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What iPod/iPhone is this???

TheSpaz

TheSpaz

macrumors 604
Original poster
Jun 20, 2005
7,032
1
New article on AppleInsider has a weird patent image that looks like nothing I've seen yet:

patent-090806.png


Looks pretty strange. I wonder if it's an iPod, an iPhone or an iProd.
 
Tallest Skil said:
It's something that won't ever see the light of day. Apple isn't one to mix a touchscreen and a clickwheel.

I like the "Abuse Detection System", though. Must be water sensors. :D
Click to expand...

It kind of looks like an iPod classic with a BIG screen and a Nano-sized click wheel.
 
TheSpaz said:
It kind of looks like an iPod classic with a BIG screen and a Nano-sized click wheel.
Click to expand...

Seems like this would have been an old idea for the iPod classic before the proliferation of the iPod touch. It's not likely that we'll see this be an actual device unless it replaces the current iPod touch... but why when multitouch has proven itself to be so valuable?
 
Keep in mind patent application drawings do not necessarily represent the actual marketed product. Many times, a patent application will cover only one aspect of some patentable invention for broader coverage.
 
That kind of makes sense! 120GB hard drive based iPod with a touch screen as well! The hard buttons would be nice for when you want to skip tracks or change volume!
 
All signs point to that being a hard drive based iPod classic with a large screen (of a different ratio to the iPhone). This is due to the headphone port being on the top left of the device and he dock connector on the bottom.
The patent shows it would have network capabilities, which leads me to believe that this device would have iPod touch features such as Safari and Mail, as well as other apps.
The clickwheel? The centre button would be the home button, and the clickwheel is there to save battery life when you only want to run the iPod app, which would look like the touch app and function like the current classic.
Why the need to save battery life? The touch screen takes up an awful lot of space that would previously hold the hard drive and battery. To stop it from being too chunky the battery may be significantly smaller than the curent classic, more like the touch. But of course with a 120GB HDD
 
outphase said:
Keep in mind patent application drawings do not necessarily represent the actual marketed product. Many times, a patent application will cover only one aspect of some patentable invention for broader coverage.
Click to expand...

Right. Apple Insider is claiming that the 'Abuse Detection System' is the entire point of this patent. The drawing is just so there's a pretty picture. Doesn't matter what it looks like, it's just an example of the kind of device this system could be put in.

Everyone else is just wasting their time trying to analyze an imaginary product!
 
colmaclean said:
It's an iPhone Pro - the home button's replaced with a clickwheel.
Click to expand...

Dude, that just got me thinking...

What if, for the next iPhone, they added touch-sensitive gestures to the home button somewhat like the new trackpads. It would depress like normal, but a right swipe could return to the previous application - multitasking, anyone? Alternatively, sideways swiping could be undo/redo. Oh, the possibilities!
 
Tallest Skil said:
Seems like this would have been an old idea for the iPod classic before the proliferation of the iPod touch. It's not likely that we'll see this be an actual device unless it replaces the current iPod touch... but why when multitouch has proven itself to be so valuable?
Click to expand...

Agreed. This will never see the light of day.
 
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