If nothing else, Apple is a company that’s exceptionally regular in its release schedule. We’ve seen new iPods every September/October for almost a decade, new iPhones announced each June and Mac refreshes almost every January. But as Gus over at Lifehacker points out, this regularity means that it’s highly unlikely we’ll see new iPhone 4′s hitting Australian shelves this month.
Gus’s logic explains that for the past two years, Apple have given us about a month-long window for an approximate launch date, which is followed by carrier pricing announcements happening at most eight days before the phone hits shelves. So even if one of the carriers were to come out and announce iPhone 4 pricing today, the earliest we could realistically expect to see the phone is next week.
But given the fact that Apple is holding an iPhone 4 related press event in the US tomorrow, and the ongoing problems with reception, it’s likely that we’ll be waiting a little bit longer to get our hands on the new phone, much like we had to wait for the iPad.
Although realistically, if the wait means Apple first admits then fixes the reception issues of the phone, the delay is probably a good thing for Australian consumers.
Simon Reidy
Friday, July 16, 2010 at 9:52 AMI’m happy to wait providing Apple’s “fix” is more than just a free bumper case.
Having said that new droids are hitting the shelves all the time that are making the iPhone 4 seem that little bit less appealing. As soon as one hits with the same battery life, camera & video quality of the iPhone 4 I’m sold (don’t try to tell me the Galaxy S is better – it isn’t).
matt
Friday, July 16, 2010 at 11:05 AMhonest question:
how is the iphone 4 better than the galaxy s?
molo
Friday, July 16, 2010 at 11:33 AMbetter software interface for the non-geeks.
CyK
Friday, July 16, 2010 at 12:30 PM“better software interface for the non-geeks.”
That would only apply to non-geeks then. For a geek the Samsung GS be the best phone on the market? (ie. all of us on Gizmodo?)
matt
Friday, July 16, 2010 at 1:48 PM@molo: so I’ve heard. stupid oems and their custom interfaces. interface is the least of my worries though, I’m with CyK. I also would agree that it doesn’t look/feel as good as the iphone, on the other hand one can hardly claim that aesthetics are synonymous with build quality now, iphone 4 case in point. aesthetics alone don’t worry me at all.
Simon Reidy
Friday, July 16, 2010 at 3:05 PMMUCH higher quality camera and with the 720p video quality there is no comparison. Even though the Samsun also shoots in 720p it suffers the most horrific lens wobble and drab colours I’ve seen from a smartphone. The frame rate is clearly less too as it’s very jittery. Having looked at original footage extensively (before being re-compressed for sites like YouTube) from both phones there is no comparison. The iPhone 4 shits on anything else out there.
The Samsung doesn’t even have a flash FFS let alone a nice powerful LED that you can use for video recording as well. The backside illuminated sensor on the iPhone4 produces stunning still pictures meaning that I won’t need to lug around a separate still camera AND a FlipHD any more. It’s all there in the one device. It’s nothing like a DSLR of course, but the quality is more than good enough for every day shots and footage.
Battery life is way better. Check out the Galaxy thread at Whirlpool and you’ll read just how bad the battery life is. The iPhone 4 has excellent battery life considering all the power under the hood.
I also like portable gaming and as I just told you in another thread, no one could argue that Android offers a better gaming experience.
I’m also a sucker for pixel density (well before Jobs coined the vomit inducing “Retina Display” term) and can’t wait to use the 960×640 display. The fact that it’s exactly four times the resolution of the 3G/3GS means very nice upscaling and/or re-rendering of older apps too.
If you read reputable reviews such as the extensive one done by Anandtech you’ll also see that antenna problem aside the iPhone 4 offers the best reception yet. As long as the gap between the UMTS/Bluetooth & Wi-Fi antennas aren’t bridged it has excellent performance as a phone. As Joshua Topolosky from Engadget and many other have reported they get far less dropped calls than on the 3GS.
As soon as Apple rectify this problem in some way (an announcement is only hours away) then it will fix an otherwise excellent phone.
I’m a smartphone geek and I’ve used a Desire on the Telstra network so I’m well aware of the benefits of Android. However it’s not quite there for me. I think Froyo and the next generation of HTC handsets will probably make me convert, but for now the iPhone 4 does everything I want it to. Especially when jailbroken. In fact in all honesty if it wasn’t for the awesome jailbreak and modding community I probably wouldn’t get one. It’s amazing some of the cool stuff that comes out of Cydia these days. It’s a whole underground world of development that is lots of fun to participate in. I’m just not ready to leave that behind.
matt
Saturday, July 17, 2010 at 7:07 AM@Simon,
thanks for the info!
poor battery life would be of the biggest concern to me :(
your right about the iphone 4s double res thing too! should mean that, without any upmixing all the old apps will look at least as good as they do on the old iPhone! each pixel is simply replaced with 4 that take up exactly the same space!
the one thing that remains to be seen is a head to head on performance. especially, how the galaxy’s higher speced SGX 540 gpu compares to the Apple modified SGX 535 that was originally used in the 3GS. a nice cross platform 3D Mark equiv would be good. also have to remember its having to push a few more pixels on the iphone.
Mick
Friday, July 16, 2010 at 9:54 AMCan’t say I’d be entirely surprised.
With the amount of bad press they’ve been getting recently, and that whole “cannot recommend” think in the US now, they’re kind of in a position where they have to at least do SOMETHING.
At the end of the day, If it means I get a more robust product when it finally gets hear, I’ll not be disappointed.
I still have a few weeks left on my current plan anyway. :)
Charles Fonsworth
Friday, July 16, 2010 at 9:56 AMaccording to some Apple store employees – no one is allowed to request the 23rd of July off. This goes hand in hand with some sources high up in Optus which has stated 23rd or 28th for the release. Considering Apple likes to release on a friday this might work. Of course it is only speculation, but at least it is something.
Labrat
Friday, July 16, 2010 at 10:12 AMI’m kind of chuffed that I got a 16gb 3GS at virgin’s ‘firesale’ recently for “free” on a $35 a month plan..
for all its faults, the iphone4 is really more of an an ipod4, as it stands..
Arfur Sixpence
Friday, July 16, 2010 at 5:50 PMWell done, Labrat. You have the best of all worlds. Much as I quite fancy an iphone, I have NO intention of buying a paper-weight. I’m more than happy to wait until Christmas for it to be sorted before I get a new phone and then, with any luck, the missus’ll buy it for me…
goddammit
Friday, July 16, 2010 at 10:18 AMf**k delays!!!
What
Friday, July 16, 2010 at 10:19 AM“As soon as one hits with the same battery life, camera & video quality of the iPhone 4 I’m sold”
These are none of the selling points on the iPhone? def not the reason i would be buying one. Much better phones out there if you required a long lasting camera.
Tom
Friday, July 16, 2010 at 10:24 AMI’m definitely happy if a delay results in some tweaks to hardware, or free bumpers, or extended warranty. Unless Friday’s presser is one where they come out and go “haha you sheep” dressed as clowns, it can only have positive implications for those who haven’t bought it yet. :)
Unless they do a Vic opposition and say they want to cut their losses and scrap the thing. Ha.
Keith Drain
Friday, July 16, 2010 at 11:21 AMThis all would be fine if iOS4 worked well on the 3G but my phone is extremely slow and always crashing apps since the upgrade (then restore).
Everything is so slow. I’ve been dying to get the new iPhone because of these performance issues with iOS4 on the 3G as it is almost unusable but I have no choice if putting on a bloody bit of rubber will fix the problem give me the phone as it will function better than the 3G does now. Apple did their previous customers a real disservice by allowing the 3G to get iOS 4. I’d downgrade if I could but there is no real downgrade path.
Keegan Lillo
Friday, July 16, 2010 at 12:32 PMJust hold down option (mac) or shift (pc) when you hit the restore button in iTunes. You can then select an older firmware to restore from. 3G doesn’t need verification from apple servers to downgrade. You may need to punch in a terminal command. Google is your friend
geoff
Friday, July 16, 2010 at 2:07 PMOS4.1 has been released to beta and users have stated that it fixes the slowness issues. geoff
shaun2k
Friday, July 16, 2010 at 11:26 AMApparently they are inserting some kind of plastic on the inside to isolate the umts and wifi antennas… Im just gunna use the icolor wrap, it looks like it does the trick according to their site (for isolation). You can get two for $10 US. Much cheaper than a crappy bumper case.
Daniel
Friday, July 16, 2010 at 11:27 AMIt’s already been a delay. This is another.
Steve M.
Friday, July 16, 2010 at 1:46 PMWhat was the first delay? When the iPhone 4 was announced, Apple said it would be released in “late July”. It is yet to be confirmed that we won’t be getting it in late July.
Bradster
Friday, July 16, 2010 at 12:08 PMDon’t pass judgement unless you actually have an iPhone 4 – like I do here in Australia.
I’ve had none of these problems mentioned, and I updated to iOS 4.01 this morning. The bar signals have been corrected, I’m STILL not getting any dropped calls or other issues.
Get one for yourself and see before passing judgements based on rumour.
Michael
Friday, July 16, 2010 at 12:11 PMI am not sure as to wait for the iphone 4 to come here in Australia or to get the sony ericsson xperia x10 today which is just as good. I heard that the delay MAY be October. Thats what I heard, don’t know if thats true.
goddammit
Friday, July 16, 2010 at 12:34 PMhow can that possibly compete with the iphone 4?
idiot… unless its ALOT cheaper i dont see the point in getting any other phone other than something running at least android 2.1, without any skin/theme other than htc sense…
matt
Friday, July 16, 2010 at 1:56 PMno, your right… the people who just take Apple gimping their iphone 3G’s, forcing them to upgrade, then, even after that disservice, jumping strait on the next iphone even though it has clearly sighted problems ALL READY, they’re fine. but someone who actually thinks to shop around and buy a phone from someone who ISN’T Apple is an idiot.
right. that seems fair.
Im_a_pc
Friday, July 16, 2010 at 1:34 PMPls. It’s not a rumour. We just don’t have AT&T
Im_a_pc
Friday, July 16, 2010 at 1:35 PM^^ Sorry, that was for Bradster.
Baaaaaaaa
Marlon
Friday, July 16, 2010 at 12:32 PMEverything is delayed in australia From Hollywood movies to tech gadgets…..
goddammit
Friday, July 16, 2010 at 12:40 PMcompletely agree, wtf australia! does everyone just not care or is it because australia’s so far away?
PeteC
Friday, July 16, 2010 at 2:10 PMYou obviously haven’t lived in NZ, you wouldn’t complain then. :)
There are gadgets (e.g. phones) which never did/will reach the shores of NZ, because its “too far away” meanwhile it here in the “neighborhood” :)
What would you expect from a 20 million people market (hint: OZ) compared to a 127 million people market (Japan)? Enough buying power?
adam
Friday, July 16, 2010 at 1:15 PMyes.. althou it’s only 10hrs away from US ..
even all fruits and dairy products from Aussie farms.. ask if ya got any farmer friends.. where all First Grade products go?… To JAPAN!!
we tend to look down on Japan coz it’s in Asia but there’s nothing really we do better (or have)than Japs..
EVEN I PHONE4′s released in JAP !.. ;(
matt h
Friday, July 16, 2010 at 2:00 PMHuh? Are you Australian Marlon? We get U.S. movies a couple of days BEFORE they do all the time now, as we’re over the date line and our release day is generally Thursday, not Friday like theirs. Some things come out a few weeks later like they used to, but we get movies first all the time. England has to wait around forever quite often though.
chaosboi
Friday, July 16, 2010 at 1:22 PMI smell so much link bait, including this article, around right now!
Milligan
Friday, July 16, 2010 at 2:45 PMWell I spoke to a guy at vodafone today and he was telling me the release of the iphone 4 had been pushed back to october in Australia
VB
Saturday, July 17, 2010 at 1:02 AMIt not delayed . I have one and love it. better reception than 3gs just had to buy it in the UK and cut my own sim .
As a gaget nerd had to gloat …. sorry
Daniel LeMor
Saturday, July 17, 2010 at 2:13 PMSteve jobs just said today that the Australian release date will be July 30. A little later than I hoped but techincally still in the original late July timeframe.
Leo W'ski
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 9:31 PMIs this a suprise? NOTHING ever comes out on time!