Here is an iPod case that’s called “Apple Peel 520″. It allows iPod users to use their iPod as a Phone.  The official price for this adapter is marked around $388 RMB (about $57) and it has an one-year warranty.

I have personally contacted the main distributor of this Apple Peel 520, and I was told that this reviewed unit is still in prototype form, the final retail version will be a plastic case instead of silicon rubber. What’s more, we may help readers to buy it when it’s finally on sale, so please stay tuned!

So, let’s start off with the highlights. This Apple Peel 520 slap on a regular SIM card and make calls with your iPod touch. It does not support 3G, but includes a removable 800mAh battery which gives you up to 3 hours of talk time and 120 hours of standby juice. The funny thing is that when the battery is installed successfully, the adapter itself will vibrate, so we’re guessing it supports vibration.

The adapter has six main parts, a speaker on the top to hear the call, a removable battery, a SIM card slot, a “vibration motor”, a baseband chip, and a dock connector.

It’s not really thin…

The 800mAh battery.

The vibration motor.

The power button and the speaker (for hearing calls).

The Apple Peel 520 works with the iPhone voice calling and text messaging app, so the iPod touch needs to be jailbroken to allow those iPhone default apps to be installed on the device. The adapter will not automatically add these apps to the iPod touch and users need to do it by themselves.

Users need the “Yosion” and “YsSMS” apps on the homescreen to start using the adapter.

The UI of the Yosion calling app is pretty simple.

On the left pic, it shows the inbox of the SMS app on iPhone, while on the right it’s the inbox of the “YsSMS” app on the iPod touch.

The iPhone can delete messages one by one, while the iPod touch could only let you to clear all messages with no further options.

The iPod touch with the adapter allows you to import all contacts from the SIM card to the device memory.

Adding contacts works just like the iPhone.

The SMS app does not support full screen on the iPod touch.

According to PConline’s review, the adapter works very well. Making calls is perfectly alright, just like any mobile phones out there. There’s no drop calls but there’s a little bit delay when the call is made from the iPod touch. It supports 3G SIM cards but it still only allows you to make/receive calls and send messages. The reviewed unit does not support Bluetooth phone call and hands-free calling, but the retail version will fully support these functions. There’s one more thing to take note of, the 3.5-mm stereo headphone jack on the bottom right of the iPod touch has been “modified” to act as an antenna with the adapter’s dock connector, and users will access the 3.5-mm headphone jack on the bottom left when the adapter is attached. Here are some minor problems with the Apple Peel 520 for making calls:

And a few problems for the SMS function:

This magical adapter is not officially available yet. Chinese customers can visit the online store on Taobao to pre-order it, by giving a deposit of $100 RMB (about $15). The good thing is Apple Peel 520 supports all three generations of iPod touch. So, why not try to buy one for just making calls and sending SMS?

Source : PC Online China

After that we went back to town. And met a friend of mine. She showed us some kind of huge store where you can buy a lot of fake stuff (clothes, technology, shoes …)

Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yTJcs_XQk0

We found some copies of the new iPhone 4 and the iPad. The copies are looking like the original ones but aren’t working like expected. I asked a spanish man who bought 5 copies of the iPhone 3Gs why did he buy those. He answered me that he hadn’t enough money to buy iPhones and that they wezre quite looking like the iPhone.

For the iPad I was impressed. The system is Android and it’s running smoothly. You can use USB memory because it has a USB port.

For the prices, you can buy a fake iPhone for 40€ and a fake iPad for 80€.

Another reason why Chinese people buy this is because the iPhone 4 isn’t released in China. And the iPad isn’t even announced.

I’ll be covering the opening of the Apple Store next week in Pudong, Shanghai.

See you there.

After that we had a great luck together eating the Peking Duck wich is vey good.

See you !

The prices aren’t really attractive in China. Even tough everything is build a few miles from there. The prices are similar to the ones that we have in Belgium. But Chinese love it. I interviewed a Chinese Young man and asked him why he loves his iPhone so much. He told me that the character input in the iPhone is really a good point. In addition to some other advantages he told me (quietly) that the iPhone is a great phone for getting pass through the Chinese internet filter.

If you’re wondering if I’ll be at the launch of the Apple Store in Shanghai the 10th of July, I’ll definitely answer you YES I will !

I took most of the pictures with my DSLR so they will be uploaded very soon !

The visit of the places was really amazing. We really did enjoy the palaces in the forbidden city. It was much bigger than I thought.

In the evening we walked through the city and found a local market which was selling some chinese food. There again we saw some unjustified violence against a poor man.

This country isn’t still as communist as in the time of Mao. The trade opening in the 1970′s really changed China. There are much more cars than bicycle. This situation would have been surreal 30 years from now.

Although people in China have right to property since 2007, I heard in the streets a guy saying that the government “stole” his house.

There are a lot of improvements of the way Chine people live but I believe it should go a step further. Why are the media sources still censored. I have to use a VPN connection to access Skype, Facebook, Twitter and even some american news websites.

China is on the good way but has to continue that way.

The following pictures are showing :

- The admission chart to get in China

-Some pictures from the Forbidden City

And the successfully enabled VPN connection on my phone to pass through the restrictions on Facebook, Twitter, Skype …

I’ll also be visiting high tech places mainly in Shanghai.

Thanks for reading

I’m leaving for China in a few days. I know it’s holiday but I’ld love to keep connected with the world.

Unfortunately the Chinese government bans access to a lot of sites. (Facebook, Twitter, NYTimes …) So how to stay connected ?

I configured a VPN. I got a VPN server at home. The concept ? While I’ll be in China, I will be using my server to access all those banned sites.

This is what it looks like on the iPhone :

Apple stated that this iPhone was the thinest smartphone on the market. I have to admit that that’s true. This phone is really thin. And also very powerful.

Since the Apple introduced the original iPhone back in 2007, they took a huge leap forward with this. It inside design is really brilliant too.

First significant change, it’s easy for the user to disassemble his phone. Yeap, that’s right. Changing the battery is only 2 screws away. And the battery is no more soldered ! There is now a connector which you can easily unplug.

Yes it’s really that easy. We can see that the battery takes a lot of space in there. It’s the only component we are unable to miniaturize. It’s really huge. It allows the user to use his phone intensely during 10 hours with a high definition display and multitasking !

The iPhone is now working with 3.7 V and a battery with 5.25 Whr !

And here is the camera. The 5MP camera shooting 5MP pictures and filming at the incredible rate of 30FPS with 720p HD. Don’t forget the LED flash and the noise-canceling microphone.

Processor speed: Goodbye Samsung S5PC100 ARM A8 600MHz. This iPhone is now equal with the Nexus One being powered by a 1Ghz ARM Cortex A8 core. Called Apple A4, sibling of the iPad processor. On this board you can also see on the left the Gyroscope ship with isn’t commercialized. It’s only build for Apple.

Other important piece here is the micro-sim card reader.

Communication Board:

Yes there are also a lot of changes on this. What’s new ? Single-chip GPS receiver (Broadcom BCM4750IUB8) for better signal and a multi-function chip (Broadcom BCM4329FKUBG – 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 EDR and FM receiver ! You could be able to listen to the radio. Or streaming to the radio ?!? Crazy Apple )

Logic Board

Like you would expect it :

- Samsung K9PFG08 flash memory

-Cirrus Logic 338S0589 audio codec (Apple branded). This is the same part as in the iPad

-AKM8975 – newest magnetic sensor that promises to improve the performance over the prior generation.

-Texas Instruments 343S0499 Touch Screen Controller

-36MY1EE Numonyx NOR and mobile DDR

Original Teardown by iFixit

Now that you know what it is made of, enjoy your iPhone 4 ! Brilliant beast !

First, a noise canceling microphone. This is really useful. It’s maybe not a game changer but interesting tough.

Another cool thing is FaceTime, ok it’s iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 for the moment. But Apple made it an open standard. This means that Android phones will probably introduce FaceTime in the next months. It’s far more advanced that the actual 3G calling.

Next point, Retina Display. This is the most accurate screen you’ll find on a smartphone. Far more interesting than having a AMOLED screen. This means the eye doesn’t perceive any more dpi. iPhone is now ready for iBooks. I’ld like to see a Retina Display on the iPad. But it will be quite hard to get a fast enough processor for such a resolution. And what could you use it on ? 1400p movies ?

Finally, the design is really cool. I remember Apple patented this external antenna technology which made people feeling dissapointed about the design. I honestly like the design.
A flatter iPhone will be a good deal for my pants. And the new glass is much more resistant. No more broken glasses !

All this seems good news.

And we do know now what the news iPod will be like. Retina display, new glass, A4 processor.

Oh yes and One more thing. Do you like that iOS name ?
That name was owned by Cisco but they licensed it recently to Apple. Honestly I feel weird seeing iOS 4 GM in the Developer Center.

To conclude, I’ld like to introduce the biggest loser on this new iPhone.
Samsung
They always built the processors ARM-Based for the iPhone. No more Samsung processor in the iPhone is a game changer contract.

Enjoy iPhone 4 !

PS: For Belgians it’s a dissapointement to get it only in July. Is this linked because of the contract with Mobistar ?

I don’t really know what they want (beside war)