This is unexpected but some of the Apple Retail stores across US have already started selling factory unlocked, contract-free iPhone 4S which were otherwise scheduled to go on shelves sometime in November.

Once you buy a factory unlocked, contract-free iPhone 4S and connect it to your computer and starting up iTunes, the following message will display on the screen: "Congratulations, your iPhone has been unlocked." This is completely legit because 9to5Mac, a popular Apple-only blog has confirmed it.

Although Apple says that they will begin selling unlocked, contract-free iPhone 4S units in the United States in November, we have learned otherwise. Select Apple Stores in the United States have begun selling contract-free versions of the iPhone 4S, which our friend Steven Troughton-Smith was able to both verify and purchase.

The confirmation also comes from Steven Troughton-Smith (the person who ported Siri to iPhone 4) who successfully used T-Mobile’s EDGE network using an O2 SIM card on his unlocked iPhone 4S.

If you are looking for a factory unlocked, contract free iPhone, you might get lucky to order one in one of the Apple Retail stores near you. However, it will take weeks for the iPhone to land up in your hand, thanks to the high demand of the device. All wireless carriers in the United States are sold out with pre-orders hitting 1 million mark and counting in the first 24 hours. We mentioned the pricing of the factory unlocked, contract-free iPhone 4S in our previous post. Take a quick glance at it again:

In case you have been in a hiatus, you might already know that Apple has released iPhone 4S (a powerful superset of the iPhone 4) as opposed to the widely rumored iPhone 5. Well, what comes as a bigger surprise is that Apple has already planned the official unlocked iPhone 4S to go on sale just a month after the contract-based iPhone 4S release. While the latter will be available from Oct 14, 8 AM onwards at Apple Retail Stores, the official unlocked iPhone 4S will hit the shelves sometime in November 2011.

The unlocked iPhone includes all the features of iPhone but without a contract commitment. You can activate and use it on the supported GSM wireless network of your choice, such as AT&T in the United States.* The unlocked iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S will not work with CDMA-based carriers such as Verizon Wireless or Sprint.

For more, visit Apple Store.

No more a rumor this time. Apple has started sending out invites to the hot-shots of the tech industry for the iPhone event being held on October 4th at Cupertino.

Like we stated earlier, multiple iPhone releases are highly likely. Along with the much obvious iPhone 5, a cheaper version of the iPhone 4 is also expected. Because Jobs is no more the CEO of Apple (which is a little saddening by the way), this event is going to be the first one with Tim Cook. Going by the rumors spreading all over the internet, the new iPhone is believed to have a slightly larger screen, an 8 megapixel camera, 1 GB RAM and a lot many advanced features. Stay tuned for more iPhone 5 news.

Apple is prepping a press conference on 5th October where the widely rumored iPhone 5 (with iOS5) may get launched, if the insiders at PocketGamer are to be believed. Previous rumors suggested October 15 and October 21 to be the released dates. 

Apple products are bound to bring with them a big bag of rumors but we assume people won’t mind it. We, of course, don’t. Whatever is the release date, we are sure that it is approaching near. This press conference is a major one because there’s a strong vibe that Apple may launch, not one, but two iPhones. A slightly more ‘touched-up’ version of iPhone 4 (aka iPhone 4S and a next-gen iPhone 5. Stay tuned!

If you were waiting for an official factory unlocked iPhone 4, you’d be happy to know that Apple has decided to start selling them in the United States. This confirms a lingering rumor of the officially unlocked iPhone not bonded with any costly contracts with the carriers.

Apple has listed the Unlocked GSM version of the iPhone 4 on the Apple Store (US only). The phone will be available in black and white colors with the 16GB one costing $649 and the 32GB one $749.

You can buy the factory unlocked iPhone 4 from here. There are no shipping costs. The black one will ship in about 1-3 days while the white one will take about 3-5 days. [via TNW]

White iPhone 4 released this week after great anticipation. People are actually willing to trade-off their original (black) iPhone 4s for the newer, white ones. If you are contemplating buying an iPhone 4 there’s something you’d like to know. The white iPhone 4s are approximately 2% thicker than the black ones. Yes, that’s right. The pictures below testify this.

While it may not at all be a problem for some, for the Apple fanboys and geeked out folks however, it’s worth a note. Technically, the white iPhone 4 works exactly like its black counterpart. But the outer plastic cover used in the white ones add a few millimeters. White iPhone owners are findng it difficult to fit the phone into plastic cases. However, the jelly ones work just fine.

Many speculations are going on among fans and experts as to why the white iPhone 4s are ‘fat’. A convincing reason might lie in the fact that the white iPhone’s case, "reportedly" did not insulate the camera’s flash. This caused residual light to leak from the phone’s edges. This called for an additional protection and hence a little thicker outer body.

Apple hasn’t given out a word on this yet. So basically this is it. You want a white iPhone 4, deal with the extra 0.2mm ‘baggage’.

Apple is finally launching the iPad 2 in India on April 29th.

Contrary to the tradition, Apple has officially launched the iPad 2 for its Indian consumers after only 1 month of its US launch (unlike, 1 year in case of the original iPad). Along with India, the iPad 2 will also be launched in Hong Kong, India, Israel, Korea, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, Turkey and UAE. The pricing details are as below:

iPad 2 will be available from Apple Authorized retailers. iPad 2 has many superior features compared to the original iPad like 33% thinner screen, new dual-core A5 processor, front and rear cameras, etc. Do check out our post: iPad 2: Everything you need to know.

The rumor has finally turned out to be true. Apple is all set to launch the white iPhone on April 27th and has in fact started shipping it to Apple Retail Stores. Best Buy confirms the date, too.

White iPhone has always been a center of awe owing to its scarcity and hence it looks like Apple‘s going to generate quite a bit of revenue in spite of its delayed release (10 months from the iPhone 4′s release, to be precise). So are you planning to go for a white iPhone 4 or wait for the next gen iPhone 5?

On April 1, Google called its bluff that Gmail Motion is real. It was one of many Google‘s April Fool pranks that deceived even the most seasoned techies. But the guys who previously hacked Microsoft Kinect by developing a program called FAAST to make Kinect work with World of Warcraft, couldn’t resist the urge to bring Gmail Motion to life. Well, they succeeded.

They developed a program called SLOOW (Software Library Optimizing Obligatory Waving) that uses Microsoft Kinect to capture users’ gestures and body movements to perform tasks similar to those shown in Google‘s Gmail Motion video.

It’s amazing how a handful of hackers (or rather geniuses) can pull off something like that in a matter of few hours.

It is now the world’s fourth largest computer maker, China based Lenovo, who’s ready to take on Apple‘s iPad. It has launched its new tablet computer called LePadto capture the Chinese tablet market and also plans to launch two or three more such tablets by 2011 end.

Lenovo LePad is an Android 2.2 based tablet that comes in two versions – WiFi and 3G. At the moment, it is available only in China but Lenovo plans to market it internationally from June 2011. This chinese tablet costs 3,499 yuan / (for a 16GB version) which is quite competitive to Apple‘s iPad.

Owing to 800,000 iPad sales in China last year and the estimate that 2.5 million tablet PCs will be sold in the country this year, Lenovo is pretty excited about the tablet market and hopes to grab atleast 30% of the market share. Company’s VP, Chen Xudong said,

Company [Lenovo] plans to capture than 30 per cent of China’s tablet computer market during the next two to three years. Lenovo’s tablet computers will run between 5,000 and 8,000 applications by the end of the year. Like personal computers, different users will have different demands for tablet computers. The LePad is the first major launch since the business group’s founding, we are confident in it and will continue to enrich its product line with better performing products and a richer selection of styles.

LePad was unveiled in Jan this year, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. It sports a 10.6 inch screen and as noted above, uses WiFi / 3G to connect to the internet. Pre-orders have already begun for Chinese consumers.