Radio Transparent Materials in iPhone?

[HowEver]

And most people still don't see the point of a Segway, too. But the technology has many other practical uses. Same here.

I don't much see the point in this for a portable device, given that the housing may be RF transparent but your body certainly won't be... If it's a phone, it'll have your hand wrapped around it and your head on the other side, if it's an iPod it's got a display and touch wheel on one side and your hip on the other.

A captured antenna would look slick, but... I dunno, maybe I'm just being grumpy after a long day...

 

[PODshady]

I wish Apple would release the iPhone already

 

[iMikeT]

Quit teasing me with the iPhone already!

 

[mo0805]

is zirconia used in bluetooth and wifi technology? is it possible that apple is considering making a bluetooth and/or wifi iPod?
if you read the details in the patent, it talks about the zirconia being radio transparent. cellular phones don't operate via radio waves.
i'm not saying that this isn't about the iphone, but i think this patent serves two purposes.

 

[AppliedVisual]

is zirconia used in bluetooth and wifi technology? is it possible that apple is considering making a bluetooth and/or wifi iPod?
if you read the details in the patent, it talks about the zirconia being radio transparent. cellular phones don't operate via radio waves.
i'm not saying that this isn't about the iphone, but i think this patent serves two purposes.

"cellular phones don't operate via radio waves."

So what form of magical signal do they use? Subspace tansmissions? The Force? By "radio ransparent", they simply mean that electromagnetic waves and other forms of low frequency radiation can pass through it easily just as light passes through a window.

This patent doesn't appear to be device specific, nor does the mention of Zirconia seem of great importance - it's just something unusual for consumer electronics -- handheld devices in particular. But it's been done before (not necessarily hand-held consumer) and various military grade hardware and industrial-applications dealing with various electronic transmissions use forms of Zirconia in their construction. The EF transparency of Zirconia is not a new discovery... IIRC, Zirconia is used in some LNB receivers of satellite dishes to name a broad-use application.

But I think Apple is preparing for the upcoming iPhone and iPod products by filing numerous patents to cover all their bases as well as some bogus patents. This makes it much harder for competitors to sort through it all and figure out what they're up to. A lot more strategic than simply filing a broad-sweeping patent for an iPhone product or concept.

I don't know if the next-gen iPod will have WiFi in them, but I would say it's a very good possibility. Bluetooth seems like a definite no-brainer. I'm surprised the current Gen 5.5 iPods didn't add Bluetooth. One possibility for Apple taking the route of a more radio-transparent material is that for a product like th iPhone, it could help that much more to embed the antenna within the device and not have an antenna or nub protruding as most phones do. But when we're talking a handheld device of this size, I'm not sure that Zirconia will gain them any benefits... There's not much advantage at 1.2mm thickness for Zirconia over regular ABS plastic, especially when the biggest insulators are the users' hands and heads and those leather or neoprene cases they like to put their devices in. Manufacturing of enclosure components made from Zirconia isn't going to be anywhere near as cheap as injection molded plastic.

IMHO, Zirconia makes much more sense as the clear material over the LCD screen vs. glass or polycarbonate.

 

[montom]

Wow, radio transparent materials? Cool, but wish my "iSkull" were made of opposite stuff. Does AppleCare cover brain tumors? LOL.

 

[Analog Kid]

And most people still don't see the point of a Segway, too. But the technology has many other practical uses. Same here.

Sorry... I'm not following... Segway has other practical uses, or emitting RF trapped between your hand and head has practical uses?

 

[timb]

Sorry... I'm not following... Segway has other practical uses, or emitting RF trapped between your hand and head has practical uses?

Your body is 80%+ water. You're like a walking antenna. By you holding the phone, you act as a receiver for it. Don't believe me? Attach a piece of coax to your TV, set it to "ANT" mode and tune to lower channel (Between 2 and 15 should work, it has to be something that a station broadcasts on.) Now, touch the axial wire on the end of the cable, the reception should be pretty good on your TV now.

 

[Linito]

Your body is 80%+ water. You're like a walking antenna. By you holding the phone, you act as a receiver for it. Don't believe me? Attach a piece of coax to your TV, set it to "ANT" mode and tune to lower channel (Between 2 and 15 should work, it has to be something that a station broadcasts on.) Now, touch the axial wire on the end of the cable, the reception should be pretty good on your TV now.

lol learn a new thing every day