(absolutely not a) Pre-MacWorld Leak! New iPhone, iPod Spotted in Hong Kong…

If you can’t wait to see the new gear that Apple will be revealing at the MacWorld Keynote Tuesday morning, I can at least show you two products they probably won’t be announcing…

iPhone Mini

First up is the iPhone Mini, which I found on Apliu Street in Kowloon’s Sham Shui Po district. At about $100 CAD this little number doesn’t have 3G or WiFi, but it does sport an FM radio, apparently powered by Windows Media Player…?

iPod Shuffle with screen

And in the famous Temple Street Night Market I spotted these new iPod Shuffles, with screens! Code-named “MP3″, a 2GB model will only set you back about $15 CAD and comes in 5 colours and 2 screen orientations, apparently…

All kidding aside, that iPhone knock-off beats Apple’s official product with one killer feature — it’s 100% unlocked. While it’s technically true that Apple’s iPhone 3G is sold unlocked here, to actually buy one you need to meet the following criteria:

1. You must provide proof of Hong Kong citizenship;
2. You must be willing to sign up for a two-year contract with 3, the only carrier that sells it.

With such restrictions, I can’t really fault the local pirates for giving consumers an alternative, albeit an illegal one. And of course, you get what you pay for…

iPhone Voice-Activated Search: Good for You, Bad for Everyone Else

Uh-oh...

The Web is all abuzz this morning with news that a voice-prompted search service is on the way to iPhone users courtesy of the clever folks at Google. All I can say is, god help us all…

I’m a big proponent of mobile manners and I’m not afraid to let someone know when they’re disturbing the peace by yakking too loudly into their handset. I’ve so far been very lucky to have only once had to endure the unholy abomination that is Push-to-Talk, with some asshat wandering my local supermarket like an army commander on the battlefield: “What kind of milk should I get, over… You want the 2%? You can’t handle the 2%!“, and so on.

And now, thanks to your lazy thumbs, I’m going to have to sit on the streetcar surrounded by morans pretending they’re Captain Picard: “iPhone, where is the nearest Apple Store?”, “iPhone, what is Steve Jobs wearing today?”, “iPhone, what’s the URL of Apple.com?”, etc.

If this sounds like sour grapes because such a thing isn’t yet available for my Nokia believe me, it’s not. I use GOOG-411 all the time, but you know what? If I’m in a public place I find a quiet corner away from other people, or at least cover my mouth while talking at an appropriate level.

Okay, so now that I’ve got you all riled up I’ll come clean: I am of course being unfair in singling out iPhone users for bad mobile behaviour — not respecting your environment is a sin committed on all types of mobiles by all types of inconsiderate people. Consider this my plea to you: If you really want me to covet that wondrous iPhone of yours you’ll do the right thing and use your fancy new voice-activated Google search only in appropriate situations. Remember, with great power comes great responsibility…

4 Reasons Why I STILL Won’t Buy an iPhone

Image courtesy of Gizmodo.com

Earlier this week Apple announced it had sold a staggering 6.9 million iPhones in Q3 2008, beating RIM’s 6.1 million BlackBerry sales and crowning Apple as one of the top three mobile vendors worldwide. And thanks to the company’s “Think Different” bookkeeping, their $4.6 billion profit for the quarter isn’t just gross handset sales, but a mere portion of a typical AT&T 24-month contract.

With every other handset manufacturer rushing to market with a touchscreen mobile of their own you cannot deny that Apple has hit an out-of-the-park home run with the iPhone 3G.

So why am I not using one?

Even though I’m a Mac user of thirteen years I’ve also eight years of smartphone experience under my belt, going back to the infamous VisorPhone, in fact. And for me there are still four major ways in which Apple’s monster handheld comes up short:

1. The Keypad – With a growing number of iPhones around me I’ve had lots of opportunities to play with the virtual keypad. It’s definitely quicker and more intuitive than using T9 — particularly with one hand — but still can’t match the speed of a physical QWERTY. And I know a thing or two about physical QWERTY keypads.

2. The Contracts – I remain fundamentally opposed to carrier contracts for GSM-based devices. And while Apple has certainly revolutionized the mobile handset interface, its dealings with telcos worldwide have been anything but. I’ll let this excellent IntoMobile editorial explain.

3. The Camera – How can you possibly argue that a 2 megapixel fixed-focus camera with no flash or video is better than a 5 (or even 8!) megapixel auto-focus camera with both?

4. The Killer App – I’ve been combing through the iTunes App Store since it became available in Canada and I’ve yet to see that one program that makes the iPhone a must-have device. With all the smart developers out there embracing the platform I’ve a strong feeling that it’s on the way, but from what I’ve seen the iPhone’s killer app is still iTunes, as it has been since day one.

If anyone out there has a killer app for the iPhone, by all means let me know!