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3G iPhone To Include GPS, Be Only Slightly Thicker

I am now officially waiting for the new iPhone. I was set to buy a current one now (3G doesn't really do much for me, especially with 802.1x), but full-fledged GPS is too tasty of a feature to pass up.

I'm gonna be all gadgeted up this Summer: the company is buying me a brand new MBP and I'm springing for a new iPhone. It takes some of the sting off of my MB hard drive failure this week. :mad:
 
Close to ten "antennas"...

operator207 said:
If they do make the iPhone back out of aluminum, they can alway put an antenna as a loop around where the back and front meet. Do the same for the wifi and GPS antenna. You have now theoretically solved the antenna not liking metal problem. And just to make sure its exposed enough, have the antennas be part of the case. I am not sure if that would work, but it seems to be a layman's sound reasoning.
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One issue is that they need to fit in about a ten "antennas" (if you consider every standard and frequency band: GSM, WCDMA, GPS, WLAN, FM radio), even though many of these will share a common feed point to the PCB. The multi-band antennas tend to be surface-covering, rather than wire antennas, and they need volume to work well. Edge-mounting is often a good solution, but is problematic with multi-band antennas.

One technique that really can make a difference is diversity reception, like what is used in many WLAN products (and some phones). This is a real advantage for downlink performance -- however, the antenna situation becomes a nightmare for a phone designer!
 
Here is a list of all the things that I want in a second-generation iPhone. Some of these things are, according to the rumor, already becoming a reality.

1. 3G. Although I have never used or seen 3g in action (the iPhone is the first smartphone that I have had), it seems to be really fast. I am what might be called a "road warrior", and I use EDGE a lot, so faster cellular data will be great.

2. Zoom on the camera. I would luke this even if it is digital zoom. It could be implemented by pinching in and out on the screen when in camera.

3. GPS. This should be integrated into Google Maps' locate me feature.

The rest of my list is software-related.

I can't wait for June to come- we get 3G iPhone, SDK, iPhone 2.0, and hopefully new MacBooks and MacBook Pros!
 
DTphonehome said:
You're not suggesting 3G isn't important, are you? If tethering were the only new feature, that would be the FAIL of the century.

Steve Jobs, onstage: "Presenting, iPhone 2.0! No 3G, but it tethers!"
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It would certainly be tempting by itself (I carry a second phone to do tethering, bluetoothing contacts, pictures, etc.).. but yeah I agree however much bluetooth support is needed 3G is more important right now.

GPS I've had on other phones.. apart from the battery drain (which may or may not be worked around) I found it a bit of a gimmick.. I had it reporting my location to my blog for a while, and geotagging photographs is kinda nice, but beyond that.. meh.
 
frank781 said:
I don't think that ceramics would work because it's fairly brittle
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Not that much - ceramics have been a red hot area of materials science research the last 10-15 years. Huge amounts of development in ceramic material selection, internal molecular and crystal structure and inventing mixed ceramic/metal blends have been undertaken. Some of the stuff that's been come up with has quite remarkable properties.

I have no idea if Apple are going to use it in this iPhone or not but we know they have employed people with experience in the area. Maybe they are just keeping a 'watching brief' on the field, or maybe they are actively developing. Either way, Steve is unlikely to ignore a whole new field of materials for making devices out of.

(As a practical example, if you ever see a large commercial jet engine in pieces, have a very close look at the compressor blades in the final 'hot' stages of the engine. Touch them - they look like a greyish sort of metal, but they feel more like a ceramic. Their composition is a trade secret - even the airlines don't know what they are made of - but they handle temperatures that would melt most metals.)
 
My contract with Verizon Wireless has been up for months. I'm switching to AT&T once the new iPhone is released.

The new model will be packed with several new features and enhancements. Think about it, the current (1st) generation iPhones are at least 2 years old when looked up from a development perspective. The iPhone was first demo'd at Macworld 2007. Simply from an "age" view, Apple needs to get a new model out soon and I think we're on the cusp of seeing new models in the very near future.

I would expect 16GB and 32GB models, and perhaps a 64GB model.
 
Thicker?

Its unfortunate that the iphone could be thicker if this rumor is true. I think Apple would be much better off selling an in-car dock that has a built in GPS. THis way you could just leave the dock in your car and have a thin sleek iphone for your pocket. its not too bad now but when you add a case to it and a added thickness of the new device, it becomes a brick in your pocket. Actually I am going to say now that GPS is BS. No way apple will add that. they are careful about adding tons of things to their devices because its harder to get rid of the features later on if they aren't that good. Case in pt: iPods lack FM radio and Jobs said Apple is carefull about adding other technologies onto apples devices for this very reason. Plus its one more thing that could break.
 
TonyHoyle said:
GPS I've had on other phones.. apart from the battery drain (which may or may not be worked around) I found it a bit of a gimmick.
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GPS will hook in enterprise customers big time. Sales reps who visit hundreds of customer locations, execs who fly into strange cities all the time and need to find their hotel, appointment locations, restaurants etc, will all love it.

That's the whole mobile enterprise market that Apple wants. From C-level execs down to sales reps on the go, GPS is a biggie.
 
MacWarrior said:
I can't wait for June to come- we get 3G iPhone, SDK, iPhone 2.0, and hopefully new MacBooks and MacBook Pros!
Click to expand...

I wouldn't hold my breath for new portables in June ... I think we'll see them announced AFTER WWDC. Perhaps sometime in July or even August.
 
DTphonehome said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows 98; PalmSource/Palm-D052; Blazer/4.5) 16;320x320)



You're not suggesting 3G isn't important, are you? If tethering were the only new feature, that would be the FAIL of the century.

Steve Jobs, onstage: "Presenting, iPhone 2.0! No 3G, but it tethers!"
Click to expand...

Have you heard that tether will be available?
 
Did I miss a meeting or something?

Why do people believe the G2/3G iPhone will have to be thicker? What is so much larger that Apple couldn't accommodate it in a form factor of roughly the same dimensions - or even slimmer?

And now the next question: In a world where everything is getting smaller - especially everything from Apple, why would they risk bringing out a thicker iPhone.

And, after Steve Jobs has stood up in front of the world and said three times now: "... It's aluminum and glass... isn't it gorgeous?", what's with the black plastic? It looks cheap. It looks like every other wannabe copy.

Is it so much harder to mock up the more likely milled aluminum/aluminium or chrome? I wouldn't have thought so.

These are the questions people just don't seem to be asking.

This is just lazy thinking imho. Or is it too difficult to combine a little lateral thinking, a basic memory function along with frankly rather good PhotoShop skills?
 
DTphonehome said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows 98; PalmSource/Palm-D052; Blazer/4.5) 16;320x320)



You're not suggesting 3G isn't important, are you? If tethering were the only new feature, that would be the FAIL of the century.

Steve Jobs, onstage: "Presenting, iPhone 2.0! No 3G, but it tethers!"
Click to expand...

I think I was pretty clear. For my own needs, EDGE and Wi-Fi are fine. They've been excellent since June 29 when I got my iPhone.

The lack of tethering is the only thing missing (for me) in the iPhone experience. Clearly for you and, I assume, many others, 3G is awfully important.

Your opinion is noted. Hopefully Apple won't produce the "FAIL" of the century. Gosh, hyperbole is fun! Besides, I think that honor belongs to the poop brown Zune.
 
I think the black iphone in the photo, and in the tester's hand right now is just a "pre-release"..
the final 2.0 phone should be better lookin ..
 
dclutz said:
Is it possible that they had to go with plastic to allow the GPS to work properly. Originally had small plastic area for the WIFI and Cell Antenna areas, so makes no since that they would have any less plastic only more.
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Good call! I can see this being the reason for a plastic back.
 
chrisgeleven said:
All I care is that the iPhone will be 3G by December 27th, 2008. That is the date my Verizon contract ends. I think my wife and I already decided that we are both going to get iPhone's and make that our Christmas gifts to each other. Should be fantastic!

GPS isn't a huge game changer for me. Nice to have, but not a must have. Especially if it eats up battery life big time. I am generally very good with knowing where I am, so the current Google Maps features cover what I need.
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I don't think battery life should be a big deal as far as GPS is concerned. When do you (does one) use GPS? In your car, I'm sure most people do. And don't you have access to power if you're in your car? And if you're walking, maybe if you just use it once in a while, that way it doesn't eat the power if you're out hiking or boating or whathaveyou.

Right? Or is my thinking crazy?
 
I guess it's a fake. It reads quite clearly '8 GB' on the back and I don't think they're going to bring an 8 GB version of the 2nd gen phone…
 
PlaceofDis said:
i don't believe that they'll go with plastic, as that would be a step backwards. they have said several times that they're minimizing the use of plastics in their products, and it shows with the macbook air and imac moving away from it, along with the ipod classic, ipod nanos etc. so this is probably only for demo units or something.
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Agreed, maybe black aluminum like the border around the iPod touch's front. If the black were to be black glossy plastic, it would be even easier to slip from your hands than it already is.
 
Just because the back is in one piece, doesn't mean it has to be plastic.

It could be any radio-transparent material. Apple has a patent on the use of a special ceramic material that would be excellent for this. Lightweight, 100% transparent to radio signals and any colour you like.

If they have figured out how to use that stuff, then all bets are off. It would give the iPhone unparalleled reception at lower power rates than any other phone.

Here's hoping that's what it is. :)
 
I hope that Apple partners up with Dash or Dash writes a Dash Express package. Dash has a very good traffic system although their routing still has some issues.
 
I can't see Apple being stupid enough to put a glossy black plastic back on the iPhone.

The only thing that a glossy black bottom will do is collect scratches like crazy and ending up with a lot of ugly phones being seen on the street (not everyone uses a case).
 
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