iPhone 4G

It's real. Apple officially asked for the product back from Gizmodo.

Rumors: Google to Sell Unlocked Nexus One for $530, $180 W/2-Year T-Mobile Contract

Rumors say that Google will sell the Nexus One (aka Google phone) for $530 unlocked. A cheaper version is available at $180, but will require a 2-year T-Mobile contract. Here's the round up of other rumors regarding the phone:

• Existing T-Mo customers can’t keep their current plan if they want a subsidized phone.
• The subsidized price only works on accounts with single lines. Family plans, Flexpay, SmartAccess and KidConnect plans must buy the phone at the full $530 unlocked price.
• You can onliy buy five Nexus Ones per Google account.
• Looks like it can be shipped outside the U.S.
• It’ll be sold at google.com/phone.
• And if you buy the Nexus One at the subsidized price and cancel before 120 days have passed, you have to pay the difference — $350 — or return the phone to Google.

[iPhone Blog]

Google Phone is a Go (aka Nexus One)

At first it was just a rumor. Then people came out saying they've heard all about it. Now Google is handing it out to employees! Apparently the phone will be available directly from Google. It will be made my HTC and will be called Nexus One.

Here's the rundown of what is known so far:

• The Wall Street Journal says it's made by HTC and called the Nexus One. It'll be sold online, directly by Google. You'll have to get your own cell service (which suggests it's an unlocked device). Curiously, the WSJ says, "unlike the more than half-dozen Android phones made by phone manufacturers today, Google designed virtually the entire software experience behind the phone." Sounds weird, since they designed the look and feel of the software on the Droid and G1 too, except that our source had told us before that the current Android we know isn't the "real" Android. Also odd sounding: that name, Nexus One. But maybe not that odd.

• Google confirmed they handed out "a device that combines innovative hardware from a partner with software that runs on Android to experiment with new mobile features and capabilities and we shared this device with Google employees across the globe."

• A bunch of Google employees tweeted stuff like the phone is "like an iPhone on beautifying steroids."

• It's supposedly an unlocked GSM phone running Android 2.1, powered by the crazyfast Snapdragon processor, with an OLED touchscreen (no keyboard), dual mics (for killing background noise), and enhanced voice-to-text powers. It's gonna be alllll Google branding. And it's probably coming out in January. Which jives with what our source saw a couple weeks ago, a huge screen running a brand new version of Android unlike anything out there.

• We heard it was referred to, at least in some capacity in the staff meeting where they were handed out, as the "Passion."

Yea! that's a lot of awesomeness for a phone that people thought didn't exist. Unlocked and open sounds just like Google's style. NOW, the iPhone might have some competition...[Gizmodo]

Here are some more pictures to drool over (click the picture for Engadget's gallery):

Netflix to Bring 'Watch it Instantly' to iPhones, Wii?

According to Multichannel News, rumors are popping up saying that Netflix is trying to bring streaming video to the iPhone and Nintendo Wii.

Netflix, ahead of pay-TV providers, continues extending its own “TV Everywhere” strategy to more devices.

Next up: The company will soon offer the Watch Instantly video-streaming feature on Apple iPhones and iPod Touch devices and the Nintendo Wii gaming console, according to an industry executive familiar with Netflix’s plans. (Netflix wouldn’t confirm the info, with a rep saying it declines to comment on “rumors or speculation.”)

[MCN] [image via ZatzNotFunny]

3rd Generation iPhone Diagram

TGRBlog has put together this diagram of some the new features that may or may not show up on the upcoming 3rd generation iPhone. Looking awesome!

iTunes Gets Ready for iPhone 3.0, Potential 32GB iPhones?

The latest version of iTunes (8.2) is now available for download. There are some bug fixes as usual, but the biggest thing is that the update now makes your iTunes ready for the new iPhone OS 3.0 which should come out at WWDC on June 8th (as you can see from our generic countdown). [image from Lifehacker]

Speaking of June 8th, that could very well be the date that Apple officially announces that they will be releasing a new iPhone to go along with the new firmware. Apparently the new hardware will have a serious upgrade as well. According to Engadget, Apple has required the right to release a phone or phones with 32 GB hard drives.

4GB to 32GB -- that's one hell of a range, but we're hearing from a trusted source that new iPhones in 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB capacities just garnered approval by the PCS Type Review Certification Board, the standards body responsible for certificating handsets for use with some carriers (AT&T, for instance).

Looks like everything is coming along smoothly on this first day of June. A iPhone Summer is way better than a white Christmas!

AT&T iPhone Plan Price Drop Rumors

Rumors say today that AT&T may create a price drop for the entry level iPhone plan from $69 to $59 a month. This would be more than likely the case for the iPhone 3G and would take place over the summer when the new supposed iPhone is released.

For customers, this would be a net savings of $120 a year. For AT&T, they would be making room for new inventory of iPhones and attracting new customers for the cheaper iPhone 3G plan. Most likely, the new iPhone plan would be $69 a month and old iPhone plans would either stay the same. There's no reason to drop the old phone's price plan because, well, they don't make them any more and the plan only exists for people who still have that old phone. They can't attract any new customers by lowering that plan.

But of course this is all rumor. [PC World]

Apple To Buy Twitter? [Rumors]

The latest Apple rumor involves Twitter. According to TUAW, Apple is considering buying Twitter for $700 Million. All in all, there is no reason for Apple to buy Twitter. It does nothing for them financially and won't bring in customers. Google's attempt to buy Twitter recently was turned down and there doesn't seem to be a good enough reason for Twitter to accept this offer much less for Apple to even try to make the acquisition. Still, a relatively reliable source has told TUAW,

"Apple is in late-stage negotiations to buy Twitter and is hoping to announce it at WWDC in June."

Apple to Release iPhone Lite & Media Pad on Verizon?

Businessweek has the latest Apple rumor suggesting that the company will release a new iPhone Lite and a "Media Pad" media player on the Verizon Network. These will be brand new gadgets and available only for the Verizon Network. Of course this is all rumor, but if a iPhone was to make it's way to the best network in the North East, it would be a major reason for cell phone users to make their way to Verizon. AT&T's customer count blew up thanks to the iPhone and without that exclusivity, they could fall further away from Verizon (nationwide). The 7" inch media pad rumor is also interesting in that it could very well be the first "netbook" called by a different name and distributed by Apple. Very exciting news all around.

iPhone Rumors Continue

The latest rumors for the new (now improbable?) iPhone is that it will support HD video and have Apple TV-like behaviors. The upgrade to supporting HD video is a obvious upgrade to make. But the Apple TV behavior is very interesting.

What this could mean is that the iPhone or iPod Touch could act as a make-shift Apple TV. They envision plugging your iPhone into an Apple AV Dock connected to your HDTV. This would then be able to stream video over Wi-Fi from your computer's iTunes library. This added functionality would skip the time-consuming step of syncing HD videos to the device itself and replicate some of the behavior of the Apple TV.

[MacRumors; image via Gizmodo]

More iPhone Rumors

New rumors indicate that Apple will release a new iPhone in June that will have a significantly improved camera that can take both stills and video. This rumor also says that there will be a front facing camera to enable video conferencing! Just a rumor, but boy, oh, boy would this be fun! [iPhone blog]

New iPhone Details Coming From Someone "high-up" at AT&T

BoyGeniusReport has this information from someone "pretty high-up" over at AT&T about the announcement for the new iPhone that is supposedly coming out in June. Here are the detailed updates.

• New iPhone announcement around mid-June (duh)
• New iPhone will be faster and have a more seamless experience unmatched by any device (could be just talking about 3.0, but we think it’s also a new iPhone)
• U-Verse iPhone application; will allow control of your home DVR (play, pause, rewind, etc.)
• Nothing official is being confirmed, but they said that people should prep for an exciting time this summer.
• AT&T is said to be working with Apple to create a unified product with an unparalleled experience across all their products and services.
• Apple’s 3.0 software should tell us where the iPhone platform is going… uh, k?
• They said customers shouldn’t need to choose from AT&T’s high-end devices because of features, they should choose based on preferences. The gap in capability should be filled with the new iPhone. Ok, bets on slide out QWERTY, autofocus camera, video sharing, blah blah?
• Seems like the higher speed HSDPA (7.2Mbps) is being hinted at too which should confirm the earlier rumors of the new Infineon chipset.
• The $99 3G netbook will start selling this summer, and the first one won’t be a Windows OS.

Granted that not all off the above will hold true, it seems like Apple is set to have a great summer.

17" iMac Coming Soon? For $899?

Leak, leak, leak. Everything leaks these days. Including this image for a 17" iMac for the low low low (for Apple) price of $899.

iPhone 3.0 Rumors

Here we go...

MacRumors is saying we might be see a slew of iPhone user's most wanted lists coming to fruition. Yes, including copy and paste!'

First off, a better way to manage applications (Springboard). This would allow users to more easily manage their standard applications and the one's you download. Maybe they will let us drop some of the standard apps that we never use (stocks, YouTube, etc.)

Second, is push notification. We were supposed to be getting push notification way back when iPhone OS 2.0 was first introduced. It never really worked out and so the rumors say that we may be soon seeing it come out.

Third, a compass. Android G1 users have a compass app. A compass would require support for a magnetometer and wouldn't you know it, Apple is apparently working on building it. It's cool, not super useful to some (I'd probably put it in that category above with stocks and YouTube).

Finally, copy and paste. Now, the basis for this rumor is the same as the other mentioned above. They are all coming from the BoyGeniousReport. The same report has originally claimed that MMS and tethering via usb and bluetooth were coming to OS 3.0. More and more, it looks like those rumors are becoming 100% accurate. Hence, perhaps the above mentioned rumors will come true as well?OS 2.0 was a big step up from the original iPhone OS (hence the whole digit upgrade), so why shouldn't 3.0 be a big upgrade as well? I don't think all of these rumors will come true, but it seems like copy and paste is such a big deal to all iPhone users that it is virtually impossible that Apple would not be working on it. I'm keeping hope alive...(at least til it dies on March 17th) [MacRumors]