Apple's Phone Revealed?

[Clive At Five]

Rotary? Yes, why not? Devices with multiple sources of input on 1 phone have mostly sucked. I haven't seen a solid one yet. If they want to keep the round touchpad and incorporate a method for entering numbers, what can they do? Hmmmmmm.......

No.

Sorry.

A lot of people have never used a rotary phone in their life. I seriously doubt Apple would strand every adopter of their phone (which will be a huge underdog to begin with) to using archaic technology. Maybe... *MAYBE*... Apple will allow the user the *option* of a rotary style input...

...yeah right.

-Clive

 

[i_am_a_cow]

a ipod nano with phone function really isnt anythign amazing and would be well behind current technology, they should be fully going for that crazy multi device that was patented lately. at least that would be up with or infront of other technology.

2 iPhones,
- iphone (nano) base phone and cheaper, limited abilties
- iPhone (multifunction device) more expensive and more pda like.

YES FINALLY SOMEONE SAID IT!

Although I actually believe that the iPod might eventually just evolve into a multifunctional device. I think that it would be good to have a low end iPod that just played music, and a high end iPod with a hard drive and wide angle touch screen, OLED for good battery life and it also made GSM phone calls if you put a sim card into it!

Hasn't anyone else seen Apple's multifunctional device patent???

 

[i_am_a_cow]

Oh great, not this again.

BTW iPhone is not an Apple trademark. Doesn't make much difference, I'm sure Apple wouldn't call it the iPhone anyway, but iPhone is owned by Teledex, who are an IP telephony manufacturer.

That's why I think that there is no iPhone, only an high end multifunctional widescreen iPod/tablet that will make phone calls and have good battery life due to its OLED screen!

 

[supermacdesign]

I agree

I assume the screen would be a touch screen. I would hate to start dialing numbers using the click wheel.

I agree that is exactly how I felt upon seeing the mockup. Use the touch screen technology they are supposedly going to use for the video iPod. Touch screen to add info like numbers and type and then use the wheel for faster menu surfing and file management (music for example).

I am surprised to hear they would keep the chrome back. That stuff scratches soooo easily. A phone unlike and iPod gets pretty abused, atleast mine does.

 

[Clive At Five]

BTW iPhone is not an Apple trademark...

That's why I think that there is no iPhone...

Just because Apple hasn't trademarked the name doesn't mean there isn't one. It's entirely possible that they'll be naming it something completely different. I've seen tons of possibilities...

iChatMoble, iTalk, and my personal favorite, PhonePod.

"PhonePod" all the way, baby.

-Clive

 

[zyuzin4]

a slider phone? not my style I'll only get it if its a candy bar no moving breakable parts. I like the French mock-up with the numbers on the front. That one I'd buy. I also would hope it doesn't become the newest Razr in terms of pop culture. Make it Mac only like the first gen iPod and make people jealous... make people buy macs ;-)

 

[Pieira]

Second, ROTARY DIAL?!?! You've got to be freaking kidding, right??!

I've been thinking this is the way to go for a while, normal iPod but with basic phone capabilities, make calls, receive calls. Personally I hardly ever use the number keys on my phone. All your numbers would be stored in the ipod from address book. Scroll to your contact and press select to call. You could have an "On the go" option at the bottom of your contact where you can dial in you number rotary style. Then save it or whatever like the on the go playlist, name it when you get home.

Only problem I see is text messages, but text messages are so passé now any way

Also for what its worth I think that french mockup is a mess.

 

[laserone]

...

click for larger image

[ digg this ]

Man, I'd love an ipod phone like that.

.

 

[grangle]

My guess is that the iPhone will be the first instance of the "virtual button" interface we've seen in recent Apple patent filings. Since the click-wheel will be virtual it can easily "slide down" and disappear, leaving a virtual lit phone keypad in its place. Once you are done dialing the click-wheel reappears. It really takes the idea of a "slider phone" to the next level. Now that would be freaking awesome.

 

[MBX]

from all the fakes and mockups i must say this one is the hottest one... http://www.happle.org/divers/images/iphone/iphoneuk.jpg

i'm not saying its perfect. but its the best looking.
the isight cam has to be obviously in the front. doesnt make sense in the back.

i love how the minimal border around the screen (never understood why all devices have so much border space around the screen.)

this one isnt bad too http://www.happle.org/divers/images/iphone/iphoneperso1.jpg

so i hope something like that with more perfection will come before end of this year...

 

[amin]

I hope this rumor is untrue. I would never buy a slider design. In addition to the inherent fragility, sliders are a pain in the ass to use.

 

[Pieira]

How's this one?

 

[dondark]

The biggest question to me is not the design, it is the carrier side... My guess is this will be US only (at first), and most probably CDMA.

I think the 'virtual carrier' thing makes the most sense, since they don't want to share the user experience with existing carrier setups (Has this been done on BREW?). Maybe a deal with Verizon? (great data network, no SIM cards on BREW etc.).

Carrier side is not a problem to me. As I never use those ugly phones from the carriers.

 

[etoiles]

Carrier side is not a problem to me. As I never use those ugly phones from the carriers.

I am just wondering about the service side. Is Apple going to integrate the iTunes store with existing carriers (and their very lame front ends), or will they roll out their own service?

Using an Apple phone through an existing carrier is like running Windows on a Mac. Sure, it works, but its kinda like a shell without the ghost

 

[arn]

A few thoughts

Just wanted some final thoughts on this image... as some of you may be new to MacRumors.

- We try very hard to not post fake or inaccurate rumors on the Front Page, and make it a point to avoid linking to suspect rumors and images.
- We only use the word "reliable" when we mean it.
- Whether or not this is the final iPhone design or not, we are confident a phone like this is in Apple's labs.

arn

 

[SiliconAddict]

I have to think this is VERY possible. Why is a num pad even needed in most cases? I know who I want to call. I have their number synced from my address book. I scroll down to their name and press call. No dialing needed.

&#$@ no. I'm dead serious on this. I make calls to numbers on an activity report to sched appointments. There is NO way I would ever. I mean EVER use a scroll wheel to dial a stinking number. Or select 1-5 for an option. Or close a call which requires me to dial into a util, enter my ID, enter the call #, etc. I would have a nervous breakdown within 2 days if I had to do that. The rotary phone died for several reasons. One of them being dialing on it is slow. Using a scroll wheel would be even slower.

 

[macboy62]

Japanese TV Phone

this is ugly. i hope iphone is nowhere near this

Your right it is ugly but my point was if people want smart phones look to the Japanese market. Even the most basic phones here are feature filled. Free TV on the move and anywhere in a city your will have coverage.

Personally I would like an iPhone for simplicity of use and design. I don't use all the features I have on my phone now. Sync with my iMac would be just great.

But the way I use a cell phone and the lenght of time I keep the same one; phone companies would go out of business.

 

[prady16]

What is meant by a "confirmed mockup/fake" ?
Does it mean it is definitely a mock up and we will not see anything like that?
or
does it mean that this mockup is confirmed to be the final form factor?

 

[iMeowbot]

What is meant by a "confirmed mockup/fake" ?
Does it mean it is definitely a mock up and we will not see anything like that? or does it mean that this mockup is confirmed to be the final form factor?

It means that someone trusted by MR supplied a verbal description of the device, and that the drawing is a reconstruction based on the description.

 

[theFUZZYpickle]

How the hell am I suppose to drunk dial people with the wheel when I'm smashed?

 

[echeck]

- We only use the word "reliable" when we mean it.

I trust MacRumors, so I'm convinced the iPhone will soon exist. Regardless of whether or not it looks like this, I say it will be released before the end of the year. There's a little wishful thinking in that prediction, but I do think it will happen.

 

[WTW]

No, it doesn't. This is for phones like the ROKR and some other recent Motorolas that run a version of iTunes.

BTW this probably explains the nano firmware "revelation" too, we're probably looking at several applications (iPod, nano, ROKR, and other firmware) built from the same code base.

If that were the case, why is the "iTunes Phone Driver" package not selectable? The ROKR phones have been available for about a year and haven't undergone any major updates. Why would there be an updated driver for those phones that is listed in the installer but isn't yet selectable.

By the way, the size of the phone driver package I see in the installer is 220KB, not the ~50KB in the previous poster's screendumps. Is Apple slipstreaming new versions of this driver into the version 7 installer - and if so, why would they do that for a released product that has stable device specifications? If not, then my guess is that we're not looking at a device driver installer package that is only for the ROKR devices. None of the iPods have functionality that can be described as a "phone device", so to me, the ROKR phone is the only possibility.

It could just be a driver for the planned 1000-song ROKR: http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2005/tc20051116_645842.htm

 

[danman]

pardon me.

it's late - 5:20am here... but has anyone reported on the French papers' front page 'image' of the iPhone (which, coincidentaly, must be a fake, because it couldn't possibly function as a phone - mainly because the earpiece speaker couldn't possibly function in a design like that)?

edit...
Sorry... of course you bloody have... as I said, it's late here...

 

[craigiest]

Type the following in the Terminal:

cd /Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS
strings * | grep -i phone

The last thing this lists is:
pagerTelephoneNumber

Is Apple coming out with an iPager?

 

[iMacZealot]

lol

Yeah.. Here in the US, unfortunatly they arn't half the player they should be... I include them in "major" due to the simple fact that unlike other US cariers I've delt with, things work.

Globally, tho.. They're the only US carier I'd ever use for my overseas travels. Horible experiances with both ATT and Cingular in the past... T-Mo global roaming.. shrug "Just works".

jwd

I think T-mobile could really blossom. With already 25M customers and a GIANT 3G UMTS/HSDPA network coming out next year, I wouldn't be surprised if they got in that 50M subscriber range with the other three.
___________
I doubt the iPhone would be unlocked. I don't think the average person even knows you can get a phone not through their carrier. Although Apple's marketing team such are geniuses considering the number of people I overhear switching to the mac after the Get a Mac ads that they could sell an unlocked iPhone really well.

If Apple could put more internal memory instead of these phones where you have to buy the SD card and spend forever downloading the songs to your phone, then they'd really have something there, especially with the iTunes/iPod/iPhone/iTV etc. seamless flow.