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iPhone 5 to Get Aluminum Backing, Redesigned Antenna?

The iPhone 4 feels very pro and very solid. But IMO its predecessors felt more natural in your hands. With all the past troubles with the 4's antenna a design change is inevitable. This mockup looks great.
 
So they're going to make it look like the iPod touch and iPad 2. I'm not a big fan of the shape, but let's see how it looks like...
 
The thing that made the iPhone 1st Generation so ugly was the plastic strip on the back for signal, please Apple don't go back to this design on a phone :rolleyes:
 
iPhone 5 to Get Aluminum Backing, Redesigned Antenna

Aluminum case, internal antenna? Doesn't anyone else see a problem with this?
 
I think the iphone4 with the black glass is so sexy looking, I don't know if I could buy a new one if it has the aluminum back. Just doesn't look right after owning a iphone4.
 
phoenix78 said:
I just hope that they make one that does not suffer extreme damage from the slightest of drops. I have friends who dropped their iphone4 and chipped the corners of the glass. Glass is the "worst" thing they ever could have made a phone from....
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I love the look of the iPhone 4, but I have the 3GS (with a Griffin case that has a clear plastic back and just a little extra 'bumper' protection on the sides) and for the first time in 20 months, I dropped my phone onto my ceramic tile kitchen floor with no damage *whew!*. I know that if it has been an iPhone 4, I would be the owner of one cracked-glass iPhone... and there's nothing sadder than a cracked-glass iPhone. :(
 
Malakas07 said:
The iPhone 4 feels very pro and very solid. But IMO its predecessors felt more natural in your hands. With all the past troubles with the 4's antenna a design change is inevitable. This mockup looks great.
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I LOVED the curved back of the 3G(s), it contoured perfectly to my palm. As much as I like the look of my iP4, it doesn't feel as good in hand. Fingers are crossed for a curved back design since iPad 2 got it.
 
So in order to reduce scratches and improve signal they are going to an aluminum backing? Didn't that scratch the worst and also was the catalyst for the plastic backing in I the iPhone 3G?
 
I doubt this, as I think apple is trying to differentiate the iPhone from the iPod and vice-versa.

If an iphone 5 looks exactly like iPod 4... Then its no longer a "luxury item", and decreases a big percentage of sales. Let's be honest, there's a big percentage of people who only get a smartphone to be seen holding one, but can't even use any of the advanced features.
 
It is rumors...the last time I read about the Iphone5 people said it would not get a new design. It would be a evolution and not a revolution...so I'm taking it easy for now.
 
Blech!

Nope, a step back, I really hope this isn't true. The IP4 is a true thing of beauty. It is tough as well. Mine has been dropped (accidently of course) from some height several times, fallen in a gutter full of running water and general seen a tough time. There's not a mark on it and it works perfectly. Aluminium is not the future, anyone with a Macbook will attest to how easily it scratches, a phone will pick them up far easier. And finally, it just looks like an IP3, which is hardly going to make me open my wallet and let loose another few hundred. Part of the premise that people buy Apple is that their products ooze style and that's why I (and many others pay a premium). This just doesn't.
 
Works for me. I passed on the iPhone 4 partly because of its looks and the way if feels to hold. My 3GS would join my 3G in retirement if the iPhone 5 has a more traditionally shaped, tapered, non-glass back. Either plastic or aluminum is fine with me.
 
iPhone 5?

I hope they stay with iPhone 4 basic design, just update the internals, and I hope there is a way that Apple can give more real-estate on the same size Retina Display. I've had all 3 designs and think the i4 is the best, although I did really like the first gen design. My guess is the new iPhone will be an update similar to what the 3G to 3GS was? Just my two cents..........
:cool::apple:
 
MarximusMG said:
This would be a total step backward, IMO.
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I'm with you on this one bro. I really like the flat back on the IP4. I wish the would modify that design. Or give us a completely new and fresh look. (No likely.) Still why go back to the beveled backing? Guess we'll just have to see what the future brings.
 
dethmaShine said:
The original iPhone was one of the best designs, ever. I wish it returns in the iPhone nano form.

I think that not everyone is comfortable with a square shaped phone. iPhone 4 is one of the most elegant designs by Apple, no doubt. Instantly, it appears to be a business phone and then a casual phone; so I was impressed. But holding it in the hand, the original iPhone felt much better. Some people don't prefer square shaped phones :), well some. :D
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I agree with this 100%

I went from the original to iphone 4, and though I did spent the first week or two really just amazed with the design of the iphone 4, it really is a gorgeous piece of engineering and design visually speaking, it was clearly much less ergonomic.

It feels much much less comfortable on the hand, and I found the square design also hindered the ease with which I can reach any part of the screen with my thumb in one-handed operation.

I think I've gotten used to the last point, but nonetheless it hasn't gotten any more comfortable in the hand since that first week.

There was a line I remember from a movie which applies here - what is pleasing to the eye is not necessarily pleasing to the touch, and vice versa.
 
Looks like old 3GS prototype stuff. Plastic volume buttons too and the curved design that Apple specifically has moved away from due to inefficient interior volume for components like the larger battery.
 
Number 41 said:
You mean other than that wee little problem of signal attenuation that caused the phone to be dinged by Consumer Reports?

I'd be shocked if there isn't a design change with the iPhone 5 -- if for no other reason than to avoid MORE stories about signal problems (since that'll be the first thing people check out when they get test models in their hands).

Oh, and the iPhone 4 is beautiful to look at, but it's an abysmally stupid design for a piece of technology that gets carried around 24/7 and used constantly. Glass shatters way too easily to ever be considered a suitable material to base a design on. It's a cell phone -- it shouldn't be a game of russian roulette every time gravity takes over and the thing falls off a table or slips out of your hands.
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I understand that but Apple already knew this before they went ahead and produced it for mass consumption.
 
I love how so many people take the rumor-site mock-ups as gospel and proceed to point out why it can't be the new iPhone (i.e. no flash, no front facing camer, the silent switch goes in the wrong direction) :rolleyes:

I wouldn't mind the aluminum casing return, so long as they can figure out a way to properly expose the antennae system.
 
I want an aluminum backing... I rather have that than glass! And I'm sure that mockup is nothing like what it would be.. cause It's rather ugly.
 
i-John said:
Aluminum won't work. There's a reason they left it when they went 3G. You won't get any signal over 3G with an all aluminum casing. There's a reason why the 3G iPads have a little plastic section at the top, it needs it to get any signal.

This is simply a 3G/3GS knockoff.

I doubt they'll may any dramatic external changes on iPhone 5, it's mostly going to be better internal hardware. It seems they are on 2 year cycle on design now. The only exception was the first iPhone to 3G, and for the reasons in my first paragraph. They had to when going to a 3G chip.
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You can't determine cycles based on just 4 releases...

I could also say:
"It seems the iPhone gets redesigned every year. The only exception was iPhone 3G to 3GS." :p
 
Finally! Metal please! Not plastic, not glass, & lookin like a clunky ice cream sandwich. Durable smooth and sleek.

If you scratch it, you can polish it.
 
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