Smartphone

Tvc-mall.com (via CydiaBlog) has some “iPhone 5” cases for sale (at just $1.58 each!) that seem to align with the many, many, many, many next generation iPhone body part leaks. One thing to remember: Just because a case maker is producing cases, does not mean the next generation iPhone will fit into it.

As you can see, the cases are longer to accommodate the larger 4-inch display and have a smaller dock connector hole at the bottom. The speaker holes are bigger with the addition of the headphone jack rumored to be moving down south.

If you are one of the 65 percent of smartphone owners who are already signed up for the next iPhone, are you buying a case for it yet?

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…For the first time ever, two-thirds of new phone acquirers are buying smartphones.

Smartphone use is exploding in the United States, while PC sales are dropping. If 66 percent of mobile phone buyers purchase smartphones, and 36.3-percent of them get the iPhone, then that means almost a quarter of all phones bought in the U.S. are iPhones. That also means 36 percent of the purchased phones run Android OS.

More from Nielsen, including the incredibly skewed graphic, is below—which gives Symbian, Palm and Windows 7 devices almost the same amount of “fill” at 2.8-percent as Apple’s 34 percent.

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9to5Mac first posted the back and front plates for what is now thought to be the next-generation iPhone in May, and then we immediately published several more high-resolution images comparing the black and white versions of the next-generation iPhone’s back. Since then, many more casings and schematics have shown up with the same design.  It is not clear if these are all coming out of the Foxconn plant or if these are all copycats of the original leaks.

Today, KitGuru offers a few more “early iPhone” images that it recently spotted. A slew of full length, side view, comparison, and connector shots are available below—check ’em out:

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The 3D renders above, which were posted by Flickr user Martin uit Utrecht, are modeled in Rhinoceros 3D. They were deemed good enough that numerous websites published them, assuming they were real shots of the next-generation iPhone. As noted by the poster, the renderings are based on leaked photos and video of what most believe to be the next-generation iPhone’s metal back. The models also have other elements present in the leaked casings, including: a smaller dock connector, redesigned speaker grills, and a repositioned headphone jack.

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According to a report from AllThingsD, Verizon Wireless will soon change the way it charges customers for cellular/data plans in a major way. Rather than charging customers for phones calls or messages sent, the report claimed Verizon would charge “almost exclusively based on how much data” is consumed. The new “Share Everything” plans will also be the first in the United States that allows users to share their data with up to 10 devices through a single account:

The plans, known as “Share Everything,” allow users an unlimited number of calls and texts and also allow data usage to be pooled among up to 10 devices on one account. With the move, Verizon becomes the first U.S. carrier to offer the ability for customers to share a bucket of data across multiple devices.

AllThingsD noted that AT&T also has plans for shared data options, but it did not provide more details. As for Verizon’s new plans, which will apparently kick-in June 28, the report explained the cost of the data plan and pricing metrics based on a per-device fee. In other words, you will have to pay roughly $40 per smartphone ($10 per tablet), and then opt for either a $50 1GB data plan or a $100 10GB plan. While the report claimed the new pricing should not impact the cost of plans for users who continue consuming the same amount of data, it is clear that those signing a new plan for a single smartphone are getting a bit less for their money:

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We posted high-resolution images of both the black and white versions of the next-generation iPhone back plate yesterday. Although we could determine many new features of the device, such as the redesigned speaker grills, repositioned earphone jack, and FaceTime camera, the exact display dimensions are still unknown. We noted one of our images depicted what appears to be the next-generation iPhone front glass with enough room for the much-rumored, roughly 4-inch display, but new schematics surfaced today (via Cydia Blog) that show a diagonal opening of just slightly over 4-inches. The designs also shows the repositioned FaceTime camera above the earpiece.

Although calculations of the display show an opening less than 0.1-inch over 4-inches, the display could likely measure a flat 4-inches diagonally as the front panel is typically slightly larger than the display. We noted yesterday that our sources informed us that the next-generation iPhone front glass images we posted feature the same width of the current iPhones, which would comfortably allow for an approximate 16:9 aspect ratio. We cannot confirm the schematic is 100 percent legit, or not just a past prototype, but also all the recent evidence points to a 4-inch next-generation iPhone that we expect to see this October.

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Today, research firm IDC published its Q1 2012 report of top mobile phone and smartphone shipments worldwide. While Apple was able to post impressive growth with a high of 8.8-percent of the total mobile phone market (up from 4.6-percent a year ago) and 24.2-percent of the global smartphone market (up from 18.3-percent), Samsung was able overtake Apple for the top spot with a year-over-year change of 267 percent and 29.1-percent of the total smartphone market. Samsung also took the top spot of global mobile phone marketshare from Nokia for the first time since 2004.

Meanwhile, the worldwide smartphone market grew 42.5% year over year in 1Q12, as Samsung overtook Apple for the smartphone leadership position. Vendors shipped 144.9 million smartphones in 1Q12 compared to 101.7 million units in 1Q11. The 42.5% year-over-year growth was 1% higher than IDC’s forecast of 41.5% for the quarter, and lower than the 57.4% growth in the fourth quarter of 2011

In terms of shipments among smartphone vendors, Apple took the second spot behind Samsung up from 18.6 million units in Q1 2011 to 35.1 million in Q1 2012. Apple was only behind Samsung with 42.2 million units shipped, up from just 11.5 million a year ago.

The company does not publicly release shipments from Samsung, and IDC’s number of 42.2 million smartphones shipped during Q1 is significantly more than the 32 million estimated by IHS iSuppli just days ago. If IHS’s estimate were correct, it would put Samsung much closer to the 35.1 million devices Apple confirmed it shipped sold during the quarter.

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AT&T is still the “iPhone network,” according to numbers  from its quarterly earnings report. AT&T sold 5.5 million smartphones in the quarter, but 4.3 million of the smartphones activated were iPhones. That means the iPhone represented a whopping 78 percent of total smartphone sales (although some “iPhone activations” could have been hand me downs). Additionally, AT&T’s postpaid customers are almost 60 percent smartphone customers, which means AT&T’s iPhone customers represent a huge percentage of its base—nearly 5o percent and growing.

Verizon announced numbers last week including 3.2 million iPhones sold. While the iPhone is down significantly from the holiday quarter, it is up from 3.6 million activations in Q1 2011. Apple’s earnings will be reported at the end of the day today.

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An interesting study out of Strategy Analytics today says that United States and United Kingdom smartphone owners “prefer device screens in the 4.0-inch to 4.5-inch range, as long as the device is also thin.”

“Almost 90 percent of existing smartphone owners surveyed chose a prototype smartphone with a display larger than their current device,” commented Paul Brown, a Director in the Strategy Analytics User Experience Practice. “This trend is driven by increased mobile web browsing ability, as well as engaging video and gaming experiences.”

Not surprisingly, women overall chose smaller phones than men, and existing Android users chose bigger screens than iPhone users. Still, it seems Apple’s customers would prefer a bigger screen.

Kevin Nolan, Vice-President for the User Experience Practice at Strategy Analytics, added, “In order for smartphone owners to adopt larger devices, it is important for handset manufacturers to ensure that mobile devices are not too heavy and that the devices remain thin enough for purses and pockets.”

The data seems to line up with our January poll of 9to5Mac readers in which the majority prefers the next iPhone to be 4-inches or more:

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Officially from the T-Mobile Blog:

Will refarming make your network compatible with the iPhone? And will you stop offering 2G services?
A nice side benefit of the refarming effort is that our 4G network will be compatible with a broader range of devices, including the iPhone. The other important benefit of our network modernization effort is the coverage improvements it will deliver, especially when it comes to in-home coverage. As we refarm our 1900 spectrum, we will continue to fully support our customers with 2G devices.

The move is a result of the “re-farming spectrum” from the botched AT&T merger.

We are also going to make more effective use of the spectrum we already have by refarming a portion of our 1900 MHz PCS spectrum to support HSPA+ services, which frees up additional AWS spectrum for LTE. With the AT&T breakup spectrum factored in, T-Mobile will have sufficient spectrum to roll out LTE with 20MHz to about 75% of the top 25 markets in 2013. Most remaining markets will have 10MHz. Our course, we’d love to have more spectrum to further strengthen our position to compete in the marketplace.

T-Mobile executives told analysts as much last month, but this is the first official word on T-Mobile’s website. We are hearing that 3G iPhone owners on T-Mobile could start seeing access in areas like Philadelphia in a matter of weeks.

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Here is something that falls squarely in the “like” category (for $70):

The ultimate iPhone case has just been reborn. Taking you back to the days of Military Photographers and their Leica rangefinders, the iCA Military Edition has arrived in solid black.

Transform your iPhone 4/s into a classic photojournalist’s rangefinder complete with viewfinder and top mounted shutter button. Attach the available wide, macro or fisheye lenses to create incredible effects unavailable in the iPhone by itself.

Step back in time to the days of classically proportioned cameras that fit your hand like a glove, and do it all with one product : the Gizmon iCA Military Edition.

Constructed of 23 Durable Polycarbonate pieces, the Military iCA wraps itself around your iPhone completely, creating an entirely new Camera. The iCA blurs the line between phone and camera by combining them both.

A detachable tripod mount is great for longer exposures and the soft fabric bag will protect the Camera when not in use.

It also comes in the less-awesome silver-trimmed orange, white or black for $5 less.
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tNmXrVNeGzs&start=75]

CNET reported that Apple settled 18 suits bundled as a Class-action lawsuit over the “Antennagate” “scandal.”  Each iPhone 4 owner (it is not clear if Verizon iPhone 4 users who had different radios/Antenna are exempt) is entitled to a $15 cash settlement or a bumper. Apple began offering bumpers to users shortly after the release and the subsequent press conference to address the issue (as well as returns, no restocking fee or questions asked).

The settlement found:

Apple was “misrepresenting and concealing material information in the marketing, advertising, sale, and servicing of its iPhone 4–particularly as it relates to the quality of the mobile phone antenna and reception and related software.”

The settlement has its own Web site, www.iPhone4Settlement.com, which will be up in the coming weeks (the site doesn’t go anywhere right now). There, customers will be able to get information about the settlement and how to make a claim. As part of the arrangement, e-mails will also be sent alerting original buyers to the settlement before April 30, 2012. The claims period is then open for 120 days.

“We believe that the Apple iPhone 4 settlement is fair, adequate, and reasonable,” said co-lead counsel Ira Rothken, who represents the class, to CNET. “We believe that it allows members of the class to choose, and they can get $15 of cash or a bumper, so we believe that type of choice is proportional to the circumstances.”

Consumer Reports, who could not recommend the iPhone 4 based on the problem, demonstrated above, said the iPhone 4S was free of this issue.

Apple still sells the iPhone 4 with what we believe is the same design as the one used above, so it is not certain how this settlement will affect those sales.

Update: Statement from Apple via the Loop:

“This settlement relates to a small number of customers who indicated that they experienced antenna or reception issues with their iPhone 4 and didn’t want to take advantage of a free case from Apple while it was being offered in 2010,”

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