26th Oct 2012 is iPhone 5 Release Date in Malaysia? Nano-SIM Availability, iPhone 5 Drop Test & iPhone 5 Tear Down!

“iPhone 5 pre-orders have shattered the previous record held by iPhone 4S and the customer response to iPhone 5 has been phenomenal,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “iPhone 5 is the best iPhone yet, the most beautiful product we’ve ever made, and we hope customers love it as much as we do. – Apple Inc ”

Within the first hour of pre-order, Apple has more than 2 millions units of iPhone 5 pre-orderd, breaking its previous record of 1 million units of iPhone 4S pre-ordered during the  first day of availability. Last year Apple sold 4 million iPhone 4S after its opening weekend and this coming Monday, Apple might be announcing the sales number for iPhone 5 after its opening weekend.

It seems that the trend for Apple is that the less exciting and WOW-effect for iPhone launch, the more iPhones that Apple can sell. Definitely not a good news for tech geeks who are expecting more innovations from Apple. My another guess is that many fence-sitters are waiting for iPhone to be more ‘matured’ before buying it. Why pay the same amount for a phone that has lesser features, right? This group are not like the early adopters group and they are large in numbers.

Malay Mail claims that iPhone 5 will be release in Malaysia on 26th October based on industry sources. This claim has some credibility since Apple usually launch its iPhones on Fridays and 26th October is Friday. It further states that all major telecommunication players, namely Maxis, DiGi and Celcom will launch the iPhone 5 at the same time with their own packages and data bundles.

“If orders remain within projections made by Apple by Sept 30, the Oct 26 launch date in Malaysia together with several other countries will remain,” noted an industry source.

“Should there be a shortfall in available supplies, the Malaysian launch date could get pushed to sometime in November.”

Still, the release date for iPhone 5 depends on the demand and supply of the phone. If the demand is very strong, the iPhone 5 launch date in Malaysia and other countries might be pushed back even further to somewhere in November. If this happens, my prediction that iPhone 5 might launch in Malaysia somewhere late November or early December or middle December 2012 might come true. 😛 

The first batch of countries have received their iPhone 5 and the retail launch is quite smooth. Many Malaysians including scalpers are flocking down to Singapore to buy iPhone 5. The price of iPhone 5 in Singapore is S$948 for 16GB model, S$1,088 for 32GB model and S$1,2328 for 64GB model. I believe that the price of iPhone 5 will be the same as previous iPhone 4S price which is RM2,299 for 16GB model, RM2,699 for 32GB model and RM2,999 for 64GB model. The price of iPhone 4 in Malaysia previously when it was first launched is RM2,290 for 16GB model and RM2,690 for 32GB model. So, I think this trend will follow.

Many people who intends to go to Singapore to buy iPhone 5 will definitely have this question in mind, ‘Am I able to change my micro-SIM into nano-SIM?’ The dimension of micro-SIM is 12mm X 15mm X 0.76mm while nano-SIM is 8.8mm X 12.3mm X 0.67mm, Yes. CNet’s John Chan has done his experiment on converting micro-SIM into nano-SIM. It worked but you have to be careful not to destroy the lines on the SIM card. And good news is that the thickness of the micro-SIM does not matters, so, you just have to make sure you cut the mirco-SIM into the size of the nano-SIM. Or if you are still worried, you can head to selected Maxis centers to buy the nano-SIM card starting from 24th September 2012. The price of the nano-SIM card is RM25. Maxis is the first telco company to offer its customer nano-SIM card. Here are the lists of Maxis centers that will be selling the nano-SIM card.

Klang Valley
KLCC
Taman Tun Dr. Ismail
Sunway Pyramid
The Gardens

Penang
Queensbay Mall

Johor Bahru
Danga Bay

In late September 2012, other Maxis centers will be offering nano-SIM cards.

Apple has also launched advertisements for iPhone 5 while many Malaysians watch the advertisement and salivating at the same time. 😛 I always love to watch Apple’s advertisements because it’s so cool, elegant and always stirs up your emotion. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1Rc4MDmr8o

This video show how you can use the iPhone with just one hand only. And your thumb can access the two ends of the iPhone 5. While watching this ad, you might think of Samsung’s tagline for Samsung Galaxy S3, ‘Designed for Humans’ 😛

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4IRsCjMqdI

This one talks about the dimension of iPhone 5.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xtm4ySJQPOc

This one shows off the Panorama mode in its Camera app. I always wonder how Apple fanboys can ‘WOW’ at features that other phones already have such as FaceTime and Notfication Center. #Justsaying 🙂

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-FmipwLsHc

This one shows off the new EarPods.

Since iPhone 5 is now in many people hands since 21st September 2012, we can now get to know more about iPhone 5 instead of relying on Apple for the information. One of the points to consider when people buy smartphones is the durability of the smartphones. Let’s admit this, shit does happens. You will accidentally drop your phone one day no matter how much care you put in. So, is iPhone 5 durable? Android Authority has done the drop test comparing iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy S3. Check out the video below.

This time, iPhone 5 is more durable than Samsung Galaxy S3, all thanks to its aluminium design. iPhone 5 handles drop better than iPhone 4S (with glass back).

And the iFixit people has already made the tear down of iPhone 5. Apple changed its approach from back to front to top down assembly. This helps to reduce the time of the display replacement. Previously iPhone 4S takes 45 minutes to replace its display but now, iPhone 5 takes only 10-15 minutes. That’s good news because I changed LCD screen before for my wife’s iPhone 3GS. It’s really time consuming. By the way, LCD is the common replacement for most people. Thumbs up for Apple. iPhone 5 battery has 1,440 mAh. Check out iFixit’s video below for the iPhone 5 tear down review.

That’s all for now and do stay tuned for the latest update of the iPhone 5 official launch date/release date in Malaysia and the official price of iPhone 5 in Malaysia.

What’s your say? Buying iPhone 5 in Singapore?