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Second-gen Apple Peel 520 caught on video doing GPRS, looking like an iPhone 4
Last year's Apple Peel 520 turned your iPod touch into an iPhone -- mostly, accepting a SIM card and allowing you to send and receive calls, texts, and even throwing a little extra battery life your way. Now we're looking at the next generation device and, which certainly looks a lot more sleek and less bulky than the previous model -- from a distance it could be confused for an iPhone 4. This version also allows the use of GPRS data, as you can see demonstrated in the video below. No mention of price or availability just yet, but review units are said to en route to other news sites, so hold that phone -- or iPod as it were. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Hands on: Apple Peel 520 transforms iPod touch into cell phone
There are all sorts of software-driven ways to treat your iPod touch like a phone, from Skype to Line 2 and beyond. Unfortunately, none of them actually adds a real cell to your unit. Enter the Apple Peel 520. An enhanced case, it contains a working phone unit that communicates with your iPod through its dock connector. Unlike the data-only Sprint ZTE Peel case, which is due to launch this Sunday, the no-data Apple Peel 520 allows you to place and receive phone calls and SMS texts directly from your device using standard GSM SIM cards. Since you bring your own SIM, the plan you use can offer as few or as many bells and whistles as you desire. I picked up a $10 H2O Wireless SIM card over at Best Buy and it worked perfectly with the unit. You insert a SIM, press a reset button for a few seconds and you'll soon be able to make and receive calls -- that is, you'll be able to do this once you finish the rather protracted one-time set-up process.
Apple Peel 520 gets a white finish, odds placed on beating white iPhone 4 to market
If you're gonna proverbially bear hug your iPod touch into a working cellular device, might as well get it in the trendiest color available, right? The Apple Peel 520 has now been shown off in white, a more stylish option for those wanting a case, extended battery, and freedom from the shackles of limited SIM options (at the expense of some functionality and ease of use, naturally). Still in production with no release date, but hey, if you're the sort who likes to live on the outer fringes of consumer electronics, keep this import in mind. No promises it'll work with whatever Apple has up its sleeve next, though.
