Virgin Mobile has today announced that it will be launching the iPhone 5 on Friday, June 28. The handset will be available on its Beyond Talk plans, which offer unlimited 3G and 4G LTE data and unlimited messaging for $35 per month. Prices for the iPhone 5 itself start at $549.99.

Best Buy has today begun a new nine-day deal that gives you $150 when you trade-in any working iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S. That’s enough to cover the cost of a brand new 16GB iPhone 5 on a two-year contract with a $50 instant rebate, which means there couldn’t be a better time to upgrade.

Imagine that you took the aluminum frame from the inside of, uh, something that has a small, iPhone-sized metal frame. Then – still in the garden of your mind – imagine that you chopped the cover off a fancy leather bound book and glued the flat flap to the pre-scavenged frame. Now open your eyes and look at the picture above. Uncanny right? It’s exactly what you imagined.

When I wrote up the Kubxlab Ultra Thin iPhone Case a short while back, I liked the look of it but figured that it would be yet another iPhone shell case to add to my stack of potential gifts (I’m serious – if you visit my home you won;t be allowed to leave without an iPhone or iPad case in your hands).

Then one arrived. Or rather three arrived, one in each color (dark, light and brown). I carelessly ripped open the packaging, picked one of the three (dark, I think) and pressed it onto my naked iPhone 4, still warm from my damp front pocket.

And I was so surprised that I actually put down my coffee.

Looking for a cheaper way to upgrade to the iPhone 5 without having to pay the full price? Best Buy announced this morning that it is relaunching its  program that allows customers to trade-in an iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S to get a “free” iPhone 5.

The trade-in program is set to launch this Friday, June 21st, and will run for 9 days. Customers can bring in a working model iPhone 4 or 4S and get up to $150 in credit back, which can then be used to purchase a 16GB iPhone 5 for $149.99.

Fed up of changing your iPhone case every time you want to use an external battery pack or add a kickstand? Well, Boostcase for iPhone 5 hopes to make that a thing of the past. It’s just one case, but it’s compatible with a ton of attachments that slide into little grooves on its back and add all kinds of extra functionality to your phone.

I’ve been using Boostcase for the past two weeks, thanks to MyBanana, with a kickstand and a hand strap. But you can also get an external battery pack, a card holder, a wallet case, a clutch case, a studded jacket (which isn’t as saucy as it sounds), and more — all of which can be applied in seconds without ever having to remove the Boostcase from your iPhone.

The Boostcase itself costs $35 in a range of different colors and patterns, and for that you also get the hand strap and the kickstand. The other attachments range from $20 to $100.

So, let’s find out whether Boostcase is the only case you’ll ever need for your iPhone.

We last saw Miniot making the rather hot MkII wooden Smart Cover for the iPad. Now it’s back with this equally stylish Miniot Book for the iPhone 5. The Book uses the same clever bendy wooden hinge as the iPad case, and adds in a rather smart protective “box.” And one thing is certain: Our wood-obsessed editor John Brownlee is gonna freak out over this.

Hitcase Pro, like Tony Stark’s iron suit, is the penultimate protection for your iPhone 5, even when it’s flying through the air.

That’s because, like the red Avenger, Hitcase Pro isn’t just a suit of armor, like so many cases before it. No, this one’s built for action, with some special mounting and lens capabilities that encourage you take your lovely iPhone on adventures you ordinarily should not, all so you can use its camera to record the chaos and prove you survived.

With the iPhone 5S shaping up to be pretty much an identical device to last year’s iPhone 5 except a marginally faster processor and (fingers crossed!) some cool new fingerprint sensor technology, eyes are on the so-called “budget iPhone” as 2013’s new hotness.

Although the ‘budget iPhone’ will address the mid-market, it’s still an exciting device, rumored to be the first iPhone to come in an iPod-palette of colors. Otherwise, though, we don’t know a lot about what it looks like.

Far East case makers might, though. MGM Corporation, an Asian casemaker, has posted a first look at a case for the budget iPhone. It doesn’t show much, except that the budget iPhone is about 2mm thicker than the iPhone 5, and has rounded corners instead of the iPhone 5’s square shape.

Here’s some video, showing it from all sides.

This is probably the front assembly of the iPhone 5S. Sadly, it looks pretty much the same as the iPhone 5, which is to be expected: the iPhone 5S is anticipated to be an incremental release over the iPhone 5, sharing the same look as the previous generation device just like the iPhone 4S and iPhone 3GS before it.

So nothing to be excited about? It’s hard to tell, but we have yet to see the home button array for the iPhone 5S, and that’s where rumor has all the new hardware in the next-gen iPhone going: namely, a fingerprint sensor under the home button which lets you lock out anyone who isn’t you… or who has cut off your finger.

Source: ETradeSupply