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Liquidmetal-Based iPhone 5 to Launch at WWDC in June?
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Thing about cases, materials and designs is it's all been done long before Apple finally gets around to it.
There's no case design Apple can come up with that hasn't already been done by HTC, Moto, LG, Nokia and Samsung (some beautiful and very imaginative designs). Who cares if it's 'liquid metal' or not. It won't look any different than aluminum or hard plastic, so there's no 'wow' factor.
The fragile and heavy glass/metal/glass sandwich design is the only one that stands out and that's because no other company was crazy enough to approve such a design. (you might also care to remember how many folks here hated it when it was first leaked)
Where can Apple go from here? Has the slumbering giant has slept too long?
There's no case design Apple can come up with that hasn't already been done by HTC, Moto, LG, Nokia and Samsung (some beautiful and very imaginative designs). Who cares if it's 'liquid metal' or not. It won't look any different than aluminum or hard plastic, so there's no 'wow' factor.
The fragile and heavy glass/metal/glass sandwich design is the only one that stands out and that's because no other company was crazy enough to approve such a design. (you might also care to remember how many folks here hated it when it was first leaked)
Where can Apple go from here? Has the slumbering giant has slept too long?
If it turns out that Apple uses Liquidmetal, it will be interesting to see how they design the antenna, and where it's located.
Most users will blame the carriers if reception is poor, conversely they'll heap mountains of praise on Apple if they get it right. It's good to be Apple these days.
Most users will blame the carriers if reception is poor, conversely they'll heap mountains of praise on Apple if they get it right. It's good to be Apple these days.
Apple got blamed for the iPhone 4 reception issues, not the carriers. I'm sure Apple will go to great lengths to avoid a repeat of that.
You're right, there was some pushback towards Apple from users. Yet the fanboy contingent swore up & down that it wasn't a problem.
Actually my post was in jest. Poking a little fun at the thought of what might be.
There's too many serious arguments here, so I thought I'd lighten it up a bit
You're right, there was some pushback towards Apple from users. Yet the fanboy contingent swore up & down that it wasn't a problem.
Actually my post was in jest. Poking a little fun at the thought of what might be.
There's too many serious arguments here, so I thought I'd lighten it up a bit
I really like Apple, but you're right, some people are too serious about it.
Is anyone else getting concerned about WWDC? Everyone talks like it will be in June, but it's late April and nothing has been announced (last year registration opened in March). The week thrown around the most is June 11-15 but that is the same week as the US Open in San Francisco and all of the hotels are already booked.
I'd really like to know when it will be so I can make my summer plans.
I'd really like to know when it will be so I can make my summer plans.
Google is your friend.
I thought MR was my friend too
On a serious note, the only advantage that seems to apply for a mobile device to be made from liquid metal is the case resistance to dents from falling. And that's just on a theoretical stage. I guess Apple knows more about this, but they won't tell us. Who knows, maybe they want to release a device that will not need all these ugly cases.
Metalglass
I thought that because Liquidmetal was a glasslike compound that it was radio transparent. I'm not a materials scientist, so I could be completely wrong. I thought I read that somewhere. Maybe just wishful thinking.
I thought that because Liquidmetal was a glasslike compound that it was radio transparent. I'm not a materials scientist, so I could be completely wrong. I thought I read that somewhere. Maybe just wishful thinking.
ZDnet had a (unintentionally) humorous article about how LiquidMetal objects like to bounce a lot. They weren't sure that a Flubber-like iPhone was a great idea
However, they also pointed out that Apple likes to put form over function, and that LiquidMetal could allow a super thin chassis and/case.
You probably read that it has glass-like properties but is conductive.
Unfortunately, that is usually bad news for radios.
LiquidMetal is great for super thin, strong chassis or trim. That's why Samsung used it a decade ago, back before Apple bought up the rights to use it in phones:
Samsung Electronics Announces First Mobile Phone Incorporating Revolutionary Liquidmetal Alloy - 2002
Interesting. Apple didn't strike that license till '10, wonder why S-sung abandoned LQMT. Maybe not so great in phones?
Samsung continued to use LiquidMetal in their phones after 2002. I found this:
More to our interest, in 2008 Samsung sold a LiquidMetal luxury $1800 dual-SIM phone called the "Ego".
Its design, with LiquidMetal edges and other material inside for radio transparency, might give us a clue as to what Apple could do. Perhaps LiquidMetal edges and glass interior panels?
So apparently Samsung quite liked using LiquidMetal (made under license in China, btw). Wonder if Jobs bought up the worldwide rights as a part of his "going thermonuclear" attack on Samsung? In any case, Apple can't have the first LiquidMetal phone; Samsung did that four years ago.