The report by OTR Global, provided to AppleInsider by an industry analyst, says the new “worldmode” iPhone will gain compatibility with CDMA2000 networks (including Verizon’s US network, which is currently incompatible with existing iPhone models) while retaining compatibility with UMTS 3G networks globally using a new hybrid chip produced by Qualcomm. 

According to OTR’s sources, Asustek subsidiary Pegatron will build the new hybrid phone devices for Apple rather than Hon Hai, the iPhone’s current manufacturer. This decision was reportedly made to prevent the company from being “constrained by a single-source assembler.” 

A smaller body

The research note also identified the new phone as having a 2.8″ screen, which is significantly smaller than the current iPhone’s 3.5″ display. 

Last summer, component pictures indicating the development of a smaller 2.8″ iPhone model appeared on the web next to the standard 3.5″ parts currently in production, and a Chinese-language newspaper reported that an upcoming model of the iPhone would be smaller and lighter. 

Without any mention of both larger and smaller versions in OTR’s report, it appears but has not yet been confirmed that next year’s iPhone will scale down in size while also gaining compatibility with all major mobile networks. 

CDMA vs. WCDMA

The American technological rift between CDMA providers (including Sprint and Verizon) and GSM/UMTS providers (T-Moblie and AT&T) was widely expected to remain in place until Verizon moved to LTE, the next generation of UMTS service. 

In other countries, CDMA providers have either shut down their networks and moved entirely to UMTS service (as Telstra did in Australia) or added a UMTS overlay to their existing CDMA service (as Bell and Telus just recently did in Canada). In the US, Verizon decided to do neither, and instead will only be investing in a new next generation LTE network that won’t be completed for years. 

This appeared to leave little opportunity for a Verizon iPhone before 2011, but Qualcomm’s “worldmode” hybrid component enables Apple to continue offering a single iPhone version that can be sold by both AT&T and Verizon in the US, and on virtually every carrier outside the US. 

UMTS is the 3G service associated with GSM providers, but it uses radio carrier technology (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) similar to but incompatible with Qualcomm’s CDMA2000/EVDO used by Verizon. Despite the technical similarities, CDMA2000 and UMTS/WCDMA are competing, non-interoperable 3G technologies. With nearly all mobile carriers having announced plans to shift to UMTS or LTE in the future, CDMA2000 represents a dead end. 

It still remains widely deployed in various markets however, including the US, where Verizon’s CDMA2000 3G network is widely regarded as having wider reach and providing better data service than AT&T’s newer UMTS 3G network. AT&T’s 3G service is rated particularly poorly in San Francisco and New York City, where coverage holes have been exacerbated by a huge influx of data-hungry iPhone users. AT&T has yet to introduce its 3G MicroCell to enable users to solve their own dead zones at home or work. 

Qualcomm’s new hybrid CDMA/WCDMA chip offers the potential for a single, global iPhone that users can take to any major carrier, solving the network fractionalization problem. It also solves other issues that had served as roadblocks, including the issue of user confusion that would result from Apple selling separate CDMA and GSM/UMTS versions of the iPhone. 

With one phone that works on both types of networks, any differences between the two (such as in features like conference calling and simultaneous voice and data, unique to UMTS) will be more apparently tied to the provider’s network rather than to an iPhone model itself. 

Verizon’s DROID, cancelation fee launch

Verizon’s merciless attacks on AT&T’s 3G network coverage in ads spoofing the iPhone’s “there’s an app for that” slogan were another factor which left some observers to think that Verizon could not possibly be in talks with Apple to sell the iPhone anytime soon, but the OTR report indicates that Verizon and Apple have already hammered out an agreement to sell the new iPhone model within the year. 

Verizon recently launched two smartphones aimed squarely at the iPhone: the BlackBerry Storm 2 and Motorola Droid. At the same time, the provider also announced a new cancelation policy that charges users a hefty $350 when they attempt to back out of contracts involving “advanced devices.” 

Last year, the company found little lasting enthusiasm from users who assumed that the original Storm would be closer to the iPhone in terms of features; whether the new fee is an attempt to penalize unsatisfied users or to profit from switchers next year, it may result in users rethinking their purchases right now. 

With reports breaking the news that Verizon will be selling the iPhone within the year, sales of the Storm 2, Droid, and next year’s Palm Pre may end up repressed if customers decide they’d rather wait for the iPhone to arrive instead of facing the prospect of a major cancelation penalty and the loss of their subsidy credit by buying an alternative device now. 

Droid reviews have largely described it as a second place alternative for users who want to stick with Verizon. That being the case, the prospect of a Verizon iPhone appears poised to deflate Droid sales this holiday season. 

End of AT&T exclusivity

The news might not be good for AT&T either, considering that many users have switched to AT&T solely because they wanted to get the iPhone. The availability of a Verizon iPhone may cause AT&T buyers to hold off on new purchases until they see what kinds of competitive deals AT&T and Verizon will offer once the iPhone’s exclusivity with AT&T ends next summer and the new “worldmode” iPhone appears. 

It does however give AT&T a year to improve its 3G network and roll out the 3G MicroCell before being hit with mass defections from iPhone users irate over service issues. AT&T can still advertise that its 3G network is faster than Verizon’s CDMA2000 coverage, and that it offers some features that CDMA2000 does not, including simultaneous voice and data and easy to use, multiple party conference calling. 

AT&T has struggled to keep up with the pace of iPhone development, failing to immediately implement iPhone 3.0’s MMS and tethering features, and remaining unable to take advantage of the faster 7.2 Mbps HSPA data potential of the iPhone 3GS. The threat posed by a “worldmode” iPhone should push AT&T to deliver a year of high priority network upgrades, and potentially result in more competitive service plans.

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Matthew Key, head of O2, told Times Online, “Once the iPhone becomes available on other UK networks, we will allow O2 customers to unlock their iPhones, although of course they will still need to honour any outstanding contract period they have. At the end of their contract period, they are entirely free to move to another operator — though naturally we hope they won’t want to! “ 

When asked why O2’s 3G network was struggling, Key made these comments. 

“The O2 network has seen an 18-fold increase in data carried over the network in the last year and traffic continues to double every three months…” 

…”We are investing more than £30 million to address capacity issues in London alone between now and Christmas and I’m confident that we’ll see much improved levels of service as a result.” 

(via iClarified.com)

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Now in a seeming attempt to place the blame squarely on Apple, Adobe is taking the issue to the iPhone users themselves. 

Now iPhone users trying to access Flash content on their handsets are shown this message from Adobe: 

“Apple restricts use of technologies required by product like Flash Player. Until Apple eliminates these restrictions, Adobe cannot provide Flash Player for the iPhone or iPod Touch”. 

It sounds like a last-ditch effort by Adobe to bring Flash to the iPhone users. Many previous attempts to talk to Apple about bringing Flash have only ended up in empty promises. This has been because Apple has always suspected the Flash player of bringing down the performance levels of the iPhone and Steve Jobs has in fact gone on air saying that he has not been particularly impressed with Adobe’s offer for the iPhone. 

Recently, Adobe had launched a beta version of Flash Professional CS5 that enabled app developers to port their Flash applications to the iPhone platform. However, users looking to access Flash based web content on their iPhones have remained unlucky so far.

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“blacksn0w is the unlock for the latest 05.11.07 baseband, and will also enable official tethering. blackra1n, a jailbreak for 3.1.2, has been updated to RC3, with hacktivation support, 15 second speed improvement, Tiger+PPC support, and installation of the latest blackra1n.app.”

You can find instructions on how to use blacksn0w to unlock your iPhone here: Windows, Mac.

If you have already jailbroken using blackra1n, run the application again. You will see Icy replaced by an option “ra1n”. Install this to upgrade your blackra1n application. Run the blackra1n application again. This time you will see “sn0w”. Install sn0w to unlock your device.

(via iClarified.com)

Here’s what the iPhone Dev Team had to say concerning BlackSn0w

iPhone 3G/3GS owners who found themselves stuck with version 05.11 of the baseband (either by accident or because they bought it that way) are now in luck!  geohot was able to turn the already-public at+xemn crash into an injection vector, which can be used to inject his version of the unlock.  The blacksn0w unlock is available for free via Cydia by adding the repository http://blackra1n.com in the Manage->Sources panel.  Congratulations, geohot!

Those of you who are already unlocked at 3.1.2 because you kept your 04.26 baseband now have an extra cushion of comfort, and more choices: ultrasn0w, purplesn0w, and now blacksn0w (and of course the original yellowsn0w too if you’re still back at FW 2.x).   Whether or not you choose to update your baseband solely to use the new unlock is a personal choice, but so far there are no advantages to doing so (and remember you can’t come back to 04.26 after you’ve gone to 05.11).

As with all the unlocks, it will probably very soon be re-sold through scam sites that charge you money for what is offered to the community for free.  Please stay vigilant for these scam sites and steer your friends away from them.

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Eleven (11). You know, ten (10) + one (1) = …
It is said that the official iPhone didn’t sell as well as most assumed because of black market iPhones which are unlocked & have wi-fi*

*In case you didn’t know, the iPhone 3GS in China does not have wi-fi because of a temporary ban there on the technology. It was lifted in May but unfortunately that was too late for this initial batch of iPhone 3GSs. They plan on releasing wi-fi enabled iPhone 3GSs by 2010 though.

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The port is being developed for these two models because: 
- They’re the fastest Apple handhelds in term of raw CPU performance. 
- They both have a faster GPU (Graphic Processing Unit) which allows for OpenGL ES 2.0 specifications. 

So yes you may soon see N64 on your favorite Apple device. But I can’t promise it will run games top notch just yet, as things are too early to say. There’s hope though, with a 3D accelerated graphics plugin, as well as an ARM dynarec. If you have a previous generation device, I can use software rendering, but it will slow things down further, along with the slower CPU.

(via iClarified.com)

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Voice Control is an exclusive feature of iPhone 3GS which enables its users to make phone calls and play music by using voice commands. Some folks over at this forum have released a Voice Control look-alike app for iPhone 3G and iPhone 2G which works and looks almost exactly as it is on iPhone 3GS.

Step 1: Download WinSCP on Windows or Cyberduck on Mac.

Step 2: Make sure you have OpenSSH installed on your iPhone:

• Open Cydia. Touch on “Search” tab and then search for “OpenSSH”.

• Install “OpenSSH” and reboot your iPhone.

Step 3: Connect your iPhone with your computer. Make sure iTunes is not running.

Step 4: Start WinSCP on Windows or Cyberduck if you are on a Mac and enter the following details to login to your phone:

• Hostname: The IP address of your iPhone. Setting –> WiFi –> <Your Network Name>
• User name: root
• Password: alpine
• Protocol: SCP

Step 5: Once you have logged in, browse to /<root>/Applications directory on your iPhone.

Step 6: Download VoiceControl.zip. Extract “Voice Control.app” and copy it to your iPhone in this directory: /<root>/Applications

Step 7: Right-click on “Voice Control.app” which you just copied, click on Properties and change the permission to 755. Make sure you check “Set group, owner and permissions recursively” option as shown below:

That’s it! Restart your iPhone and you should now have a new app named “Voice Control” on your springboard. Start this new application on your iPhone 3G or 2G and simply search through your contacts, music and bookmarks by using voice commands just like iPhone 3GS!

(via RedmondPie.com)

If you rather just install it via Cydia its available via the BeYouriPhone repo at http://repo.beyouriphone.com. Look for Controllo Vocale (yes this version is Italian)

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All you have to do is select source and target languages, take a photo of the item, and select text portion of it that you want to translate. The translated text is then displayed next to the original photo of the item and can be saved for future reference. No typing on iPhone keyboard is needed. 

Babelshot supports automatic translation between 32 world languages. Options are available for manual correction of recognition errors that may occur in complex or imperfect documents, as well as for full manual input. 

Babelshot incorporates innovative image processing algorithms coupled with state-of-the-art Tesseract Optical Character Recognition (OCR) engine, adapted and optimized for use on mobile devices. Unlike existing OCR-enabled applications for iPhone, Babelshot does not offload text recognition task to web server and performs text recognition on mobile device in real-time. 

(via iClarified.com)

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The unlock has an expected release date of November 4th, 2009.

Geohot has declined a $10,000* reward for the iPhone unlock and blasts those reselling the unlock calling them scum. 

The BlackSn0w unlock will be released November 4th, 2009 and will work with the latest iPhone baseband (05.11.07). 

Geohot implores users to get the truth out. The iPhone unlock is free. “Let’s shut all these a**holes down”

*Jody Sanders, a person notorious for selling the Dev-Team’s unlock, had offered Geohot $10,000 for releasing a new unlock.

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01) Download this (patched CommCenter)

02) SSH into your iPhone & navigate to 

where you will see your original CommCenter. Back that up. Then replace it with the downloaded CommCenter. 
03) When it is in place, right click & select properties & make sure the Octal is set to 0755

04) Then go to

& locate the M68AP.plist file. (You will need a .plist editor for this part. http://ipodrobot.comhas one) 

05) Copy the M68AP.plist file out of the iPhone & with the .plist editor insert 

the MMS code as seen above in between the microphone & opengles settings. Save this version & after backing up the original from the iPhone replace it with this edited version. 

06) Reboot iPhone. 

07) Once done go to

& for bmobile customers insert these settings into the fields. 
-APN: mms 
-MMSC: http://192.168.210.104/mmrelay.app
-MMS Proxy: 192.168.210.104:8080

08) Reboot once more.

09) That should be it. You should now have MMS on your iPhone 2G once again (if you had it before using ActivateMMS2G during the 3.0 days).

Credit goes to Whiterat for his work on this patch.

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