Posts tagged iphone 4G
iPhone OS 4.0 event this Thursday, April 8th
Apr 5th
We were off by a day, but thank the almighty powers that be, iPhone OS 4.0 SDK will be announced this Thursday. Many news outlets are reporting invites to the event, which will be held on Apple’s Cupertino campus. It’s not too often that Apple holds an event on a Thursday, but at this point, we don’t care. We’ve commented that Apple needed to announce an SDK if we were really going to see something new come out this summer. Lo’ and behold, it’s this week.
Some are complaining that it’s too soon after the iPad launch. We find that laughable. If anything, customers are going to be happy that there will be more functionality on their brand new devices. The biggest rumor surrounding the new OS is multitasking. We honestly are among the few that don’t really miss it, but we’re sure that the added capability will become something we can’t live without. Many iPhone users have been begging for multitasking ever since iPhone OS 2.0 came out with third-party application support.
We may also see advanced MultiTouch gesturing that will allow for an “exposé-like” experience on the Mac. We’re hoping that Apple goes one step further and allows a dashboard to live in the background that can hide our simple one-task applications like Stocks or Weather. In return, we’d have more room for productivity or gaming apps on our home screens. There have been a few rumors that we’ll see a complete re-write of the user interface… but we’re pretty skeptical and wouldn’t expect it.
The last rumor we’ve heard surrounds the built-in Mail application on the iPhone and now the iPad. It’s never had a unified inbox like its desktop cohort. Developing a unified inbox for the iPhone could be a challenge, but the screen size on the iPad would make it ridiculously easy. We’re glad to hear that a unified inbox is likely coming with iPhone OS 4.0. This software update could make the iPhone and the iPad the devices we were hoping for from the beginning… minus the Flash content.
4th generation iPhone making its way to your computer screen
Feb 10th
iResQ is claiming receipt of a 4th generation iPhone screen assembly from one of their suppliers in China. It comes in at .25 inches taller than the 3G or 3GS. It also has a mysterious shiny surface just above the speaker hole in the glass.
We’re honestly calling fake here. iResQ pulled this card:
There are a lot of skeptics out there and rightly so. There have been a lot of “leaked†photos from various Apple products in the past that have turned out to be parts for another product. Here are the things that we know: a) The phone has not been released yet. Until it is, Apple could change the product design or the parts we have acquired could be prototypes. Since we don’t have an actual fourth-generation iPhone in our hands, we have no way to know for sure. b) We obtained this part as a sample from a reputable source. They have been reputable up to this point, and have provided genuine parts for us in the past.
Way to cover yourself, iResQ. Basically, they said this: “Designs change, it may just be a prototype so don’t blame us if it doesn’t look like this when it comes out.” That’s really not anything worthwhile. Designs must be coming to a close, so just ask your supplier.
Anyway, here’s why we think it’s bogus:
- iResQ says it has a glued screen assembly. The whole point of the 3G design change was to separate the screen parts to make it cheaper to fix. 1st generation iPhone screen assemblies generally cost $150 just for the part depending on the source. The iPhone 3G and 3GS screen assemblies have the glass and digitizer (less than $30) or the LCD (less than $80). Apple wouldn’t go back to a glued assembly because it would cost THEM more to fix it.
- We’re not impressed with this shiny thing on the top of the glass. It just looks dumb. We can’t see Apple throwing something so blatantly obvious into what should be considered a pretty simplistic design.
- The height difference. People really liked the fact that they didn’t change the body style between the 3G and 3GS… especially the case manufacturers. If you change it again, we all have to go out and buy a new case and manufacturers have to completely re-design their current offerings. The current size works. We hope to see a size change only if it couldn’t be helped.
It’s anyone’s guess what will happen when we see the 4th generation iPhone come out in June/July. We hope that iResQ’s source is wrong because that looks like a losing situation for a lot of people. Especially how often we see iPhone glass replacements at Rocky Mountain Mac Repair.
iPhone prototypes and new model numbers
Feb 2nd
Several sources are now claiming reference to new iPhone model numbers in the 3.2 SDK (and some in today’s 3.1.3). Appleinsider also checked with their sources on a picture submitted to Engadget about the iPhone shown in pre-iPad release photos. Rumors say that the already-lucky Engadget got even luckier without realizing it. The iPhone in the picture is indeed the next generation device that will most likely launch this summer. It’s unusual for pictures to be leaked, and it means even less for the model numbers that were referenced this afternoon.
Model numbers aren’t exactly surprising info: Apple has been known to include references to new generations within their software… that’s how the software can run on the prototype devices. There’s really nothing in either report that would cause us to speculate. This picture of the “prototype” iPhone is so blurry that you can’t even begin to make assumptions about its appearance. Mac Rumors is hoping for a front-facing camera because of a tiny white spec in the picture… but we’re not counting on that.
Let’s recap:
A new iPhone will most likely appear this summer, that iPhone is already in development, someone with a camera took a picture of that iPhone, and we have new model numbers referencing a new iPhone in the current SDKs. Considering the fact that Apple has revised the iPhone each year in June, we’d say that this was pretty much a given.
Editor’s Note: While we still feel it’s our responsibility to bring you the latest iPhone, iPad and iPod touch news… this was a bit of a stretch, even for us. Thanks for playing “Making Unimportant News Important” with our guests, Engadget, Mac Rumors and AppleInsider. See you next time.
The future of Apple according to Steve Jobs
Jan 31st
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Mac Rumors has a great post outlining some things that Steve said to the Infinite Loop Apple employees this past week. Two independent sources have confirmed that the following bullets are topics that were discussed in the town hall meeting:
- Steve was very candid about their relationship with Google. He explained that Apple didn’t get into the search business, Google came into the phone business. He’s obviously not very happy about the situation and as a result… we’re going to get better software and hardware for the iPhone. Supposedly, we’re going to see updates so aggressive that Google and its phone OS, Android, won’t be able to keep up with the pace.
- Steve specifically called Adobe lazy, and that’s the main reason they’re not supporting Flash on the iPhone OS. The Mac Flash client has been notorious for being… well, garbage. We’re sure that Apple is afraid that the iPhone client would be even worse. According to Steve, the majority of reported desktop/laptop crashes are caused by Adobe’s Flash. He also went on to boast about the advent of HTML5, saying that no one will be using Flash in the near future… the world is moving to HTML5. CTA actually hopes that’s true, but we know what it takes to change a standard: 5-10 years.
- Jobs was as heavily involved with the iPad as we had suspected. It has been his primary focus since he returned to Apple at the end of June.
- Apple expects to integrate Lala into the iTunes team, which means it hasn’t happened yet. We’re still expecting the North Carolina server farm to host a large amount of North American iTunes content. We may even see it expand to support the streamed music and TV subscriptions we’ve heard so many rumors about.
- Supposedly, the next iPhone we see will be an “A+” update. That’s not very in-depth, but we can assume better hardware… and please let there be more customizable software!
- The Macs coming out in 2010 will set Apple apart from the rest of the industry… interesting, because we expected hardware revisions on the 27th, but didn’t see any. Will we have to wait until June? Either way, Steve said they’re not pursuing Blu-ray adoption until they see a solid increase in BR sales. Makes sense: I’ve never bought a BR disc because of the price tag. I have player in my media center, just haven’t used it for anything except rentals.
It’s nice to hear some of this stuff. If you’ve ever spoken to Steve in person, you’d know that he can get pretty passionate about many things… especially things that frustrate him (like Google and Flash). But, I’m probably one of the few in the room that can realistically say that. 
It pays to have been a Mac Genius.
