The second generation version of the Apple Peel is set to hit random retailers in China this Monday, March 28. If you happen to have a friend hanging out in Shanghai, you can get him or her to ship one over for your iPod touch, giving it iPhone-like capabilities. Naturally, you’ll need to jailbreak your iPod touch first.

It’ll still do the voice and text thing as the older version, but the new Apple Peel 520 will toss in some GPRS data connectivity. This is going to be painfully slow for anything more than text-based e-mails, but at least it’s something if you don’t happen to be bathing in some Wi-Fi.

Pricing is expected to be in the $79 to $90 range.

[Yoison]

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Instead of looking like a fairly standard rubberized case, the idea with the new-gen Apple Peel 520 is that it not only adds iPhone-esque functionality to your iPod touch; it also adds an iPhone 4-esque look to it. If the people around you don’t look too closely, they probably would mistake your Peel’d iPod touch for an iPhone 4.

You even get those two round buttons on the left side for volume. They’ve added in a couple more round buttons on the other side, apparently for call and end. The aesthetic is certainly improved over the original, but is the performance? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

[micGadget via Yoison]

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The Apple Peel 520 boarded a ship and is coming to America, according to an email sent out by GoSolar PR. The device has just, literally this afternoon, been submitted to the FCC with its 8k filing to finalize its presence. That means that the once Chinese Yosin black market device of 22-year-old Chinese programmer Pan Yong, will soon be a legitimate product in the USA by GoSolar.

“We see the Apple Peel 520 as a stunning breakthrough in mobile technology, and we’re proud to work with Yosion to develop this product for the U.S. market” said Tyson Rohde, President of GSLO in the press release.

The Apple Peel 520 converts the iPod Touch into a working smartphone, adding an 800mAh battery that offers nearly five hours of talk time and 120 hours of standby use, dock connector and SIM card slot to the iPod. Although it takes a 3G sim card, it will not allow for 3G data at this time. It will cost around $60 and early reviews have indicated some issues with the devices software. Updates, release date, and more details to follow as we get them. Check the PR below for the full announcement.

[GoSolarUSA]

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tPhone case turns an iPod into an iPhone

We saw one Apple Peel case that converts the iPod touch into a (nearly) functional iPhone. Then, we saw a second Peel case with Sprint branding. And now, we have a third one to consider.

Although none of these products have really hit the mainstream market just yet, it seems that they’re already becoming old hats. For this third iteration, we find a new case dubbed the tPhone. It also comes from China and it does exactly what the first two cases did.

As before, the tPhone is an iPod touch 3G jacket that gives its some cellular connectivity. With that 3G connection, you can make regular voice calls and send SMS text messages. This “Apple Peel” has a dock to connect it to the iPod touch, along with an internal 1200mAh battery.

This version probably won’t make any official debut outside of China, but there’s always the grey market.  We’re hoping at least one comes out with a usable software package, of course you will have to be jailbroken. Expect many more iterations to come, until finally Belkin releases one.

The tPhone Is Yet Another iPod Touch 3G Jacket [Crunchgear]

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About a week ago, we caught a glimpse of the Apple Peel 520 case, which effectively transforms an iPod touch into a nearly functional iPhone. It grants the iPod access to a cellular network for voice calls, text messages, and so on. Well, that Peel case has now been reviewed, and I’m not that excited about it as I initially was.

The Apple Peel 520 wraps around the iPod touch and links itself via the standard Apple dock connector. Inside the Peel case is a spot for a regular SIM card, but you will be left with slower speeds; there’s no 3G support at this time. The case does come with its own removable 800mAh battery though, which is good for adding 3 hours of talk and 120 hours of standby.

To get it to work, you’ll need to use the iPhone voice calling and text messaging apps on your iPod touch. That requires some jailbreaking on your part; that’s all legal now, and super easy. You’ll also need the Yosion and YsSMS apps to use the adapter.

The long and the short of it for the $57 Apple Peel 520 is that it works, but it’s not without its problems. Incoming phone numbers may not appear, ringtones cannot be customized, adjusting the call volume does nothing, and incoming calls do not light up the iPod touch display. Strangely, the accepted call cannot end until the other party hangs up. You also can’t delete single text messages, nor can you send to multiple recipients.

Yeah, maybe you’re better off with a real iPhone.

[MicGadget]

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ZTE Peel 3200 could very well be for the iPad or iPod Touch

Yesterday, we caught a glimpse of a special iPod touch case that could effectively convert the media player into a functional iPhone. We have now discovered an alternative case thanks to FCC filings and some digging around over at PhoneScoop.  It turns out that there is a very similar case called the ZTE Peel 3200 and it carries, get this, Sprint branding. This leads to believe that Sprint is looking for a workaround, so to speak, to getting an iPhone of its own without getting an iPhone of its own. The Peel case gives EV-DO connectivity, its own battery, and the ability to be used as a mobile hotspot. Let’s not forget about voice and text to boot.

It appears that the case doesn’t physically connect to the iPod touch, per se. This could mean that it latches on via Wi-Fi instead to make calls through Sprint’s 3G network. The unnamed case from earlier looked like it had a dock connector inside, making for a different configuration altogether.

Either way, couldn’t ZTE (or some other OEM) conceivably make a larger version of the Apple Peel 3200 for the iPad and achieve the same kind of functionality? Wouldn’t that just bite into the iPad 3G+WiFi model just a little?

[Gizmodo, PhoneScoop> via FCC]

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A case called the Apple Peel 520 claims to convert a typical iPod into a fully fledged cellular phone

Up until the launch of the iPhone 4, the aesthetic differences between the iPhone 3GS and the iPod touch have been minimal. The features are largely similar too, except for that whole cellular “phone” part of the equation. Well, you can change all that with a simple new case. At least, that’s what it sounds like with the Apple Peel 520. In effect, you can slap this case onto an iPod touch and it will convert it into a functional Apple iPhone, complete with voice calling and text messaging over a cellular network.

This isn’t VoIP, folks; it’s a “real” phone with a real SIM card. Inside the Apple Peel 520 case are an Infineon baseband chip and an extra 800mAh battery. It doesn’t seem to do GPRS for data, though, so you’re stuck with Wi-Fi for that functionality. It could be vaporware for all we know, but it sounds like the Apple Peel 520 case for the iPod touch will be made available in China this week for $44 to $74 or so.

[Engadget]

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