iPhone 4

A tale of iPhones – The 4, the 4S and a little bit of the Origin

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Yeah yeah I know. I didn’t join the Starhub queue. I had a Starhub guy come to my place to give me my iPhone 4S in the comfort of my living room at 12pm sharp yesterday. Truth be told, I would love to go to the Singtel launch even though I’m not re-contracting with them this year (I alternate between Singtel, my real line, and Starhub, the line I sign for my brother to use, yearly), simply because all their launches have been really well done and enjoyable so far. But well, I’m not in the leagues of the local big-shot bloggers, and I talk shit about local telcos all the time. So no one would want to invite me. As usual.

But whatever.

I love this shot. Don’t you? And it’s not even the full family YET.

Pardon the photo quality. I had to take it with the shittiest camera phone I had at my disposal, for the good stuff’s the subject! (You know which Shitty phone that iS, don’t you?)

Here’s another washed-out pic. Oh so disgusting a camera the Nexus S is.

Possible iPhone 4S Pricing in Singapore

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Judging from the various news/rumors circulating around these few days, finally we will be seeing the next iPhone in 3 storage capacities, 16GB, 32GB and for people like me, 64GB. And the news is that we are going to get them at a lower price, namely, the current price for the 16GB will get you a 32GB iPhone 4S / iPhone 5, the current price for the 32GB will get you a 64GB iPhone 4S / iPhone 5. And that brings us to the 16GB model, which will probably be around $130 cheaper than the old 16GB pricing of $480 (Singtel pricing) on contract with the cheapest iPhone-specific plans, such as Singtel’s iFlexi Lite. That is a big deal. Not only because it will make the “current generation iPhone” a lot more attractive for people who aren’t willing to spend over $400 on a phone, it also effectively pushes the “last generation iPhone”‘s pricing down to a possible $200 range.

Judging by the latest exchange rate Apple uses for Singapore, and assuming that carriers keep their current subsidy amounts, I believe we are looking at these possible prices;

Non-Contract iPhones from Apple

16GB iPhone 4S / iPhone 5 – $708
32GB iPhone 4S / iPhone 5 – $838
64GB iPhone 4S / iPhone 5 – $968

8GB iPhone 4 (Plastic Casing, Made in Brazil) – $578

Contract iPhone from Singtel on iFlexi Lite Plan

16GB iPhone 4S / iPhone 5 – $310
32GB iPhone 4S / iPhone 5 – $430
64GB iPhone 4S / iPhone 5 – $550

8GB iPhone 4 (Plastic Casing, Made in Brazil) – $200

Unfortunately, the contract prices will be harder to predict, basically due to the fact that Apple’s profit levels are different on the various models as compared to their sales price, so you will often see a bigger subsidy on the higher end models simply because Singtel and other telcos get the higher end models cheaper.

Also note that I am using “iPhone 4S / iPhone 5” simply because I have no idea what is going to be announced tonight. This is really exciting.

EDITED: Prices above are probably totally wrong due to 2 factors;

1. The US exchange rate has spiked since the last Apple product released with a lower exchange rate – the MacBook Air

2. News about how the capacities are going to double at the same price are totally wrong.

Also, since Apple Singapore has just released prices for the 3GS and the iPhone 4 8GB, we can somehow safely assume that the exchange rate used for the old iPhone 4 prices will be slightly different for the new iPhone 4S.

That means;

Non-Contract iPhones from Apple

iPhone 4S 16GB – 928
iPhone 4S 32GB – 1068
iPhone 4S 64GB – 1208
iPhone 4 8GB – 788 (Apple SG verified)
iPhone 3GS – 548 (Apple SG verified)

Contract iPhone from Singtel on iFlexi Lite Plan (assuming subsidy prices remain the same)

iPhone 4S 16GB – 520
iPhone 4S 32GB – 660
iPhone 4S 64GB – 800

P.S.: Note that contract pricing is a running target and the prices are often different among the different carriers, so they are highly unreliable, but it’s a rough estimates based on current contract pricing.

P.S. Again: I am 20 to 30 dollars off on all the prices. Apple revealed those prices to be as following;

16GB 948
32GB 1088
64GB 1238

On the whole iPad and iPhone losing their physical home buttons rumor….

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This whole rumor was probably triggered by the fact that iOS 4.3 beta 1 for iPad comes with multitouch gesture controls for changing applications (by swiping multiple fingers horizontally, like on the Mac for changing pages), returning to home screen (by the 5-finger pinch), etc. These gestures definitely will be familiar to current Mac users who already have similar multitouch gestures, and will no doubt will work on the big and nice 9.7-inch iPad screen.

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“Best Cases and Sleeves for iPhone 4 in Singapore” Review Series – Fabrix Cases iPhone 4 Sleeve

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I can’t believe how long I took to finally get this.

I got my iPhone 4 two weeks ago at the Singtel Midnight iPhone 4 Launch, and it replaced my 3GS as my only phone less than twelve hours after the purchase.

My 3GS had a case (Incase Po on it all the time so I was always just slipping the phone directly into my pockets without any other protection.

The iPhone 4, however, is a thing of extreme beauty. And the last thing I will do to it is to use it with a case (in case you are wondering, there is no iPhone 4 antennagate outside the States. All evidence and news reports from around the world point to AT&T as the problem) that will hide the majority of its beauty, at least for the time being.

So what did I do?

First things first. Power Support Screen Protectors. The Best.

Next, a sleeve.

Instead of purchasing something immediately, I went home, took the old Sumajin off my iPod Video, and slipped my iPhone 4 into it.

One week later, I got so fed up with it that I finally caved in and ordered one of these.

And today it came.

Why a sleeve?

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iPhone 4 Singapore telcos’ pricing!!

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Starhub
$38/m, 16GB @ $500, 32GB @ $630.
$58/m, 16GB @ $230, 32GB @ $380.
$98/m ,16GB @ $0, 32GB @ $70.
Any plan above is $0

M1
$36/m 16GB @ $480, 32GB @ $620.
$56/m 16GB @ $210, 32GB @ $360.
$98/m 16GB @ $0, 32GB @ $60.
Any plan above is $0

Singtel
$39/m, 16GB @ $480, 32GB @ $620.
$56/m, 16GB @ $210, 32GB @ $360.
$95/m 32GB @ $60.
Any plan above is $0

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Internal Singtel iPhone 4 Launch Memo leaked

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From: EVP Consumer Group Office
Sent: Wed 7/21/2010 3:53 PM
To: SingTel
Subject: iPhone Launch – Call for Volunteers

Dear Colleagues
SingTel Launching iPhone 4 !

The long awaited iPhone 4 is finally here! Have you missed out in participating at our last iPhone launch? Here is another opportunity for you to be involved. Come and join us as a volunteer and be the first few people to participate and witness the start of another revolution.

As a volunteer, you will assist the team and help manage the crowd at our launch venue (you will be notified at a later date).

Operating hours:

29 Jul 2359 hrs to 30 Jul 9.00pm & 31 Jul 11.00am to 9.00pm

We need at least 70 volunteers as we are expecting to have an influx of people during the launch. Besides temporary staff, it is estimated that we need more than 300 staff over the 4 days to help engage and brief our customers on price plans and features of the iPhone 4.

There are 4 shifts where you could be involved;

29th Jul: 6pm-6am
30th Jul: 5.30am – 2pm
30th Jul: 1.30pm-9.30pm
31st Jul: 10.30am – 9.30pm

We appreciate your reverts by 23 July 2010.

Thanking you in advance and I hope to see you at the launch!

Yuen Kuan Moon
EVP, Consumer Group

The arrangement for the volunteers will be as follows:

Shift 1 – 6pm – 6am :
Change of normal reporting time. To report for shift at 6pm. Rest in the day for duty at night.
(Entitled to one day off )

Shift 2 – 5.30am – 2pm :
Change of normal reporting time. To report for shift at 5.30am. Shift ends at 2pm. Day off to rest.
(Entitled to one day off )

Shift 3 – 1.30pm – 9.30pm :
Change of normal reporting time. To report for shift at 1.30pm. Shift ends at 9.30pm.
(Entitled to half day off).

Shift 4 – 10.30am-9.30pm :
To report for shift at 10.30am. Shift ends at 9.30pm. (Entitled to one day off)

Nothing new. Start queuing way before 6pm next thursday for your iPhone 4 is the message here.

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