Sony has recently announced the release of the Playstation® Vita (or PSVita). Sporting a ARM Cortex – A9 Processor, 5 inch 960 x 544 capacitive multi touch screen, a rear touch pad, and forward and rear facing camera’s, it is potentially a game changer to the hand held gaming platform. The Vita will come in two flavors, Wi-Fi only and a 3G enabled device, the latter allowing for online gaming anywhere at anytime. Other highlights on the device include:

• Dual shock technology
• PS3 Integration
• Support for Augmented Reality gaming.
• Facial Recognition software

The Playstation Vita is scheduled for release for the upcoming 2011 holiday season. The Wi-Fi only version will be $249.99, while the 3G enabled device will go for $299.99 and will be exclusive to the AT&T Network. One of the benefits of being on that network is the wide variety of mobile applications that they have available.

Stay tuned for more on the PlayStation Vita

THE GOOD

The biggest point here is that finally you can have an iPhone 4 on T-Mobile (or any other GSM based carrier that will support the phone) and not have to worry about missing updates or potentially getting in trouble with “Big Brother”. This is definately a good thing for anyone who has been with AT&T for a while and wants to switch carriers.

Other good points about the move include:

• With options for different carriers, you can shop for the best carrier and the best plan.
• International travelers will appreciate being able to pop in a local SIM card to avoid roaming and international charges.

THE BAD

While it may be great to just stroll into an Apple store (because I can’t imagine AT&T selling you an unlocked phone to take to someone else) and pick up an unlocked iPhone 4, You may have a minor issue. The iPhone 4 uses a Micro SIM card, which is drastically reduced in size to the standard SIM card. In fact, the phones won’t come with a SIM card at all. This shouldn’t be an issue though, as you have a SIM card cut down.

Other bad points about the move include:

• Only AT&T can support the iPhone 4′s 3G connection. If you choose T-Mobile, you will be stuck on the slower Edge network.

The UGLY

The biggest thing here is going to be initial costs. Right now, unlocked phones go for $650 for the 16GB and $750 for the 32GB. That’s above the average for other comparible phones like the HTC EVO 4G or the Samsung Galaxy. Additionally, even though you will be free of AT&T with these phones, Apple will still be a big part of your cellular life. You will still have to purchase your apps through the iTunes Store, and update the phone through iTunes.

Other Ugly points about the move include:

• This move will not allow CDMA based carriers to support the phone (I.E. no Sprint iPhone yet).
• No word on if existing AT&T customers can terminate early and have Apple unlock their current phone.

Overall, I feel that the move is a step in the right direction for Apple. There is no denying that the phone is a very popular device, and by offering it unlocked, it opens the door to a larger market. We will just have to wait and see how it pans out though.

Article written by Mike Arnold

The alleged reason is “iPhone 5, or more likely the iPhone 4S, has been delayed until November following an issue with the handset’s software”, according to a unnamed source.

The general consensus is that the iPhone 5, or more likely the iPhone 4S, will be similar to the iPhone 4 with the exception of iOS, which could mean that the i5 (4S) could come with iOS 5.

Is there any truth to this rumor?  Most Apple “pundits” don’t think so, mainly because November 21 is a Monday and we all know that Steve’s favorite day for unveiling is Friday!

Some experts also believe that iPhone 5, or more likely the iPhone 4S, will be getting a larger screen (4”) to compete with such phones as the HTC Evo, the Nexus S, and the HD7.  Also rumored is the upgrade to an 8MP camera with separate LED Flash and a dual Qualcomm CDMA / GSM chip, and possibly even a dual core processor.  This hardware would put the iPhone on even ground with the leading Android offerings.  Just the larger screen itself would make an incredible difference.

Stay tuned at www.rapidrepair.com for up to date iPhone 5, or more likely the iPhone 4S, news!

The White iPhone 4 will cost a suggested retail price of 199USD for the 16GB and 299USD for the 32GB model, with a new 2 year agreement of course.

“The white iPhone 4 has finally arrived and it’s beautiful,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “We appreciate everyone who has waited patiently while we’ve worked to get every detail right.”

(concept iPhone 5 / newsflap.com)

That’s the question these days?  It looks like Apple isn’t in any rush to debut the 5th generation iPhone.  Rumor has it, that it will be at least September before its released,  (although some sources claim a June release date) which is just fine as far as I’m concerned.  The folks at Cupertino are having a hard enough time keeping up with the demand for the iPhone 4.

Speaking of the iPhone 4, don’t expect to see any radical changes in the way the next phone looks.  The antenna design issue notwithstanding, the all glass design has been pretty well received.  Personally I think they may finally go with the virtual home button, as opposed to the physical one currently on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch.  I also don’t expect the display to change as the Retina display is still one of the best out right now.  As is the rear camera.

Most likely it will just be an upgrade, like they did going from the 3G to the 3GS.  A new processor, more graphics power, maybe even an increase in camera MP.

SO all those people who are buying 4s now?  Will they feel buyers remorse?  Probably not.  With the iPhone 5 coming this soon, the 4 hasn’t been out long enough to seem “old” yet.  Plus if Apple does indeed follow its past patterns, the iPhone 5 wont seem all that different.  At least not different enough to make most people want to trade in their brand new iPhone 4.  How do you feel about it?

We also have the hard to find Pentalobe 5 point tool for the iPhone 4.

Check out the new mighty puller to help with tough MacBook or iPad screen replacements.

Please dont try and climb a building with them though! All our new tools are located in one simple place.

Available with matching glass back panel and home button. Help your iPhone 4 stand out from the rest!

iPhone 4 parts

iPhone 4 Repair Guide

He has a few thoughts on what the blogosphere has been creating, have a read after the jump.

MM: Hey Aaron, thanks for taking my call today, can you give me a bit of background info on you and Rapid Repair?

AV: Hey Fabrizio, I’m the service manager for Rapid Repair, our company was founded 6 years ago and we repair mobile devices, gadgets, ipods, iphones, zunes, video game consoles and handheld consoles. We get shipments from all over the world and repair close to 500 a week. We also contribute to our general knowledge-base by buying the latest gadgets, taking them apart, and putting out repair guides on our website.

MM: That’s great, thanks. So lets get down to business, what do you think Apple will do with the iPhone 4G?

AV: I think that the big changes to expect for the iPhone 4G (4G meaning 4th generation, not the network), in contrast to the iPhone 3GS, will be the exact opposite. The iPhone 3GS changes were focused on the hardware, the horsepower, the core of the device and the kind of performance it can offer. It was basically 95% the same phone as the 3G, just a faster version of it. With the iPhone 4G it will be more or less with the same hardware capabilities, but totally revising the design of it and heavily tweaking, revising and adding to the software functionality but not necessarily in the core applications, but in the most common periphery apps.

MM: Can you tell me more about what you think the direction will be with software?

AV: The thing that made the iPhone successful in the first place was that it did about four applications that everyone who wants a smartphone wants, and it did it better than anyone else ever had. Those four or five applications will be about the same, its just the next 80 or 90 they will improve functionality on.

MM: How do you think the iPhone 4G will be compared to the iPad in terms of platforms and hardware? Will there be any cross-platform integration?

AV: I think its interesting to see to what extent they want to integrate iBooks, they probably most likely want to avoid that. They’ve got another market they are trying to create with the iPad, trying to offer the same functionality on the iPhone, and with that small of a screen size is not that effective for reading books (even though I think they might bump the screen size on the iPhone 4G). I wouldn’t be surprised to see it more focused on reading periodicals, daily news, weekly news. Perhaps expanding on the content delivery that the iBooks content delivery will use. Which I think is a great move, that’s one big piece that the iPad is missing is just one killer app and that it’s not way better than any other device that has come before it.

MM: Well we don’t know that for sure just yet.

AV: Yeah, based on what was shown. It’s not a better e-Reader than Amazon’s Kindle, its not a better computer than the MacBook Air, so far there is not one thing that’s better than everything else.

MM: How about hardware?

AV: I do think the iPhone 4G will use the same processor that is in the iPad. The new Apple A4 as they call it, or it may be called the A3, when it comes down to the hardware it will be the same basic design. The CPU inside that application processor will be an ARM Cortex-A9, the graphics processor will be a PowerVR SGX, probably a 535 or 540. But what they will do, instead of running that CPU at the same clockspeed as the iPad, they will just underlock it to about 600Mhz on the iPhone 4G. The reason they would do that is to save significantly on power.

By comparison, the processor that is in the iPhone 3GS is also running at 600Mhz, the new processor set could easily be 25% more powerful even if they ran it at the same clock speed. In fact, they could even slow it down to 500Mhz and it would still be a more powerful processor set, and it would use maybe half the power as the iPhone 3GS processor and still get just as much done. And thats a result of using a newer and more powerful processor design. Largely due to using a smaller manufacturing process.

MM: Do you think Apple would open up the iPhone 4G for multitasking?

AV: No, I would say not. They didn’t indicate it in the iPad so I would think not. They won’t want to change it from the iPhone 3GS. They have a pretty good history in doing this with the iPods. In one cycle they change the design, the next cycle they beef up the hardware with kind of the same design, and then the next cycle they change the design again. The really good reason for that, which makes a lot of sense for phones, is every 2 or 3 years peoples contracts expire and they can get a new phone when that expires. So it makes sense for Apple to make a device with substantially different capabilities, but nothing more than that. If you make phones with substantially different capabilities every year, then you end up with too many classes of applications and too much confusion of compatibility.

MM: What do you think about these “touch-sensitive case” rumors?

AV: The touch sensing case rumors are interesting. A design concept I think Apple might be playing with, but not an enhancement that would be in the next iPhone, this sounds like something what would more suit the iPad. I believe they will however tweak multi-touch, so you can come up with new gestures, but nothing changed at the core. The case should be an aluminum uni-body.

MM: How about hardware specifics, what will be inside this iPhone 4G that we haven’t talked about?

AV: Memory will be at 512MB, the cost is right and I couldn’t see Apple staying at 256MB for the cost differences. I think storage capacity will be in the options of 16GB, 32GB and 64GB. No removable battery, if the iPhone is thought of as having a 2 year life cycle. On a 2 year basis most people are reasonably happy with their battery life.

MM: When do you think Apple will release the iPhone 4G?

AV: I would expect it to be close to the typical annual release, unless there is something groundbreaking that no one would expect there’s no reason that it couldn’t be out. The iPad is going to be out in March with that processor already on display, so processor production shouldn’t really hold them up. But they will need more for iPhone’s, I would say early June to mid-July. Whoever the fabricator is for the iPad A4 chip, will be the fabricator for the iPhone A4 chip. OLED screens are already available in the size Apple would want to use, the only thing they may want to be waiting on is Samsungs newer generation of OLED screens which are 25% brighter. They are in the mobiel handset form factor where you might get a reasonable level of performance in direct sunlight.

MM: What will it cost?

AV: It’s going to be the same or less. Certainly not more, $99, $199 and $299 are the most likely targets. Going any lower to that doesn’t net them any additional sales and thats the price point for most mobile phones, and they could make a killing on it because they are not upgrading most of the hardware inside, its a year later and a year cheaper and for the same price.

MM: There are rumors of video conferencing, what are your thoughts on that?

AV: I don’t think Apple is convinced that the customer they design for (North Americans) demand this feature.  Our mobile networks, (especially the beleaguered AT&T) are nowhere near ready to handle the heavy network demand and usage of these technologies, meaning it would be a WiFi only app and Apple doesn’t want to make their headline feature one that “just works… sometimes.”

MM: Anything else you might want to touch on, perhaps gaming, whats it all really about?

AV: I think its more about design and form factor, not performance on this. They are using newer chips, but thats mainly to increase battery life. Thats the trade off, you can increase battery life and increase performance with some level of trade off. I think you could see some pretty awesome games and battery life. If they use an OLED screen with the A4 chip, clock it all the way down to 500 or 600MHz, you could double the battery life in pretty much all applications from what the iPhone 3GS was. Or they could make the battery smaller and take it off the size and weight of the device with still a 50% increase.

MM: Well Aaron, thank you for your time and our readers will definitely appreciate your thoughts on this.