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The mystery of the iPhone black bottom

M

MikeDTyke

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 7, 2005
661
0
London
I've seen a lot of chat about the software announced or rumored to be on the iphone, but very little on the styling and design.

One thing that piques my curiosity is the black (plastic) panel at the base of the phone. Is it purely for the antennas for gsm/wifi? Or is there another purpose?

I mean has apple stated categorically that the battery is fixed, like the ipod? I don't remember the battery other than it's lifespan ever being mentioned in the Jobs keynote. I also thought it was a likely location for the sim card, but then images and keynote also refer to a tray at the top of the phone for a sim. Not to mention it's quite a large panel if it were just for a sim card.

Couple this with the fact that the ipod and apple's designs in general like whole surfaces to be made of one material. This brushed aluminium/black plastic combo is so very unlike them, i feel there's gotta be something more to it.

Removable battery, great, memory expansion, awesome.

Here's a photo, does anyone have a hi-res image of the back, so we can look for friction ridges, to see if it's removable?

iphone_2.jpg



Cheers M.
 
who cares? really? cant we just wait until the device is released? instead of speculating what 'xyz' might be on the phone?

oh crap, just realised I'm on a rumors forum.... my bad. :rolleyes:
 
MikeDTyke said:
Here's a photo, does anyone have a hi-res image of the back, so we can look for friction ridges, to see if it's removable?

Cheers M.
Click to expand...

This is very interesting, as I don't recall ever seeing an image of the back of the iPhone, except for maybe in Jobs keynote. Maybe there is something they have been hiding?
 
Surely it's for the aerial/wifi/bluetooth etc... that work best when not trying to communicating through metal?
 
im so happy someone

brings this up. I was wondering the samething like what is that? Not very Apple-esque ? Its not a clean design at all ?
 
I've never really thought about this too much... I just thought the layout of the iPhone would be similar to that of my current phone - the Motorola SLVR.

This pic shows the SLVR with the back cover removed... you can see how the bottom sixth-ish, remains in place, but the top section allows you access to the battery, under which is the SIM card.

People here are always talking about the SIM card slot not being visible on the Keynote slide, even though there is an arrow pointing at something on one of the slides... an arrangement similar to that of the SLVR might explain this also.

Obviously, I could easily be wrong; particularly as the iPhone doesn't look as though it comes apart easily. I think we should just wait and see!
 
I know that some independent reporters like David Pogue, NYT, were given hands-on access to the phone. Wouldn't they have checked for and reported such a possibility?
 
it actually might be really nice because it wont get scratched on the bottom from the dock....we all know how scratched up that shiny aluminum can get on our ipods....maybe.....idk just a thought

Edit- I guess it isn't shiny aluminum......but still
 
if what you guys say is true, couldn't they have just used silver coloured plastic for that part of the phone rather than make it black?
it looks odd to me as well, what with apple's history of uber cool styling and all.
and you can't really tell if it opens or not.
sim card has to go in from somewhere, right?
my guess is that it will open for the sim card and/or battery, i don't see another reason for it to exist and to be as unstylish as it is
take this as an example
i have the sony ericsson w810i
the bottom part opens to give you access to the battery and sim car compartment (can't really tell if it opens or if it just a design thingy)
take a look at www.sonyericsson.com
i think that's what'll happen with the iphone, hopefully at least, cause that black "thing" really put me off the first time i saw it.
 
Yeah...

aricher said:
Seems to work fine on my aluminum PowerBook.
Click to expand...

You do know where the antennas for all your wireless stuff is located, right? See the area around the screen.

The titanium G4 tried to broadcast through metal and it had some of the worst WiFi reception ever.
 
appleretailguy said:
You do know where the antennas for all your wireless stuff is located, right? See the area around the screen.

The titanium G4 tried to broadcast through metal and it had some of the worst WiFi reception ever.
Click to expand...

Um - yes, which is why my second posting said "Oh yeah - forgot about that part. maybe the bottom is just for signal transmission/reception.

Geeze, I'm surrounded by idiots :D
 
In the iPhone Keynote, Steve talks about the design of iPhone, and as he's showing each side of the device, he shows the top and says,

"We've got a place, a little tray for your SIMM card."

Prior to this, he shows the back and only points out the camera lens.

I've wondered about this - why is it on "top"? I didn't see any trays, doors, or slits there.
 
sk3pt1c said:
sim card has to go in from somewhere, right?
my guess is that it will open for the sim card and/or battery, i don't see another reason for it to exist and to be as unstylish as it is
take this as an example
Click to expand...

SIM card is a good point. It must open somewhere so you can put one in.

EDIT: Ah, yeah. That's right. I forgot that Steve already told us where the SIM card goes. Never mind.
 
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