• apple,  apple store,  att,  ios,  iphone,  sprint,  verizon

    Apple: iPhone 5 Pre-Orders Top 2 Million in 24-Hours

    September 18, 2012 /

    Earlier today, Apple announced that pre-orders for the iPhone 5, which goes on sale Friday, September 21, sold over 2 million units in the first 24-hours of being available for online ordering.  At this point, if you want an iPhone 5 on launch day, and weren’t able to secure a pre-order slot, you’ll be waiting in line at an Apple Store or at a wireless carrier’s retail location near you.  Apple’s press release appears below.

    CUPERTINO, California—September 17, 2012—Apple® today announced pre-orders of its iPhone® 5 topped two million in just 24 hours, more than double the previous record of one million held by iPhone 4S. Demand for iPhone 5 exceeds the initial supply and while the majority of pre-orders will be delivered to customers on September 21, many are scheduled to be delivered in October. iPhone 5 is the thinnest and lightest iPhone ever, completely redesigned to feature a stunning new 4-inch Retina™ display; an Apple-designed A6 chip for blazing fast performance; and ultrafast wireless technology*—all while delivering even better battery life.**

    “iPhone 5 pre-orders have shattered the previous record held by iPhone 4S and the customer response to iPhone 5 has been phenomenal,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “iPhone 5 is the best iPhone yet, the most beautiful product we’ve ever made, and we hope customers love it as much as we do.”

    iPhone 5 comes with iOS 6, the world’s most advanced mobile operating system with over 200 new user features including: an all new Maps app with Apple-designed cartography, turn-by-turn navigation and an amazing new Flyover™ view; Facebook integration for Contacts and Calendar, with the ability to post directly from Notification Center; Passbook®, the simplest way to get all your passes in one place; new Siri® features, including support for more languages, easy access to sports scores, restaurant recommendations and movie listings;*** Siri and Facebook-enabled apps like Photos, Safari® and Maps; and Shared Photo Streams via iCloud®.

    Pricing & Availability
    iPhone 5 will be available at 356 Apple retail stores in the US beginning at 8 a.m. local time on Friday, September 21. Every customer who buys an iPhone 5 at an Apple retail store will be offered free Personal Setup service, helping them customize their iPhone 5 by setting up email, showing them new apps from the App Store and more, so they’ll be up and running with their new iPhone before they leave the store.

    iPhone 5 comes in either white & silver or black & slate, and will be available in the US for a suggested retail price of $199 (US) for the 16GB model and $299 (US) for the 32GB model and $399 (US) for the 64GB model. iPhone 5 will be available from the Apple Online Store (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores, and through AT&T, Sprint, Verizon Wireless, select Best Buy, RadioShack, Target and Walmart stores and select Apple Authorized Resellers. iPhone 4S will also be available for just $99 (US) and iPhone 4 will be available for free with a two-year contract.****

    * LTE is available through select carriers. Network speeds are dependent on carrier networks, check with your carrier for details.
    ** Battery life depends on device settings, usage and other factors. Actual results vary.
    *** Not all features are supported in all countries.
    **** Availability varies by carrier.

    Read More
  • hp,  palm os,  pre,  sprint,  web os

    webOS’ Final Years Chronicled

    June 16, 2012 /

    As many of you know, I’ve always had a soft spot for Palm, Palm OS and even webOS.

    Last week, The Verge has posted a very good article on the final three years of Palm and webOS.  The article covers the period of time from the 2009 CES webOS and Pre introduction to the present as HP shuts down the webOS hardware division and pushes the webOS software out to the open source pasture.

    As a follow up to The Verge’s article, former webOS software engineer Josh Marinacci, now working for Nokia, chimes in with his observations and insider perspectives.

    If you are a webOS user or fan of Palm, you will definitely want to read both article.

    Pre to postmortem: the inside story of the death of Palm and webOS – The Verge

    webOS on The Verge – Josh on Design

    Read More
  • android,  google,  sprint

    Sprint announces the ZTE Fury, available March 11th for $19.99

    March 10, 2012 /

    I just saw this over at BGR, it looks like a new, super low cost Android smartphone is coming to Sprint in the very near future.

    “Sprint on Wednesday announced the “family-friendly” Android-powered ZTE Fury. This entry-level handset features a 3.5-inch capacitive display with a 1GHz single-core processor and Android 2.3 Gingerbread. 

    “Providing affordable, Android-powered devices, like ZTE Fury, in our lineup helps give families the tools and information to better manage their wireless usage while still providing the style and functionality they need to keep up with their busy lives,” according to David Owens, Sprint’s vice president-Product Development.”

    The ZTE Fury will sell for $69.99 with a qualifying service plan, and will be $19.99 after a mail-in rebate.

    [Via BGR.com…]

    Read More
  • apple,  att,  iphone,  sprint,  verizon

    Apple iPhone 4S Ordering “Adventure” (Updated)

    October 7, 2011 /

    10/7/11 7:25am: Hope springs eternal!  After arguing with my bank and getting them to agree that my credit card was not expired, I was able to pre-order the iPhone 4S 32GB directly from Sprint’s website.  The estimated arrival date of my new iPhone 4S is Friday, October 14, or Saturday, October 15.

    10/7/11 5:40am: It’s time to throw in the towel!  The connection to Sprint’s systems aren’t working and I keep getting pushed into the $109/month service plan.  I’m going to have to wait for Apple and Sprint to iron out the kinks before I can order my iPhone 4S.  I’ve stayed up all night and all I have to show for it are bags under my eyes.  Grrrrr!

    10/7/11 5:20am: The Apple Store/Sprint link appears to be working again, but I still can’t get a clear step of options for my cellular service plans. So far, my efforts to switch to an iPhone have been fruitless.

    10/7/11 5:00am: Sam was able to reserve an iPhone 4S on AT&T.  I’m crashing when the Apple site goes out to check my account status on Sprint with a really annoying “WS.workflowSessionValidationFailed.webUIBody” error message.

    10/7/11 4:48am: Just checked in with my fellow iPhone enthusiast, Sam, who is now getting the same error message as me.  At almost 5:00am, it’s time to throw in the towel on getting an iPhone for Friday, October 14.

    10/7/11 4:42am: The Apple Store is now throwing up a message that they can no longer process any iPhone orders and that you should try back again later.  Double ugh!

    10/7/11 4:12am: I’ve lost track of how many times the ordering process has crashed on me.  Ugh!

    10/7/11 4:12am: Continuing to have trouble with the Apple Store site.  Poor performance, ordering processes crashes, and unable to select the $79.99 Simply Everything plan.

    10/7/11: 3:45am: The Apple Store is taking forever to update and I’m stuck at the “Processing information” page.

    10/7/11: 3:45am: The Apple Store site is getting hammered!  It is so slow to load data from Sprint.

    10/7/11: 3:43am: The Store is online and I’m attempting to purchase my Sprint iPhone4S.

    I’m not so patiently awaiting the Apple.com Store to go back online for I can order my Apple iPhone 4S for Sprint. I’ll be purchasing the 32GB black edition…eventually.

    10/7/11: 3:29am: Pre-orders for the iPhone 4S were suppose to start at 12:01am PDT/3:01am EDT and the store is still down.

    Apple Store…

    Read More
  • developer,  hp,  pre,  sprint,  web os

    Meta-Doctoring: Part 5 – Sign of Life Check [Updated x2]

    July 30, 2011 /

    The installation of the meta-doctored webOS 2.1.0 install has completed!

    Now the hard part – making sure everything is still working!

    Update: All features and functions of webOS 2.1 appear to be working! Whoo-hoo!

    On the agenda for the post software load is to:

    1. See if I can log into one of my Palm profiles – Working!
    2. Verify that webOS is running as expected – Working!
    3. Connect to a Wi-Fi hot spot – Working!
    4. Verify developer mode is on or can be activated – Working! (webos20090606)
    5. Restore my Sprint PRL software – Working! (no update possible going forward)
    6. Install the latest build of Preware – Working!
    7. Apply some basic patches – Working!
    8. Apply software tweaks from the webos-internals.org webOS 2 upgrade wiki post – Working!
    9. Backup the Pre to my alternate Palm profile – Working!
    10. Access the HP App Catalog, install software – Working!
    11. GPS access – Working!

    Read More
  • developer,  hp,  pre,  sprint,  web os

    Meta-Doctoring: Part 4 – Building the New Doctor File

    July 30, 2011 /

    Continuing to play around with applying an unofficial version of webOS 2.1.0 to my Sprint Original Palm Pre smartphone, I’ve installed all the required tools to get the job done.

    I’ve also taken the precaution to backup my PRL software so I can continue to apply Sprint preferred roaming list updates once the upgrade to webOS 2.1.0 has completed.

    Now, I’m running the Unix command line tools on my Mac to download the webOS 2 doctor files, mash them all together, and churn out a new custom meta-doctored webOS doctor restore file.

    There is a lot of Unix “gook” scrolling across my Terminal window which, I have to admit, not being a Unix/Linux propeller head, I have no idea what it’s doing.  (I know my limits and I’m not a programmer nor am I a Unix geek.  I know just enough Unix and Linux to get myself in to serious trouble!)

    So, with Daft Punk’s Tron soundtrack thumping in the back ground, the lights down low, I’ll grab my eighth Diet Coke for this project, and get to installing the new webOS Doctor!

    Read More
  • developer,  pre,  sprint,  web os

    Meta-Doctoring: Part 3 – Sprint PRL Backup

    July 30, 2011 /

    In preparing to perform an unofficial webOS 2.1.0 upgrade on my Sprint Palm Pre, I have read that you need to backup your PRL software so I can restore it to my phone later on.  This is an important step because Sprint doesn’t offer webOS 2.1.0 for the Original Pre and you won’t be able to use properly update your PRL on a meta-doctored Sprint Pre if you fail to do this step first.

    What is PRL you ask?  Good question.  I don’t really know either.  PRL stands for Preferred Roaming List.  Is is a database that gets downloaded to a smartphone that uses CDMA radios just like the ones in Sprint and Verizon Pre/Pre+ phones.  The database has a list of network IDs that Sprint has network sharing contracts with to allow your phone to “roam” on other carrier’s network towers. (source)

    The good folks at webos-internals.org have a wiki page up on how to backup your PRL data before you go ahead and do the meta-doctor webOS 2.1.0 upgrade.

    Just an important note: You must use your own PRL data.  It is tied specifically to your phone!

    Read More