If you think the leaked iPhone 4 doesn't fit Apple's design standards...

[superspiffy]

The rounded back is a trick. It allows the phone to have a large volume, but maintain thin edges - which lets the device slip into a pocket easily. No so much rounded, more pregnant with a battery.

This phone does not need thin edges - because the whole device is thin to begin with. It's 9mm! (.37inches) vs. 12mm for the old pregnant phone shape.

I see your point. So you think that the rounded or "pregnant" look of the iMac, iPad, current iPhone, is so the devices could appear thinner than they really are. So it's actually more of an engineering compromise than a design feature. Therefore in an ideal design, there would actually not be any rounding whatsoever. An ideal iMac would have similar dimensions to an ACD, an iPad would look like a perfectly flat slate, and an iPhone would look like... the prototype.

 

[125037]

Or just compare it with iPad:

The front and the sides are pretty similar. Only the flat back and few keys are different.

What you are saying proves it actually does no justice. That prototype looks almost identical to my samsung eternity. Most phones have a front black bezel and a lot of phones have the "chrome"/silver border. It's the buttons and such that make an Apple product Apple-like. I don't think it looks Apple at all. I'm not saying this is not going to be what it looks like but (as stated) it still doesn't seem Apple-ish.

 

[125037]

who really gives a flying ****? Oh yeah...losers.

Are you serious?? C'mon man.

 

[Carniphage]

I see your point. So you think that the rounded or "pregnant" look of the iMac, iPad, current iPhone, is so the devices could appear thinner than they really are. So it's actually more of an engineering compromise than a design feature.

Quite.
A rounded back is quite undesirable in a phone or a tablet, because it undermines one mode of usage.
To place it flat on a surface and tap the screen with your finger. Try this with the iPhone and it rocks about.

C.

 

[CooKieMoNs7eR]

GUYS I DONT KNOW WHY BUT I REALLY REALLY THINK THAT THE iPHONE 4G WILL LOOK EXACTLY LIKE THE PROTOTYPE THAT WAS LEAKED, ANYONE WANNA BET??

 

[svndmvn]

 

[superspiffy]

Quite.
A rounded back is quite undesirable in a phone or a tablet, because it undermines one mode of usage.
To place it flat on a surface and tap the screen with your finger. Try this with the iPhone and it rocks about.

C.

But I don't think a phone or a tablet is meant to be used on a table without any support. I've never used a phone or seen anybody else manipulate a phone as it rest freely on a table without a hand helping to prop it up. And the iPad is meant to be used on your lap or on a table with a special incline stand. Just look at how they're showcased in an Apple Store.

In fact, all of Apple's handheld devices: the iPad, iPhone, iPods and iPod Touches have slightly rounded backs and bezeled edges to allow for easy, comfortable gripping. The iPhone prototype, with its sharp edges, would probably feel sharper in your hand with the lack of soft tapering.

The iMac and MacBook Pro can afford to have those sharp edges because they're not handheld. However, just look at all the complaints from people wishing for a tapered MacBook Pro palm rest because the sharp edge cuts into the wrists.

 

[Carniphage]

But I don't think a phone or a tablet is meant to be used on a table without any support. I've never used a phone or seen anybody else manipulate a phone as it rest freely on a table. And the iPad is meant to be used on your lap or on a table with a special incline stand. Just look at how they're showcased in an Apple Store.

In fact, all of Apple's handheld devices: the iPad, iPhone, iPods and iPod Touches have slightly rounded backs and bezeled edges to allow for easy gripping. The iPhone prototype, with its sharp edges, would probably feel sharper in your hand with the lack of soft tapering.

The original iPhone, the original Nano and of the HDD iPods have flat backs.
The use of rounded backs was an engineering trick to combine a thin edge with a fat belly. It's a design compromise to increase (battery) volume without reducing pocket-ability. There's no inherent benefit to the rounded back. The human hand can grip a square iPod as easily as a rounded iPhone. And as I say working against a flat surface *is* a valid mode of use.

For example, one of the best selling apps in the UK is the Jamie Oliver 20 min recipes. If you are cooking, and following an iPhone recipe, you want to place the phone down, and occasionally flick to the next card. The teeter-tottering caused by a round back undermines that.

C.

 

[superspiffy]

The original iPhone, the original Nano and of the HDD iPods have flat backs.


C.

You're right they did have flat backs. I used to own a 5th gen iPod. But it was still rounded at the sides Flat front, tapered sides, flat back. In fact, this was Apple's signature design. 1st gen iPod Touches and iPhones followed this philosophy. Then they started loosing the flat back with the iPhone 3G as the tapering got a little more extreme until the whole back became curved. The iTouch 3G followed suit. Thicker components, thicker back and they taper the edges to make it look thin. It's probably a design trick, you may or may not be right.

But it is the rounded back or rounded tapered edges that gave the iProducts their character. I always fancy them for being round pods that's been cleaved in half. That rounded back/edge gave these products an organic feel that the flat back of the iPhone prototype simply does not capture. Even the not so rounded 5th gen iPods and 1st gen iPhones have this quality simply from their tapered and rounded edges.

Loosing that curve, the new design looks more generic. I think this is what people mean when they accuse it of very "un-Apple." I do appreciate the aluminum frame all around the side and the glass on black face because it adds design cohesion by comparing the phone to a small iMac. However the illusion breaks when we see that the back is not even at least one bit rounded just like on an actual iMac.

The fact that the iMac has a pregnant back may be an engineering necessity, but it adds character to the machine, like the black bezel and edge to edge glass. Likewise, the fact that the iPhone prototype has a flat back and non tapered edges may also be an engineering necessity, but I just wished the iPhone prototype could have somehow found a way to keep a slightly rounded back to make the iMac reference a little more blunt. Psychologically, you would be reminded of the power of a full fledge computer, like an iMac, in the palm of your hand. And personally, it would have been a cool feeling to pretend I'm holding a shrunken iMac.

 

[VPrime]

The main thing that "bugs" me about the new look is the seems on the metal edge. Those lines, look like they would feel "weird" (for a lack of a better word) in my hand. Plus they look like dust magnets .
If they were to make it smooth I wouldn't mind at all.

But really, I don't care. If the phone is good I'll upgrade (from a 3g). If not, I will keep my 3G, and wait for a better phone (be it apple, or android based).