CNET quotes Neil Mawston that in order to compete with Samsung, the iPhone mini is a must-have in the product line:
Showing posts with label iPhone Rumors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label iPhone Rumors. Show all posts
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Is the iPhone mini Inevitable?
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Apple Still in Talks With Sharp Over its IGZO Display Panels For iOS Devices
DigiTimes reports that Apple is still in talks with Sharp over its IGZO panels, which the company plans to use in future iOS devices. Specifically, Apple’s concerned about Sharp’s ability to produce these panels in enough quantities for iPads, iPad minis and iPhones.
IGZO (Indium gallium zinc oxide) panels allow for high
resolution displays to be compact, energy efficient and cheaper to
manufacture. While Sharp had started manufacturing such displays earlier this year,
its ability to deliver to Apple’s scale (hundreds of millions of
devices in a year) and its troubled financial state are both issues of
concern for Apple.
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Apple Reportedly Working To Bring Foursquare’s Local Data to Maps App
The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple is in early talks with Foursquare – the popular location-based social network to include local data in the Maps application.
According to the report, Apple is actively looking to build an
“arsenal of local data” to compete with Google, which recently announced
that the Google Maps for iPhone was downloaded more than 10 million times in the first 48 hours.
WSJ reports:
Apple is in early discussions to
integrate local data from Foursquare Labs Inc. into its mapping
application, according to people familiar with the talks, as the company
continues to build an arsenal of local data to try to take on Google.
The talks, which took place in recent weeks and involve Apple senior vice president Eddy Cue,
are the latest sign of Apple’s plans to more tightly integrate local
services into the iPhone and iPad. The discussions with New York-based
Foursquare come as Apple has been talking to a number of companies that
collect local data to improve its new mapping product. The maps service, released in September, has had a rocky reception and faces fierce competition from Google.
In addition to allowing users to check-in at venues like bars and
restaurants and connect with friends, Foursquare also gives personalized
recommendations and deals based on where you, your friends, and people
with your tastes have been. The report claims that Apple could include
that data in the Maps app. Currently, Yelp’s business reviews are integrated into Apple’s Maps experience.
It will be interesting to see how Apple plans to integrate local data
from services like Yelp, FourSquare etc., but it could give Apple the
edge in the long term by integrating with services that directly compete
with Google.
Via: WSJ
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Apple to Add Baidu as iOS Search Engine Option in China
Bloomberg reports
that Apple plans to offer Baidu - China's leading search engine as one
of the search engine options to iPhone users in China, as a part of its
greater strategy to increase its presence in the country. We had heard
about this a few months ago.
The announcement could be made as early as next week, at Apple's WWDC keynote
.
Google would still be the default
choice, but users would now have the option of choosing Baidu and
searching right from Mobile Safari's search bar. Presently, Chinese
users have to either visit Baidu's website or download an app to search
on an iPhone. It remains to be seen if Apple will add Baidu in iOS 5.x.x
or in iOS 6.
Apple's executives have, a number of
times, underscored the importance of China in Apple's future growth, and
this is Apple doing its bit to ensure that the iPhone remains a
compelling offering to Chinese customers. A number of Chinese web
services have been integrated in OS X Mountain Lion, and it'll be
interesting to see if Apple plans to integrate some of China's
social networks into iOS 6 as well. Twitter integration found in iOS 5,
and Facebook integration we might see in iOS 6 are useless in China, where both these services are blocked.
Baidu's market share in China dwarfs
that of Google (4 to 1), and with this integration in place Google's
position would further weaken. It's interesting to note though, that
just like Google, Baidu has its own mobile operating system (an Android fork) that it shops around to manufacturers.
Google had earlier voluntarily pulled out of China due to differences it had with the Chinese government's censorship policies. Apple on the other hand has maintained strong relations with Chinese government officials, since its entire production line as well as its future growth depends largely on this region.
Even if Apple's sole reason to add Baidu is to help out Chinese iPhone users, collectively, Apple's announcements during WWDC, including the mapping service, would be extremely detrimental to Google.
Hands-On Video of Leaked Next-Gen iPhone Metal Back Panel
We've seen photos and a video of the purported next generation iPhone front panel, which have corroborated rumors that the sixth generation iPhone will come with a taller 4-inch display.
Now, folks at parts reseller -
ETradeSupply have published a hands-on video with the purported next
generation iPhone back panel.
Just like the photos, the hands-on video of the leaked next generation iPhone metal back casing reveals the following details:
- A large portion of the back panel is made out of metal and the remaining part seems to be made of glass, which gives it a two-tone effect.
- The next generation iPhone will get a metal antenna band like iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S, but in case of the sixth generation iPhone, it seems to be moulded with the metal back panel
- The position of the headphone jack has moved from the top to the bottom, next to the speakers
- It has the rumored smaller dock connector
- The speakers grills have been redesigned
Check out the hands-on video below:
If these leaked parts turn out to be
the real deal, then the design of the next generation iPhone would be
incremental rather than an all-new design that we're expecting.
What do you think of the possibility of the next generation iPhone with a metal back panel?
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Next iPhone To Be Thinner, Feature HD Front Facing Camera: Analyst
Mingchi Kuo, an analyst with KGI
Securities, believes that Apple would include an improved front facing
camera in the next iPhone, capable of shooting at HD resolution
In a note to investors, Kuo said that
Apple is expected to make "quite a few essential adjustments" to the
next iPhone, the most notable of which is of course the bigger screen.
Kuo, much like almost everyone else, expects Apple to bump up the iPhone's screen size to 4 inches, bringing the device's resolution to 1,136 x 640 pixels.
On a screen that large, the current front facing camera's already
unsatisfactory VGA resolution output would look even worse, which might
have pushed Apple to upgrade the camera.
In addition to being upgraded, the front
facing camera would also be repositioned to the center, which is in
line with the leaked front panel images and blueprints we've seen earlier.
Kou believes that Apple would stick to
the current 8 megapixel resolution of back camera, and instead improve
the camera's aperture range from f/2.4 to f/2.2. Apple has, time and
again, pointed out the that capturing light plays a much more important role than the megapixel count when shooting images, and it seems the company intends to do exactly that.
The rear camera's upgraded specs, as
shown in the chart above, would present "unprecedented challenges" for
suppliers, especially when dealing with Apple's scale. Sony, with its new 8MP CMOS sensors,
would most probably supply the next iPhone's rear cameras. The new CMOS
sensors would allow the iPhone to become thinner, while maintaining or
even improving the image quality.
Via Apple Insider
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Sprint’s Virgin Mobile to Offer iPhone With Prepaid Plans
MarketWatch reports that Sprint
is gearing up to offer Apple's iPhone with prepaid plans through Virgin
Mobile USA - its pay-to-go brand as early as July 1st.
Cricket Wireless had announced last week
that it will start offering Apple's iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 on its
network from June 22nd, which would make them the first carrier in the
US to offer iPhone with prepaid plans.
MarketWatch reports:
The Overland
Park, Kan., carrier will announce this week it will offer the popular
smartphone on its Virgin Mobile pay-as-you-go brand starting as soon as
July 1, according to people familiar with the company's plans. Sprint
follows Leap Wireless International Inc. in selling the device with
prepaid service.
By offering the
iPhone, Sprint may help satisfy its commitment to Apple to buy $15.5
billion of the phones over four years, an aggressive bet as more
carriers are getting access to the once-exclusive device. Sprint's
prepaid service, which also includes the Boost Mobile brand, has been
its lone area of growth as contract customers have fled.
Virgin Mobile's pricing for the iPhone
is not yet known. Cricket Wireless is offering the 16GB iPhone 4S will
cost $499 and 8GB iPhone 4 will cost $399 with $55 per-month,
all-inclusive unlimited talk, text and data plan. Cricket Wireless will
throttle the speed after 2.3GB of data usage per month.
Virgin Mobile currently offers a prepaid
plans that start at $35 a month and offer unlimited data, although
Virgin Mobile also throttles the speed after 2.5GB of usage. We doubt
Virgin will offer Apple's iPhone at that price point.
It remains to be seen if Boost Mobile -
Sprint's other pay-as-you-go brand will also be offering Apple's iPhone
with prepaid plans.
Via: iphonehacks
Apple May Launch New iPhone And iPad Mini In September
According to Brian White, an analyst
with Topeka Capital Markets, Apple is gearing up for an "exciting"
September with not one, but two major product launches lined up, the new
iPhone and an iPad mini.
White bases his assertions on
conversations he's had with his supply chain sources in Taiwan, where he
is currently attending the 2012 Computex trade show.
He believes that Apple would launch the sixth generation iPhone in September this year, rather than October:
"Regarding the widely anticipated iPhone 5, we believe a September launch is more likely than October, while we also believe this will be coupled with the 'iPad Mini' unveiling that we were the first to uncover last Autumn."
The iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 were all debuted at WWDC in June. Apple broke the tradition in 2011 by releasing iPhone 4S in October, and it seems that the company is planning to do that again with a September launch of the new iPhone this year.
White's sources also add that the next iPhone might feature a unibody aluminium casing. As per component leaks,
the next gen iPhone would have a two-tone back panel with a major
portion made of metal, presumably aluminium, and the rest made of glass.
Apart from a possible launch timeframe, White didn't give any other details about the iPad mini. Rumors
suggest that the device would have a 7.85 inches screen with a
resolution of 1024x768 pixels. (If that figures rings a bell, it should,
first and second gen iPads have the same resolution.)
An iPad mini, priced competitively,
would sell like hot cakes during the holiday season, which is probably
why Apple is looking at a September launch, assuming of course that the
information White picked up is accurate.
Seems like Apple has a lot to show this year, apart from everything they've got scheduled for WWDC.
via Apple Insider, SAI
Monday, June 4, 2012
Siri Finally Coming to iPad in iOS 6?
9to5Mac reports that Apple will finally bring Siri to iPad in iOS 6. According to 9to5Mac, it will be one of the major features for the iPad in iOS 6.
Siri - Apple's intelligent personal
assistant feature is currently available exclusively for iPhone 4S
users. Apple's new iPad that was introduced few months back,
surprisingly only got Siri's dictation feature.
9to5Mac provides the following details of how Sir will work on the iPad:
Unlike on the
iPhone 4S, Siri for iPad is not a full screen experience. This makes
sense given the device’s larger, 9.7-inch display. Siri on the iPad is
activated by a quick hold of the home button, just like on the iPhone
4S. The interface slides up from below the display with a clever
animation. Siri is built into the iPad as a small window on top of
whatever interface the user is currently interacting with. This Siri
window with rounded corners sits at the bottom center of the display, as
you can see in our mockup above. The Siri iPad interface takes very
little space over the iPad interface currently in use, and is designed
with the same linen texture as on the iPhone 4S. Siri for iPad also
works from the lock screen.
They've also created the following mockup based on information they've received from their trusted sources.
But don't get your hopes up, as 9to5Mac
is not sure if Siri will work on iPad 3, iPad 2 and iPad 1. Their
sources are currently tell them that it could be available
exclusively on the new iPad.
It is also rumored that iOS 6 will include an all-new Maps app with 3D mode, which is supposed to be quite incredible, some features from OS X Mountain Lion such as iCloud Tab support, Mail VIPs, "Do not Disturb" toggle for Notifications, and redesigned version of App Store, iTunes and iBookstore apps.
Apple is widely expected to give us a
preview of iOS 6 at next week's WWDC Keynote, followed by the launch of
the beta version. Apple is expected to release iOS 6 to the public only
in October along with the next generation iPhone.
iOS 6 to Get OS X Mountain Lion Features Such as iCloud Tabs Support, “Do Not Disturb” Toggle For Notifications, Mail VIPs
9to5Mac continue to leak more information about the features in iOS 6.
They've just reported that some of the
new features from OS X Mountain Lion such as iCloud Tabs support, Mail
VIPs, "Do Not Disturb" toggle for notifications will make their way to
iOS 6.
OS X Mountain Lion will
include a number of popular apps and features such as Messages, Notes,
Reminders, Game Center, Notification Center, Share Sheets, Twitter
integration and AirPlay Mirroring from iPad, so it is not surprisingly
to see some of the new features introduced in ninth and next major
release of OS X are coming to iOS 6.
Here's how some of the new OS X Mountain Lion features will work in iOS 6, according to Mark Guman of 9to5Mac:
Cloud Tabs:
iCloud Tabs is a
feature that allows iCloud users to view a list of tabs opened in the
Safari web browser across multiple iOS devices and Macs. Although
previously rumored, iCloud Tabs is not a feature – in its initial
implementation in iOS 6 and Mountain Lion – that syncs your entire
current web browser work across devices. When the iCloud Tabs button is
clicked on an iOS 6 device (or Mac), all the tabs opened on each device
are simply shown in a synchronized list. From here, users can quickly
pickup individual tabs that they were working on across their Apple
devices. The iCloud Tabs button on the iPhone and iPod touch is hidden
behind the Bookmarks toolbar.
Mail VIPs:
Like in Mountain
Lion, Mail VIPs in iOS 6 puts a star next to emails received from a
specified group of people. VIPs assigned to iCloud accounts will sync
with iCloud across iOS 6 iPads, iPhones, iPod touches, and OS X Mountain
Lion Macs. OS X Mountain Lion users have so-far praised the feature, as
many users find themselves constantly looking for email from a select
group of contacts.
Do Not Disturb toggle:
The Do Not Disturb toggle will allows users to block incoming alerts and banners. When we wrote about this feature coming to OS X Mountain, we were hoping that it comes to iOS 6. So good to know that it is also coming to iOS 6.
According to 9to5Mac, the Do Not Disturb toggle is stationed like the Airplane Mode button in the Settings app as seen in the mockup below.
With Apple adding such useful toggles in the Settings, we wonder when they will introduce SBSettings-like
functionality so that we can access them quickly from any app without
having to go through the hassle of exiting the current app, launching
the Settings app and then enabling or disabling the toggle.
Let us know what you think about the
possibility of features such as iCloud Tabs support, Mail VIPs, "Do Not
Disturb" toggle for notifications coming to iOS 6. What's on your iOS 6
wish list?
More Details About Facebook Integration in iOS 6
Few days back, TechCrunch reported that Facebook will be finally deeply integrated into iOS 6. Apple's CEO Tim Cook had hinted at the possibility of integrating with Facebook during AllThingsD's D10 Conference.
9to5Mac has got access to some more information about how the Facebook integration will work in iOS 6.
Mark Guman of 9to5Mac writes:
According to
sources familiar with the Facebook integration into iOS 6, the
integration will be very similar to Twitter’s integration that launched
with iOS 5. The integration’s biggest presence will be in the iOS Photos
application. Like you are able to send photos to Twitter from the
Photos application, you will be able to post photos to Facebook. A
single sign-on section for all Facebook connected applications is
present in the iOS 6 system settings application. Like with Twitter, a
new “social sheet,” as some people familiar with the matter call it,
will appear for an accompanying status message.
Mockup of Facebook sharing in iPhone Photos app (Image Credit - 9to5Mac)
According to 9to5Mac, not
surprisingly, users will also be able to like apps either by using a
"Like" button in the built-in App Store on their iOS devices.
Besides content
sharing, Apple is also relying on Facebook for a big new social change
for the built-in App Store: a feature called “App Liking.”
Discoverability has always been a major downside of the Apple mobile
apps market with hundreds-of-thousands of software apps, but Apple will
by relying on the world’s largest social network to help fix that
problem. Inside individual application pages on the iPad, iPhone, and
iPod touch App Store will be a standard Facebook “Like” button. If a
user is logged into Facebook via iOS Settings, these app “Likes” will be
sent to their Facebook Timelines. Accompanying status messages will
also be an option.
We're not sure how Apple will fix the
discoverability issues in the App Store with the "App Liking" feature.
While Apple could give a higher rank to apps that are shared are
Facebook, it is something that can be easily manipulated by developers.
Things should be more clear next week,
as Apple is widely expected to give us a preview of iOS 6 at next week's
WWDC Keynote, followed by the launch of the beta version. Apple is
expected to release iOS 6 to the public only in October along with the
next generation iPhone.
According to recent rumors, iOS 6 will include an all-new Maps app with 3D mode, which is supposed to be quite incredible and redesigned version of App Store, iTunes and iBookstore apps.
Via: iphonehacks
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Rumor: Next-Gen iPhone to Get Broadcom BCM4334 Chip With Wi-Fi Direct For AirDrop
We've some more information about the next generation iPhone (iPhone5,1), courtesy folks at 9to5Mac who have been digging through the beta version of iOS 6 running on a prototype of the next iPhone.
9to5Mac reports that Apple
could use Broadcom BCM4334 single-chip dual-band combo chip in the next
generation iPhone, which is a follow up to BCM4330 which is used in the new iPad and iPhone 4S.
According to AnandTech, this new chip will need half the power for Wi-Fi :
BCM4334 which is the follow-up part to BCM4330 that we’ve seen in a bunch
of devices. BCM4334 changes from a 65nm process to 40nm LP, which
itself offers a power profile reduction. The change isn’t a simple die
shrink either, Broadcom says it has worked on and refined the existing
BCM4330 design and reduced power a further 40-50% and dramatically
reduced standby power by 3 orders of magnitude. I asked Broadcom to give
me a realistic estimate of power consumption – BCM4330 in full Rx mode
consumes around 68mA, BCM4334 consumes 36mA at the same voltage, just to
give an example of the reduction. Air interfaces don’t change between
BCM4330 and BCM4334.
As 9to5Mac
points out, the power savings would be helpful to offset the increase
in power consumption due to the taller 4-inch display and 4G LTE radios.
In addition to the power savings, the
new Broadcom chip also has dual band Wi-Fi which allows content
streaming via technologies such as Wi-Fi Display and Wi-Fi Direct. 9to5Mac
speculates that while Apple is unlikely to use Wi-Fi Display over its
own AirPlay protocol, Apple could use Wi-Fi Direct to bring OS X Lion's
adhoc file sharing protocol to iOS 6.
It certainly
gives Apple a reason to bump the Wifi chip up to this more expensive
dual mode version that was just announced in late February. Wifi Direct
is also used in more and more printers as well, but its main purpose is
making wireless file sharing extremely easy, as Google does in its
Galaxy Nexus devices.
With Apple’s
easy-to-understand interface, an iOS AirDrop feature could make sharing
between Macs and iOS devices and between iOS devices (or dare we say to
Android devices?) beyond simple.
Apple had introduced AirDrop feature in OS X Lion
last year. The feature provides a really easy way to share files
between supported, Wi-Fi enabled Macs, without having to connect through
the local Wi-Fi network.
But this is still quite speculative as
we've seen that Apple has chosen not to use the full capabilities of
Broadcom's Wi-Fi chip.
9to5Mac had previously reported that the
next generation iPhone, which is widely expected to be released in
October will be powered by a variant of the A5 chip like the new iPad and include 1GB RAM.
Via: .iphonehacks
Via: .iphonehacks
iOS 6 to Get Redesigned iTunes Store, App Store And iBookstore
As we get closer to the WWDC 2012 Keynote,
where Apple is widely expected to give us a preview of iOS 6, more
details about the upcoming major iOS software update seems to be leaking
out.
So far we've heard that iOS 6 will include an all-new Maps app with an incredible 3D-mode and Facebook integration.
According to
sources familiar with Apple’s upcoming iOS 6 mobile software offering,
the company’s three major`digital stores will see design overhauls. The
overhauls are said to be major and they focus on improved interactivity
when making purchases in iTunes, the App Store, and the iBookstore.
Social is a big piece of the store overhauls, and Facebook integration
is being tested in the iTunes Store portion, at least.
But 9to5Mac also notes that the redesigned apps won't offer improved discoverability. You may remember that Apple had acquired Chomp - an app search engine
earlier in the year. We were expecting Apple to use Chomp's technology
to improve App Store search and recommendations. But according to 9to5Mac's
source, it may not happen in iOS 6, which would be a pity as
discoverability of apps is quite a pain with more than 600,000 apps in
the App Store.
Friday, June 1, 2012
Video of Leaked Next Generation iPhone Front Panel
We've seen photos of the purported next generation iPhone's parts
including the front panel, which have corroborated rumors that the
sixth generation iPhone will come with a taller 4-inch display.
Folks at Japanese blog Macotakara have now managed to get their hands on the front panel and have posted photos and video comparing it to the iPhone 4S.
The comparison video and photos confirms
that the next generation iPhone's display will be taller than the
3.5-inch display, but have the same width as the current iPhones.
Macotakara
reports that the display opening measures at 10.33 cm (4.07 in)
diagonally, which would allow a taller 4-inch display to fit in the
opening. This is also in-line with the schematics of the next generation iPhone that was leaked yesterday.
A taller 4-inch display would allow
Apple to add one more row of icons to the iPhone's home screen, moving
to five rows per page plus the row of pinned icons in the dock at the
bottom of the screen.
The new resolution is also expected to
be very close to a 16:9 screen ratio, which means that 16:9 videos can
play full screen at their native aspect ratio.
Next Generation iPhone’s Hardware Details Leaked
9to5Mac continue to leak details about the next generation iPhone.
They have just provided more details
about the next generation iPhone's (N41AP/iPhone5,1) hardware and the
new iOS 6 Maps app, based on information they've managed to dig from the
beta version of iOS 6. This is quite a scoop as Apple is expected to
release the beta version of iOS 6, only after it gives us a preview at
WWDC 2012 Keynote on June 11th.
- The beta version of iOS 6 has revealed that the next generation iPhone will be powered by ARM S5L8950X processor. Apple has used the S5L8945X processor in the A5X SoC that powers iPad 3 (the new iPad).
- Apple's SoC that will power the next generation iPhone is internally codenamed "A5-***", which indicates that the new iPhone will be powered by a variant of the "A5" chip like the new iPad and not the A6 chip.
- The GPU chip that will be used in the next iPhone is called SGX543RC*. Apple currently uses the dual-core SGX543MP2 in the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S and uses the quad-core SGX543MP4 in the new iPad to power its Retina Display.
- The next generation iPhone will come with 1GB RAM (iPhone 4S has 512MB RAM).
- The beta version of iOS 6 is running on a Darwin kernel version of 13.0.0. As 9to5Mac points out it is a full release above the 12.0.0 version seen in OS X Mountain Lion and two full releases above the 11.x.x version used in OS X Lion and iOS 5.
- 9to5Mac has also published a screenshot of the new Maps app that is being built in-house by Apple.
Apple is rumored to replace the Maps app that is powered by data provided by Google with an all-new Maps app developed in-house, which includes an incredible 3D mode.
The next generation iPhone is widely expected to be released in October.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Leaked Schematic of Next-Gen iPhone’s Front Panel Reveals 4-Inch Display With 16:9 Aspect Ratio
Schematic of the rumored next generation iPhone with a 4-inch screen appears to have been leaked to various blogs like iLab and Cydia Blog.
The schematic shows measurements of various components found on the
iPhone's front panel including the the widely rumored larger display.
The "active area mask," or the portion
which houses the display, measures 3.55 inches vertically and 2.02
inches horizontally, according to the schematic.
By applying the Pythagoras theorem, we
arrive at a diagonal length of approximately 4.08 inches. Although this
is slightly larger than 4 inches, the display opening is known to
measure a bit more than the screen itself.
This means that the display might end up measuring exactly 4 inches diagonally, with a 16:9 aspect ratio, corroborating earlier speculation and the recent front panel leak.
The schematic also suggests that the
front facing camera would be moved to above the earpiece. The bottom
placement of the headphone jack and the smaller dock connector are also reflected in the schematic.
MacRumors adds:
The schematic does not show an exact total height for the part in question, but calculations based on pixel counts and the known height of the display mask area suggest that the overall height of the part is roughly 122 mm, approximately 7 mm taller than the overall height of the iPhone 4S.
What do you think about the possibility of 4-inch display?
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Photos Of Leaked Next-Gen iPhone Back And Front Panel Reveals Interesting Details
9to5Mac has just published
photos of the leaked next generation iPhone parts such as the front and
back panels in both white and black color and the frame that holds in
components such as the home button.
The photos of the leaked next generation iPhone parts reveals some interesting details:
- A large portion of the back panel is made out of metal and the remaining part seems to be made of glass. As you can see in the first image below, it gives it a two-tone effect.
- The next generation iPhone will get a metal antenna band like iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S, but in case of the sixth generation iPhone, it seems to be moulded with the metal back panel
- The position of the headphone jack has moved from the top to the bottom, next to the speakers.
- It has the rumored smaller dock connector
- The speakers grills have been redesigned
- There appears to be a new opening between the camera lens and the camera flash. 9to5Mac speculates that Apple may be planning to move the second microphone to the back for improved video recording.
- The front panel indicates that the next iPhone will come with a taller display but with same width as iPhone 4S and iPhone 4, which is in line with recent rumors.
- The front facing camera has moved above the earpiece (it is currently to left of the earpiece in iPhone 4S and iPhone 4)
If these leaked parts turn out to be
the real deal, then the design of the next generation iPhone would be
incremental rather than an all-new design that we're expecting. We also
don't like the two tone effect with the metal and glass back panel, at
least from the photos.
What do you think? Let us know in the comments.
[via 9to5Mac]
Saturday, May 19, 2012
4-Inch iPhone: Possible Scenarios
Chatter about an iPhone with a larger
screen has been going on since the pre-iPhone 4S days, but this time
around these claims have been backed by reliable sources like The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and John Gruber.
Apple has always held pride in the fact
that iOS is easy to develop for, and that it isn't fragmented like
Android. Even when it upgraded to Retina displays, it made sure that the
number of pixels in the new screens were a whole number multiple of the
previous screen resolution.
So how is Apple going to ensure a similar, smooth transition phase for developers with a larger screen iPhone?
That first thought that comes to mind is
that Apple simply increases the physical size of a single pixel, so as
to maintain the same (current) Retina resolution of 960x640 pixels, and
make the transition process a breeze for developers. This would however
reduce the pixel density of the new screen to a figure below 300ppi,
which would force Apple to pull off the Retina tag from the new device.
Retina, of course, isn't merely a bullet point in Apple's marketing
strategy, it also makes text, images and video on the display look
gorgeous. Given that, we don't expect Apple to go along with this
option, which not only degrades the current iPhone experience, but also
makes developers' work practically nil. (After all, Apple hasn't
hesitated in the past to ask developers to put in a bit of effort to
make the whole iOS experience a lot better.)
Another possibility came from a person named Timothy Collins, a caller on one of Verge's podcast.
His idea -- keep the width as well as the number of pixels along the
horizontal the same as before, and increase the aspect ratio to 9:5 from
the current 3:2, adding pixels along the vertical so as to make the
diagonal 4 inches and maintain the same pixel density of 326ppi at a
resolution of 1152x640. Gruber speculated that Timothy wasn't merely speculating, but was in fact basing his ideas on actual knowledge he has about Apple's plans.
Here's how apps will look on such a screen.
If Apple does go with this option, iOS would most likely take care of
rendering standard app layouts like lists, navigation bars and tab bars
on the larger screen, but developers would nonetheless have to work on
producing their images at this resolution. Game developers on the other
hand would have face the uphill task of rendering their graphics at a
completely unrelated resolution.
Rene Ritchie over at iMore has some more interesting scenarios, some of which are:
- Proportionally scaling the existing iPhone screen to a diagonal length of 4 inches, bringing the resolution to 1092x728 pixels.
- Increasing the resolution to the industry standard 1280x720 pixels (720p), increasing the pixel density to 367ppi.
He's illustrated all the possible
scenarios with mockups, and thought about the ramifications of each of
these choices. You should read through the entire post.
It looks like Apple would have to deal
with a small degree of fragmentation issues with a 4 inch iPhone, but it
could hope for no further changes in this size for quite a few years,
meaning that iPhones with older configurations would gradually be weeded
out from the market. Besides, this scenario is still better than the
one at the Android camp, where no one has any control over what screen sizes could manufacturers possibly float in the market.
It will be interesting to see how Apple handles the challenge of the 4-inch screen for the next iPhone and the 7-inch iPad, both rumored to debut later this year.
Friday, May 18, 2012
Verizon to End Grandfathered Unlimited Data Plans When Customers Move to 4G LTE Smartphones
When Verizon started offering Apple's iPhone on its network in early 2011, it offered customers unlimited data
plans. But in less than 6 months, it followed AT&T's footsteps to kill the unlimited data plans and moved to tiered data plans.
It however allowed customers to
grandfather their unlimited data plans when they wanted to upgrade to
the new iPhone on a fresh two-year contract.
That's going to come to an end soon, as Fierce Wireless reports
that Verizon is planning to end the grandfathered unlimited data plans
when they want to switch to 4G LTE, leaving them with no option but to
switch to their shared data plans.
As these 3G
unlimited data plan customers migrate to 4G LTE, they will have to
purchase the company's data-share plan (which Verizon plans to launch in
mid-summer) and move off the $30 per month unlimited data plan.
"Everyone will be on data share," Shammo said.
Apple's next generation iPhone coming later this year, is widely speculated to support 4G LTE networks, so this will be applicable to iPhone customers.
Sprint has said that it will continue to offer unlimited data plans even if the next iPhone supports 4G LTE,
which is one of Sprint's differentiator. AT&T is yet to make any
statement regarding this issue. But we won't be surprised if AT&T
also decides to end the grandfathered unlimited data plans based on
AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson's comment few weeks back. In the
on-stage interview at the Milken Institute’s Global
Conference, Stephenson said that his only regret was to offer unlimited data plans to iPhone users when it was launched.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Next Generation iPhone Unlikely to be Made of Liquidmetal
There have been some speculations lately that the next generation iPhone will be made of Liquidmetal alloys.
Few weeks back, a Korean website claimed that the next generation iPhone will be made of Liquidmetal quoting industry sources. The rumor inspired a French designer to make a stunning mockup of the next iPhone with Liquidmetal casing.
However, that rumors should
now be taken with a grain of salt. While highlighting the benefits of
Liquidmetal alloy, Atakan Peker, one of the inventors of the Liquidmetal
alloy, in an interview with Business Insider has said that Apple is unlikely use the metal as a major component in iPhone or MacBooks for at least two to four years.
Instead, Liquidmetal is more likely to be used in small components like iPhone's SIM removal tool.
BI: Can you explain, in simple terms, the benefits of Liquidmetal in gadgets like phones, tablets, and laptops?
AP: Liquidmetal
is super strong, scratch and corrosion resistant, resilient and can be
precision cast into complex shapes. The benefits will be in the f
BI: I've heard
rumors that future MacBooks from Apple could use Liquidmetal casing,
what would that be like? Is it likely to happen?
AP: Given the
size of MacBook and scale of Apple products, I think it's unlikely that
Liquidmetal casing will be used in MacBooks in the near term. It's more
likely in the form of small component such as a hinge or bracket. A
MacBook casing, such as a unibody, will take two to four more years to
implement.
While Peker doesn't directly have
insight on Apple's plans for the Liquidmetal alloy, he expects the
Cupertino-based company to make a major impact by using it further down
the road in a breakthrough product.
Apple will undoubtedly take advantage of the alloy's unique properties. Often referred to as "bulk metallic glass",
Liquidmetal has an atomic structure that makes it glass-like while also
being extremely tough, flexible, and resistant to corrosion and
scratching.
Apple acquired exclusive rights to use
Liquidmetal Technologies' "amorphous metal alloys" to bring their
proprietary IP to Apple's consumer electronics products back in 2010.
Thus far, though, Apple has used the metal only in iPhone 3G SIM removal tool.
