Remember back when the white iPhone 4 release was delayed for months? Lots of rumors about different issues including light leakage, etc. One that I had read and I'm sorry I couldn't find the link was that Steve Jobs was not happy with the way the front looked with the black opening of the proximity sensor. (it didn't have a front facing camera) I'm not sure of the validity of this rumor since there is a picture of Steve holding a white iPhone 4 at launch with the proximity sensor showing. I have a silver (white) iPhone 5s and the two black dots don't really bother me. A flash on the front would be nice for notifications if the brightness could be controlled. At the age of 56 I'm not into taking selfies.
The biggest problem with the grill is that the diameter of the lens is larger than the height of it. I tried to mock that up when making an iPhone 6 mockup before but having the grill as tall as the current lens doesn't look good. Nor does it look good with a large hole in the middle with the grill extending out from it. One design I felt worked ok was the following:
That's an iPhone 6 mockup with a 4.4" edge to edge display and the bezels reduced. It was to avoid having to deal with a hand brick like the Galaxy phones. It looks like we'll have to put up with the hand brick for now. The idea with the holes was that one would be the proximity sensor and the others would be for the speakers to either side of the lens. I didn't think about there being a flash but that would work too.
The single line grill design is simpler but I reckon the only way that'll work is if they figure out how to turn the display into a camera by putting a photodetector at every pixel along with an RGB component. Having a sapphire front panel could help but grease and fingerprints are the bigger problem. They's need a surface coating that things don't stick to like this:
or just a way to compensate for the grease on the display.
On the subject of patents, they are often used for protection from other people suing them. Apple has been sued over the most frivolous of patents so it makes sense for them to patent as much as possible.
What a god-awful, friggin freaky idea for a cell phone. As it is, I can hardly even see the earpiece grille because of accumulated dust and fuzz. That's just normal use of a phone... doesn't affect sound transmission appreciably. But you sure aren't going to get good optics thru it. Compare that to a transparent sapphire covering over the main camera which can be readily cleaned, or the oleophobic gorilla glass over the face-time camera which we all know can be cleaned by a wipe across our sleeve. That ain't gonna cut it with the earpiece grille. Nope, this would be a big step backwards. Thankfully, the phone is merely one "embodiment". Hopefully there are others for which this is more practical.
You're right. The way the grill is designed right now it's definitely not going to work. Mine gets fuzz in it all the time too. If it's for the iPhone then a earpiece redesign will have to be done. If it's for other devices then this is even better.
This is interesting and one more refutation of Isaacson's stupid comment that Google is more innovative than Apple (who he said after Steve died that Apple had nothing new up its sleeve). Isaacson's job was to report and write, not think. He did one (report) and not the other. As we now can see Samsung has all kinds of problems, Android (Google) still does, and Apple is making mountains of money and they haven't turned on the spigot (ideas and execution) yet. Assuming we don't have some kind of war or really terrible tragedy, Apple will be around a lot longer than "old" Walt. And with this post on AI I see we have the usual naysayers about what Apple is attempting. These folks do not have all the details, just like I don't yet they want their own FaceTime. Get a job and leave the future to the Futurists who actually do something.
Technologically speaking this is a step back from having the camera build into the display so I'm guessing that's at least shelved for now and that this grill option is likely to happen within a couple years.
The biggest problem with the grill is that the diameter of the lens is larger than the height of it.
Add in the potential for it being more recessed and what I assume is a slight angle to the camera and they may have to go with a smaller lens to make it aestetically pleasing.
You're right. The way the grill is designed right now it's definitely not going to work. Mine gets fuzz in it all the time too. If it's for the iPhone then a earpiece redesign will have to be done. If it's for other devices then this is even better.
The first thing that came to mind after seeing the drawing of the camera behind the grill was "Uhh ... No". How do you clean the lens? Impossible unless you can can remove the mesh, and that's a complicated non-starter. Even if you could do that, the lens would be recessed and hard to reach. The current iPhone design of the camera lens flush with the surface makes it simple to clean. So I have trouble taking this proposal seriously.
The biggest problem with the grill is that the diameter of the lens is larger than the height of it. I tried to mock that up when making an iPhone 6 mockup before but having the grill as tall as the current lens doesn't look good.
Did you save that mockup? Post it; let’s see how it looks.
Originally Posted by Crowley
I have no idea what angle you're trying to argue here.
The ability to read (plus some critical thinking) would fix that. Hint: what broken argument comes up in every thread about patents? Namely this thread. Namely the argument to which I was replying.
The ability to read (plus some critical thinking) would fix that. Hint: what broken argument comes up in every thread about patents? Namely this thread. Namely the argument to which I was replying.
Read what? You haven't said anything that is in any way indicative of the argument you are trying to make.
So goddamn tiresome your snippy retorts and lack of clarity. My reading is fine, it's your writing that leaves an awful lot to be desired.
iPhone users and iOS developers know that the flash LED luminosity is controllable through software.
I'm sure it is, but Apples current implementation is just an on/off LED flash for alerts. If you can modify the brightness then it's not particularly well signposted and I'm not aware of the method.
I have friends that came from Android to iPhone and one thing they miss is the notification light so they don't have to wake their phone to see if they missed call or got a text message. I wish Apple would do that with iPhone.
Agreed. It drove me crazy when I went from BlackBerry to an iPhone. I just could not understand why such a simple feature would not be on the iPhone. I don't carry my phone with me all of the time when at the office so I get messages when I am away from my desk and never know it unless I pick up the phone and look at it.
Comments
Remember back when the white iPhone 4 release was delayed for months? Lots of rumors about different issues including light leakage, etc. One that I had read and I'm sorry I couldn't find the link was that Steve Jobs was not happy with the way the front looked with the black opening of the proximity sensor. (it didn't have a front facing camera) I'm not sure of the validity of this rumor since there is a picture of Steve holding a white iPhone 4 at launch with the proximity sensor showing. I have a silver (white) iPhone 5s and the two black dots don't really bother me. A flash on the front would be nice for notifications if the brightness could be controlled. At the age of 56 I'm not into taking selfies.
[IMG ALT=""]http://forums.appleinsider.com/content/type/61/id/46795/width/800/height/1000[/IMG]
That's an iPhone 6 mockup with a 4.4" edge to edge display and the bezels reduced. It was to avoid having to deal with a hand brick like the Galaxy phones. It looks like we'll have to put up with the hand brick for now. The idea with the holes was that one would be the proximity sensor and the others would be for the speakers to either side of the lens. I didn't think about there being a flash but that would work too.
The single line grill design is simpler but I reckon the only way that'll work is if they figure out how to turn the display into a camera by putting a photodetector at every pixel along with an RGB component. Having a sapphire front panel could help but grease and fingerprints are the bigger problem. They's need a surface coating that things don't stick to like this:
or just a way to compensate for the grease on the display.
On the subject of patents, they are often used for protection from other people suing them. Apple has been sued over the most frivolous of patents so it makes sense for them to patent as much as possible.
What a god-awful, friggin freaky idea for a cell phone. As it is, I can hardly even see the earpiece grille because of accumulated dust and fuzz. That's just normal use of a phone... doesn't affect sound transmission appreciably. But you sure aren't going to get good optics thru it. Compare that to a transparent sapphire covering over the main camera which can be readily cleaned, or the oleophobic gorilla glass over the face-time camera which we all know can be cleaned by a wipe across our sleeve. That ain't gonna cut it with the earpiece grille. Nope, this would be a big step backwards. Thankfully, the phone is merely one "embodiment". Hopefully there are others for which this is more practical.
You're right. The way the grill is designed right now it's definitely not going to work. Mine gets fuzz in it all the time too. If it's for the iPhone then a earpiece redesign will have to be done. If it's for other devices then this is even better.
This is interesting and one more refutation of Isaacson's stupid comment that Google is more innovative than Apple (who he said after Steve died that Apple had nothing new up its sleeve). Isaacson's job was to report and write, not think. He did one (report) and not the other. As we now can see Samsung has all kinds of problems, Android (Google) still does, and Apple is making mountains of money and they haven't turned on the spigot (ideas and execution) yet. Assuming we don't have some kind of war or really terrible tragedy, Apple will be around a lot longer than "old" Walt. And with this post on AI I see we have the usual naysayers about what Apple is attempting. These folks do not have all the details, just like I don't yet they want their own FaceTime. Get a job and leave the future to the Futurists who actually do something.
Add in the potential for it being more recessed and what I assume is a slight angle to the camera and they may have to go with a smaller lens to make it aestetically pleasing.
Fool me seventeen times, shame on me. You know exactly what the patent is about.
What the article says it's about? Putting a camera flash behind the earpiece grille? Like in the illustration?
I have no idea what angle you're trying to argue here.
It describes its concept as a potential improvement that could make its way into future products.
Oh well. Something to look forward to in next year's iPhone 6S maybe.
Did you save that mockup? Post it; let’s see how it looks.
The ability to read (plus some critical thinking) would fix that. Hint: what broken argument comes up in every thread about patents? Namely this thread. Namely the argument to which I was replying.
So goddamn tiresome your snippy retorts and lack of clarity. My reading is fine, it's your writing that leaves an awful lot to be desired.
iPhone users and iOS developers know that the flash LED luminosity is controllable through software.
Man, I thought you'd have something more than that semantic nonsense. What a colossal waste of time you are.
Good to know that you think patenting ideas is okay. That’s the opposite of every law on the books, but you’re entitled to have a silly opinion.
Oops, no, I just patented it. You owe me royalties.
Toodles.
I have friends that came from Android to iPhone and one thing they miss is the notification light so they don't have to wake their phone to see if they missed call or got a text message. I wish Apple would do that with iPhone.
Agreed. It drove me crazy when I went from BlackBerry to an iPhone. I just could not understand why such a simple feature would not be on the iPhone. I don't carry my phone with me all of the time when at the office so I get messages when I am away from my desk and never know it unless I pick up the phone and look at it.
Or if you’d read posts before replying...