Apple iPhone 5 Launch Date Leaked! This is the story behind the scene (Auckland, New Zealand, David, Lim, davidlim, +64212640000)

Although Apple is still mum about the release of its next generation iPhone, the so-called "iPhone 5," it has already become a foregone conclusion, thanks to a lot of leaked information that the popular smartphone will be introduced September 12 and will be made available in stores from the following Friday, September 21

So far, many sources apparently have confirmed that the Cupertino tech giant is indeed going to unveil the upcoming iteration of its flagship smartphone in mid-September -iMore's initial report in favor of the highly rumored release timeframe and last week's report on blacked out vacation dates for Verizon employees are to name a few. Providing even more evidence of a September release for the Apple iPhone 5, TechCrunch reported Sunday, citing an unnamed AT&T sales representative, that just like Verizon, AT&T also has vacation blackout in place for its employees from Sept. 21 to Sept. 30.

"We've received yet another bit of evidence confirming the next iPhone's September 21 launch," said the report. "According to an AT&T sales rep, AT&T staff has been given a vacation blackout from September 21 to September 30, just like Verizon employees. Our source also mentioned that blue carrier employees are undergoing training for an 'iconic release'."

 

"Sounds like the next-gen iPhone to me," said Jordan Crook of iDownloadBlog noted that since a number of new Apple devices are expected to be unveiled in September, that "iconic release" could be something else, instead of being iPhone-related.

 

However, AT&T's vacation blackout dates perfectly match with those of Verizon's, and this essentially hints that whatever the device is, it will be launched on both carriers at the same time.

 

Couple of weeks back, BGR came up with a report, in which it said that AT&T was preparing for the launch of Apple's next iPhone in the third or fourth week of September. That said, banning employees from taking vacation is an indication clear enough that a major phone is about to launch, Cult of Mac reported.

Claimed Assembled iPhone 5 Front Panel With Home Button, Front Camera Leaked

Meanwhile, yet another new set of photos, claimed to be of a completely assembled front panel of the iPhone 5, hit the web Sunday.

Highlighted by Apple.pro (Google translation), the new photos were posted to a Photobucket account, which, according to MacRumors, previously posted photos of measurements showing that the new iPad 3 would be thicker than the iPad 2.

The same Photobucket account also posted the first leaked photo of the next-generation iPhone front panel in white.

The new photos showed that the LCD was attached to the front panel and the home button was installed and secured by a metal bracket. The photos also showed the shielding frame and the front-facing camera installed at the back of additional shielding.

The next Apple iPhone is expected to come with a larger 4-inch screen with in-cell touch technology, uni-body design and a smaller 9-pin dock connector.

iPhone 5 is likely to run on iOS 6, which would be completely scalable to a larger 640 x 1136 display. The device is also highly rumored to be powered by a much-improved processor.

Other much talked-about iPhone 5 features include 4G LTE technology, Near Field Communication (NFC), 1GB RAM, improved Siri, liquidmetal casing, an 8 megapixel (or even higher) rear camera, a 2 megapixel front-facing camera for video chatting and a much-improved battery life.

2012 Tech News Update: Galaxy Note II coming in October, Titan Gray of Galaxy S III soon? davidlim, Auckland, 0212640000

An unnamed retailer contacted SamMobile and said that there are two surprises that await us in September. The first is the Samsung N7100 Galaxy Note II, which by all accounts will be unveiled this Wednesday at the pre-IFA Samsung event.

A screenshot of the retailer's database shows two color versions of the Galaxy Note II - Ceramic White (not "Marble" White like the Galaxy S III) and one more that is listed as 'TBD'. If we look at the launch colors of the Galaxy S III, it should be blue though there are other possibilities.

According to the retailer, the Samsung Galaxy Note II will launch in Week 40 of this year - that's the first week of October.

The second surprise is a new color version of the Samsung Galaxy S III - we already have the Marble White, Pebble Blue, Garnet Red and Black, but it appears that a new color called Titan Gray will be joining the palette.

As usual, this info is to be taken with a pinch of salt until it comes out of the mouth of a Samsung spokesman, but we may have already seen the Gray Galaxy S III in early June. We'll know for sure in week 37 (September 10-16), when the Titan Gray color version is supposed to launch.

2012 Google Android News: HTC Desire X returns with new photos (Auckland, New Zealand, David, Lim, 0212640000)

The HTC Desire X (codenamed 'Proto') was caught out in the wild in Taipei, reports a poster on ePrice. Even better - the leaks comes from an event to promote the phone to retailers, so it came in both colors with plenty of press material.

HTC Desire X press materials

We already know the basics of the Desire X - a 4" Super LCD WVGA screen, dual-core 1GHz processor, 768MB of RAM, Beats audio and a design inspired by Desire V (a dual-SIM phone for Asian markets). The press materials add some more info - the Desire X will run Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich with Sense 4.0 on top, it will have 4GB of built-in storage plus 25GB from Dropbox along with a microSD slot.

Here's the phone in white and in blue, with a quick size comparison between it and the One X:
      

HTC Desire X in White and in Blue • Desire X vs. One X size comparison

The camera is a 5MP unit with LED flash, F/2.0 aperture and HTC ImageChip (same technology as in the One X and One S phones). The phone will have Bluetooth 4.0 with high-quality aptX audio streaming.

The HTC Desire X measures 118.5 x 62.3 x 9.3mm and weighs 120g - which is about as big as an iPhone. It will not use a microSIM card, but we couldn’t tell from the press materials if it's a dual-SIM phone like the Desire V or not. This final table marks a feature that the One X lacks, but we can't tell what it is - if you speak the language, we'd appreciate a post in our comments.

   

Is the Desire X a dual-SIM phone or not?

The HTC Desire X will reportedly cost $360/€290. Unfortunately, there's no launch date info on the press materials.

The grandmother who got trapped in her own bathroom for 3 weeks

  
A French woman was rescued after getting trapped in her own bathroom for three weeks. The 69-year-old grandmother got stuck after the lock on the door snapped behind her. Despite banging for help for nearly a month, she was forced to survive on tap water before neighbors realized what had happened. They had thought the noises during the night had just been workmen carrying out maintenance. The unnamed grandmother was rescued from her apartment in Essone, near Paris, by police. They said she had been in a terrible state when they forced their way into the bathroom.