Video shows purported next-gen iPhone 'uni-body' backplate in detail

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  • Reply 121 of 142
    diplicationdiplication Posts: 609member


    Hey! That looks just like the phone that some geek left on the bar last night...

  • Reply 122 of 142
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by gordy View Post


    Regarding the case's material, didn't I read on here that liquid metal would satisfy the antenna concerns, while offering the phone more durability?  Why is everyone assuming this casing is aluminum?



    I think that the presence of the milling machine lacing marks indicated that it was not molded and therefore not LM, probably aluminum. 

  • Reply 123 of 142
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    mstone wrote: »
    I think that the presence of the milling machine lacing marks indicated that it was not molded and therefore not LM, probably aluminum. 

    That's how liquidmetal prototyping would be done. Making molds is very, very expensive, so they would be likely to machine prototypes until they were happy with the design and THEN make molds. Of course, I'm not sure how a prototype would end up in the hands of the people who made the video, so maybe that's not the explanation.
  • Reply 124 of 142
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,953member
    mstone wrote: »
    I think that the presence of the milling machine lacing marks indicated that it was not molded and therefore not LM, probably aluminum. 

    If it's a molded or die cast part, it's possible the lacing is on the mold side. I've even seen that sort of finish in places on plastic parts where the finish isn't critical, it was simply lacing on the mold that wasn't polished out. That said, this does look like a machined part.
  • Reply 125 of 142
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,455moderator
    dmarcoot wrote: »
    looks nice. But i think the aluminum will be more likely dent or ding if dropped than compared to the steel and glass of the 4. My original iPhone with aluminum back dented quite easily from hitting objects as hard as my shoe while I was sitting.

    Yeah but it had curved corners with nothing behind them. This design has a 90 degree edge and the battery will be flush against most of the back. It's going to be rock solid. It certainly beats a glass plate that can shatter on a single drop:



    If this new design goes further by buffering the glass with rubber and making the outer metal parts more prone to contacting surface before the glass does, it should prevent quite a few shattering incidents.

    I did think the camera position was a bit odd as it wasn't symmetrically spaced but it doesn't look too bad in some shots. In the following image, you can see clearly how it would help avoid impact damage. The unibody enclosure envelopes the glass components. If it does that on the front, the glass surface is much better protected from impact.

    657

    The other thing I'm starting to come round to is that the split design gives it some character. The more I see it next to the 4, the current model looks quite plain.

    "There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion."
  • Reply 126 of 142
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Marvin View Post

    The other thing I'm starting to come round to is that the split design gives it some character. The more I see it next to the 4, the current model looks quite plain.




    Isn't that the idea? The only character I see in that is "bunch of plastic parts snapped together". That's what it evokes in my mind, at least, and that's probably because it's black. It just looks bad, you know? Two-tone black? Ugh. Black and silver are gorgeous together, which is why the first iPhone worked. But this looks like a panel that pops off. People are going to think they can take the battery out… image


     


    The idea behind Apple designs—take away the 'magical', take away the 'intuitive', even—is they're sexy. Their curves and lines and colors and overall shape evokes sex/want/desire.


     


    I would sincerely hope they do a single panel back by the time this thing ships. If not, I doubt we'll see Jony in the video they put on the screen talking about it.

  • Reply 127 of 142
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post





    That's how liquidmetal prototyping would be done. Making molds is very, very expensive, so they would be likely to machine prototypes until they were happy with the design and THEN make molds. Of course, I'm not sure how a prototype would end up in the hands of the people who made the video, so maybe that's not the explanation.


    If they were just machining prototypes would they go to the trouble of anodizing it and putting on the logos and such?

  • Reply 128 of 142
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mstone View Post

    If they were just machining prototypes would they go to the trouble of anodizing it and putting on the logos and such?


     


    It's Apple.

  • Reply 129 of 142
    gazoobeegazoobee Posts: 3,754member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post





    That's how liquidmetal prototyping would be done. Making molds is very, very expensive, so they would be likely to machine prototypes until they were happy with the design and THEN make molds. Of course, I'm not sure how a prototype would end up in the hands of the people who made the video, so maybe that's not the explanation.


     


    Barring some scientific breakthrough I don't see them using liquid metal for the casing of the iPhone anytime soon.  


    It would be cool, but the things it would add are not really necessary (extra durability, bouncability, complicated shape mouldings), and the drawback is that it would add literally hundreds of dollars to the cost. 

  • Reply 130 of 142
    gazoobeegazoobee Posts: 3,754member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by bizzle View Post


    My grandparents have an 8 track player in the garage that I used to listen to the tapes my father sent back from the Vietnam war and it uses the same RCA connections that my record player used in the 80's and my receivers use today.


     


    Connections aren't "technology" and there are more valid reasons to keep them around especially when there's no technical reason to get rid of them and tons of devices and peripherals by the same company still using them.


    ...



     


    Except those same RCA connectors *have* been replaced in certain situations and on certain devices.  Which devices?  


    Those that are physically too small to house them any more.  That's the "technical reason to get rid of them."


     


    That's exactly what's happening here.  The devices are too small to house the giant connectors from the 80's and 90's so they are being replaced with smaller ones.  

  • Reply 131 of 142
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


     


    It's Apple.



    Perhaps, but it seems like that sort of prototyping would be done in the States closer to Cupertino. Not some place where these Chinese rumor providers would likely get access. Once the production line is being fitted together, that is when an early test part might be stolen.

  • Reply 132 of 142
    izazaizaza Posts: 8member


    I agree.

  • Reply 133 of 142
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,953member
    mstone wrote: »
    If they were just machining prototypes would they go to the trouble of anodizing it and putting on the logos and such?

    Whatever the treatment, I doubt it's that big of a deal. Anodizing or black nickel plating might be the least expensive and troublesome part of a prototype part. Adding a logo might not be that big of a deal because you're trying to test out as many processes and designs as possible.
  • Reply 134 of 142

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by GQB View Post


    Good lord. You actually stare at the bottom of a device and get upset because its 'unbalanced'? Seriously?


    Stare at the top of a 4S then and go into a tizzy about the fact that the top is asymmetrical.



     






    I didn't stare at it. The lack of balance jumped out at me. I know that the top is asymmetrical. That's fine. The problem is that the bottom is close to symmetrical, and that just looks wrong.


     


    I am not upset, by the way. I just notice these kinds of things. That's why I like Apple products, or have so far, anyway. I could tell that there was another maniac at the design end who was watching out for these things. So much industrial design is so careless in comparison. They let these little things slip through. One here, one there, and before you know it the device is no longer elegant; it's mediocre.

  • Reply 135 of 142
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    mstone wrote: »
    If they were just machining prototypes would they go to the trouble of anodizing it and putting on the logos and such?

    Absolutely. Apple is fanatical about the appearance of their devices and they make the prototypes as close to the finished product as possible. Read the book about Jobs to get an idea of the level of detail they follow in product development. Heck, you can buy prototypes on eBay which never made it to production, but which look absolutely indistinguishable from finished products.

    I can easily see them going to that level of details. How do you evaluate the appearance if the product isn't completely finished? And even things like how it feels in your hand and how easy it is to hold onto it without dropping it will be affected by the surface treatment.
  • Reply 136 of 142
    mac_128mac_128 Posts: 3,454member
    You're willing to wait hours to copy stuff to a 64GB device over 802.11n?

    That's such a gimmick, though. It's not wireless at all; you have to put it in exactly the right place. You may as well just plug it in..
    Touché. If I were restoring my iPhone, or setting it up for the first time, sure, I'd plug it in. But with iOS 5 I am already synching my iPhone and iPad both over wifi and loving it. For maintenance that's all we need. Heck I can restore my MacBook over wifi too, but I doubt I would ever do it. The point of my response was merely that for normal use, the 30-pin dock connector is moot with the other technologies available.

    I have a friend with a BMW who uses his iPhone/iPod via Bluetooth. The only reason he has to plug it into anything is to charge it, which he does via the power outlet in his center console, and only for longer drives. Plugs in the iPhone, throws it in the box. Closes the lid. Siri does everything else via Bluetooth. Why on earth would I want a 30-pin dock connector in that situation? When he comes to my place and wants to show me something on video, he streams it to my Apple TV via AirPlay. When he wants to play a new mp3 he streams it to my AirPlay compatible stereo. This is where everything is going. Will millions of customers be inconvenienced at first? Sure. But that's nothing new in the world of technology. It will be a minor inconvenience at best with adapters available. And if carrying an adapter around is really that big a deal, then keep the iPhone 4S -- it will cost even less once Apple introduces the new iPhone. The irony is that finding 30-pin docks in the wild will quickly become difficult requiring one to carry around an adapter anyway ... Haha! I say this because I don't know anyone who isn't eager to cut the wire as soon as the technology becomes reasonably affordable ... And I'd say we're close. Most won't lament the loss of a system that served them well for a decade ...

    As for inductive charging, I'm not sure I get your point. Apple will not likely implement it anyway until they can do it better than what I've seen currently on the market. Besides, when you charge a phone presently, you are at the mercy of placing it in a location near a power source, 30-pin dock connector or otherwise, or the placement of a 30-pin compatible dock, of which many older docks won't charge the latest iPhones. So other than playing music through the dock (which can also be accomplished via Bluetooth, or AirPlay), I'm not sure how you would use your phone anyway while charging, without a set of earbuds, or a Bluetooth headset. So placing it on an inductive charging station, is really no different than plugging it into a dock or the wall.

    Bottom line, changing the docking connector is a very good thing in the long run. I doubt it will be standardized USB with the rest of the industry, but we can always hope.
  • Reply 137 of 142
    antkm1antkm1 Posts: 1,441member
    doh123 wrote: »
    why does everyone insist on saying "iPhone 5"

    its unlikely they'll name it any number at all, but if they do, its the 6th iPhone model.

    iPhone 1 = iPhone
    iPhone 2 = iPhone 3G
    iPhone 3 = iPhone 3Gs
    iPhone 4 = iPhone 4
    iPhone 5 = iPhone 4s
    iPhone 6 = ??????????

    As i completely agree with you, and i've madly argued your same points...but I don't think anyone will ever get this. And I think the reason is partially Apple's fault.

    The iPhone 3G was actually the 2nd gen iPhone. But i think subconsciously people see that as the next in the series before the 4 and 4s and after the first gen. Even though there were 2versions of the 3g iphone. Now I've heard rumors that the 3g was given that name not only because of the technology inside the device, but also because Jobs and/or Apple thought 2nd gen devices had a bad omen. But we saw that policy change when iPad 2 came out, so maybe that's just urban legend.

    So that is the first problem. The second problem was that apple got it right when the iPhone 4 came out. But then they confused it all again with the 4s.

    Look at it from this POV. maybe people see the iphone nomanclature as part of the major design evolutions, not the actual generation of the device. So the iphone gen 1 design changed when the iPhone 3G was released, but that design largely remained the same with the next generation, hence the reason why the sufix was largely the same just with the added "s". Same thing happened with the iPhone 4 and 4s. However, the 4was actually the 4th gen device, which is where (IMO) the confusion and the major arguments lie. I can see people's point by thinking the 6th gen iPhone might very well be name the iPhone 5, since the design is rumored to evolve quite a bit from the previous generation and design.

    BUT, I don't think it will be called 5 because even by design evolutionary logic, 5 still doesn't make any sense. First because it doesn't infer the generation of the device and secondly it doesnt infer anything about specific features of the device ( much like the 3G and 4 did). So 5 doesn't seem likely by any logical POV. Since they probably don't want to call it iPhone 4G or LTE, due to current allegations against that claim, it would most likely be called iPhone 6 should it have a suffix at all.

    Regardless of all this...I think the argument is dead. Now that we've seen too major product releases since the iPhone 4s and they both drop (or in the case of the MBP, not include) the suffix, and simply call it the new "product X"...as I predicted BTW. so I think it's pretty safe to say the next gen iPhone will not have a suffix, but be called the "new" iPhone. You might noticed on the back of every iDevice the suffix has never been there.
  • Reply 138 of 142
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    [quote name="antkm1" url="/t/150521/video-shows-purported-next-gen-iphone-uni-body-backplate-in-detail/120#post_2133305"]…but I don't think anyone will ever get this.[/QUOTE]

    Yep, but not for the reason you're thinking, though.

    [QUOTE]The iPhone 3G was actually the 2nd gen iPhone. But i think subconsciously people see that as the next in the series before the 4 and 4s and after the first gen. Even though there were 2versions of the 3g iphone.[/QUOTE]

    I don't get why we didn't have people screaming that what would become the iPhone 3GS would be the "iPhone 4". Because that's exactly what they did last year. And then when they were proven wrong, apparently they looked at the past, saw two 3s and then a 4 and assumed that "two 4s make a 5".

    [QUOTE]However, the 4was actually the 4th gen device,[/QUOTE]

    The iPhone 4 reports as "iPhone 3,1" internally. But absolutely, it's the 4th generation (released) device.

    [QUOTE]BUT, I don't think it will be called 5 because even by design evolutionary logic, 5 still doesn't make any sense. First because it doesn't infer the generation of the device and secondly it doesnt infer anything about specific features of the device ( much like the 3G and 4 did). So 5 doesn't seem likely by any logical POV. Since they probably don't want to call it iPhone 4G or LTE, due to current allegations against that claim, it would most likely be called iPhone 6 should it have a suffix at all.[/QUOTE]

    The worst was when (before we knew it would be the A5X) you could ask someone "Why would the 6th generation iPhone, the one with an A6 processor and which will run iOS 6, be called the 'iPhone 5'?" and have them come back and tell you "It's the iPhone 5; you're wrong." :lol:

    [QUOTE]Regardless of all this...I think the argument is dead.[/QUOTE]

    NOT AS LONG AS THE STUPID MEDIA CONTINUES TO TYPE "IPHONE 5", IT'S NOT. [SIZE=7]????????????????????????????[/SIZE]

    I can't wait for the stories in the evening of announcement day in October when every website is posting how "shocked" they are that it's not called "iPhone 5" and how Apple "blew us all away" by calling it "iPhone".

    Edit: WOO, emoji! We should just add emoji support and throw away our emoticons entirely. Emoji are FAR better done, there are a great many more of them, and they actually work.

    Though I think the iPhone shows up as a "generic cell phone" on non-Apple devices.
  • Reply 139 of 142
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    Edit: WOO, emoji! We should just add emoji support and throw away our emoticons entirely. Emoji are FAR better done, there are a great many more of them, and they actually work.
    Though I think the iPhone shows up as a "generic cell phone" on non-Apple devices.

    Great idea! You might have noticed that I use a certain formatting for my posts. For instance, using bulleted and indented hyperlinks. This makes posting much faster and, hopefully, easier for people to read.

    Anyway... I mention this because I use TextExpander to allow me some simple key combinations to make easy work of it. I recommend users who do want to read emoticons to do the same thing.

    Here is a site that seems fairly complete. The emoji are on the right side of the columns. The best part is these are only unicode not images sent from a server.


    505
  • Reply 140 of 142
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    For reference, what do you see above? Are these correct? I know that apparently when I use the proper Unicode sarcasm punctuation, some people can't see it (for whatever reason…).

    [URL=http://forums.appleinsider.com/image/id/169172/width/506/height/77][IMG]http://forums.appleinsider.com/image/id/169172/width/506/height/77[/IMG][/URL]
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