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About that Tapered iPhone 5 Design...

The problem as usual is the media. Someone living in a basement came up with that (hideous IMO) iPhone 5 design and moniker, and the media took it as fact. Due to the insane number of rumours that random unconfirmed chinese sources provided, many took the existence of the 5 as fact; but when Apple didn't introduce it people were disappointed. If that fake iPhone 5 was never drawn up, people wouldn't feel so let down by a phone that looks the same as last year's version. Soon the media will hype the iPhone to have something utterly stupid like a flying carpet feature, and then everyone'll be disappointed when in reality it doesn't.

I have no doubt that Apple is working on a new design, but a new one every 12 months isn't sustainable. The iPhone 4 has a pretty much perfect design as it is now, there's only so much you can do to improve a design. How do you improve on perfection? I'd say the rumoured full aluminium backed design similar to iPhone 1 won't happen. Signals don't penetrate aluminium too well, unless perhaps they use the aluminium back as the antenna.
 
jfrancis04 said:
I'm gonna laugh my head off when this launches Q1 of 2012.
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LTE won't be any more ready in January than it is now. Apple won't move that fast. They don't need to. They will still be selling the 4s as fast as they can make them. I would guess MR is right about the fall. If they are wrong, Apple would probably go back to the June date. First quarter would interfere with the upcoming iPad refresh in March.
 
Revaluation

So many of you called us stupid because we presumed that there won't be a redesign this year. How do you people feel now? :) Many of you said that we were living in a dreamworld. Did you change your mind a little, and realised that maybe you were the ones that lived in dreamworld?
 
Well MR are ringing all possible value out of that design - there's barely been an unfounded next generation iPhone rumour/guess where they haven't plastered this 'artist's impression' of a fantasy-product-based-on-desire-and-blind-desperate-hope.

What's next? The rumour that somebody once upon a time had an idea that there may have been a chat about what they would like to see in a smartphone and this is what we paid someone to knock together on a computer one afternoon...

Oh, wait...
 
phpmaven said:
I'm normally a big Apple supporter, but I have to say that I agree with this sentiment. The Siri voice integration is impressive, but it's really kind of gimmicky and will be cool as a parlor trick at a party or to impress your friends, but
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This is a new UI. People have to become accustomed to it over time and this is its time. Also Apple needs to debug and expand it based on "in the wild" early adopter user feedback.

If it works out, this may be the future of wrist and pocket based computing or something. Imagine a Nano (full next gen 4G like CPU) in your pocket with a bluetooth link to your earset and heads-up display (antennas) or whatever comes next (bonephone revisited).

In any case sans the extrapolations, it is a new UI to learn and debug.

Rocketman
 
The thought that the actual real iPhone 5 exists and is being worked on inside Apple right now, somehow comforts me.


Weird but true :eek:
 
I have to say, despite my own personal disappointment at not seeing a new 4" redesigned iPhone5, Apple did the right thing...

...Expecting Apple to redesign the iPhone every year just isn't realistic, neither from a business, design or manufacturing point of view. Apple still lead the way in desirable hardware across the board: macbooks, imacs, iphone, ipad - everything is designed extremely well and put together to the highest standards.

The sheer effort that must go into Apple products is staggering, so what would be the point if every new "external" refresh was only good for 12 months or so before being replaced? We would certainly see a huge decline in both design and quality.

By establishing the 4 and 4S, Apple are making sure they get the refresh cycle (for external redesigns) to at least 2 years which is a more realistic timeframe, both in customer expectations and in the design and manufacturing process. We have simply been "spoiled" by previous design refreshes and the more I look at the 4S, the more I see it for it is...

... an excellent update to an already excellent phone.

/2cents
 
Hopefully this is a lesson learned for a lot of people out there. Nothing is true until it has been announced by Apple officially. This update spun some insane rumors in which people actually believed. I am sure there are people are there who will continue the iPhone 5 crying but come on. There are a lot of people still using 3G and 3GS iPhones. This is a perfect opportunity for them to update their phones and allow Apple to still have more money than the Federal Reserve. They have a plan and they are sticking to it...
 
Rumors for iphone5 is infact true!

I think the rumors for iphone5 are true the way it was true for iphone4S, only thing off was the release timeframe. They released iphone4S now and iphone5 might have been shceduled for june-july timeframe as usual or may be september-october timeframe as ipod-iphone combined event, since not much is left to upgrade in ipods, as we see, nothing is changed in that category.

But i must say, iphone4S is worth buying, only our expectations were way,way higher.

....Android is just a "educational certificate" to show and iOS is "Pure knowledge" that works.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_5 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8L1 Safari/6533.18.5)

I believe apple is lacking of inspiration of design, for a long period iPhone, iMac they don't have any new design, a new proposal just small improvements, and this is what it faced with the current relice of the new version of iPhone, no new ideas no new forms for for their big hits. It seems that stacked in the past and can not follow the market.
Apple is like Bang&Olufsen it offers technology together with unique industrial design, apple lost, the last 3 years, the second one...
 
kasei said:
Hopefully this is a lesson learned for a lot of people out there. Nothing is true until it has been announced by Apple officially. This update spun some insane rumors in which people actually believed. I am sure there are people are there who will continue the iPhone 5 crying but come on. There are a lot of people still using 3G and 3GS iPhones. This is a perfect opportunity for them to update their phones and allow Apple to still have more money than the Federal Reserve. They have a plan and they are sticking to it...
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That's why its called MacRumors...
Seriously, what are all the vendors doing now with the tapered design cases? How much money will they have lost? And wasn't there a Foxcom leak that pointed to that design...? 2012?
 
My 4 is still performing like a champ. The increased speeds that are available in the 4S are theoretical, and this is something that many people totally miss. Sure, 14 Mbps would be incredible, but call me when someone actually achieves that in normal daily use.

And as for the improved processing speeds, I have yet to run an app on my 4 that gives it any issues.

The improved camera is nice, but more MP does not equal better pictures. Anything past 5 is technically unnecessary, unless you're planning on producing prints larger than 8x10.

Finally, Siri looks somewhat gimmicky, but I think it'll actually prove to be a useful feature over time. Available only on the 4S? Not with jailbreaking... ;)

Really what it comes down to is bragging rights - who has the best specs, even if they don't make significant differences in daily use.

I'll be very interested to see what comes out of Apple next year. Until then, I'm perfectly happy with my 4.
 
GeekLawyer said:
I would expect the next iPhone to be called iPhone 6. If history is a guide.
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If history is a guide wouldn't they call it the 4GS? Them wanting to use that name is the only reason I can see for calling the current model the 4S.
 
What could an iPhone 5 top now? Any ideas, thoughts? Improved Siri, I guess, maybe a real radio? We already have GPS and compass, maps built in (maybe voice directions with downloadable maps like e.g. TomTom or any other real GPS to avoid roaming costs), camera, calendar , internet, books, music, movies... Maybe a projector...?
 
djpuma said:
Here is a point I don't think people see.

Most people have the iphone 4 now and many expected a new design. I for one did and I don't have a 4 I have a 3gs.
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It's far from true that 'most people have an iPhone 4'. In fact the vast majority don't have one. That vast majority is Apple's target market, not the small proportion of iPhone 4 users, not much more than half way through their 2 year contracts, who would otherwise be looking to upgrade early. Apple can't make any money pandering to that market because it's too small, whereas they can make a small fortune selling iPhone 4S devices to the huge number of cellphone users for whom the 4/4S form factor is new. That would clearly include existing 3G and 3GS users who will inevitably be tempted by the improved performance, improved antenna, the retina display, extra capacity and Siri compatibility.
 
What are folks upgrade options? I have purchased a new iphone each year.

I was able to buy at the subsidized price each year and I have been eligible for upgrade since June. I bought the iPhone 4 last year on preorder day (July I think it was).
I will be preordering my 4S at 3AM est this Friday and I will be stoked about it.

My wife on the other hand has to wait until December, since she bought a 3GS last May, since she destroyed her 3G.

My buddy at work is in the same boat. He and his wife bought on preorder day. He is eligible now, however his wife has to wait until February.

So the 4S is directed at iPhone 4 owners as well. I guess with multiple phone plans the primary phone can be upgraded every 12 months... .I am guessing.
 
Here's what Apple should do

To keep their future iPhone designs secret for as long as possible, Apple should give case makers five different mock-ups of the upcoming model. Only one of them will be the real design. So if the case makers want to jump the gun, they'll need to make cases for all five mock-ups.

I think that might hold back the more trigger-happy case makers.
 
would like to see that design

amongst other things...but hopeful my trusty iPhone 3GS will last another year.

I like the tapered design a lot so I hope it will manifest. I don't expect Apple to redesign every year that's impractical and probably quite expensive.
 
Ha Ha!

Well I hate to say I told you so, but well yeah, I TOLD YOU SO!

OK, so I'll admit I was wrong about the name, although I still think Apple made a big mistake calling this the 4$ and not the 5. It's like they didn't even believe themselves that this phone was good enough to be a proper upgrade.

Anyway, not long now until I get my nice new iOS, iCloud and iTunes. Long live the iPhone 4 and as for the 4$ well... ...not so much.
 
Sandman1969 said:
... .I am guessing.
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While Apple will certainly have data direct from their cellular partners identifying the number of users on contracts of what length. A business like Apple doesn't make product decisions without examining market data and determining pretty precisely what market they are aiming at, and why.
 
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