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New 3G iPhone Photos?

Zirconia?

NYYankees said:
I believe skatemash is saying that there shouldnt be any glass in the picture because the "glass+touch capacitative screen" are one part. There is clearly glass in the picture though.
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Like most BS speculation this is based on a false assumption though. The glass on a "demo" iPhone need not necessarily have a touch screen.

These are most likely real shots of the maquettes that Apple sends around just before release to enable accessory makers to produce cases etc. That's why the insides are missing in these shots. You are looking at the empty shell of a new iPhone 2.0, presumably it will come in the black and white colours listed in the earlier leaks. Traditionally, the people who see these maquettes, only see them in a setting where they are passed around to a small number of people, everyone is under a NDA, and they are given back at the end of the meeting. Judging by the chairs and the reflections of people sitting in rows in a conference room, this is exactly the scenario. Some jerk just thought he would break his NDA, probably because he is in Europe and Apple probably can't touch him.

The most interesting thing to me is the inside of the back case that you can see through the front glass. It clearly looks like a moulded product and not a machined one. That could still mean plastic I suppose, but I am going to pretend like this is strong evidence of them using the new Zirconia casing.

It certainly looks more like Zirconia on the untreated inner surface than it does plastic.
 
Looks real to me, if Apple sticks with the metal look, these are probably plastic just for the people like case manufactures that need prototypes.
 
NYYankees said:
or, apple can decide to let these pictures stay up, and we will be left guessing until they formally unveil it. if they take it down, then we most likely know what it looks like; if they dont, then we'll be left here speculating
Click to expand...

The keyboard pictures stayed up.
 
Virgil-TB2 said:
Like most BS speculation this is based on a false assumption though. The glass on a "demo" iPhone need not necessarily have a touch screen.

These are most likely real shots of the maquettes that Apple sends around just before release to enable accessory makers to produce cases etc. That's why the insides are missing in these shots. You are looking at the empty shell of a new iPhone 2.0, presumably it will come in the black and white colours listed in the earlier leaks. Traditionally, the people who see these maquettes, only see them in a setting where they are passed around to a small number of people, everyone is under a NDA, and they are given back at the end of the meeting. Judging by the chairs and the reflections of people sitting in rows in a conference room, this is exactly the scenario. Some jerk just thought he would break his NDA, probably because he is in Europe and Apple probably can't touch him.

The most interesting thing to me is the inside of the back case that you can see through the front glass. It clearly looks like a moulded product and not a machined one. That could still mean plastic I suppose, but I am going to pretend like this is strong evidence of them using the new Zirconia casing.

It certainly looks more like Zirconia on the untreated inner surface than it does plastic.
Click to expand...

Isn't Zirconia a kind of cheap fake diamond material?
 
NYYankees said:
or, apple can decide to let these pictures stay up, and we will be left guessing until they formally unveil it. if they take it down, then we most likely know what it looks like; if they dont, then we'll be left here speculating
Click to expand...

or, they can take it down, making us think that's what it looks like, then reveal a totally different design =P.
 
Virgil-TB2 said:
The most interesting thing to me is the inside of the back case that you can see through the front glass. It clearly looks like a moulded product and not a machined one. That could still mean plastic I suppose, but I am going to pretend like this is strong evidence of them using the new Zirconia casing.

It certainly looks more like Zirconia on the untreated inner surface than it does plastic.
Click to expand...

Interesting. Do you have more info on this material? This is the first time I've heard of it.
 
anybody willing to open up their current iphone to see if the architecture of the casing is similar to the one in the picture? (whether the casing is labeled on the inside, and if there is a metal clip) :D
 
These are the first leaked photos that I actually think may be the real deal. Sticking my neck out anyway lol.

If Apple do make the back all plastic I think that is a good direction to take. Yes the back of iPhone 1 is nice but it has 2 major flaws.

The first flaw is down to reception. With the back being made out of the metal material, the small plastic area at the base is required for reception. Hence it shows that the metal material is in fact hindering the performance of the phone. Making the back entirely plastic eliminates this problem all together, which is definitely a good thing.

The second flaw is in the look and feel. Yes the metal is nice to the touch but it doesn't really convey Apples brilliant design with the two materials on the one surface the way it is. Its not symmetrical and the plastic creaks in comparison and attachment to the metal which isn't particularly nice. Again making the back entirely from plastic eliminates both of these problems.

June the 9th cant come soon enough!!!

EDIT: Replacement of my references to plastic to Zirconia as some of the brilliant forum members have pointed out!! Thats amazing memory for you!!
 
I kind of hope these are fake.

I want the metal-back, and I really was getting excited about a front iChat Camera.

I guess we'll all have to wait a few weeks longer, but, I'm borderline on buying a 3G iPhone right now. My Blackjack II might be able to carry me until apple comes out with a newer iPhone then "just" 3G.
 
if this is a real prototype, they are screwed if it only comes in that color. I don't care what features the device has, that looks like a cheap price of crap. I really don't see how they could improve on the phones design without changing much from the origional. Personally, I love the aluminum finish on the first iPhone and I would feel cheated if apple realeases the next iPhone with a plastic type feel
 
isimon1207 said:
if this is a real prototype, they are screwed if it only comes in that color. I don't care what features the device has, that looks like a cheap price of crap. I really don't see how they could improve on the phones design without changing much from the origional. Personally, I love the aluminum finish on the first iPhone and I would feel cheated if apple realeases the next iPhone with a plastic type feel
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I love how the current iPhone is cold when you pick it up, and how the metal doesn't scratch easy. Plastic would be rubbish!
 
sk8mash said:
Agreed. I would bet my iPhone savings on it not being made predominantly out of plastic.
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It's a difficult one, on one hand Apple has made an open promise to be more "green", frankly using plastic on a device which is expected to ship in the millions is not very environmentally friendly.

On the other hand 3G signal strength can be severely effected by metal casings, so I've heard...
 
If...

If these are genuine photographs... could it be that these are simply prototypes of the 1st iPhone?

I know people have said these are likely to be case mockup samples but what if they were actualy just mockups for the first iPhone? The only thing that makes me say this is the white case. When Apple came up with the iPhone, white was the colour of the iMacs, and MacBooks. EDIT: Oh, and iPods...

Just a thought...
 
heyp said:
well the same company got the bid to make the 3G iphone, does it deal with zirconia ceramic?
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All they are doing is assembling it. They get all the components shipped into their factories and then they assemble it. They dont necessarily need to have any constructural dealings in the parts used to make the 3G iPhone.

My wording is rubbish, but I guess you get the idea :eek:
 
i remember reading in a Forbes article about how the iPhone was created and that apple kept the official design secret to even the AT&T (then Cingular) execs till about one hour before Macworld 07, so maybe this is just a prototype that Apple made just to satisfy everybody when really, Apple's head execs know what it really is cause a leak of the iPhone design may just make WWDC a bit less interesting......
 
Santa Rosa said:
All they are doing is assembling it. They get all the components shipped into their factories and then they assemble it. They dont necessarily need to have any constructural dealings in the parts used to make the 3G iPhone.

My wording is rubbish, but I guess you get the idea :eek:
Click to expand...

i see...thanks
 
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