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Iphone 5 - Whats the new back panel for?

M

MacDK86

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 25, 2010
12
0
A lot of the latest Iphone 5 mockups shows a new back panel.

Im pretty sure this panel is added for a reason.
It can´t be a visual one, while the panel makes it
less solid casted than the iPhone 4(s)...IMO

I have tried to come up with some ideas:

o Extra Touch-panel. Could be used for scrolling web pages and games with no interference from hands in front of the screen.

o A better feature would be an energy panel, which can suck energy from its surroundings:
-power from the sun
-power from heat -body heat, heat from the sun and what not..
-electricity from a special charger without a cable (like the one for the magic mouse)

o Signal improvement, 3g, 4g, NFC

o Fingerprint recognition

o Any suggestions?
 

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if anything it is "power mat" like device compatible. Highly doubt the touch pad or other ideas. Turning body heat into power would be a game changer however and not likely to be seen in a phone for some time now.
 
I think the two most likely explanations are inductive charging and NFC.

I'm not a big fan of inductive charging. The option is cool, but I will often use my phone while it is plugged in. Inductive charging limits you're use of the device to a flat surface while charging. Like I said, I don't mind the option because I know a lot of people will use it and I won't have to.

NFC has serious potential but I doubt we will see it this year in the iPhone. I don't know- like others have said it may take Apple implementing NFC to generate enough hype for the merchants and banks to get on board and begin a widespread roll out. Right now, in my area, NFC is virtually non-existant.

I think a touch panal would be cool and like you said it would open up a range of possibilities for gaming and browsing. Almost like having a touchpad mouse back there- I can see some devs making good use of that. But I don't think it's likely.

That back pannel has me totally stumped. I agree it must serve a purpose, but I can't imagine what.
 
Apple has plenty of patents for touch sensitive backings, probably laying the groundwork for the next iPhone after that rolled with some of the newly aquired Authentec fingerprint reading abilities ;)
 
b166er said:
I'm not a big fan of inductive charging. The option is cool, but I will often use my phone while it is plugged in. Inductive charging limits you're use of the device to a flat surface while charging. Like I said, I don't mind the option because I know a lot of people will use it and I won't have to.
Click to expand...

Inductive charging wouldn't necessarly have to exclude tethered charging.
The same device could support both.
 
The new back provides an (almost) unibody design.
It eliminates the fragile glass.
It avoids the signal opacity that an all-metal back would produce.
It might allow for NFC or inductive charging but honestly, the unibody strength, and the elimination of the glass are reason enough for Apple to have made the change.
 
I really really want inductive charging. It was an awesome feature on my old palm pré and I have wanted it on my iPhone for years. I have been hoping since these leaks first surfaced a few weeks back that the new design was for inductive charging. I'm not sure if apple will do it but I sure hope so.
 
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