Hong Kong's iPhone 3G gets an unboxing
By Paul Miller 
posted Jul 9th 2008 12:45PM
posted Jul 9th 2008 12:45PM
Update: For the record, this is a Hong Kong version of the phone, running what is purportedly a Chinese Traditional (Taiwan's language of choice) UI, unboxed by a Taiwanese retailer. We update the post to reflect those facts, conspiracy theorists can return to their daily lives.
replica
Why would you YouTube a video of using the iPhone 3Gs iPod fuction, bin there done that last year! I want to see page load times in safari or the error message you get trying to look at the Apps store at the very least!
@LCDY
take ur ignorance somewhere else
Taiwan is also known as Republic of China (ROC),
U see China in the name? WEll it is part of China. so gtfo
@Serco:
I agree with your comments!
@Everyone else pro-independence Taiwan:
"Taiwan is a breakaway region of China" and this means it's still part of China, but with a separate constitution. (Quote from BBC)
Oh - hang on, pro-independence Taiwan? this means you want Taiwan independence from China right? So how can you say Taiwan is not part of China? Strange... the irony...
@Everyone else confused:
Please read Wikipedia (there's a few articles of must-reads if you haven't already done so) and clear your mind up regarding the Taiwan-China current status/relations. Don't get mesmerised by these fools here who think Taiwan is not part of China. That's the biggest joke since 5000BC.
Taiwan is one part of China!Ok!.
And the US Uncle Sam say:" Oh,China is growing stronger,once I supported Dailai to sperate from China,for 'human right',for I belive the right of 'freedom',Containment China which the best way is split up the nation of China,the people of tibet and taiwan will love me 'forever',and this is in line with American interests.'Because Sam is the master of the world.'He thought!
And the US Uncle Sam say:" Oh,China is growing stronger,once I supported Dailai to sperate from China,for 'human right',for I belive the right of 'freedom',Containment China which the best way is split up the nation of China,the people of tibet and taiwan will love me 'forever',and this is in line with American interests.'Because Sam is the master of the world.'He thought!
And the US Uncle Sam say:" Oh,China is growing stronger,once I supported Dailai to sperate from China,for 'human right',for I belive the right of 'freedom',Containment China which the best way is split up the nation of China,the people of tibet and taiwan will love me 'forever',and this is in line with American interests.'Because Sam is the master of the world.'He thought!
I once heard a very important General say China wil grow larger.
Oh,real?That's not a good news to US
Taiwan is not the same thing as China.
I second this!!!!
Taiwan is (and never was) not a part of China!!
Perhaps Engadget does not respect the Taiwan Relations Act, or it has a bone to pick with Beijing, maybe Paul Miller has his fingers crossed that Taipei will attempt independence during the Olympics, inciting an invasion by the PLA.... or, maybe it's advocating reunification through nuclear holocaust.
In 50 years, the world will look back on this tech blog post, to see what started WWIII.
Absolutely, nuclear holocaust.
This is a Hong Kong (aka part of China) version of the phone, the retailer is based in Taiwan.
if you did your reading, you should know that it's a hongkong version of iphone unboxed by a taiwan retailer called ePrice. so let's call it even shall we?
@LCDY,
"Taiwan is (and never was) not a part of China!!"
this is possibly one of the most contradictory statement i have read since PHIL145.
let's break it down, shall we?
"Taiwan is not a part of China!!",
"Taiwan never was not a part of China!!"
WTF?
Ha, then try it yourself to get TW independent to see if it works or not....Dont just YY on the computer......
my mistake...let me re-phrase my words again...
Taiwan was NEVER part of China...
Thanks for pointing it out...
kiddo,China is a concept of all chinese included,you're not chinese ,aren't you? But maybe your president considers he is .Do you make any sence on this arguement?
As I can see, the UI of the iPhone is in Traditional Chinese. This is definitely NOT a China's iPhone. The title of this article is misleading.
urmmm.... read the description on the site. It's an iPhone meant for Hongkong, not Taiwan. Saying that this is an iPhone for China, though misleading, is correct.
Good. Glad to see Hong Kong is actually encouraging people to use Traditional Chinese.
It's one thing to personally believe that Taiwan IS not part of PRC, but saying that Taiwan has NEVER been a part of CHINA simply shows what an idiot you are.
One more correction...
Taiwan WAS a part of "pre-communist" China before...
but Taiwan was NEVER a part of the current "communist" China...
Please study some history...
Any btw...Taiwan's president said it himself that he's a Taiwanese...and die a Taiwanese...lol...
Bottomline...
Taiwan is Taiwan...China is China...
Although both share the same history (up till 1950's)...they are separate governmental bodies...this is the fact...
If Taiwan was a part of China...why oes Taiwan have it's own constitution and army? Do you see California or Alaska have their own armies and constitutions?
Taiwan did used to be part of China, back before the CCP took power (pre-1949). Back then, the Kuomintang (KMT/GMD depending on translation method) reclaimed it from the Japanese (it was Chinese during the Qing dynasty)
When the CCP took power, they fled to the island, and, to prevent Communism spreading, the US protected it. For ages, they didn't even recognise the mainland as being China.
Whilst the CCP has never had control of Taiwan, it was part of a unified China under the KMT. So you can't say it was 'never part of China'.
@LCDY
California does have a constitution. I think every state has a consitution....and states do have a militia, the National Guard.
That's right, Taiwan is the Republic of China.
Puerto Rico is Puerto Rico. The United States is the United States. And we'll nuke anyone who says Puerto Rico isn't part of the United States. Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, etc? Any takers?
hahahaha engadget changed the title just for this.
@dudness: dude, when you go to Taiwan, the visa issued by China won't work.
Exsqueeeeeeze me!
Taiwan is not part of China.
China is part of Taiwan.
Get it right.
@Engadget:
Hong Kong also uses Traditional Chinese :)
@vrf:
taiwan is a breakaway region OF CHINA, and has its own constitution/government. this FACT is recognised by the UN. don't argue. Go read articles on Wikipedia if you don't know history. Saying Taiwan is never part of China is an absolute joke.
@James Cameron:
Every time someone mentions Taiwan and China in the same sentence there's bound to be an explosion. Gosh, they just can't stop...
@dudeness:
You should run for president of the US, even though I would like to see Barack win.
@everyone else confused:
Engadget is not confusing nor misleading readers by pointing out that this iPhone is "China's iPhone 3G" -- this is Hong Kong and HK is China's S.A.R. therefore it is not incorrect.
Exactly... Taiwan is a province of China while China (I take it you mean the PRC) is a nation. Taiwan is a little tiny island province, while China is a much bigger internationally recognized nation (that is also not an island). Taiwan is attempting to break away from China.
BTW engadget pls change article to say that Trad. Chinese is HK's and Taiwan's language of choice... it's a tiny bit confusing.
Given that I was born in Taiwan, and has read up Wikipedia beforehand... here is my personal interpretation of this Taiwan-China business.
China during the Qing dynasty renounces its authority over Formosa (Taiwan).
Japan invades Taiwan.
Republic of China takes over what is now mainland China after the Qing dynasty ends.
Communists overthrew the KMT party and they escaped to Taiwan.
Communists "rename" the ROC to People's Republic of China, though wasn't recognised as a legitimate government for a while.
The ROC based in Taiwan continued to govern (and *founded*, along with other nations, the UN).
WWII ends and Japan surrenders Taiwan.
The ROC started to lose recognition globally due to increased pressure from the PRC, eventually losing their place in the UN.
PRC gets on the security council of the UN and pretty much bullies Taiwan around, vetoing whenever Taiwan applies for UN membership (oh the irony... a founding member that can't get membership...)
Here we are today, a state with limited global recognition.
Yea, the Taiwanese history is complicated, with weird politics and changing authority (sometimes two authorities fighting over it at the same time). Yet one part is clear - Wikipedia says: "Taiwan is also currently claimed by the People's Republic of China (PRC) as a PRC province, though the government of the PRC has never controlled Taiwan island or any of the current ROC territory commonly referred to as "Taiwan"."
So if anything, ROC (Taiwan) should claim that the PRC is part of *them*, not the other way around.
Of course.. this all depends on if the PRC government is even legitimate since they took power during the Chinese Civil War (which technically never ended).
Concluding, IMO, it'd be great if the PRC and Taiwan relation wasn't so strained, but I would rather keep the status quo than to admit that Taiwan was part of the PRC.
I grew up in Taiwan, the food is great!
who chose to put it on a piano?
Pretty soon, everyone and their grandmother will be posting their experiences unboxing the iPhone 3G.
Will we be getting city-by-city unboxings on Friday, or have to settle for state-by-state? Or one for each Apple Store and AT&T Store? Sounds like I picked the right weekend to spend in the woods.
has no-one reilised that the iphone will start selling everywhere at the same time.. so everyone will get it at the same time despite where you live??
apart from 02 uk is going to start selling it at 8am instead of the 1pm time it has been given from apple, so the uk will get it first?? =D
This was a waste of my time and everyone else's.
yeah, pretty much. iPod functionality with Chinese characters. Woot!
Get your geopolitics right Engadget.
China is not the same as Taiwan
I'm sure China would beg to differ.
As long as they keep a grip on Tibet, the PRC can go Beijing themselves about Taiwan.
I would give a rats @$$ about what beijing govt thinks...
Why would they put fortune cookies? Fortune cookie is not a traditional Chinese thing. It's a Californian thing. There isn't even a proper Chinese phrase for it. Maybe if Apple has as much understanding of the outside world as our president, they would put fortune cookies... I had hoped that they are a little more intelligent than that.
where is PC WORLD w/ their stress tests of the 3G version... I really want to see how the back holds up against the keys!
its also a fake because if you look at the picture under the words "Back in Plastic" It says 16GB. As everyone knows the white one is the only one in the 16GB flavor
Are you serious?
White only comes in 16GB..
But 16GB has both Black and White versions...
Please get ur mind clear...
White only comes in 16GB..
But 16GB has both Black and White versions...
Please get ur mind clear...
[facepalm]
Finally. The other 3-4 posts with pictures (of the iPhone 3G) weren't enough.
u know that some countries will NOT have an iphone 3g , iphone 3g should be jailbroken SOON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OMG A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY!!
(Protip: More punctuation != better post)
nicely done. Most videos about unboxings are very shaky and badly composed. But, I doubt that Bush, even with his various speech problems can't pronounce "L"s. Nice to see some of the world see Bush as a nuclear threat.
will someone please remove those two screws on the bottom and show us it's innards!
I can't wait to see how many iPhone 3G-related articles we see AFTER this thing is actually released.
Don't remind me.
Stop bitching and use this.
http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/20/tired-of-iphone-and-or-apple-news-on-engadget/
Because I don't want to have to 'use' Engadget Lite. I'd rather use the full version minus the bloatware.
Look the same as the old iphone, I don't see what the point of all this.
Absolutely! I love my current iPhone. I'm using it every day like 2 hours or longer, but I just don't understand why everyone is screaming to have this new version. I mean seriously, there's almost nothing new : GPS and 3G - hey, that's all! But most of the people behave like they did when the first gen came out. The first "hype" got me at well but now... This isn't really a new gen to me. It's more like a 1.5 model. Everyone who hasn't got one yet has (almost) nothing tu argue against anymore, but I wouldn't dare to sell my iPhone for this new one. Because I'm sure, they most likely will have a new one next year, so I'll just wait.
They've got really bad music around there :-O
Paul Miller, I don't know how good your geography is. I guess u failed badly in this post. It's Taiwan. There is nothing related China. The interface is Traditional Chinese which is the government language of Taiwan. (Republic of China) R.O.C. Are you from England because you typed in english? Please correct the error.
Thanks for the correction. Paul Miller
The iPhone 3G being unboxed is Hong Kong version, while the website ePrice is a Taiwan website, which has a Hong Kong version.
Though Hong Kong is part of China, the iPhone 3G in the picture should be considered as Hong Kong version. It will be available from 3 HK, one of the carriers in Hong Kong.
Are you sure it's not one of these ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMbdmdx47wc
YES. Just compare the videos. The fake one had no animation when changing from landscape to portrait photos. The one here had animation when switching to cover flow.
Holy crap that thing is smudgy!
The video and pictures showed an iPhone sporting traditional character interface. That's not meant for mainland as they use the simplified characters.
Late to the game is a false statement as China had the iPhone for ages despite the fact that it wasn't officially available to mainland at the time. They were all contraband of course, but each sports fully translated simplified Chinese interface and even improved functionality, and from what I understand, great customer service from the hacker community. Who's to say apple didn't ripoff the hacker's work in delivering the 'official' product for the mainland market this time around?
One of the things that I am most looking forward to is the upgraded speakers. I would like to know how much of an upgrade it is from the 1st Gen. It would be great to actually be able to hear someone when on speakerphone.
that is weird because apple was never going to release an iphone in china
how many articles about a single phone can engadget post?
every time i see a new article on it, i vomit in my mouth just a little. my esophagus can't take too much more of this.....
Don't read them.
indeed, stop bitching and use this.
http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/20/tired-of-iphone-and-or-apple-news-on-engadget/
Full version of review:
http://www.eprice.com.tw/mobile/news/?news_id=7454
i just wanna ask 3G iphone has Little speakers?
http://www.itechnews.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/iphone-3g-unbox-6.jpg
plz someone tell me it's true
一帮傻逼，吵什么吵。。。
没有中国人，妈逼的台湾人是石头缝里崩出来的？？？
no nuclear holocaust fear,ok? we're brothers anytime ,don't believe those irresponsible politicians'comments
this thing looks almost exactly like my 4 year old Dell Axim 50v.
I love Apple. But did they copy the Axim ? It looks like that.
Also excuse me for saying so, but isn't this pretty well the same thing as the one they released last year. Apple don't seem to have been very innovative ?
This is very much a "me 2" kind of thing.
I think to call it a "pig with lipstick"is unkind though.
I do love Apples though.
You haven't read anything about the 3g iphone, have you?
And it doesn't even look close to that Dell
too bad steve didn't invent spell check.....
anybody notcing that the app store is either up and running or thats a fake cuz of the contacts app
If the iPhone 3G news bothers you, why do you people read it and comment? Ignore them.
Paul Miller should go back to grade school and re- learn his geography!
shessssh. Quality of American Education is a joke
Than again most white people think asians are ALL alike and are ALL from same country.
no... a lot of wee kids think that "most white people think asians are ALL alike and are ALL from same country"
No-one actually thinks that.
they aren't????
"free tibet!" — :) yes!
Why didn't the person go on the browser to see how fast the 3G speeds?! This was such a stupid video. I'm going to go take a video of me using my iPod touch in the dark.
too bad steve didn't invent spell check
it's CG
@繁體中文
You know what's really an absolute joke?
A brainwashed, uneducated ignoramus like you who can't comprehend that whenever someone says "Taiwan was never a part of China", it is ALWAYS assumed they meant "Taiwan was never under the control of the Chinese communist regime and thus never a part of PRC".
I'm sorry, the situation there is not nearly as straight forward as you think it is; and judging by your comments, I doubt you possess sufficient knowledge in this matter for your opinion to be worthwhile.
If that's the case, then why don't people just speak what they really mean to say in the first place? This is driving me nuts.
I mean when people say that Taiwan was never a part of China when they really mean to say Taiwan was never a part of PRC, shouldn't they just say the latter instead?
You are trying to correct someone's statement by defining an assumption that's supposedly universally accepted, however that's not the case. I mean how can you say something like "it's ALWAYS assumed to mean something else"? You can say that's how you always understand the statement, but you simply can't speak on behalf of everyone in this case.
Again, just say what you really meant in the first place by constructing a proper and meaningful sentence, don't say something first and then further explains it with new meanings and claim that's how it always intended/meant, that's just weak.
@rayfire
As much as I love Taiwan as the next Taiwanese guy, you have an excellent point. A lot of bullshit starts when ppl can't communicate correctly, especially in politics. It's incredibly difficult to balance the point you're trying to make and being politically correct because it tends to apportion more weight on political correctness. However, if you aren't being politically correct, ppl jump on it and starting flaming each other. It's a sad state of affairs.
DCNY @ Jul 9th 2008 1:10PM
Paul Miller, I don't know how good your geography is. I guess u failed badly in this post. It's Taiwan. There is nothing related China. The interface is Traditional Chinese which is the government language of Taiwan. (Republic of China) R.O.C. Are you from England because you typed in english? Please correct the error.
Paul Miller:
Update: For the record, this is a Hong Kong version of the phone, running what is purportedly a Chinese Traditional (Taiwan's language of choice) UI, unboxed by a Taiwanese retailer. We update the post to reflect those facts, conspiracy theorists can return to their daily lives.
Me:
Taiwan does NOT use traditional Chinese.... they use Simplified Chinese (aka Mandarin). Traditional Chinese (aka Cantonese) is used in Hong Kong. The interface and the song played are Cantonese.
@Albert
You need to learn the difference between simplified and traditional Chinese and where each is being used.
I'm afraid you are confused.
The difference between Traditional and Simplified Chinese is reflected in written characters, whereas the difference between Mandarin and Cantonese (or any other Chinese dialects) is in the spoken language.
I am pretty sure you are not a chinese ....
Hong Kong & Taiwan both use traditional Chinese ... but one uses the Mandarin dialect and one uses the Cantonese dialect..
Mandarin != Simplify Chinese ...