O2 have eeked out a few more details about the iPhone 4 to customers champing at the bit for Apple’s newest shiny toy. And whilst not quite as exciting as the news about tariffs they intend to offer, iPhone fans will still be reading every line over and over until they can finally get their mitts on the iPhone 4.
The Micro-Sim
O2 sent an email to their customers (which is starting to look like a daily update: Think the 12 days of Christmas… Only change it slightly: The 15 Days of iPhone.) explaining the ins and outs of the new smaller sim card, which can be used in the iPad and the new smartphone. In the mailout, the company said: “You may have heard that iPhone 4 uses a micro sim, which is a smaller version of a standard sim. If you want to upgrade to iPhone 4 you’ll need to use this new micro sim instead of the sim you use now.”
Getting Hold Of One
This seems, unsurprisingly, very easy – O2 say there are two ways to get a micro sim. Firstly, if they’re planning to try to send one out to anyone who’s registered to receive iPhone 4 updates via email. They said: “We can’t guarantee that everyone who registers for iPhone 4 updates will get a micro sim, so if you don’t get one in the post, don’t worry. If you decide to buy iPhone 4, you will get your micro sim at the same time as your iPhone 4.”
What’s The Difference?
Well, obviously, it’s smaller. The new Micro SIM is a mere 12 x 15mm – about 52% smaller than the standard mobile phone simcard. The new card, which won’t work with older model phones, offers things like more storage space, and better security functions. Why the change was necessary isn’t really clear. Maybe Apple know something the wider world doesn’t about the need for SIM storage or security. Some will claim that it’s a case of Apple trying to be different for ‘being different’s sake, but one doubts that people waiting to get a brand new shiny iPhone 4 to play with will care one iota what they stick inside it… They just want O2 to hurry up and hand it over!!
Any Other Revelations?
Not really. It seems that all the big news has dropped. O2 have promised more updates including how to fit the new micro-sim, but in terms of news about the iPhone 4, the only big question mark is the cost to existing customers, which isn’t expect to be answered until the release.
In short…
The real announcements are not likely to come from O2 – but their competitors. As we wait to hear what offers on the new phone will come from other UK networks, it seems O2 will simply be fending off the hoards of customers wanting to know how much their upgrade is actually going to cost them. For now, the rather frustrating answer from O2 will be ‘sorry, you’ll have to wait and see’.