China Ontrade, the company that supplied photos of the SIM card tray from the 4th generation iPhone last week, is now bringing out the real meat and potatoes: a photo of the midboard. What is a midboard? It’s literally the board that lays in the middle between the screen of the iPhone and the motherboard, preventing interference, and making sure everything stays screwed into place. The dimensions of the board given by China Ontrade indicate that the size of this new iPhone is going to be exactly the same as the models from the previous generation. What’s fishy about all of this, according to Gizmodo, is that China Ontrade leaked photos of parts from the iPhone 3GS in May, before the 3GS was announced in a month later in June. If that timing remains consistent, then it could signal that a new iPhone is due by the end of the year, or early 2010. That would surely piss off iPhone 3GS customers, but maybe the new iPhone isn’t meant to replace the 3GS, maybe it’s meant to replace the 3G.

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Ellis Vigeo’s TextSafe is one of those apps designed for people who look for an extra layer of security in their messages. Using the iPhone application, users can create messages and crypt them using anyone of 10 different encoding “ciphers” and then send it [message] via email or SMS. The receiver, of course, will need to know the right password in order to decrypt the message and read it. Working at NSA could also help, but that’s another story.

In addition, there are some other features in the app such as allowing users to hear a Morse Code or Tap Code message as the message is opened. History and “How To’s” are also included, which is neat… I guess.

Anyway, it sounds like an ideal product for iPhone/iPod Touch-ownin’ privacy concerned individuals. AppStore link is here and the price is $1.99.

Online universe of fan communities for games PlayHaven is “going iPhone” by opening up its platform to the iPhone developers. As a result, interested individuals and companies which make iPhone games can instantly establish a community presence online and in-game for free. This translates into generating some buzz for the games, as users will get the option to share, gather and interact with other members of the community.

The process seems easy (though I haven’t tried it myself) and it should apparently take only a minute or so to claim your community and integrate various social features into an iPhone app.

Around 20 games have already integrated PlayHaven’s capabilities — including Minigore, Geared, I Dig It, The Quest, Mouse House 2, SnowFerno, iSamurai, BobbleSurfer, ZombieSmash!, Transylvania, Genius Defense Force, Gang Street Wars, Hopple, Tipoli, Influence, Above and Cell War, to name just a few.

Sounds cool and I’m hoping PlayHaven will also allow other platform developers to use the same features. Someone said Android? Symbian?

Newton Peripherals is known for its ultra-portable products. You’ve probably seen their MoGo Mouse and even the Bluetooth headset we covered in the past. And now they prepared a special version of their headset for iPhone users, only.

It’s called MoGo Talk for iPhone and it’s touted as the “world’s first ultra-thin (5mm) integrated Bluetooth headset” that both stores and charges on the back of an iPhone, as you can see from the image above. The trick is in the foldable minimalist design that enables this and make the whole product cool.

As for the rest of the specs, MoGo Talk for iPhone comes with a battery that provides enough power for up to 4 hours of talk and one week of standby time. In terms of size, it measures 24×50x5 mm and has a weight of 9 grams.

Finally, availability wise, it should be available in Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) Stores as we speak for $129.99.

Collecting business cards can be a good thing – expanding your professional network usually is. It can also suck. If you ever have the chance to wade through a stack of business cards and add those contacts by hand, give it a try, you’ll see what we mean. For those of you that share our pain, check out SHAPE Services’ Business Card Reader for iPhone. With a simple snap of your iPhone 3GS’s auto-focus camera, Business Card Reader injects contact information directly into your iPhone’s address book. It’s not free, but at $5.99, it’ll easily pay for itself after your next new business card.

The new app basically scans your business cards and analyzes the text using character recognition technology. But, the really nifty thing is the way Business Card Reader integrates with LinkedIn and your iPhone. It’ll automatically distinguish between home and mobile phone numbers, office address, website URL, job title, company and, of course, the first and last name. Once scanned, you’ll have the option of automatically adding a new contact, merging the data with an existing contact, or look up the information on LinkedIn.

Of course, the app is bound to make some mistakes. After testing five business cards, we had to specify one company name and break up a couple long first names into their respective first and last names. You’re also going to want to use this app on an iPhone 3GS. The auto-focus camera makes all the difference. The app isn’t perfect, but it’s way (way) better than the alternative.

Wanna see the app in action? Check out our demo video!

BC Reader [iTunes link]

Newsy newsy news – gotta love it – and this piece of news relates to the diversification of carriers on which the iPhone 3G(S) will officially sit in the UK! Orange are taking the lead (in following O2 (NYSE: TEF)), and getting the device ready for sale on the 10th November – also known as next Tuesday (relative to today).

The iPhone will be available in all 402 of Oranges stores, online, and also in the HMV outlets that Orange has a concession in. But not only that, Apple stores will have the Orange variant, along with Carphone Warehouse (and now Phones4U too!).

So what are the price points then? I mean, right now, that’s all anyone really wants to know:

Well, on Contract, you’ll need to pay £45/month to get the 3GS for free, and £30/month if you want the 3G model for free – those are 24-month kickers, so quite a commitment there. All the plans including unlimited Internet access (with fair use policy!), and also access to BT Openzone for WiFi (hmm, that model sounds very familiar!), with varying minutes/text dependent on the tariff. However, from a cursory glance I gave them, the tariffs look almost exactly the same, give or take a couple of pounds each way. Check it out in detail here.

On PAYG, again, the pricing seems frighteningly similar – forgetting the minutiae of the tariffs for a moment, the upfront costs of the devices (topping out at £539 for the iPhone 3GS), is pretty much exactly the same as O2 again. Check it out in detail here.

There are also some SME tariffs (here), just in case you might be interested – but I think the summary is that you are going to be paying pretty similar rates wherever you go. Nice.

[Original story via: Macworld.co.uk]

When considering your next smartphone acquisition, it sometimes makes sense to take into account the “total cost of ownership” (TCO) associated with your hardware. One phone may cost less at the checkout counter, but may end up costing you more through monthly rate plans and data services. The difference can sometimes add up to a decent chunk of change over the course of a couple years. What about Motorola Droid from Verizon Wireless, and how does it measure up against the iPhone 3GS? According to the cost comparison gurus at BillShrink.com, Verizon (NYSE: VZ)’s Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Droid costs about the same as the iPhone 3GS.

As you can see in BillShrink.com’s handy-dandy comparison chart, the Droid goes round-for-round with the iPhone 3GS. Both phones boast almost identical feature sets (although iPhone multi-tasking is sadly missing), identical pricing structures and average rate plan costs. Taking all that into account, both the iPhone 3GS and Motorola Droid will end up costing the average customer $2,830 over the course of a 24-month contract.

It’s clear that Motorola has the Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) iPhone 3GS squarely in its sights. The Droid isn’t just going up against the iPhone 3GS with high-end features, it’s taking the fight to the TCO battlefield. The Droid has higher-end hardware (better display and camera), but the iPhone 3GS has the iPhone AppStore. Which will you choose?

Check out our Motorola Droid hands-on video here.

[Via: BillShrink]

China isn’t just some foreign country with a penchant for censoring their citizens into oblivion and peddling counterfeit handsets on the cheap. The land of dim sum and stubborn Communist politics has become the latest country to launch the iPhone. As expected, the iPhone is now ready to cater to the single-largest wireless market, by way of China Unicom’s network (China’s No. 2 wireless network). The 8GB iPhone 3G will cost $732, with the 32GB iPhone 3GS commanding a $1,025 price tag.

Now, considering how all that hard-earned cash will only buy a China Unicom iPhone that lacks WiFi support, it’s hard to see the handset making it big in China. There are gray-market iPhones that cost less, come unlocked and actually support WiFi. Good luck, China Unicom.

Craving a new puzzle game on your iPhone? One that you may want to check out is called ‘Penguin Break’. Like other puzzle games of this genre, the object of the game is to clear the board. You do so by tapping on penguins to throw snowballs, and each time you hit a penguin it will disappear, along with other adjacent penguins of the same color. You can create chain reactions for big bonuses (think ‘Bejeweled’)… and there are multiple power ups to be found within the game. Play in ‘Frenzy’ mode which puts you against the clock, or play a more classic style game in ‘Escape’ mode where you try and keep the penguins from reaching the top of the field of play.

For more details check out the demo video above, or pick it up for $0.99 in the App Store (iTunes link).

New from the folks at CAZE is the Zero 5 UltraThin case for iPhone 3GS and 3G. The new case claims to be the world’s thinnest transparent case for the 3GS and 3G. It measures up to a measly 0.5mm thick (or should I say, ‘UltraThin’?). Official description from the folks at CAZE:

This ultra-thin case is especially suitable for users who wish to show the original iPhone outlook and shape while receiving the best protection. Zero 5 (0.5mm) improved the very favorable 0.7mm air jacket case and can fully protect the chrome edges of an iPhone.

The Zero 5 case will run you $19.90, and if you purchase you’ll get a mirror screen protector, anti-fingerprint screen protector, and a microfiber cleaning cloth as well. Always nice to receive those little ‘extras’ at ‘no charge’. Ha, yeah right

For all the details head on over to iPhoneCaze.com.