaneous voice and data
• Email and text messaging
• BlackBerry Messenger
• Instant Messaging
• Phone
• Browser
• 2MP Camera with fixed focus (with flash and digital zoom) and video recording
• 3.5mm headphone jack
• Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n)
• GPS and BlackBerry Maps
• Media player (Video formats: MPEG4, H.263, H.264, WMV9) (Audio formats: MP3, AMR-NB, AAC-LC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, Flac, Ogg Vorbis)
• Organizer
• Bluetooth
• Tethered modem
• 2.4″ Transmissive TFT LCD display with 320×240 pixels resolution (65K colors)
• 256 MB flash memory/256 MB SDRAM
• Supports microSD/microSDHC to expand memory (expandable up to 32GB)
• Battery: 1150mAHr removable/rechargeable lithium-ion cell (Stand-by time: up to 19 days, Talk time: up to 5.5 hours, Music playback: up to 29 hours)

Unlock your iPhone 4 with Ultrasn0w 1.0-1

The Dev team just released Ultrasn0w 1.0-1 which will unlock the iPhone 4 (01.59 baseband), iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS (basebands 04.26.08, 05.11.07, 05.12.01, and 05.13.04). This is great news for those who would like to use their respective iPhones on a different carrier but are not using the factory unlocked iPhones.

Your first step is to jailbreak the iPhone via JailBreak Me. Install Ultrasn0w by:

1. On your iPhone, open Cydia
2. Add this source: repo666.ultrasn0w.com
3. Install Ultrasn0w
4. Restart your iPhone

BlackBerry Torch: Touchscreen phone with slide-out QWERTY keyboard

BlackBerry Torch is the first mobile phone from RIM (Research in Motion) that will run the BlackBerry 6 OS. The BB Torch has a 3.2″ touch screen with a resolution of 480×360 and has a slide-out full QWERTY keyboard. Its internal memory storage is 4GB and you can expand the storage with a micro SD card.

The BlackBerry 6 OS has a redesigned UI. What’s great about that is that it works well with the touch screen and the trackpad. The messaging capabilities of BB 6 OS shall simplify the management of your RSS feeds and social networking because of its integration to the BlackBerry Messenger, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and other instant messaging apps that are available in the BB Torch. The BB 6 OS has dedicated applications for YouTube and podcasts.

Current BlackBerry users will probably be excited to upgrade to BlackBerry Torch because of the new WebKit-based browser. The new browser features the following:

• quick rendering of HTML pages
• tabbed browsing
• double-tap to zoom (intelligently wrap text in a column while maintaining the placement of a page’s key elements)
• pinch to zoom

BlackBerry 6 OS also has Universal search, which reminds me of the Spotlight Search in the iPhone. The Universal Search in BB 6 OS will allow the users to search email, messages, contacts, music, videos and other stuff on a BlackBerry. You can also use it to search the internet and to search for apps in the BlackBerry App World.

Features of BlackBerry Torch

Elegant styling, measuring approx. 4.4″ (5.8″ open) x 2.4″ x .57″ and weighing 5.68 ounces
- 3.2″ 360×480 capacitive touch screen display
- 35 key full QWERTY backlit slide-out keyboard
- Optical trackpad
- Powerful 624 Mhz processor with 512 MB Flash memory
- 4 GB built-in memory storage plus a microSD/SDHD memory card slot that supports up to 32 GB cards (4 GB microSD is included in the box when purchased)
- 5 MP camera with flash, continuous auto focus, image stabilization, scene modes, geo-tagging and zoom
- video recording at up to 640×480 resolution
- GPS
- Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n)
- 3.5mm stereo headset jack
- Bluetooth 2.1
- voice activated dialing
- New BlackBerry Desktop Software 6
- Wi-Fi Music Sync (allow users to view their entire iTunes or Windows Media Player music libraries with their BlackBerry phone)
- Tri-band HSDPA (3G) and quad-band EDGE support
- Removable, rechargeable 1300 mAhr battery (5.8 hours of talk time on 3G networks / 30 hours of audio playback / 6 hours of video playback)

Pricing and Availability
This phone will be available for $199.99 with a 2-year plan from AT&T. BB Torch will be available on August 12 at AT&T, Best Buy, Wal-Mart and RadioShack.

JailBreakMe 2.0: Jailbreak your iPhone and iPad

JailBreakMe 2.0 is a jailbreak available for iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G and iPad on iOS 4, iOS 4.0.1, and iPad iOS 3.21. Here’s the step-by-step procedure in jailbreaking your iPhone or iPad.

1. Sync your iPhone/iPad with iTunes.
2. On your iPhone, open Safari
3. Go to jailbreakme.com
4. Slide to Jailbreak.
5. Follow further instructions from JailBreakMe 2.0

Even if I would like to jailbreak my iPhone 3G now, I still would like to wait for the iOS 4.1 update because of the issue of iOS 4 slows down the iPhone 3G.

iOS4 slows down the iPhone 3G

Ever since I’ve installed iOS4, my iPhone 3G has been quite slow. And there are other users who are experiencing it. Some of them just downgraded their respective phones to iPhone version 3.1.3. Some users have reported that the Spotlight Search is the main suspect on why iPhone 3G users are experiencing this.

Apple will be investigating this problem as reported in WSJ.

I guess Apple will be releasing a software update to fix this issue. For the mean time, why don’t you try the solution posted in LifeHacker. First, you need to disable spotlight searches. Go to Settings > General > Home Button > Spotlight Search. Then, disable all the options there by clicking on each item.

One user said that a double-hard reset (in addition to disabling most of the options in the spotlight search) worked for him. In case you don’t know how to do a hard reset, just press the Home button and the Sleep/Wake button simultaneously. Wait until the Apple logo appears before you release the keys.

Jailbreaking your iPhone will void your warranty

Even if it was declared in the USA that jailbreaking the iPhone is legal, it will still void your warranty. If you think that the warranty of your iPhone is important to you, then avoid jailbreaking it. This also goes for those who bought the Apple Care for iPhone. You would not want to throw your Apple Care into waste because you want to add applications to your iPhone that are not available in the App Store.

iPhone 4: Launching in 17 more countries this Friday

Apple iPhone 4 will be launching in 17 more countries this coming Friday. Those 17 countries are:

Australia
Austria
Belgium
Canada
Denmark
Finland
Hong Kong
Ireland
Italy
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Norway
New Zealand
Singapore
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland

Currently, the iPhone 4 is only available in US, UK, France, Germany, and Japan. The Philippines is still not yet included in the list. But you can always purchase an unlocked iPhone 4 in Singapore or Hong Kong.