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You know, to make the rest of the iPod's feel better, they are replacing the click wheel with this, so the iPod line would look like....

Untitled-5.png
 
It seems like a fingerprint reader that Apple is using internally for a few years now. I don't think this possible future product will release anytime soon.
 
Anybody with a brain knows this is for the new iPod Shuffle they're prepping production for a September release...duh.
 
It can't be for the shuffle as one would be forced to look at the screen to use it. The shuffle is designed to be controlled without the eyes. With a touch-screen that even more is quadratic, this is definitely no longer the case.

Shuffle died anyway in my eyes since the removal of buttons. Shame.
 
You know, to make the rest of the iPod's feel better, they are replacing the click wheel with this, so the iPod line would look like....

snip

Why would anyone do that? Why not just join the two screens? Why two? It's a waste of power, space and component costs. The design (not the mockup) is hideous too.
 
I envision a redesigned AppleTV being controlled by a thing like this.


EDIT (after reading earlier comments): Damn, someone posted this before me. Well, I stand by this idea.
 
You know, to make the rest of the iPod's feel better, they are replacing the click wheel with this, so the iPod line would look like....

[#IMG]http://i320.photobucket.com/albums/nn334/iMac_06/Untitled-5.png[/IMG]

Those are hideous. Just stick a single screen on the HD-based iPods if they wanted them touch-based.
 
I was going to make a stupid guess like "fingerprint scanner", but yours is WAY better - that's a very good guess, I like yours very much.

I am sorry, but what would you charge with it?

In Germany (but parts of the USA are at the same longitude) the sun radiation is about 100 Watt per square meter on average over a whole year.

Even if the panel had 20% efficiency (much better than anything you can presently buy) you would get 20 Watts out of a 1 m^2 panel. But this panel would be only 0,0009 square meters, giving you just 0,02 Watts output!
A typical smartohone battery has 4 Wh of enery. At 0,02 W it would take more than 200 hours (8 days!) to charge that. It is probably not even strong enough to keep the device in standby mode without charging at all.

The light in buildings is only a small fraction of what is available outside and it is zero in your pocket ;)

Christian
 
It seems like a fingerprint reader that Apple is using internally for a few years now. I don't think this possible future product will release anytime soon.

There is no way that apple would produce and design their own internal security hardware. Much too expensive when there are commercial solutions available everywhere.
 
FaceTime back screen

During development of iPhone 4 with FaceTime, Apple toyed with the idea of having a small screen on the back of the phone, which could be useful for seeing camera input from either side using either camera. Also handy for taking self-portraits with the better quality main camera. The screen is touch-sensitive so that you can control the camera functions as well. Of course, this would require the back side of the iPhone to have a cut-out for the screen, or to be made of glass so that it resembles the front of the phone. So Jony Ive worked out a way to have both the front and back of the iPhone made out of glass. In the end, Apple decided to hold off on the feature for now. Perhaps iPhone 5.

I mocked up a picture to show the exact size of the screen relative to the iPhone itself using a shot of the graduating student from the commercial. Based on size and the functionality of a touch screen at that size, this is clearly what the screen was made for. Touch input is minimal when used for the camera, probably for (1) focus, (2) switch cameras, (3) take picture (when not used with FaceTime).

Unlike my mockup, I would imagine the screen and the Apple logo would probably be swapped to make the screen easier to see and use.
 

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There are some interesting guesses in this topic.

An iPod shuffle with a touch screen would be cool. But a watch? wat

EDIT: I just remembered that when I was younger I thought about how cool an iWatch would be. :|
 
During development of iPhone 4 with FaceTime, Apple toyed with the idea of having a small screen on the back of the phone, which could be useful for seeing camera input from either side using either camera. Also handy for taking self-portraits with the better quality main camera. The screen is touch-sensitive so that you can control the camera functions as well. Of course, this would require the back side of the iPhone to have a cut-out for the screen, or to be made of glass so that it resembles the front of the phone. So Jony Ive worked out a way to have both the front and back of the iPhone made out of glass. In the end, Apple decided to hold off on the feature for now. Perhaps iPhone 5.

I mocked up a picture to show the exact size of the screen relative to the iPhone itself using a shot of the graduating student from the commercial. Based on size and the functionality of a touch screen at that size, this is clearly what the screen was made for. Touch input is minimal when used for the camera, probably for (1) focus, (2) switch cameras, (3) take picture (when not used with FaceTime).

Unlike my mockup, I would imagine the screen and the Apple logo would probably be swapped to make the screen easier to see and use.

Space and power consumption was probably other issues. The iPhone 4 internals are cramped and every micron is used by some kind of component. There's simply no space for adding an additional screen unless you make the whole phone thicker (a big NO for Apple).
 
It's too small, but a bigger one would be nice as a trackpad on MacBooks/MacBook Pros. I already want one :p

I guess it's going to be the new shuffle. It can't be for nanos as it is square. You can't watch videos on that.
 
gizmodo is reporting it as 1.2"x1.2"..

remember about 6 months ago apple hired that guy that was known for his work in wearable electronics?

I'm assuming this is some kind of iwatch, ala prada2/lba-t950

defnitely not a remote for the new appletv.. our iphones/ipads are our remotes for the new appletv.
 
Haha, wasn't there just a thread on voting whether or not we would buy an "iWatch?" This looks perfect for it, but I doubt Apple will be releasing any new hardware any time soon. They have their hands full!


Probably a new iPod nano, could be the new Apple TV remote like previous posters have said.
 
gizmodo is reporting it as 1.2"x1.2"..

remember about 6 months ago apple hired that guy that was known for his work in wearable electronics?

I'm assuming this is some kind of iwatch, ala prada2/lba-t950

3cm is roughly 1.2 inches. Meters to inches. I'm hoping for a watch that has a flexible display (our wrists aren't exactly flat and level) and powered by body heat and/or inertia.
 
Space and power consumption was probably other issues. The iPhone 4 internals are cramped and every micron is used by some kind of component. There's simply no space for adding an additional screen unless you make the whole phone thicker (a big NO for Apple).

That's true, and ultimately, the back screen is unnecessary. I think when they started planning on adding the front camera, they assumed a rear screen would be needed to see and control from the back, but during testing they probably concluded that it just wasn't important. Most people will be using the iPhone from the front side during FaceTime regardless of which camera is being used. Though the glass back was probably a side effect of early designs with the rear screen.
 
That's true, and ultimately, the back screen is unnecessary. I think when they started planning on adding the front camera, they assumed a rear screen would be needed to see and control from the back, but during testing they probably concluded that it just wasn't important. Most people will be using the iPhone from the front side during FaceTime regardless of which camera is being used. Though the glass back was probably a side effect of early designs with the rear screen.

I agree. I was wondering why iFixit only confirmed the front glass to be gorilla and not the back. It might have been gorilla glass due to what you described but changed to non-gorilla glass in the final design to conserve on costs. There's not much reason for the back to be gorilla glass otherwise. :)
 
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