"iPhone 5" Back Cover Hands-On Video

[SpectatorHere]

all of those pictures and videos are in China or another country I think. Too much troublesome to have them taken down. And I don't think companies make those efforts, either. Like when a Samsung or HTC or Sony phone leaked, the pictures and videos are just there.

I'm glad someone took up the challenge. But I'm still not convinced they wouldn't go to the trouble.

This is hosted on YouTube and they could easily have it pulled within 5 minutes if they wanted to.

Apple has a ridiculous amount of security people, and if these are genuine they had this very debate and must have decided to let it go.

Other observations:

#I don't believe the guy ever claimed it was the iPhone 5 case, just that he didn't know, so he was going to call it that. Pretty weird.

#It's been reported that Apple intentionally has different models floating around so that even most Apple employees don't know what the final design will look like.

#This is only a case...cheap to make. Would be much more convincing if it was an actual phone....like with the hundreds of other components one needs to design to fit such a case.

#We've seen the glass screen previously, but with no display. Isn't it the case Apple went to a fused glass/LCD package a couple generations back? Wasn't the whole yellowing thing due to glue drying? So why would these parts people have a single piece of glass?

 

[GQB]

I know it'll annoy me for sure, I use my phone in the car to listen to music. Having the jack on top is great there, having it on the bottom means I'll me mashing up cables because the phone will be squashing them.

Oh well, not eligible for an upgrade for a while anyway.

You do realize that within days of release, there will be adaptors for all existing docks, right?
In any event the only cable I can see getting in the way of a docked phone is the headphone jack, which I would think is unnecessary if you're docked into almost any system... you generally do that to dock to a speaker system.

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

I'm not buying it.. Remember Tim told that they will double the "secrecy" this is not yet the so called iPhone 5

Tim told us this precisely because he knew about all the leaks that would come out, so that'll be in the future.

 

[UnfetteredMind]

I know it's german, but I did not see these before.

http://winfuture.de/screenshots/Angebliches-iPhone-5-Gehaeuse-7549-1.html

Those closeups actually seem to show the top/bottom pieces are slightly higher (or applied on top of?) than the middle section.

 

[GQB]

I have a feeling the iPhone 5 makes it's debut as the first "One more thing..." at WWDC after Steve's passing.

Fingers crossed!

'One More Thing' is dead.
Hadn't even been used by Steve for years.

 

[andrewzz]

Bottom headphone jack = Bad Idea

 

[jayducharme]

Now that I finally watched the video, I'm impressed with the new design. The headphone jack in the bottom makes perfect sense to me now: much less water damage. I usually carry my iPhone in my shirt pocket. But no matter which orientation I try, the moisture sensors are always exposed. If I carry this new iPhone with the power bottom facing up, that wouldn't be as much of a problem. Naturally, if you have the carry the new iPhone with the headphone jack up (which seems natural if you're listening to music), then it's more of a problem.

But I like that metal back, and I now understand that "two-tone" look.

 

[NY Guitarist]

+1 for NOT having the jack at the bottom.

UNLESS you have the ON/OFF switch on the side. But that probably won't work as it will be activated accidentally just holding the phone in your hand.

 

[Schmitty11]

Its starting to grow on me. (commence the down votes)

 

[xraytech]

Not an ideal angle but, it does not look longer.

 

[Taipan]

Just get rid of the upper and lower polished parts, and size as well as looks might be OK.

 

[GQB]

True... but the iPod Touch and the previous generation Nano were like that.

If this is true... I wonder if they will explain why they moved it. Maybe they need all that room at the top for a larger LTE antenna?

Or maybe because having the jack on top and the cord always flopping over the screen was always a really stupid design that people just got used to?

 

[eezing]

This doesn't seem real because the back has this two tone matt/shinny finish which I cannot imagine apple doing. Also they got rid of the 30 pin dock port which might happen but see how they have been using the same port for so many generations, I find it highly unlikely they'll change it.

Finally, somebody with some sense. I agree, the two tone finish is very un-apple like. Looks like Sh**!

 

[npggirl]

As i told in another thread. I'm pretty sure these backplates are a controlled leak. This surely is one of those old prototype 'next-gen' iPhones in an old body in order to disguise the real iPhone. It's already a known fact Apple made/makes a lot of different designs (new parts in old bodies, other way around) just to confuse people. What's with all the sudden prototype iPhones floating around? You think Apple would just let the real iPhone leaked out there?

My thoughts exactly! I mean, there are SO many leaks...and very good ones!
I just think a few of these have been thrown out there to throw everyone, especially the competitors, off track. I may be totally off base here, but I just keep getting this feeling...

 

[GQB]

Oh don't get me wrong, all those things at great. Buy couldn't they have kept one solid material or color on the back?

If its 2 separate materials, then blacks can never exactly match, in which case you design intentionally for contrast, which is much better than an 'almost' match in black.

 

[GREEN4U]

You can bet the new iPhone will have a magsafe dock connector. There would be no other reason to change the current dock connector, which is absolutely universal at this point.

 

[xraytech]

Bottom headphone jack = Bad Idea

I don't hang out in the iPod Touch forums but I'd be willing to bet that they don't mind having the headphone jack at the bottom.

 

[Blorzoga]

Or maybe because having the jack on top and the cord always flopping over the screen was always a really stupid design that people just got used to?

This ^

 

[tjmPollex]

If this is what the iPhone is really going to look like, I'm not so sure I'll be buying it. It looks very similar to the iPhone 4s. Yeah The back is different but the overall it looks similar, I was hoping to see major changes, not just the headphone jack somewhere else and a smaller charging port, I was hoping a new form factor. If this is what it looks like when it's released I hope iOS6 comes with a major redesign because I'm getting a little tired of looking into square icons page after page.

 

[Blorzoga]

If this is what the iPhone is really going to look like, I'm not so sure I'll be buying it. It looks very similar to the iPhone 4s. Yeah The back is different but the overall it looks similar, I was hoping to see major changes, not just the headphone jack somewhere else and a smaller charging port, I was hoping a new form factor. If this is what it looks like when it's released I hope iOS6 comes with a major redesign because I'm getting a little tired of looking into square icons page after page.

Yeah, that iphone 4s design is SO unpopular, I hope they change it too.

 

[tjmPollex]

Yeah, that iphone 4s design is SO unpopular, I hope they change it too.

Its not about being popular. Im sure the design of the iPhone 3G was very popular, but apple changed it. In my opinion it would be nice if it changed again, and we saw a completely different iPhone.

 

[Drunken Master]

This is EXACTLY what I was thinking. Plugging a cable into the bottom and then setting the phone down (usually in cup holder) means bending that cable.

Yep, I put my phone in the cup holder. I'm going to be screwing up a lot of cables and adaptors with this new headphone jack placement, sad face.

 

[SpectatorHere]

Apple would pull this if it were real. Why are you all forgetting this?

Maybe it's that many of you haven't been on sites like this for very long, but Apple does take-downs of real leaks.

...It could be that you assume Apple doesn't do anything due to their silence last year over the 4s. Remember, it was supposed to the iPhone 5, and nearly EVERY "leak" was a hoax. Apple doesn't do anything for fakes and hoaxes, their policy has always been to go after true leaks. (That may have changed under Cook, but it seems to be a major problem these "leaks" have to deal with.)

 

[pmau]

Yep, I put my phone in the cup holder. I'm going to be crewing up a lot of cables and adaptors with this new headphone jack placement, sad face.

Do you really have headphones plugged into your phone all the time?
I don't. I have an iPod for music and my iPhone is my phone.

 

[paradox00]

I just had a look at the video again (this time fullscreen in hires) and your absolutely right. To me the dull section looks like some sort of super hard material like titanium or something. You can see a groove between the gloss as the guy in the video moves the part and it catches the light.

My only concern with "painted" aluminium would be that with all the wear a phone gets the paint is going to chip/scratch pretty quickly. Thats assuming that it is painted and the black is not some pigment / treatment that has been applied to the aluminium mix / part.

If it is aluminium, it would be anodized like the iPod Nano, not painted. It's a pretty durable coating. HTC used a micro-oxidation treatment for the aluminium back on the One S, that they claim is incredibly durable. There are plenty of ways to avoid most scratches.