Category: iphone

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Smartone-Vodafone & iPhone in Hong Kong

Smartone-Vodafone logoLast Friday I reported that I was stuck at a Starbucks that did not have a reliable WiFi connection, so I decided to give the iPhone tethering a try. That trial ended up lasting 4 hours of work on my Mac.

When I decided to use it, I was not 100% certain how Smartone-Vodafone was going to bill me. I have one of their IOM (Internet on Mobile) plan that has since been discontinued, but very similar to the current “IOM Value Pack” except without a contract.

This plan comes with a HKD15.00/15MB rate for any HSDPA traffic outside of their “Internet Browsing” traffic. So I concluded that Smartone-Vodafone cannot tell the difference between regular local data traffic and tethered traffic from my Mac. Therefore and tethered traffic will be charged based on the HKD15.00/15MB rate (with a price cap of HKD298.00).

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Review: Hong Kong 720º on iPhone

Hong Kong 720º LogoToday Thomas B. (@thomashk) introduced me to an iPhone application, Hong Kong 720º, released by the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB). It is designed to promote Hong Kong attractions while assisting visitors with locating famous tourist spots, and getting a virtual tour of the attractions before they arrive to help plan their visits to Hong Kong. Best of all this application is available in the iTunes App Store for free.

The application contains QuickTime VR tours of all the major tourist locations, including Google Map of the location, English and Chinese phrase for the tourist to show taxi drivers or others when they are lost, recommended travel directions, and photo gallery of the tourist attraction.

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Mobil Carriers Differences in HK

Smartone-Vodafone logoBefore you jump into a mobile tariff contract (for 2 years or 15 months) with your new iPhone 3G or iPhone 3GS you need to understand that not all 3G (HSDPA) network are the same. This is especially important if you are going to buy a new iPhone 3GS.

3 HK LogoThe reason is because, unlike the iPhone 3G, the iPhone 3GS is capable of supporting 7.2 Mbps downlink and 5 Mbps uplink speeds. At the moment as far as I know the 3 HK HSDPA network is capable of supporting 3.6 Mbps downlink speed at most locations and 7.2 Mbps at certain locations. Where as Smartone-Vodafone’s HSDPA network is already capable of supporting 14 Mbps downlink at every location.

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iPhone 3GS Inventory in Hong Kong

iPhone3GSThis morning 3 HK, the official Apple carrier partner, began selling iPhone 3GS in Hong Kong.

At the same time Apple Online Store Hong Kong began selling versions without carrier-contracts at a price of HKD5388.00 and HKD6288 respectively.

Now (16;00) Apple has changed their estimate shipping duration from “24 hours” to “5 – 7 business days” for both models of the iPhone 3GS, which is an indication that the iPhone is sold out at their online store.

Similar reports are also coming in from various 3 HK store outlets throughout Hong Kong.

Although, we do not know how many units of either channels had sold but we can be sure that it was at latest more than 5. I bought mine from the Apple Online Store and I have heard from others also done the same. My order is still showing a delivery date of this coming Monday. I presume that means my order was prior to Apple Online Store Hong Kong selling out.

This further means that the likelihood for Authorized Apple Resellers to receive enough quantities to sell through their stores within next week is slim.

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Prices of iPhone 3GS in Hong Kong [Updated]

iPhone3GSThis afternoon 3 HK, Apple’s official carrier partner in Hong Kong released details of their iPhone 3GS tariff plans.

From the prices of these plans, it indicates that the “contract-free” version to be sold at Apple Online Store Hong Kong and other Authorized Apple Resellers will be around the same HKD5400.00 and HKD6200.00 prices respectively; as with the iPhone 3G, for the 16GB abd 32GB models.

These phones and tariff plans will be available to all starting tomorrow, July 10th, along with a 2-year contract. For existing 3 HK customers there will be 12-month contract at special upgrade prices. Details of which will most likely depends on the number of months into and the tariff plan of the existing contract.
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Review: AutoStich on iPhone

AutoStich LogoI was introduced to this cool little iPhone application, AutoStich, that enables easy creation of panorama (pano) photos on the go.

AutoStich Select PhotosMost pano maker applications on the Mac or on the iPhone (like PanoLab Pro) require the user to painstakingly aligns the different photos that make up the final pano image, including skewing any photos to adjust for the distortion (parallax), a side effect of not rotating the iPhone on the pano pivot point of the lens.

Amazingly, AutoStich does not require any assistance from the user, plus it is able to reorder the set of photos to their correct order, to ensure a smooth alignment of the final pano image.

At the price of FREE this little iPhone application is definitely worth more than its developer is asking for.

AutoStich Panorama Photo

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Apple Asia Sent Out iPhone 3GS Marketing Email

Just received the following email from Apple Asia. This was sent to several of my email addresses I have registered with Apple, including my MobileMe email address.

There are no further information as to pricing or whether this pending availability is only through 3 HK, Apple’s official carrier partner in Hong Kong.

I am hoping that since the email is from Apple Asia, it will mean that the iPhone 3GS will be available at the same time through Apple Online Store Hong Kong.

There are currently rumors in Hong Kong stating that the Friday launch is exclusive to 3 HK for a fix period; this may be as long as the wait non-3 HK customers (or want to be customers) had to wait for the iPhone 3G last year.

Marketing Email from Apple Asia

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Now Official, iPhone 3GS in Hong Kong

iPhone 3G With 3.0Through a press release received by WinandMac, Apple’s official carrier partner in Hong Kong, 3 HK, has announced that it will begin selling iPhone 3GS on July 10th. Detail pricing for the two models (16GB and 32GB) will be announced on July 9, 2009, 15:00 HK time.

I am still trying to confirm with my sources whether Authorized Apple Resellers in Hong Kong and Apple Online Store Hong Kong will begin selling the iPhone 3GS also on July 10, 2009.

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Should Carriers Have Exclusivity on Handsets

Jarrett Rush of The Dallas Morning News posted the short post in the Opinion Blog of the newspaper web site titled, Should AT&T be allowed to be the iPhone’s exclusive carrier?. This sparked 65 comments on the newspaper web site, several hours ago it made it to the front page on Digg, which collected 191 more comments; as of this writing.

The last comment on Digg being mine, which I had copied here as I did not have enough time to edit my original comment.

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