First iPhone 3G caught in the wild, unboxed and handled
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted Jul 8th 2008 11:22AM
posted Jul 8th 2008 11:22AM
Update: We've added a picture of the mysterious SIM removal tool -- the shroud of secrecy is lifted after the break.
[Thanks, siniux]
nice one:D
Engadget was right.... I just made a mess of my keyboard and desk.
But it wasn't from spit.
Ectoplasm? from inside you?
Not spit, eh? Lemonade?... :P On a note relating to the article, does this mean he got an iphone 3G without signing a contract, so he can use whatever carrier he chooses to use?
António Maria da Silva must be turning over in his grave!
Yeah... look it up.
António Maria da Silva must be turning over in his grave.....
Yeah... look it up
Someone should call that New Zealand guy and tell him to pack up and go home.. cuz he ain't gonna be the 1st one !!!
Wow.... double post? WTF.
Hey Portu-guy or gal, get off your ass and jailbreak it already then post a howto :)
haha the iphone was shot with an N95 8GB lol... wow... too bad the sim card isnt removable... Ahhh well, iphone ftw!
zomg hottest sim removal tool evar.
Soon winmo, android and bb devices will be ripping this off, and Chinese vendors will be selling counterfeits on the street.
Yes Steffan, curse included :)
this comment section is full of fail.
Enjoy no video calling/MMS support/flash player.
My cheap phone can do all these, but i am sure the type of "people" who buy an iPhone will get these features in incremental updates (new phones).
Enjoy wasting your money retards!
Someone is fraudulently 3G iphones on ebay using this image! I knew I recognized the fried chicken fingers!
http://cgi.ebay.com/Apple-iPhone-3G-AT-T_W0QQitemZ280244564292QQihZ018QQcategoryZ3312QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Holly dead peacock! It's the almighty iPhone 3G!
OMGOMGOMG!!!1!11! It looks and functions almost exactly like the current iPhone!!1!1!!1
And I thought Engadget readers would get the sarcasm I did!
I really, honestly, and sincerely hate everything about the iPhone 3G, except for the software.
Have you ever actually used an iPhone?
That SIM removal tool looks like a paperclip bent into a special shape...
That SIM removal tool looks like a paperclip bent into a special shape...
its the iClip!
Oh yes I did happy_penguin. Trust me, I tried it so many times, and the more I love the software the more I hate the hardware. I just don't like to see people downgrade their life style for the sake of just a fluid UI in an empty device, even the 3G iPhone on paper is just the same old thing with 3G (not even a 7.2 Mbps, just a 3.4 Mbps) and A-GPS, nothing more for the hardware!
No video recording was one of the worst experiences I had when trying the iPhone; I usually go right to the camera when i hold a new phone, in 2008.
Many other things are bad, but, it's just my opinion. :)
I honestly don't get how someone can hate a phone. I mean, I understand not liking a phone, but to hate a device like this so passionately, that's just crazy to me.
When I buy a phone, I take into consideration the phone's software as well as hardware and I think the iPhone has a good compromise of both. I'm currently sportin' a Nokia n80 and would not mind at all to get an iPhone 3G (am I the only person who hates saying that? Yeah, it's still and iPhone 2 to me). On my friend's iPhone, the internet experience is amazing and that's enough to win me...although the keyboard experience for me was enough to lose me, too (I've been told I have big fingers). And for me the lack of MMS and video recording is a non-issue. I honestly cannot remember the last time I sent an MMS or snapped a video (although the videocam on the n80 is quite impressive at the highest setting).
Again, I guess this comes down to a case of to each his own.
Or if we're being ultra PC.....
To each his or her own.
It has an honest to god GPS chip. It uses a-gps to speed things up.
@derX Try an N82, don't compare N80 with iPhone.
Clippy's not dead! He just jumped ship to apple and ended as the sim-removal tool!
And apparantly the person ate fried chicken before handling the unit itself....
In Portugal it would probably be Grilled Chicken, since we don't really have that many fast food habits, and the Chicken Grill Restaurants have existed for longer than I have been in existence.
Anyway, go Portugal go. :D Nab those eyephones.
now i'll just print out the picture, scan it into the finger print database so i can figure out where he lives
We'll you have it simpler, you just need to be able to read Portuguese.
So as it goes, it's naturally in Portugal, and according to his name, in the city of Coimbra (Has on of the oldest Universities in Europe, 1290 A.C. ,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_universities_in_continuous_operation) so that narrows it down to only 100.000 people. Just walk around the town, which is quite empty in the summer BTW, and search for someone showing off his newly acquired finger magnet.
in soviet russia chicken grill you
aaaaahhh....fingerprint heaven!
hmm, maybe white is the better option after all
That's what happens when you have *fingers*. Unless you're using your toes or feet or whatever, then you call them "toe prints".
Further, is "toe prints" one word or two words? If anyone would know it'd be Finger Print Guy or LANCE.
No kidding. That's the first thing my eyes were drawn to when I saw the picture. That might be even worse than the original. White would probably show it less.
And really, why the need for a glossy back? I currently have a phone with a nice matte black finish, I love the look of it, and it doesn't pick up any fingerprints...
meh.
nice
damn comment system, that was supposed to go to the one above
"hmm, maybe white is the better option after all"
You have no idea how racist that sounds,do you?
Exactly. I hate shiny black anything. It shows scratches and fingerprints like crazy. Shiny black plastic is great for things you never touch. But for a phone...
Bring back matte plastic!
First LOL!
First Fail.
this is the furthest "First" from first i have ever seen on engadget.
I've actually seen a "FIRST" comment on the last page of an article, but that was before the site makeover.
Technically, he DID post the first LOL...
The comment system is being worked on. I have noticed it has changed slightly on the back end. However, they now have a problem with comments showing. Work in progress I guess.
Gah, can't wait until Friday morning!
first, yum
Fail, yum
wow... a concise, yet powerful, fail
Where's clak at a time like this? He would sure as hell make a mess of his keyboard.
StickyKeys :P
I would think he's off somewhere with a box of tissues, but I could be wrong.
Camping out for his own
Does it come with a case?
No, I don't think so. In the picture is a molded plastic seat for the phone while it's inside the box. It is packaging.
That's potato, not plastic.
Omg omg omg omg!
that doesn't look like the new power adapter on the tech specs page...
from the prong style, looks like a euro plug
Thats the European Power Adapter
Its a foreign power adapter.
oh i see. sorry
european and US plugs look similar at a quick glance to a UK person...
euro plugs look dangerous :o
dang. those are like spears.
not to mention that plug's hole would be big enough for a kid to easily stick something inside.
US's plugs are like 1mm wide. but tall. do you have a ground prong in Euroland?
@jason
Perfectly safe. Much better than the American plug in terms of safety.
@matt
I don't think there is much difference in terms of safety. The ground connector in European sockets (if used) is exposed, so if you happen to be touching an unshielded AC device plus ground, you'll get about 150-170V (ground to peak). Not that I think such devices exist any more though...
I did get the full 220V through two points on my right palm at some point (I was using a screwdriver inside a switch, and had forgotten to unplug the plug beforehand). Got some minor internal burn, and was a little bit shaken for a few minutes, but nothing major. (Would be different if the two points were on different hands, I guess...)
Looking good. Waiting for new pics!
theres already pics there, why do u need new ones???
"..one more after the break.."
Engadget added a new pic after I posted. Silly.
what the hell was he doing with his hands before unoxing, w-nk-ng at the prospect of opening it. I hope not all iphones are as easily messed up or we're going to have alot of jizzed up iphones.
ahhhh...praise the almighty iphone god...its...a.....FINGER-print!!!!
Holy crap!
Man, Alex Albrecht got one like 3 days ago.
wow....an iphone....yay....
I call b/s. The edge around the phone is shiny metal both on the box picture and on the second picture of just the phone. The 3G is supposed to be all plastic.
no, the 3g iphone still has a chrome edge. check out www.apple.com/iphone
the front is the same as the old iphone, so its not fake
I stand corrected
no, there is still the metal bezel on the 3G. It also acts as part of the phone's antenna
No, this iPhone still retains that metal portion surrounding the screen, and there are now metal buttons. Do your homework before declaring BS :)
Ha, now you have to take all the cards from the pile. Sucker.
I say its fake, the pictures are way to clear.....
Funny, the pics were shot with N95 8GB. What a crappy $600 camera-phone!
Better than the iPhone.
omg it looks exactly like the first gen iphone111
200 dollar ... It's 823 dollar here, without monthly subsciption
So for a year subs. and an Iphone the total is 1387 dollar!
Well you don't get much in there, no low end case or whatever like the Instinct got (still not a great case with that one, but a case!).
On the smudges, just like my ipod touch. 5 mintues into it, smudges everywhere. heh
Wow, it kinda looks like the first iPhone, but with a black back and 3G. What a groundbreaking product! Not...
It was a ground breaking product last year. This year they just stick the thumb a little deeper in u Windows Mobile Users
more interested in the firmware than the 3G. No new on an early leak? Will I still need to unlock my old iPhone for Rogers when 2.0 comes out?
Can I get visual voice mail if I don't buy a new phone? Can I get an iPhone plan if I confess to having a "rogue" 1.0?
Wait, there's a new iphone coming out? I had no idea. Seriously, I'm tired of hearing about these awful phones. Gimme a nokia 5100, those things were built like tanks, plus you could magically change the color using a device called a face-plate. They also had this neat game, where you played a black line, that ate little black dots. When you ate the dots' you got bigger. I think it was called dots or something. Also, good luck getting fingerprints on them. Apparently companies have forgotten the matte, fingerprintless plastic of yesteryear.
agreed on the matte plastic....the burgundy Blackjack II has awesome rubbery texturized coating on the back that is far superior to this high gloss stuff...
And man I can't even count the hours I wasted playing that snake game on old nokias...
Is it that hard to simply ignore an article about iPhones if you hate them so much? Commenting in this thread simply adds to the post count, further cementing the iPhone's popularity on this site. If you want to hear less about iPhones, then do your part to not comment so much about them.
And seriously, it's like changing the channel if you don't like what's on TV. If you don't want to read about it... then don't read about it. Simple, yes?
how exactly would this person have been able to activate it aswell? im certain it would have the "please connect to itunes" screen on start up.
Hey That bitch jacked my iphone lol!
I really wish they'd kept the aluminum back... shiny black or white plastic just look cheap and chintzy.
Apple has reserved that design for iPhone Pro.
Hey that bitch jacked my iphone! lol
People are so stupid to wait in line for such a thing.
It's not like they don't have a phone with them already.
I could understand people waiting in a line for food but this.. what in the blue bloody hell is this all about..
Agreed, I feel sorry for the few suckers that just might wait in line and not get one as I'm opening the door to the mail man Friday morning
Traditionally I just let the mail man put the mail in my mail box and get it later. But if you like waiting by the door, go you!