Maybe this sliding cover prototype is for a second touchscreen, like Sprint's Kyocera Echo. I find this more likely than a hardware keyboard. Down the road it would also make it easier to add a 3D screen on the top part (like the Nintendo 3DS), since (small) touchscreens and 3D don't mix well.
Wow, you've managed to come up with the only explanation *worse* than the idea that Apple is thinking of adding a sliding keyboard.
This is pure speculation. It would be an amazing waste of resources to design, prototype, build and release into the wild ( for security purposes) a device which is not ever to be released. There may be unreleased products within Apple but they were rejected for other reasons.
Did you see a picture of a protype for a slide out keyboard? I sure didn't. I agree it would be silly to design and build out multiple models just to be red herring's. But it would be quite easy to leak design's for multiple models. It might take a designer and extra hour or so per design. In this case it would be well worth it to flush out where the leaks are coming from.
Apple still is not interested in shipping iPhones with multiple language hard keyboards. However, they do realize how much of an impact gaming has had on iOS platform in a positive way. Maybe a version of the iPod touch with a slider screen that reveals true buttons???
That said, I still don't think Apple will implement a slider anything into an iOS device.
Not necessarily. A smaller iPhone would arguably only work if it was a "feature phone."
Feature phones don't commonly have keyboards beyond the regular number keys. A small keyboard-less phone would therefore be the norm, not the exception.
Could they not also conceal the number pad? Especially with favorites etc. It's hard to look at the iPod lineup and not conceive of another iPhone for different market. I have the feeling that the regular iPhone will continue to advance to a point that not everyone will need all of the features and therefore there will be a nice spot for a nano type device. Kids def. do not need iphones yet they all beg for one and break them within weeks or months. I'm always wrong anyway.
Actually it's just a report (rumor). The photo is of a part unrelated to the slide out keyboard in question. So for apple to leak a rumor seems pretty easy and believable to me. and doesn't seem like much work to sure up their security efforts.
Apple still is not interested in shipping iPhones with multiple language hard keyboards. However, they do realize how much of an impact gaming has had on iOS platform in a positive way. Maybe a version of the iPod touch with a slider screen that reveals true buttons???
That said, I still don't think Apple will implement a slider anything into an iOS device.
Thats a good point about the localised keyboard. Would make more sense to be another touch screen given the costs of all the hardware keyboards.
Nothing was said about this being a physical keyboard, it could be a slide out LCD touch screen. This is not a bad thing at all as it would result in a much larger viewing or composition area. As long as Apple makes it suitably rugged I don't see a problem and would likely prefer such a phone. Especially if use of the slide out keyboard isn't mandatory.
This can be done well if the required engineering is done up front. It isn't a problem and would allow Apple to expand the iPhone line up. In otherwords this would be an addition to the candy bar format.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Outsider
Out of all the supposed features for the new iPhone 5 coming out, I find a slide out keyboard the hardest to swallow. Am Ithe only one?
If Apple wants to gain more market shares, there would be a need to create a phone with keyboard, given that most of the Blackberry non-corporate customers who are willing to stick to RIMM basically stay because of the keyboard.
One of the most compelling reasons for more than one model of iPhone would be, as you say, for marketshare. Global marketshare. And there are many disadvantages to a "gloabal" phone with a physical keyboard. Particularly in emerging markets where a standard QWERTY keyboard is not appropriate (e.g., China). A touch keyboard can easily be adapted and configured to the most optimal layout and characters for any typed language.
A phisical keyboard would be a big step back or necessitate multiple versions of physical keyboards for various countries around the globe.
Uh no. The keyboard is part of the OS, not the app, and there are already ways to provide external keyboard input.
I would hope (and highly doubt) Apple does not add a KB to all phones, but I don't care if they offer an option for the crackheads.
So would you envision the on-screen keyboard still popping up on an iPhone with a physical keyboard built-in? That seems weird, but if it's not there, apps that expect its presence and adjust layout accordingly are going to look pretty weird.
Me, I think the part pictured in the rumor wouldn't fit in any iPhone, unless the dock connector moves to the long side of the phone, which is super unlikely because it would break tons of accessories. iPhones aren't wide enough for this part to fit in.
So would you envision the on-screen keyboard still popping up on an iPhone with a physical keyboard built-in? That seems weird, but if it's not there, apps that expect its presence and adjust layout accordingly are going to look pretty weird.
Me, I think the part pictured in the rumor wouldn't fit in any iPhone, unless the dock connector moves to the long side of the phone, which is super unlikely because it would break tons of accessories. iPhones aren't wide enough for this part to fit in.
When a screen keyboard appears the apps get a notification, they dont need if the keyboard doesn't appear.
A slide out low-res LCD touch panel on which the keyboard is displayed (not printed). All it needs is enough resolution to show Chinese characters so they are recognizable. The LCD panel shows the corresponding keys, depending on the keyboard needed. This frees up screen space. Very neat, very clean, and it provides better main screen utilization and more real data, for example in email.
When a screen keyboard appears the apps get a notification, they dont need if the keyboard doesn't appear.
Sure. But the iPhone apps I've worked on have screens specifically designed to accomodate a keyboard. Think of the Facebook "comment" screen, where it's a white box on top and keyboard on bottom. Same with Foursquare, etc. Do you picture these apps just having a blank bottom area where the keyboard would be, or do you think developers will embrace another new layout permutation, adding to original iPhone & iPad?
I think it's really unlikely Apple would do anything to fragment the UI space further. The consistency for users and developers is one of their main competitive advantages over Android. You start making developers code/test different form factors and UI paradigms and the platform starts getting as messy as Android.
4 inch screen is an interesting proposition. Apple has been pretty clear that they want to commit themselves to a single display size for the iPhone, and not change it around from generation to generation.
On the other hand, sometimes I wish the screen was just a tad bit larger, a 3.8 maybe. For that to happen though Apple would have to somehow allow 3.5 inch apps to run unmodded on the 3.8 screen (perhaps with black striped in the extra areas).
I would say a bigger screen is highly unlikely and not too big a deal but would be somewhat welcome.
Out of all the supposed features for the new iPhone 5 coming out, I find a slide out keyboard the hardest to swallow. Am Ithe only one?
While I agree that it seems unlikely that Apple would do it, it still remains the one feature I most want to see. I hope this rumour is true, because I would buy one for sure.
4 inch screen is an interesting proposition. Apple has been pretty clear that they want to commit themselves to a single display size for the iPhone, and not change it around from generation to generation.
If the screen's physical size changes, I would expect the resolution to stay the same. That shouldn't make waves for developers, and if we're talking about a ~15% increase, I wouldn't expect it to have significant UX impact (buttons won't be way too big or anything, like when you blow up an iPhone app to iPad).
A slide-out hardware keyboard goes against what Steve Jobs said in his first ever iPhone keynote, specifically the part about how every app requires a different set of keys and you can't go back and add a key every time you come up with a new idea. False rumor for sure.
Not to mention that every single app in the App Store will have to be rewritten.
that's a valid point. And besides apple would never go through the struggle to ad a feature of wich 99.9% of the users are happy, that they never included it in the first place. A slide out keyboard on an iPhone is the most laughable roumor out in the wild.
Comments
Maybe this sliding cover prototype is for a second touchscreen, like Sprint's Kyocera Echo. I find this more likely than a hardware keyboard. Down the road it would also make it easier to add a 3D screen on the top part (like the Nintendo 3DS), since (small) touchscreens and 3D don't mix well.
Wow, you've managed to come up with the only explanation *worse* than the idea that Apple is thinking of adding a sliding keyboard.
This is pure speculation. It would be an amazing waste of resources to design, prototype, build and release into the wild ( for security purposes) a device which is not ever to be released. There may be unreleased products within Apple but they were rejected for other reasons.
Did you see a picture of a protype for a slide out keyboard? I sure didn't. I agree it would be silly to design and build out multiple models just to be red herring's. But it would be quite easy to leak design's for multiple models. It might take a designer and extra hour or so per design. In this case it would be well worth it to flush out where the leaks are coming from.
That said, I still don't think Apple will implement a slider anything into an iOS device.
Not necessarily. A smaller iPhone would arguably only work if it was a "feature phone."
Feature phones don't commonly have keyboards beyond the regular number keys. A small keyboard-less phone would therefore be the norm, not the exception.
Could they not also conceal the number pad? Especially with favorites etc. It's hard to look at the iPod lineup and not conceive of another iPhone for different market. I have the feeling that the regular iPhone will continue to advance to a point that not everyone will need all of the features and therefore there will be a nice spot for a nano type device. Kids def. do not need iphones yet they all beg for one and break them within weeks or months. I'm always wrong anyway.
It's a photo of a product, not a design.
Actually it's just a report (rumor). The photo is of a part unrelated to the slide out keyboard in question. So for apple to leak a rumor seems pretty easy and believable to me. and doesn't seem like much work to sure up their security efforts.
Apple still is not interested in shipping iPhones with multiple language hard keyboards. However, they do realize how much of an impact gaming has had on iOS platform in a positive way. Maybe a version of the iPod touch with a slider screen that reveals true buttons???
That said, I still don't think Apple will implement a slider anything into an iOS device.
Thats a good point about the localised keyboard. Would make more sense to be another touch screen given the costs of all the hardware keyboards.
This can be done well if the required engineering is done up front. It isn't a problem and would allow Apple to expand the iPhone line up. In otherwords this would be an addition to the candy bar format.
Out of all the supposed features for the new iPhone 5 coming out, I find a slide out keyboard the hardest to swallow. Am Ithe only one?
If Apple wants to gain more market shares, there would be a need to create a phone with keyboard, given that most of the Blackberry non-corporate customers who are willing to stick to RIMM basically stay because of the keyboard.
One of the most compelling reasons for more than one model of iPhone would be, as you say, for marketshare. Global marketshare. And there are many disadvantages to a "gloabal" phone with a physical keyboard. Particularly in emerging markets where a standard QWERTY keyboard is not appropriate (e.g., China). A touch keyboard can easily be adapted and configured to the most optimal layout and characters for any typed language.
A phisical keyboard would be a big step back or necessitate multiple versions of physical keyboards for various countries around the globe.
Uh no. The keyboard is part of the OS, not the app, and there are already ways to provide external keyboard input.
I would hope (and highly doubt) Apple does not add a KB to all phones, but I don't care if they offer an option for the crackheads.
So would you envision the on-screen keyboard still popping up on an iPhone with a physical keyboard built-in? That seems weird, but if it's not there, apps that expect its presence and adjust layout accordingly are going to look pretty weird.
Me, I think the part pictured in the rumor wouldn't fit in any iPhone, unless the dock connector moves to the long side of the phone, which is super unlikely because it would break tons of accessories. iPhones aren't wide enough for this part to fit in.
So would you envision the on-screen keyboard still popping up on an iPhone with a physical keyboard built-in? That seems weird, but if it's not there, apps that expect its presence and adjust layout accordingly are going to look pretty weird.
Me, I think the part pictured in the rumor wouldn't fit in any iPhone, unless the dock connector moves to the long side of the phone, which is super unlikely because it would break tons of accessories. iPhones aren't wide enough for this part to fit in.
When a screen keyboard appears the apps get a notification, they dont need if the keyboard doesn't appear.
And it provides a way to add gaming controls....
When a screen keyboard appears the apps get a notification, they dont need if the keyboard doesn't appear.
Sure. But the iPhone apps I've worked on have screens specifically designed to accomodate a keyboard. Think of the Facebook "comment" screen, where it's a white box on top and keyboard on bottom. Same with Foursquare, etc. Do you picture these apps just having a blank bottom area where the keyboard would be, or do you think developers will embrace another new layout permutation, adding to original iPhone & iPad?
I think it's really unlikely Apple would do anything to fragment the UI space further. The consistency for users and developers is one of their main competitive advantages over Android. You start making developers code/test different form factors and UI paradigms and the platform starts getting as messy as Android.
On the other hand, sometimes I wish the screen was just a tad bit larger, a 3.8 maybe. For that to happen though Apple would have to somehow allow 3.5 inch apps to run unmodded on the 3.8 screen (perhaps with black striped in the extra areas).
I would say a bigger screen is highly unlikely and not too big a deal but would be somewhat welcome.
Out of all the supposed features for the new iPhone 5 coming out, I find a slide out keyboard the hardest to swallow. Am Ithe only one?
While I agree that it seems unlikely that Apple would do it, it still remains the one feature I most want to see. I hope this rumour is true, because I would buy one for sure.
4 inch screen is an interesting proposition. Apple has been pretty clear that they want to commit themselves to a single display size for the iPhone, and not change it around from generation to generation.
If the screen's physical size changes, I would expect the resolution to stay the same. That shouldn't make waves for developers, and if we're talking about a ~15% increase, I wouldn't expect it to have significant UX impact (buttons won't be way too big or anything, like when you blow up an iPhone app to iPad).
I always thought that elimination of physical buttons was the goal. Unless the sliding cover is merely for cosmetic purposes.
The picture of the dock connnector looks real but completely unremarkable. The rest is absolute nonsense.
iPhone 5 will be thicker, have a slide out keyboard, and 3D?
Only a complete moron would even consider this and only a blog desperate for hits would bother to publish it.
Yeah, and it will run Android too
Not to mention that every single app in the App Store will have to be rewritten.
that's a valid point. And besides apple would never go through the struggle to ad a feature of wich 99.9% of the users are happy, that they never included it in the first place. A slide out keyboard on an iPhone is the most laughable roumor out in the wild.