New iPhone 4G video tips up – in Vietnam

When it rains it pours or – in Apple’s case – when it leaks, it floods, with news that yet another iPhone 4G has managed to escape Castle Cupertino, only to find itself dismembered and naked on Vietnamese website Tao Viet.
The images surfaced early Wednseday morning although Google translate has proved a little confusing in terms of what the site actually had to say about the device.

From what we could glean, Tao Viet is boasting ““4G hands on the iPhone beta in Vietnam,” and goes on to describe it by saying “Machine Image very ergonomic design with materials to create a combination of aluminum and glass plastic…”
There also seems to be a fair amount of discussion about the new front-facing camera, the display and other mysterious features apparently garnered from the dissection of the device.
The site was also kind enough to post a video of a first hands-on with the device, which we’ve embedded below.
A translation by a YouTube viewer commenting on the video provided the following:
“Hi guys, this is the iPhone 4G in my hand, from Mr. XXX. It seems small but it feels pretty long and a little bit narrow in my hand. The machine is strong and solid with both sides made of glass (0:36, knock! knock! knock!). The camera comes with flash and the machine is 16GB as indicated and the code at the back with numbers of X characters (0:46). There is another camera next to the speaker at the front side and the home button.”
He goes on to translate:
“On the left side you can see the on/off sound and the separate up/down volume buttons in round shape (1:16). On the right side is the SIM tray and at the bottom are the speakers but not sure of stereo/mono type. I dont see any sight of how to open and may need to force it to open up(1:45).”
The tester then posits that the device may need a code, saying “The screen is disabled and I think Apple gives this phone to some one together with a CODE and from time to time he has to enter that Code otherwise the phone will auto disable, not to be disabled remotely by Apple(2:00).”
“Comparing with the current version, the phone is narrower approx 4mm, in length it is a little longer, the machine is thinner and screen is similar.”
The reviewer also warns that “It looks manly but the sharp edges may hurt your fingers (2:39).”
The SIM tray uses a miniSIM card and the reviewer says the back is very solid, giving the new iPhone a stronger feel and a more modern look than the current version.

Later on, the A4 mobile processor was laid bare, as was what is being labeled a diagnostics facility and video capability. The back cover of the device shows lettering reading ’16GB’.
Last month an Apple engineer famously left his iPhone 4G prototype in a bar in redwood city, CA, where it was picked up and sold to technology blog, Gizmodo, for a whopping $5k. Apple, not one to let things lie, sent in the police to search the Gizmodo editor’s house, with legal beagles now battling it out.

MacRumours believes ths prototype may have also been bought in the US, by a Vietnamese businessman who then smuggled it back to Vietnam. Others, however, posit that it’s more likely the prototype escaped from one of Apple’s Asian manufacturing plants.
Indeed, Tao Viet appears to state that more prototypes are available on the black market for the paltry sum of around $4,000, only a slight mark up for what the finished version will likely cost [we kid, we kid – Ed].
One thing’s for sure, if Apple wants to legally pursue whoever is responsible, it will have to deploy its lawyers on a global scale, and possibly start a whole new type of corporate Vietnam war.
The site already seems to be down, but whether this is down to it being pulled, or just overwhelmed by traffic is unclear.
Does Apple love the smell of Napalm in the morning? Run Charlie, run!