GIN INC JOURNAL

And so it continues. Geohot has returned with some help from hacking buddies chronic, posixninja, and pod2g with news that the same "24kpwn" exploit used to cracked open the iPod touch 2G will work on the iPhone 3GS. That means a jailbreak and unlock can be launched just as soon as the existing tools are updated for the iPhone 3GS (which won't be long). As George Hotz laments,

On a personal note, I'm sad. Apple, it took me a week to break through your new defenses. And to let us reuse an exploit like that; 24kpwn was so 5 months ago. Although I imagine it must have been painful watching the devices roll by on the assembly line, knowing they all had a hole in them and you couldn't fix it.

In controlled JavaScript Web site renders, the iPhone 3GS is nearly three times as fast as the iPhone 3G and Palm Pre, and 5.5 times faster than the T-Mobile G1, according to a new study, which also reveals that the iPhone 3.0 software alone has a dramatic impact on the speed in which an iPhone 3G renders websites.

In releasing its new speed-centric update to the iPhone, Apple has boasted that the 3GS is twice as fast as its predecessor, but the company has remained mum on the handset’s actual specifications. Thanks to T-Mobile of the Netherlands, though, we know with certainty that the 3GS sports a 600MHz processor and 256MB of RAM – this compared to the 400MHz processor and 128MB of RAM on the iPhone 3G.

Based on the report released Wednesday from Medialets, a smartphone-based advertising and analytics platform, the iPhone 3GS spec bump far exceeds Apple’s “twice as fast” sales pitch in real-world tests.

Medialets’s test aimed for a fair way to compare each of the major smartphone platforms. Because they all run very different operating systems, to compare their ability to run applications would be a misnomer. However, all three platforms run browsers based on the open source WebKit standard. A MacBook running Safari was used in the test for a baseline comparison.

WebKit’s SunSpider JavaScript benchmark test was used to compare six different implementations of the WebKit browser. The test systems were:

1. Safari 4.0.1 on a 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo White MacBook.
2. Mobile Safari on the iPhone 3G with iPhone OS v2.2.1
3. Mobile Safari on the iPhone 3G with iPhone OS v3.0
4. Mobile Safari on the iPhone 3GS with iPhone OS v3.0
5. The “Browser” app on the T-Mobile G1 with Android OS v1.5 (Cupcake)
6. The “Web” app on the Palm Pre with Web OS v1.0.2


Of the mobile platforms, the iPhone 3GS came away the clear winner, besting the times of the iPhone 3G and Palm Pre by clear margins. The 3GS took an average of 16.5 seconds to render the page, while the Pre took 48.6 seconds, and the 3G running iPhone OS 3.0 took 48.7 seconds. The T-Mobile G1 took 91.1 seconds.

Another interesting outcome of the study: The iPhone 3.0 firmware has a drastic effect on the ability of the iPhone 3G to render JavaScript. The iPhone 3G running OS 2.2.1 took a whopping 132.3 seconds in the SunSpider test run by Medialets, losing clearly to even the T-Mobile G1.

A report released last week by Anandtech also showed the iPhone 3GS as the clear speed winner among all major smartphone platforms – though the end results didn’t show as drastic of an advantage for Apple’s new phone as Medialets’s study. In loading a series of popular Web sites, the Anandtech test showed the iPhone 3GS to be an average of 11 percent faster than its new WebKit-based competitor, the Palm Pre.

Of course, Web browsing only makes up one facet of the mobile phone platform. As 1up.com’s Jeremy Parish demonstrated in his game-centric 3GS review, the new iPhone’s performance boost made a huge difference in the playability of Namco Bandai's “i Love Katamari,” a game originally written for and released on the iPhone 3G. With the instant success of the iPhone 3GS in terms of sales, it is only inevitable that new games that take advantage of the speed of the new platform will begin to crop up.

Research In Motion is adding another smartphone to its BlackBerry lineup as it aims to win market share among both executives and mainstream consumers despite tough economic conditions.

The new model is known as the BlackBerry Tour and falls somewhere between the BlackBerry Curve, which has proved very popular with consumers, and the BlackBerry Bold, which RIM has aimed at high-end corporate users.

RIM co-Chief Executive Jim Balsillie told Reuters in an interview that the new device will soon launch with Verizon and Sprint in the United States and Telus and BCE's Bell unit in Canada.

Even though the device isn't drastically different from many other BlackBerry handsets in appearance -- it has the familiar candy-bar shape with a full keyboard -- Balsillie said the Tour is a "big step forward".

It is what RIM calls a "world phone," which means it can easily access voice and data services on networks outside the user's home country. This has proven popular with business users in the past.

To appeal to the retail market, the Tour is loaded with multimedia features similar to those found in the BlackBerry Curve and Pearl, including a photo and video camera and media player.

Unveiling products that cross customer categories is proving increasingly important to Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM and it is continuing to make deeper inroads into the broader retail market.

However, the company is also being careful not to alienate the corporate users who have been its mainstay and who rely on its smartphones to send wireless e-mail securely.

At the same time, rivals such as Apple and Palm in North America and Nokia in Europe are launching new products and aggressively pricing their phones to lure users.

RIM shares were up C$3.15, or 3.5 percent, at C$94.05 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Tuesday morning.

($1=$1.13 Canadian)

Samsung's new 70-series LCD monitors feature the contrast and response of Samsung's LCD televisions, along with slim profiles and Samsung's Touch of Color design.

Electronics giant Samsung has introduced its new 70-series of LCD monitors, featuring performance and display capabilities from Samsung's LCD television line, combined with slim profiles (as little as 30mm) and Samsung's Touch of Color design. The 70-series will be available in two sizes—20 and 23 inches—and one version will even come with a built-in HDTV tuner so it can act as both an entertainment hub and a traditional monitor.

"The 70 Series is a great monitor for someone looking a full range of color, sharpness and response," said Samsung America's Display product Manager Tony Yu, in a statement. "It also has an added benefit for those concerned about the environment. We were sensitive to the impact computers monitors have on the environment and have developed a manufacturing process for the 70 Series that would minimize this."

Samsung is being a little coy on the monitors' specs: the 70-series will consist of three models—the P2070, the P2370, and the P2370HD—all of which will feature a 50,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, a 2 ms response time, and a glossy "crystal-like" acrylic stand that provides the impression the monitor is somehow floating. The P2070 sports a 1,600 by 900-pixel resolution, while P2370 will offer full 1080p resolution of 1,920 by 1,080 pixels; the P2370HD will also pack an HDTV tuner, HDMI and component inputs, integrated speakers with SRS TruSurround HD, and a remote control. The entire 70-series is designed to be eco-friendly, consuming about a third less power than other monitor of similar size.

Samsung hasn't released any pricing information, but says the 70-series should be available now through resellers and retail channels.

The mobile industry has been keeping a careful eye on Nokia's "Comes with Music" service, which builds the license fees for unlimited music downloading into the cost of a phone…and lets users keep all the music they downloaded once their deal expires. Although the service had been given a frosty reception from mobile operators—who have been busily trying to develop their own revenue streams around downloadable media—the business model is one of the first to try to build license fees for media into the cost of a device itself…and then encourage users to buy a new device once their service expires.

Comes with Music isn't up and running in North America, but Nokia has rolled it out in five European markets, including the United Kingdom.

However, UK media consultancy Music Ally reports that Comes with Music may be off to a slow start—at least in the UK. According to Music Ally, Nokia has managed to sign up about 23,000 Comes with Music users in the UK to date…a figure far lower than many industry-watchers would have expected.

Nokia has apparently refused to confirm the figures, but says it is actually pleased with the Comes with Music launch so far, particularly in markets like Singapore. Nokia claims Comes with Music customers are downloading a few hundred music tracks in their first few weeks of use, and the majority of those downloads are being down via PCs rather than over-the-air via mobile devices. Nokia also says a decent catalog of local and regional music is important to the service with local content accounting for more than a third of downloads in Comes with Music markets. Nokia also told Music Ally that Comes with Music customers are downloading up to 20 times more back catalog titles than Nokia Music Store customers.

When Nokia launched Comes with Music it indicated it expected it would have to refine and revise its business model over time to make the service appealing in different markets; the company hasn't indicated whether it plans any changes to Comes with Music for the United Kingdom. Nokia has said it plans to bring Comes with Music to the United States, but hasn't yet revealed any launch details.

Chinese electronics manufacturers have officially unveiled the first CBHD disc players, China's home-grown alternative to Blu-ray (and, formerly, HD-DVD) which it hopes will jump-start a market for high-definition video in mainland China. Like Blu-ray, CBHD uses a blue laser to read high-capacity optical discs, although CBHD discs have a physical structure more like a traditional dual-layer DVD that could make it easier for existing DVD manufacturers to produce CBHD titles. CBHD is based in part on Toshiba's defunct HD-DVD format, and uses AACS copy protection. Dual-layer CBHD discs can accommodate about 30 GB of data.

Chinese manufacturers Chinco and TCL are getting ready to put their first CBHD players on sale, with prices starting around 2,000 yuan (roughly $293 USD), which makes them substantially cheaper than Blu-ray players, in part because CBHD players don't have to pay the licensing fees associated with Blu-ray. As for content, China hopes to have at least 100 movies available on CBHD by the end of 2009…including titles from major Hollywood studio Warner Bros.

The president of TCL Corp has been quoted as saying his company hopes to sell as many as 10 million CBHD players this year, piggybacking on rising popularity of HD televisions in Chinese urban markets. However, many industry watchers don't expect CBHD or or Blu-ray to truly take off in China anytime soon. It remains to be seen whether CBHD discs will become a notable industry in China's notoriously bootlegging-friendly environment: CBHD movies are expected to be priced at 50 to 70 yuan (about $7 to $10 USD), leaving plenty of room at the bottom of the market for illegal distributors.