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Apple rumored to be evaluating 4 new iPhone prototypes, one with telescopic aerial

Lets go retro! physical keyboard, telescopic aerial, black and white (greyish green) LCD at 120 x 80 resolution, 2G comms, and removable battery.

A physical keyboard will NEVER appear on an Apple iPhone or iPad.

Telepathy is more likely!

Phil
 
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Well that's what the iPhones is. It's just worse cus it doesn't click.
 
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Steve would thankfully never do this; but I hope Steve will increase the iPhone screen size to 3.7 or 3.8 (still 300ppi, so still "retina").
 
Ya'll are wrong about this photo being a mock-up.

It clearly states it's the "keyboard buddy case."
 
Actually the Keyboard Buddy Case for iPhone 4 appears to be a pretty slick solution that also protects the glass back. I just don't believe there's a way to disable the screen keyboard when using the physical one to display more of the screen content.

When a BT keyboard is connected, iOS automatically hides the on-screen keyboard.
 
lol, just have to laugh. There is zero chance of this happening IMO. Goes against every think that is "Apple"
 
Personally, if the next iPhone has a keyboard, I will not be buying it.

I think that will be the end of the Iphone for me if there is a keyboard... not only is it completely useless because their technology of a manipulative keyboard is almost perfect, but more moving pieces in a phone means easier to damage, which is why they dont have opticle zoon on the cameras.. too easy to break.

Secondly... there is literally no way apple would put a keyboard on their phone... they said it when they came out with the iphone.. get rid of that hideous keyboard and just have a screen.
 
Make it part of a compatible case that talks to the phone wirelessly or perhaps directly by sliding into a port. But make it removable.
 
What seems to be important is the part that claims the iPhoneV5 will be similar in upgrade of the 3Gs to the iPhone 3G. So a minor update and refresh... but nice none the less I'm sure.
 
My my, what a bad photoshop. They took an iPhone 4 in a back cover case and slapped a mini-keyboard on the back of an iPhone 3G.

Very professional. :eek:

Why don't you buy one yourself and take a better photo. :rolleyes:

I cracked up when I read how it was such a "bad photoshop" because it seems to me that Boxwave took some pretty nice photos of this case they are making. There are even more on their website.

Seriously though, what people are missing about this rumor is that it LACKS PHOTOS OF ANY KIND. This site used to relegate unsubstantiated stuff like this to "Page 2". Nowadays if one of the other blogs picks up on this unsubstantiated stuff they just make it Page-1 news. I don't care if these guys in Taiwan successfully nailed the iPod nano screen before it released -- they provided photos when they did that. If they REALLY had their hands on three iPhone prototypes they would be posting pictures of them.
 
Lets go retro! physical keyboard, telescopic aerial, black and white (greyish green) LCD at 120 x 80 resolution, 2G comms, and removable battery.

A physical keyboard will NEVER appear on an Apple iPhone or iPad.

Telepathy is more likely!

Phil

So, have you heard the rumor of the Infrared Transmitter that attaches to your Temple and ...........:apple:
 
OT: did anyone ever try this case out? it looks neat and might come in handy (ik physical keyboard shocking but i kinda digg it)
 
In other news, iOS 5 has been scrapped and being replaced by WebOS. Apple was just blown away by its awesomeness. :D

This story does seem believable, if keeping in mind that this is likely just a test product so that they can ensure they create the best product and cover all their bases. It will probably never see the light of day.
 
Everyone here is bashing these rumors as if apple.pro is claiming this product is due to come out. Not the case!

I think very many people here need a better understanding of the R&D phases technology companies such as Apple go through. There are probably several dozen iPhone prototypes of various hardware configurations and form-factors. This is not to say that any of them will come close to seeing the light of day.

Personally, I think Apple would be stupid to release an iPhone with a slideout keyboard, just as others have said. However, I also think they would be stupid to not have any sort of keyboard in development just in case. Remember, when the iPhone first came out in 2007, it was one of the only smartphones without a keyboard and it's main competition was RIM. For a company as large as Apple who has significant future revenue riding on the iPhone product line, they need to develop several models simultaneously just in case. It was uncertain whether enterprise would adopt a smartphone without a keyboard - it would prudent to at least have a prototype model.

Remember when Apple revealed they had been secretly developing a parallel version of OS X built to run on Intel? No doubt the same sort of things are going on in the iPhone division.
 
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