It’s that time of the year again. Every September we are presented with a new iPhone. On September 12th, pre-orders began in 12 countries namely United States, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Singapore and the United Kingdom. Most notable here is China which makes it’s debut in the initial launch countries. It is a massive market for iPhones, which also means the grey market would be a whole lot weaker for this launch. I’m expecting the new “Rose Gold” (or pink that some argue) to be a hit in Asia.
Here i explore the pricing differentiation (using 64/128GB models) across six countries – Singapore, Australia, US, UK, Hong Kong and China. (all USD conversion accurate as of 22nd Sep 2015 via XE UCC)
iPhone 6S
Country
6S 64GB Price (native)
6S 64GB Price (USD)
6S 128GB Price (native)
6S 128GB Price (USD)
US
$749
$749.00
$849.00
$849.00
UK
£619
$959.00
£699
$1,083.00
Australia
A$1,229
$876.00
A$1,379
$983.00
Singapore
S$1,218
$863.00
S$1,388
$984.00
Hong Kong
HK$6,388
$824.00
HK$7,188
$927.00
China
RMB6,088
$956.00
RMB 6,888
$1,082.00
iPhone 6S Plus
Country
6S+64GB Price (native)
6S+64GB Price (USD)
6S+ 128GB Price (native)
6S+ 128GB Price (USD)
US
$849
$849.00
$949
$949.00
UK
£619
$959.00
£789
$1,223.00
Australia
A$1,379
$983.00
A$1,529
$1,090.00
Singapore
S$1,388
$984.00
S$1,588
$1,126.00
Hong Kong
HK$7,188
$927.00
HK$8,088
$1,044.00
China
RMB 6,888
$1,082.00
RMB 7,788
$1,223.00
US is the cheapest of the six countries compared to get the new iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, and UK/China’s selling price is the highest. To put things in perspective, comparing an iPhone 6S Plus 128GB’s pricing in UK (US$1223) vs US (US$979), the difference is almost 29%. This is partly due to the high sales tax in UK (20%) and China (17%). Hong Kong second cheapest due to their 0% sales tax. The weakening AUD has made it almost the same pricing in Australia and Singapore.
More updates when Apple Malaysia releases their pricing.
Yesterday Tim Cook announced the new generation iPhone. One size fits all no longer applies.
iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus
We have gotten used to Steve Jobs telling us how the new iPhone looks like and we just decide on the color that fits us. Suddenly now we have to choose between 4.7″ and 5.5″. I still stand by the importance of usability in one hand, so 4.7″ is the natural choice for me. Using the Xiaomi MI3 as my secondary phone, the 5.0″ size is already a tad too big for one handed operation. I’m not one that watches drama on the phone frequently, so the slight decrease in screen real estate will be largely compensated by the usability derived from the smaller size.
Plenty of review sites has the low down on the features and differences so i won’t go into details. Coming from an iPhone 5, i would really want to see how i can utilize the Touch ID to secure applications, notes and also be used for contact-less payments, aka Apple Pay. The missing bit from the current contact-less payment system is the fingerprint authorization. With NFC built in now, i foresee endless possibilities to streamline payments and security system based on the combination of both.
Pre-order opens on 12th September 2014 in Singapore (Hong Kong, Australia and Japan are the other Asia countries) and ships on September 19th. Below are the pricing for Singapore.
iPhone 6 price table Singapore
Notice that they have removed the 32GB variant and step up immediately to 64GB. In this day and age, the amount of data stored on the phone is tremendous, so 16GB is probably for very light users. 64GB would be the sweet spot for many, including myself.
Waiting for Singtel to release news on their iPhone 6 pre-order now!
The recent update for Instagram for Android has caused some of my Xiaomi MI3 uploads to turn black. It is extremely frustrating, especially after all that painstaking effort to make your picture look the way you want.
Fortunately, there is a fix.
Go to your profile tab (bottom right). The go to the OPTIONS page by click the three-dot icon on the top right corner.
Under SETTINGS, click on Camera.
By default, Use High-Quality Image Processing is turned ON. Slide the switch left to turn it OFF.
With the mobile platform war converging to two key players, Android and iOS, i am often asked how to migrate from one platform to another.
Here is a simple guide for Android users to migrate over to iOS via the use of Google Contacts (in your GMail) and iCloud. You will, of course, need to have a valid account on both.
1. Login to GMail. Go to your Google Contacts (below the Google logo, click for drop down menu, select Contacts).
2. Click the More menu > Export.
Export to vCard format to import to iCloud
3. Choose the group or all of your contacts you wish to export, whichever you prefer. I selected “All Contacts” to export. Choose “vCardformat” and click the Export button.
4. Choose “vCardformat” and click the Export button.
5. Your browser will now automatically download or ask you to save a file named contacts.vcf. Put it on your desktop or a location you remember.
8. Click on the gear button, and select Import vCard. Select the contact.vcf file that you exported from Google Contacts in step 5. This will import all the contacts and might take a while, depending on the size of your contact list.
9. Once done, you should be able to see contacts propagated on your iCloud contact list.
10. On your iPhone/iPad, go to Settings > iCloud (sign in with the SAME iCloud account if you have not) and make sure Contacts is listed as ON. Contacts will slowly be synchronized over a period of time. (Mine took about 15minutes)
Finally, evasi0n, the untethered jailbreak for iOS 6.x devices is here, meaning you can reboot your phone just like you normally would after the jailbreak.
List of compatible devices:
iPhone 3GS | 6.0, 6.0.1, 6.0.2, 6.1
iPhone 4 | 6.0, 6.0.1, 6.0.2, 6.1
iPhone 4S | 6.0, 6.0.1, 6.0.2, 6.1
iPhone 5 | 6.0, 6.0.1, 6.0.2, 6.1
iPod touch 4G | 6.0, 6.0.1, 6.0.2, 6.1
iPod touch 5G | 6.0, 6.0.1, 6.0.2, 6.1
iPad 2 | 6.0, 6.0.1, 6.0.2, 6.1
The New iPad (third generation) | 6.0, 6.0.1, 6.0.2, 6.1
As always, backup your data via iCloud over-the-air, or via iTunes in case something goes wrong.
Tested evasi0n on Mac OSX 10.8 with no problems. iPhone 5 (GSM) jailbroken in less than 5mins. Downloading packages from Cydia remains a challenge at this point due to sudden uptake in traffic. Tried to install SBSettings a couple of times but is getting timeouts on certain packages.
My brother and i both bought the HTC One X about 3 months ago. He recently purchased a Benks Magic HSR SP for me, after my HTC Original SP got scratched badly.
This is the first time i’m using the Benks series of screen protector. I’ve used SGP(Spigen), PowerSupport, Tunewear, PhoneDevil (from US), BodyGuardz and some random cheap SP before this (on the iPhone 3G, 3GS, 4, 5). The HTC One X is my first Android phone. I had the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 prior to his, but sold it after a few months cause the performance was not up to my standard.
Anyway some information about the Benks screen protectors. They come in 4 flavours:
AR – Clear surface with Anti-reflection coating
SR – Matte surface, anti fingerprint, scratch resistant, anti-fog
HR – High transparency and scratch resistant
HSR – HD High clarity with anti-fingerprint and scratch resistant
Naturally the HSR is their flagship screen protector.
The level of detail they spent on the packaging of the screen protector pack is fantastic:
The screen protector is sealed in the green packaging. The packing is similar to those that holds the wet tissues when we visit a Chinese restaurant.
The electrostatic dedusting film, dedusting cleaning film and replacement pulling tags are sealed in the blue packing. (3,4,5)
Micro-fibre cloth and a tool to install the camera protector (6)
The tools provided will highly increase the likelihood of a successful installation of the screen protector. For those of us who has experience with installing screen protectors, you will know that the replacement pulling tag and the de-dusting film are essential. You will always get some pesky speck of dust going between the screen and the screen protector. The electostatic dedusting film is excellent for preparing the screen for installation.
Below is a short video that i took on testing the anti fingerprint claim on their HD high clarity screen. So far, i must say it’s pretty good.
The screen protector does not hinder the amazing 4.7″ HD screen on the One X, which providing adequate anti-fingerprint protection. Granted, if you have very greasy hands, there will still be fingerprints. But i’m happy to report that smudges wipes off easily on this screen protector. Also, it covers almost the whole screen, a stark contrast to the provided screen protector from SGP, which only covers the center portion of the screen.
The new iPhone 5 was launched on September 21 in US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, and the UK, and will be available in 22 more countries on September 28 and more than 100 countries by the end of the year. Malaysia is rumoured to get the iPhone 5 on October 26.
Continuing on my previous iPad 3 comparison table, i have compiled a comparative pricing table six countries – Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore, UK and subsequently Malaysia (when it is available). Canada’s pricing is probably the closest indicative pricing of an unlocked iPhone 5 in the US. I’ve also included model numbers to help you identify where you iPhone 5 is from if you purchased it at a mobile phone store and not from a telco or Apple Store.
I’m listing the native country’s currency pricing and USD conversion are done using prevailing exchange rate (as of October 4th 2012) from XE.com. All models listed below are GSM models, with the Canadian iPhone 5 being A1428 while the rest are A1429. For more information on what LTE bands the two different models support, go here.
One of the key new feature of the iPhone 5 is LTE. All 3 telcos in Singapore supports 4G LTE, with M1 touting nationwide support as of writing. My mobile phone carrier is SingTel, and on their 4G network coverage page (http://info.singtel.com/4G#Network_Coverage-tab), it states 50% as of June 2012, 80% on December 2013 and 95% coverage across the island in early 2013.
As i commute between home and office, i have tested SingTel’s 4G speeds in both location. I will continue testing LTE in various locations and update them here.
Home – Ang Mo Kio Street 12.
Office – North Canal Road (Clarke Quay)
ION Orchard
The lower speed in CBD area is probably attributed to the congestion that is slowly seeping onto the 4G network. As more users jump on the 4G LTE bandwagon, we may be back to the same overloading problem exhibited on the 3/3.5G network. The reduction in the download quota across all data plans would definitely weed out the bandwidth hogs, but telcos should also make sure that their infrastructure is capable of support the users subscribed to their service. A 4G capable phone is crippled without a decent mobile carrier to support it.
