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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

Woke up early. Visited the Buddhist Temple of Lama in Beijing. It really was a wonderful place. Unfortunately, pictures inside the temples are prohibited. We saw the biggest buddha in the world. Really inspiring. After that we went to the Great Wall. It’s really a great place to visit. Like my sister said “I had a great walk on the Great Wall”. You can either go by cable car or on foot to the top. We went by foot. It’s really exhausting when the temperature exceeds 40° C.

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 !

This thing is a breakthrough device. Yes I really believe it.
It’s all based on small details that make this iPhone incredibly better than the previous generations.

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 ?

Si vous l’avez raté, l’interview est ici

The iPhone has been introduced the 9th of January 2007 because it took few months to get FCC approval.
If they announce the tablet in Jan, it makes sense that it will be available in June.

So who wants one ?

Microsoft already has 2 apps on the AppStore

And I quote : Sources close to the Windows Live and Bing divisions at Microsoft have confirmed to Neowin that Microsoft is currently developing both Bing andWindows Live Messenger iPhone applications.

More info

I’ve been working a lot these last 2 years on a project called Netmino.

Now it is about to go live !

Take a look @netmino : The Website

Our take a tour :