These photos aren't surprising, but for those interested, AppVV has also posted photos of the new iPhone 4S alongside both CDMA and GSM iPhone 4 devices. It's also further proof that AppVV has gotten hold of an iPhone 4S before the official launch.
They've already posted a hands on video showing the Siri settings.
In these photos, the iPhone 4S is on the left, iPhone 4 GSM middle, and iPhone 4 CDMA right.
The photos simply show the new antenna design of the iPhone 4S which looks almost identical to the CDMA iPhone. The only noticeable difference is the addition of a GSM slot. Otherwise, the phones appear identical on the outside.
AppVV has further shots, but you need to be a registered user.
Police at Covent Garden store following the robbery (Source: Rob Shoesmith)
The Indepdent reports that Apple's Covent Garden store in London was the target of an organized smash-and-grab robbery conducted by a group of moped and motorcycle riders last night, and it appears that at least seven vehicles and as many as fourteen individuals were involved.
Police were called at around 1am after one of the store's windows was smashed and a haul of Apple devices, including valuable iPads, was stolen.
It is believed around seven masked raiders riding mopeds and motorcycles were involved in the incident.
All suspects were wearing full face crash helmets and most, if not all of the motorbikes were carrying a pillion passenger, the Met said.
Two individuals, a 16-year-old and a 21-year-old, were later apprehended carrying bags of property believed to have been stolen from the store.
Boarded-up window at Covent Garden retail store (Source: The Next Web)
The Metropolitan Police Service has requested that anyone with information on the robbery please contact law enforcement.
Following the posting of a hands-on video of the iPhone 4S, AppVV has also apparently posted the first consumer photo taken with an iPhone 4S. The photo above was taken with an iPhone 4S and measures in at 3264 x 2448 pixels.
EXIF data is quite easy to manipulate and the image has taken a pass through Photoshop in order to add the watermark, but given the existence of the hands-on video, the photo is likely authentic.
As part of its promotional materials for the iPhone 4S posted following last week's media event, Apple included full-resolution sample photos, but the new image from AppVV offers an example of the quality of photos users can expect simply from snapping a quick photo. And last month, a photo apparently taken by an Apple engineer using an iPhone 4S briefly appeared on Flickr, with the official specs for the iPhone 4S camera announced last week all but confirming that the photo was indeed taken by the device.
Last week, the Infinity Blade developer first suggested that the iPhone 4S still had 512MB of RAM, just like the iPhone 4:
"I'm still shocked that, with the iPhone 4S, I'm literally running around with a 1080p video camera in my pocket, with an eight megapixel camera, 64GB of hard drive space and an A5 chip with 512MB of memory. This is a really powerful computer, right?
The developer would be in a position to know as they had demoed their game on the new iPhone 4S during last week's keynote.
We had doubts about this claim, however, as we had previously heard that the new iPhone would carry 1GB of RAM. Note that we heard this alongside other information regarding Apple's Assistant feature that we accurately mocked up ahead of Siri's launch, so we were confident in the source.
But, now, AppVV also confirms that the iPhone 4S has 512MB of RAM. In a discussion thread an administrator reports that it has 512MB. This fact is repeated on their Weibo page as well in response to a question:
Re @ LogIn_Kim: RAM have said before, is still 512MB.
Though they don't detail how they came to the figure, we're inclined to believe AppVV as they are the ones who posted a hands-on video of the iPhone 4S this morning.
Apple has announced that they have received over one million iPhone 4S pre-orders on the first 24 hours.
“We are blown away with the incredible customer response to iPhone 4S,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “The first day pre-orders for iPhone 4S have been the most for any new product that Apple has ever launched and we are thrilled that customers love iPhone 4S as much as we do.”
That number tops the previous record for Apple held by the iPhone 4 which sold 600,000 units in pre-order on the first day. AT&T previously announced that they alone were responsible for 200,000 iPhone 4S pre-orders.
The iPhone 4S launches officially on October 14th when it will become available in retail stores. Pre-orders should arrive to customers at about the same time.
It seems someone has gotten hold of an iPhone 4S ahead of launch. This video from AppVV.com shows off a new iPhone 4S with some early benchmarks (thanks BluC0la). It also shows the Siri settings interface which allows you to turn Siri On/Off, change Language Settings, Voice feedback, My Info and enable Raise to Speak.
To talk to Siri, press and hold the home button or raise the phone to your ear and speak.
Early Sunspider marks show a total score of 2222.1ms and a BrowserMark score of 89567. For comparison, it appears that the BrowserMark score for an iPhone 4 running iOS 5 is 44856, so the new iPhone 4S benches twice as fast in the browser.
The iPhone 4S doesn't officially launch until October 14th. Some readers have gotten early ship notices, but we hadn't heard of any deliveries thus far. It's not clear how this person obtained their iPhone 4S.
There have been severalreports of readers getting ship notices for their early iPhone 4S pre-orders. These orders are starting to show up in UPS tracking databases with expected delivery dates ahead of the iPhone 4S launch date of October 14th.
Apple has in the past, however, coordinated with carriers to hold delivery until official product launch days, and it is likely the company will do so again for iPhone 4S. So, even with early shipment notifications, it's likely that most customers won't receive them until the 14th -- though there are occasional exceptions.
Readers are organizing in our iPhone forums to discuss their upcoming deliveries. Those who want to compare their tracking status changes can do so in these carrier specific threads: AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and International. Meanwhile, if you are desperate to find your tracking number as soon as possible, one poster provides a tip that may provide you that information if your shipment has already moved to "Preparing for shipment".
The iPhone 4S has already sold out of the initial pre-order stock, so if you haven't ordered yet, your only chance of picking one up on launch day is to stand in line. Apple Retail stores will open at 8:00 a.m. on October 14th to sell the iPhone 4S on a first come, first serve basis.
One of the most common Buyer's Guide related question we get asked is "Is it a good time to buy an Apple TV?"
We've never tracked the Apple TV in our buyers guide because it's a product that seems to have no regular release cycle. Apple maintains that the Apple TV is a "hobby" project, and that attitude shows in its infrequent update cycle. The Apple TV is unique in that it is more of a living room appliance whose primary purpose is to play iTunes content on your television. As a result, as long as the Apple TV can play all present iTunes content, there's no compelling reason for Apple to offer a major hardware upgrade.
The Apple TV has only seen two major hardware revisions during its lifetime. First was the original launch back in 2007 and the second was September 2010 when Apple released a smaller iOS-based version. We noted in June that iOS 5 opened the door to a true 1080p-capable Apple TV, but no evidence of such a device had been seen.
9to5Mac has now spotted a reference to a yet-unreleased "AppleTV3,1" in the latest version of iOS 5. This suggests that Apple is working on a next generation Apple TV in its labs. The previous models have carried the codenames "AppleTV1,1" and "AppleTV2,1".
A new Apple TV could integrate Apple's new A5 processor, which offers much faster graphics processing, and include true 1080p support. But unless Apple plans on offering 1080p content on iTunes, that feature would be of limited use to the majority of consumers. Fortunately, Apple has been rumored to be prepping movie studios to start submitting 1080p content to iTunes.
We should note that when previous iPhone references have been found in iOS releases, we've seen a lead time of up to 15 months. So, an imminent release is not guaranteed.
Software evidence of Apple's future devices tends to appear rather early in the development process, as evidenced by iPhone3,1 appearing in iPhone OS configuration files in March 2009. That device turned out to be the iPhone 4, released 15 months later.
We also suspect that any new Apple TV may run up against Apple's future plans for television. There have been persistent rumors that Apple could be taking on the TV market at some point in the near future. The NYTimes revisited this speculation in the days following Steve Jobs' death.
But many in the tech industry contend that television is ripe for technological makeover, and that the next big challenge for Apple, after the death of Mr. Jobs, is likely to be in that area.
Last year, NYTimes' said that Apple was in negotiations over a new television subscription service but ultimately failed.
So, we can't be certain when Apple might be launching a new ApplebTV, but believe it would be tied to other offerings, either 1080p HD iTunes content or another television initiative altogether.
Following the lead of international pre-orders, new orders for the iPhone 4S made through Apple's U.S. online store are now listed with shipping estimates of 1-2 weeks, indicating that the door has closed on the opportunity for customers to pre-order the device through Apple for launch day delivery.
Demand for the iPhone 4S appears to be very strong, with AT&T having reported that it alone had taken 200,000 orders in the first 12 hours of availability. Apple's online store struggled to keep up with the traffic as pre-orders went live, with company eventually resorting to offering order temporary reservations as connections to carriers' systems to verify eligibility and service plans became overwhelmed. Users who received reservations from Apple in the first few hours of availability have until 5:00 PM Pacific Time on Saturday to return and complete their orders before losing their priority standing.
The iPhone 4S will launch next Friday, October 14th in the United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom.
Reuters reports that AT&T is seeing "extraordinary demand" for the new iPhone 4S which became available for preorder at around 12:01 am Pacific time on Friday, October 7th. AT&T reveals that they have seen over 200,000 preorders for the iPhone 4S in the first 12 hours of sale.
For reference, last year, Apple announced that they saw a record-breaking 600,000 iPhone 4 pre-orders in the first day across all carriers in US, France, Germany, Japan and the UK. So, 2010's 600,000 number included all of Apple's launch carriers and over the first full day of sales.
This year, AT&T alone saw over 200,000 pre-orders in half the time. Unlike last year, the new iPhone 4S is now also available on Verizon and Sprint in the U.S, which will account for many other U.S. preorders. Despite being split across three carriers, AT&T says that this is "the most successful iPhone launch we’ve ever had".
Similarly, Apple also offered iPhone 4S preorders in several other countries outside the U.S. too (Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the UK). So, it seems certain that the iPhone 4S will also be Apple's most successful phone launch ever.
Update: Sprint's website shows the 16GB iPhone 4S as sold out.
Deadline reports that Sony Pictures is presently working to acquire the rights for a feature film based on Walter Isaacson's authorized biography of Steve Jobs.
I’ve just learned that Sony Pictures is making a hefty deal to acquire feature rights to Steve Jobs, the upcoming authorized biography by former CNN chairman and Time Magazine managing editor Walter Isaacson.
Deadline considers the studio to be a good match, having recently condensed another business book into the Oscar-nominated film The Social Network which dramatized the founding of Facebook.
Apple and Steve Jobs has already been the topic of one movie called Pirates of Silicon Valley which covered events of the early founding of Apple and up to the return of Steve Jobs at Apple in the late 90s. The movie was a relatively modest telling and targeted straight to television rather than a feature film. The movie was also released in 1999, well before Apple's massive rise in popularity and profitability.
There's no word on when such a film might be targeted for release.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Steve Jobs' funeral, a "small private gathering", is taking place today, two days after Jobs passed away at the age of 56.
Tributes to Steve Jobs at Apple's SoHo retail store in Manhattan (Thanks, Chris)
While neither Apple nor the Jobs family is planning a public memorial service, Apple CEO Tim Cook noted in his email to company employees on Wednesday, that Apple will hold an event for Apple staff to celebrate Jobs' life.
There is no public memorial planned for Mr. Jobs's death, said an Apple spokesman.
In a letter to Apple's employees on Wednesday, Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said that the company is "planning a celebration of Steve's extraordinary life" for staff that will take place soon.
Fans of Apple and Steve Jobs have of course taken memorial services into their own hands, setting up impromptu displays of flowers, messages, and other items at Apple retail stores around the world.
This is my next... shares an internal talking point from AT&T regarding the iPhone 4S, noting that the carrier is "working with Apple" to change the network indicator shown in the status bar on the iPhone 4S to read "4G" when the device is running on an HSPA+ network.
AT&T is working with Apple to update the network indicator for AT&T's iPhone 4S to read "4G". This will happen with an iOS release from Apple. Since iPhone 4S is an HSPA+ device, our customers will get 4G speeds from day one. Only AT&T has this unique network advantage.
"4G" is a marketing term that is being applied to both LTE and HSPA+ networks, leading to some customer confusion over just what exactly the term means. AT&T markets both its HSPA+ and LTE services as being 4G, and thus it believes that the iPhone 4S, which supports 14.4 Mbps HSDPA, should be marketed as offering 4G speeds.
Apple has purposely shied away from the debate over what should constitute "4G" speeds, with Phil Schiller steering away from any claims of the iPhone 4S being a "4G" device in its introduction but noting that the iPhone 4S meets or exceeds the data speeds of a number of other handsets that are marketed as 4G devices.
Now, if you follow the phone industry, these numbers might sound familiar – 5.8 up, 14.4 down. Where have I heard that before? Well, this is what the majority of our competitors claim when they talk about 4G performance. The Motorola Atrix 4G, the LG Thrill 4G, the HTC Inspire 4G – they even put it in their names. We're not going to get into a debate in the industry of what's 4G and what isn't. We leave that to others to talk about. What's most important, when it comes to real-world performance – the iPhone 4S is just as fast as all these phones. In fact, we think with some of our software enhancements, it's even faster in real-world use.
The confusion over HSPA+ and LTE flavors of 4G marketing is focused on GSM carriers like AT&T. Verizon does not have a similar issue with its CDMA network, as its only 4G network utilizes LTE technology, which the iPhone 4S does not support. Sprint currently offers 4G service using WiMAX technology, which the iPhone 4S also does not support, although the carrier is moving quickly to transition to LTE for its 4G connectivity.
One of the hallmarks of Steve Jobs' career was his attention to detail, particularly in areas of design, whether it be from an aesthetic or functional point of view. The New York Times takes a look at how Jobs influenced the design of computers and other consumer electronics, turning what had been utilitarian appliances into works of art with strong aesthetic appeal. Apple's product designs, spearheaded by Jobs and Jony Ive, are regarded so highly for their aesthetics that a number of them have been included in museums of design and modern art.
Mr. Jobs “had an exceptional eye for design, and not just an eye, but an intelligence for design,” [senior curator at New York's Museum of Modern Art Paola] Antonelli said. “We don’t talk just about the looks, but how objects communicate: The specific shape, how it feels in the hand, under the fingers, how you read it in the eye and the mind. This is what Steve cared passionately about.”
The report makes reference to comments Jobs made to Fortune back in 2000, an interview which made clear his drive to bring good design to Apple's products.
“We don’t have good language to talk about this kind of thing,” Mr. Jobs replied. “In most people’s vocabularies, design means veneer. It’s interior decorating. It’s the fabric of the curtains and the sofa. But to me, nothing could be further from the meaning of design. Design is the fundamental soul of a man-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service. The iMac is not just the color or translucence or the shape of the shell. The essence of the iMac is to be the finest possible consumer computer in which each element plays together. ... That is the furthest thing from veneer. It was at the core of the product the day we started. This is what customers pay us for — to sweat all these details so it’s easy and pleasant for them to use our computers. We’re supposed to be really good at this. That doesn’t mean we don’t listen to customers, but it’s hard for them to tell you what they want when they’ve never seen anything remotely like it.”
And while Jobs will no longer be a part of the Apple design process, it's clear that he helped chart out a course for Apple's future that will see consumers still reaping the rewards of his attention to detail years into the future. Yesterday, we noted that Jobs was reportedly actively involved in overseeing development of the next-generation iPhone even as the iPhone 4S is yet to make its way into customers' hands. And the Daily Mail reports that Jobs is claimed to have left behind four years' worth of product plans across Apple's product lines, leaving the company well-stocked as it looks toward the future.
He has also been overseeing the development of the delayed iCloud project, which will allow Apple users to store their music, photos and other documents remotely and masterminding updated versions of the iPod, iPad, iPhone and MacBooks, ensuring at least four years’ worth of products are in the pipeline, according to Apple sources.
Those designs will obviously have to evolve to respond to the changing technological and competitive landscape, but it is clear that Jobs was looking toward the future up until the very end, leaving behind a legacy of focus on design and a company culture infused with the ideals to carry that legacy forward into the future.
Earlier today, Samsung and Google announced that they would be canceling a previously-scheduled event set for Tuesday at which the companies were planning to introduce the Nexus Prime, the first handset to run Google's latest "Ice Cream Sandwich" version of Android.
Samsung and Google decide to postpone the new product announcement at CTIA Fall. We agree that it is just not the right time to announce a new product. New date and venue will be shortly announced.
Speculation immediately turned to the possibility that the companies delayed the launch out of respect for Steve Jobs, who passed away on Wednesday, although the companies did not offer an explanation for the event cancelation.
AllThingsD now reports that Samsung and Google did indeed cancel the event due to Jobs' death, feeling that the launch would be inappropriate given the mourning process still going on throughout the tech industry and the world.
The decision to postpone things was made late last night at the top levels of both companies, sources said, with Jobs’ death being the reason. There are no delays with the product itself, sources insisted.
For its part, Apple has continued with its launch plans for the iPhone 4S, introducing the device on Tuesday even as company executives likely knew that Jobs' passing was imminent. Pre-orders for the iPhone 4S began early today as scheduled, with availability set for next Friday, October 14th in the initial batch of launch countries.
Reuters reports that Sprint is significantly accelerating its transition from WiMAX to LTE for its 4G network technology, aiming to complete its LTE buildout by the end of 2013.
Sprint Nextel Corp plans to upgrade its network in time to launch high-speed wireless services by the middle of 2012 and expects to complete its upgrade by the end of 2013, a top executive for the company said on Friday.
Engadget notes that Sprint is planning to offer LTE coverage for 123 million Americans by the end of 2012, increasing to over 250 million by the time the buildout is complete a year later.
Reuters also notes that Sprint CEO Dan Hesse addressed the carrier's offering of the iPhone, for which pre-orders began just hours ago. With sources claiming that Sprint has committed to purchasing $20 billion worth of iPhones over the next four years, there have been concerns over the short-term hit to Sprint's profitability as it absorbs hundreds of dollars in subsidies for each unit until it earns the money back over time in service contracts.
But Hesse reports that iPhone is ultimately expected to be one of Sprint's most profitable handsets over time.
The company, which started taking pre-orders for the Apple Inc iPhone on Friday, said that while the device is more expensive than others, the iPhone will be "quite accretive" to profitability and cash flow over time.
Chief Executive Dan Hesse said he expects the popular device to be one of Sprint's most profitable, but he did not give specifics.
While the iPhone 4S does not support LTE, it seems that component availability could be lining up for an LTE iPhone by the third quarter of next year, by which time Verizon and AT&T will have fairly substantial LTE coverage and Sprint will be in the early stages of its rollout.
Just hours after pre-orders began, shipping estimates for new iPhone 4S orders placed through Apple's online stores in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and the UK have slipped to 1-2 weeks from the initial "by October 14th" estimate. Shipping estimates through Apple remain at October 14th in the United States, while the company is not offering online sales in Japan.
Current shipping estimates in Apple's Canadian online store
Apple and its carrier partners began pre-orders around midnight Pacific Time, although Apple's and AT&T's sites didn't come up for orders until about 40 minutes after the scheduled launch time. And even after pre-orders came up on Apple's site, users had significant difficulty getting through. Much of the bottleneck appeared to be related to verifying eligibility and plans through AT&T, with the purchasing process repeatedly hanging and resulting in errors for many users.
iPhone 4S reservation issued due to problems with carrier processing
Apple eventually shut down its iPhone pre-order system for a brief period of time, bringing it back up to issue reservations that would allow users to return later to verify eligibility and select their service plans. Apple has begun notifying users who placed early reservations that they may now return to apple.com to complete their orders, and that they must complete the process by 5:00 PM Pacific Time tomorrow in order maintain their priority order status.
Well after its advertised launch time, Apple has now begun accepting pre-orders for the iPhone 4S at their online Apple Store. Preorders are also available directly from Verizon, Sprint and AT&T. The servers, however, seem overloaded at the time of publishing so may take a while to get your orders in.
The iPhone 4S was introduced earlier this week and includes an A5 processor, faster graphics, an improved 8MP camera as well as the new Siri Voice Assistant.
The iPhone 4S comes in 3 different capacities 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB, priced at $199, $299 and $399 respectively with contract. Carrier options in the United States include AT&T, Verizon and Sprint. We posted a detailed price comparison chart earlier today.
Those upfront prices assume that you qualify for a carrier-subsidized device. If you are presently in a contract with your carrier, you may not qualify. Apple provides this online tool to see what your pricing would be.
Apple reveals that in the U.S., the iPhone 4S will be available unlocked starting in November.
The iPhone 4S will also be available in-store on October 14th.
Update: Apple seems to having trouble with accepting pre-orders:
Last week, the 
