Rumor mill dishes out iPhone nano

Macworld Expo may be a bit different this year. It will be the last year of the tradeshow and there will not be a Steve Jobs holding a keynote. It could be a rather boring event, but one could also expect a big announcement - such as the currently rumored iPhone nano. If we believe media reports, then Apple could prepare a device that is wider and thicker than the iPhone 3G. The selling point is believed to be an aggressive price to put the entry-level iPhone within reach of people who cannot afford an iPhone 3G. However, a lack of 3G and a lower-resolution display would make such an iPhone nano incompatible with any of the App Store programs or games and raises some doubt whether this product is real.   

As Apple's last keynote at the Macworld Expo approaches, the rumor mill churns out one more round of Macworld predictions. The most interesting so far is about a smaller version of the iPhone 3G called the iPhone nano. According tounconfirmed reports, the device will be wider and thicker than its bigger sibling and carry a mirror screen. Its biggest selling point may be a lower price, but we don’t quite buy this rumor just yet.

Most of us here at TG Daily do not believe that an iPhone nano is in the works and that such a product would make sense anyway, despite those pieces of "evidence" popping up all over the Web with a "smaller, cheaper" tagline. If we exclude enthusiast drawings and wish-lists of features, the only so-called evidence of iPhone nano is hidden in a blog, whose authors claim to have access to industry sources. A rough rendering of the device published on the site of the online store iDeals China generated lots of excitement as it depicts some of the features of a (not yet) non-existent device.

If we believe these rumors, the iPhone nano will share the outline and height of its larger brother but with wider and thicker appearance. Miniaturized iPhone will also sport a smaller 320x240 resolution touchscreen with  mirror reflection while it is turned off, in addition to a 2 megapixel camera, an accelerometer, proximity sensor and an ambient light sensor. The rumors claim that there will be no 3G capability. The bloggers expect Apple to unveil the iPhone nano at the Macworld Expo in January 2009, with an anticipated early-January availability at all distribution points across the nation that currently carry the iPhone 3G, including Apple and Wal-Mart stores. The handset is expected to come at an aggressive price point to cater for a lower segment of price-conscious consumers who cannot afford a $199 iPhone 3G with a two-year service contract.

The same website claims the third generation iPhone is currently "being worked on in China." iDeals China incorrectly predicted in August that the iPod touch will gain GPS capability and published fake iPod renderings but it did hit a home run with an actual Griffin iPhone 3G case molding shown ahead of the handset’s official launch in July. Another source, a well-known silicon case vendor XSKN, already has a section on its online store dedicated to the upcoming accessories for the iPhone nano. XSKN was one of the first sources to showcase the final shape of the current iPod nano.

We doubt that these renderings in fact show a future iPhone nano, but we also know that this vendor started selling real iPhone 3G cases ahead of official handset release. That said, the report should be taken with a grain of salt, since the track record of these sources isn’t exactly perfect and some have been accused of fabricating Apple-related rumors in the past to draw traffic to their sites. 

In our opinion, the biggest deal-breaker for an iPhone nano is its smaller-resolution 320x240 display that is consistently mentioned across all related iPhone nano rumors. Even if we put aside the fact that a smaller screen dimension would make typing on a virtual keyboard a frustrating experience, it would render the iPhone nano incompatible with all current App Store programs and games that are hard-coded for the iPhone 3G's 480x320 resolution. If you ask us, Apple would be foolish to add a non-App Store-compatible iPhone to the lineup. It would make the lives of developers much more difficult and it certainly would be a very unusual decision from a company that likes to keep things simple.

The iPhone 3G unlocking software arrives December 31

Despite the fact that a group of hackers known as the iPhone DevTeam unlocked the first-generation iPhone just weeks after its June 2007 debut, the iPhone 3G is a different beast and has remained locked so far. The addition of 3G circuitry combined with an updated baseband software that talks to it has kept Apple's money-making handset closely tied to a specific carrier, effectively putting unlockers out of business. This is about to change within days as the iPhone DevTeam announced it has finally managed to unlock the iPhone 3G, scheduling a free unlocking application for a December 31 release. It will not only allow existing iPhone 3G owners to escape firm grip of their carrier but might easily render Apple's carefully plotted "hardware + carrier service" sales strategy obsolete.

If you have ever jailbroken or unlocked your iPhone using either the QuickPwn or PwnageTool, you know about a group of enthusiasts called the iPhone DevTeam that created the two applications. Even an average iPhone owner can run QuickPwn on their Macs (WinPwn on Windows) to open the backdoor of any iPhone and firmware version for the installation of Apple-sanctioned applications (referred to as "jailbreaking") or unlock the handset for use with any carrier.

The latter has been particularly popular when it was possible to walk out of the Apple Store with an iPhone without having to sign the 2-year service agreement. The fact that jailbreaking and unlocking both void the Apple warranty did not discourage users from “opening” their phone. On the contrary, unlocking the iPhone has created a grey imports business that was estimated to have affected at least one third of all first-generation iPhones sold.

When the iPhone 3G came out, users thought an unlocking software would follow soon, but the handset remained locked for months. An increased complexity of the baseband code that talks to the new 3G circuitry inside the iPhone 3G and a new software protection measures made unlocking extremely difficult, albeit not entirely impossible. A new free application code-named "yellowsno0w", dedicated solely to unlocking the iPhone 3G, will be released on December 31, the iPhone DevTeam said today.

The application will support iPhone 3G models with the baseband version 2.11.07 or earlier (you can identify your version of the baseband software in Settings > General > About > Modem Firmware). It will also require you to jailbrake the iPhone 3G firmware because "yellowsn0w" is actually the application that you will run directly on your handset, entirely bypassing the need to use the computer to unlock the handset.

The application is scheduled to automatically appear in Cydia (the App Store equivalent for unofficial applications on jailbroken iPhones) on December 31 where users will be able to pick it up free of charge. The developers claim it will be easy enough to allow an average users to unlock the handset. The iPhone DevTeam also promised a live demo of the unlock before Christmas.