iLounge

By Charles Starrett

Senior Editor, iLounge
Published: Monday, August 25, 2008
News Category: Mix

T-Mobile has announced that it has sold more than 120,000 iPhone 3Gs since the device went on sale July 11. “Our (sales) expectations were surpassed,” said Deutsche Telekom chief Hamid Akhavan, noting that it has sold 75,000 units in Germany alone. T-Mobile also offers the iPhone in Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, the Netherlands and Croatia.

In response to recent reports of iPhone 3G reception problems, Swedish newspaper The Gothenburg Post had the device’s antenna tested against those of the Sony Ericsson P1 and Nokia N73. The test, performed by Bluetest, a company that produces cellular testing chambers, showed that while the P1 and N73 were better at receiving and sending signals, respectively, the differences between them were small, suggesting that the iPhone 3G’s antenna is not to blame for current reception difficulties. “The values are completely normal,” said Magnus Franzén, an antenna engineer with an M.Sc. in Engineering Physics.

Wired has posted the results of its informal iPhone 3G speed survey, which found that 3G connection speeds varied by region. European T-Mobile users reported the fastest speeds, averaging 1,882 Kbps, followed by Rogers and Fido in Canada, with an average of 1,330 Kbps. AT&T in the U.S., Telstra, Telia, and Softbank tied for third, with average download speeds of roughly 990 Kpbs. More than 2,600 users participated in the survey.

Popular Mechanics has posted an interesting DIY article explaining how to build an waterproof iPod video boombox. Cobbled together from a variety of products, the final solution includes parts from a Memorex iFlip video player, an Apple composite video cable, a watertight hard camera case, and a set of portable speakers.