iPhone N94 Prototype Back Cover - Is this actually the iPhone 5?

[KnightWRX]

i know right. I would be very disappointed if Apple held back a bigger screen to appease lazy devs

It's not the developers that are lazy, it's Apple's frameworks that are not made for scalable UIs. Android had to solve that problem long ago because of different screen resolutions available on the many devices, Apple didn't have to.

The screen won't be bigger. All the app developers have been testing iOS 5 with a certain display in mind.

App developers have a certain display resolution in mind. Not a screen size. As long as Apple keeps the same aspect ratio and resolution, who cares if they make the screen bigger or smaller, it changes nothing for developers.

And frankly, it makes no difference either way. Developers should write scalable UIs. This isn't the 1980s anymore, we have had variable resolution displays for so long and code has been written for these without issue that I don't get why it becomes somehow "complicated" for iOS devices.

 

[fertilized-egg]

it's crazy how this issue doesn't affect computers where we have screens of so many resolutions but everything seems to magically just resize itself for the resolution

Because on computers you use a cursor controlled by a separate input device like a mouse, so the final size of UI elements doesn't matter as much, except that it makes things harder to see when the DPI is too high.

On the other hand your finger cannot be resized so the same philosophy doesn't work on touch devices.

Android had to solve that problem long ago because of different screen resolutions available on the many devices, Apple didn't have to.

That reminds me of Samsung releasing every device at each inch, now they have 4", 4.3", 4.5", 5", 7", 7.7", 8.9", 10.1" devices.

 

[rockametrics]

it's crazy how this issue doesn't affect computers where we have screens of so many resolutions but everything seems to magically just resize itself for the resolution

Yes but on my 27 in iMac everything looks better than

 

[alent1234]

Re-releasing the iPhone 4's awful industrial design to the current market is just asking to be savaged by critics, who will rightfully ding the phone for:

1. Not being competitive with current Android offerings (no LTE / 4G support, no large screen, no improved battery life)
2. Not justifying the wait and cost when it supports exactly 0 new features in iOS 5 compared to the iPhone 4
3. Not increasing durability when the glass build has been roundly criticized as being too fragile to use for building a piece of consumer electronics.

Sell on Apple stock if this is the best their geniuses have cooked up for the iPhone 4S.

when i bought my honda cr-v last year i read some reviews and some of the so called experts panned it for not having enough power. i see so many of them on the street i don't think people care about it

1. LTE - only a few geeks actually care. spotify works fine on my work issued droid pro that's on verizon's slow CDMA network. youtube works just fine on it as well as my HSPA+ HTC phone on AT&T. in fact streaming video on my inspire started to work a lot better with android 2.3 compared to 2.2. on my ipad 2 it works just fine over wifi

3. these are fashion items now. people used to buy expensive clothes and jewelry to show themselves off, now it's the iphone

 

[dccorona]

How many times can apple afford to completely redesign the cell phone? Furthermore how many different redesigns can they make before they all start looking alike?

ask HTC...they come out with often times over 5 new designs PER YEAR. Apple can manage 1

 

[aeaglex07]

It's not the developers that are lazy, it's Apple's frameworks that are not made for scalable UIs. Android had to solve that problem long ago because of different screen resolutions available on the many devices, Apple didn't have to.



App developers have a certain display resolution in mind. Not a screen size. As long as Apple keeps the same aspect ratio and resolution, who cares if they make the screen bigger or smaller, it changes nothing for developers.

And frankly, it makes no difference either way. Developers should write scalable UIs. This isn't the 1980s anymore, we have had variable resolution displays for so long and code has been written for these without issue that I don't get why it becomes somehow "complicated" for iOS devices.

true. IMO it was ridiculous for apple to up the resolution in the iPhone 4 and keep the same small screen. But hey, Retina Display, It's Magical.

 

[KnightWRX]

Because on computers you use a cursor controlled by a separate input device like a mouse, so the final size of UI elements doesn't matter as much, except that it makes things harder to see when the DPI is too high.

UI elements can scale along with resolution. Heck, Visual Basic 4.0 had automatic UI scaling mechanisms in place of all things and a programmer could easily write his UI to work at many different aspect ratios and sizes (resizable main windows and dialogs...).

On the other hand your finger cannot be resized so the same philosophy doesn't work on touch devices.

Yes it does. Higher resolution view ? Bigger buttons. Lower resolution view ? Smaller buttons. The buttons should scale based on resolution. Any decent UI toolkit provides these mechanisms.

That reminds me of Samsung releasing every device at each inch, now they have 4", 4.3", 4.5", 5", 7", 7.7", 8.9", 10.1" devices.

Inches have nothing to do with UI scaling. It's about resolution.

true. IMO it was ridiculous for apple to up the resolution in the iPhone 4 and keep the same small screen. But hey, Retina Display, It's Magical.

To keep the "retina" effect with 960x640, they can't go higher than 3.8" though.

 

[Stevesbodyguard]

This is the 4S.

Wake me up when they start leaking actual iPhone 5 parts...

 

[KnightWRX]

This is the 4S.

Wake me up when they start leaking actual iPhone 5 parts...

You know what ? I bet this is the iPhone 5. There is no 4S. They'll simply make a iPhone 4 with either 8GB or just keep the 16GB model and lower the price.

Like they did with the 3G in 2009 and the 3GS in 2010.

Simplify guys, you're overthinking.

 

[spiffers]

The new iPhone5 is like Lion. You have to hold it upside down when you talk.

 

[bushido]

3. these are fashion items now. people used to buy expensive clothes and jewelry to show themselves off, now it's the iphone

the iPhone lost its "fashion" status a long time ago, now every 2nd person walks around with an iPhone

 

[manu chao]

it's crazy how this issue doesn't affect computers where we have screens of so many resolutions but everything seems to magically just resize itself for the resolution

The difference is that screen real estate is at such a premium on a phone that the desktop model of just adding more whitespace when the screen gets larger would really be a waste of space.
Do any buttons, text labels etc. get bigger on desktop applications when the window size is enlarged? Do you get more interface elements? No, you just get longer 'lists' (where 'lists' can be any type of content, text, lists of items, thumbnail content).
Take the Skype app on the iPhone, it has five categories at the bottom. If the screen is made 20% wider, it could fit a sixth one there while keeping the items size exactly the same. But that would require two versions of Skype for the existing screen width and another one for the wider screen phone. And what would that category be? Something that is currently part of an existing category? This not only increases complexity for the developers but also for users which will have a different category to choose from for the same function one different devices.

On the desktop this problem does not exist as almost all applications fit their controls into their UI even on small screens.

What does work on phone-sized screens equally well as on desktops is to make 'lists' longer.

 

[LoganCircle]

Wow what a surprise, mac rumors states what I said in the other part leak thread and have also believed all along. This IS the iPhone 5.

This IS Seti Alpha 5!!!

 

[janderson0719]

IMO this is the new revamped iPhone 4S that will be sold along side the redesigned iPhone 5 or this part is simply the iPhone 4 housing with the iPhone 5 "guts" to keep the secrecy on what the 5 looks like.

Don't like how Macrumors labeled this as "possibly iPhone 5 part". Too many people saw the headline, looked at the pic, and said "yuck, same phone!"

 

[bushido]

The difference is that screen real estate is at such a premium on a phone that the desktop model of just adding more whitespace when the screen gets larger would really be a waste of space.
Do any buttons, text labels etc. get bigger on desktop applications when the window size is enlarged? Do you get more interface elements? No, you just get longer 'lists' (where 'lists' can be any type of content, text, lists of items, thumbnail content).
Take the Skype app on the iPhone, it has five categories at the bottom. If the screen is made 20% wider, it could fit a sixth one there while keeping the items size exactly the same. But that would require two versions of Skype for the existing screen width and another one for the wider screen phone. And what would that category be? Something that is currently part of an existing category? This not only increases complexity for the developers but also for users which will have a different category to choose from for the same function one different devices.

On the desktop this problem does not exist as almost all applications fit their controls into their UI even on small screens.

What does work on phone-sized screens equally well as on desktops is to make 'lists' longer.

well developers could just make a "universal" app like they do/or should do more often with the iPad which is ... needless to say a lot bigger than the current iPhone screen

 

[aeaglex07]

I know but Retina is nothing but a gimmick. Whats the point if the screen is small anyway

 

[DrJohnnyN]

3. these are fashion items now. people used to buy expensive clothes and jewelry to show themselves off, now it's the iphone

I buy MTM suits and timepieces.

the iPhone lost its "fashion" status a long time ago, now every 2nd person walks around with an iPhone

Very true.

 

[fertilized-egg]

Yes it does. Higher resolution view ? Bigger buttons. Lower resolution view ? Smaller buttons. The buttons should scale based on resolution. Any decent UI toolkit provides these mechanisms.

Isn't resizing what Apple precisely wanted to avoid though? Pictures work fine with resizing, but line arts and icons are a crapshoot when you scale.

Inches have nothing to do with UI scaling. It's about resolution.

Well, think of a 7.7" tablet and a 10.1" tablet. UI elements on the 7.7" tablet definitely won't be the same size as they are on a 10.1" tablet. If you remember, Windows did all kinds of weird things and broke layouts when you forced it to enlarge the UIs. Resolution independence can be useful, but the best way would be optimizing for one screen size for both aesthetics and usability.

 

[manu chao]

well developers could just make a "universal" app like they do/or should do more often with the iPad which is ... needless to say a lot bigger than the current iPhone screen

Sure, but this universal app would not be two different UI designs (at it is now) but three different UI designs. It took the developers only 16 months to convert 20% of the iPhone apps into iPad or universal apps. Don't expect a faster rate of conversion for this new iPhone screen size, particularly since the benefits of adjusting the UI to the new physical size are much smaller and thus the preferred solution for most developers will be to just add more whitespace (and make 'lists' longer).

Making the 'lists' longer is useful in a lot of apps but the added whitespace will still make up a lot of the new screen real estate (and added whitespace does not add much usage if the original UI already has touch targets that are easy enough to hit and feels not cluttered).

App developers have a certain display resolution in mind. Not a screen size. As long as Apple keeps the same aspect ratio and resolution, who cares if they make the screen bigger or smaller, it changes nothing for developers.

Yeah, whether that 400x600 screen is 3.5", 4", or 4.5" large has no influence on the physical size of you 15x15 pixel touch target or your 9pt font text.

 

[KnightWRX]

Isn't resizing what Apple precisely wanted to avoid though? Pictures work fine with resizing, but line arts and icons are a crapshoot when you scale.

Works fine on other toolkits like GTK+, QT, wxWidgets and even on OS X.

Well, think of a 7.7" tablet and a 10.1" tablet. UI elements on the 7.7" tablet definitely won't be the same size as they are on a 10.1" tablet.

Same applies to a 14" and 17" monitor both running 1024x768. Yet we "managed".

Of course, a 7.7" and a 10.1" tablet shouldn't be running the same resolution, so the elements will scale in a scaling UI toolkit and the problem will be moot.

If you remember, Windows did all kinds of weird things and broke layouts when you forced it to enlarge the UIs.

Yes, because some programmers just didn't test their UI scaling and did code in conditions or adjustments for certain size/aspect ratio changes when they should have. The Windows API provided callbacks for resizing events so that you could adjust your stuff accordingly. If the programmer just let the system do all the scaling, of course it can go horribly wrong.

Again, not an issue for any decent programmer/UI designer.

Yeah, whether that 400x600 screen is 3.5", 4", or 4.5" large has no influence on the physical size of you 15x15 pixel touch target or your 9pt font text.

Sure it does, but until you provide a syscall to query the size of the physical display, a programmer can't code around that. Programmers set UIs to a number of pixels. It's up to the device manufacturer to ensure he ships a proper resolution on his screen depending on its size.

And frankly, the same resolution and UI would work just fine on a 3.5" and a 4.0" device, the problem isn't as bad as you state it is.

 

[DrJohnnyN]

Logicboard of a next-generation iPhone?

 

[janderson0719]

Wow, this thread really shift gears on topics...

 

[SPUY767]

I'd be willing to bet that Apple would test the new phone in the old phone's skin to avoid a debacle like they had with Gizmodo and the iPhone 4.

 

[manu chao]

Works fine on other toolkits like GTK+, QT, wxWidgets and even on OS X.

Same applies to a 14" and 17" monitor both running 1024x768. Yet we "managed".

Yes, because some programmers just didn't test their UI scaling and did code in conditions or adjustments for certain size/aspect ratio changes when they should have. The Windows API provided callbacks for resizing events so that you could adjust your stuff accordingly. If the programmer just let the system do all the scaling, of course it can go horribly wrong.

Again, not an issue for any decent programmer/UI designer.

Every UI scaling mechanism I have seen in practice has some weird artefacts. There is a reason UI designers still create their icons as bitmaps and not as scalar graphics. How do you scale a one pixel hairline by 20%? You either use aliasing which changes it from sharp to a bit blurry or you leave it at one pixel which changes its proportions relative to the rest of the UI. UI scaling will start working (from a visual point of view) when the thinnest UI element is multiple pixels large.

 

[mikethebigo]

Cheaper iPhone 4 with an A5 processor?

arn

What financial incentive would Apple have for continuing to use the A4? I would think it would be cheaper for them to streamline their processor manufacturing to a single chip. Both are made on the same 45 nm tech and the A5 has been in production for over half a year, so why not use it in a cheaper model as well?