thompr

xgman said:

 They are trying to be different and the trouble is different, at least in this case, is awkward looking. It takes away from the slickness of the rest of the phone. Then again this is the same company that insists we need chins on our imacs. T each their own I guess. I would have preferred 100% black out there always. This way looks like a file folder tab.

I'm not so sure that Apple insists that we must have a "chin" on our iMacs just for the sake of having a "chin" on our iMacs.  My hunch is that they need the space behind the "chin" (not to mention the space behind the large black bezel around the iMac screen) for specific components that they have decided are important to have in a desk-bound computer.  That makes more sense to me than your assertion.

schlack said:

that software rendered home button def won't be there. just two fingers swiping down from the top can replace default home button functionality. double click home button functionality can be three fingers swiping down from the top and guided mode and assisted mode can be put in the menu that comes up from the bottom. anyways, that's how I'd design it.

There are several things on the iPhone (even the Plus-sized version) that I commonly do one-handed (and obviously several things I cannot).  It may surprise you how long I can operate the bigger iPhone using only my thumb on the screen while the fingers on that hand are wrapped around the back of the phone and my other hand is occupied with something else (such as eating a bowl of cereal while I'm getting my morning web-surfing in).  Then I might bounce to any number of other apps that are similarly easy to use one-handed.  I use the home button a LOT while doing my one-handed thing.

But as soon as you take away the home button and replace it with a two-(or three)-finger-swipe, suddenly I'll be holding the phone in two hands a LOT more often.  A swipe up with my thumb would allow me to continue with one hand.

Yours is not a good idea.  Your idea basically turns the phone primarily into a two-handed device only.  I'm sure that Apple investigated numerous possible solutions and then settled on the one that was most convenient (or least inconvenient) for the user.  If your idea was tried, it was probably tossed out of the running almost immediately.

leavingthebigg said:

The $1,000+ iPhone has been rumored for most of 2017. If Samsung announces a $1,000+ Note 8 today, will Apple be considered a follower, a copy cat, a non-innovative company, etc? And, will Samsung be considered a leader, a trendsetter, an innovative company, etc?

Once Apple has its launch event, the lion's share of the attention will be squarely on the new iPhone(s), as if Samsung Note didn't even exist.  Sure, there will be comparisons made in the media (as there should be) and we may see some instances of the "Samsung as leader" narrative that you suggested.  But that will be just noise which gets washed away in the "iPhone as Jesus Phone" narrative.  The 3-D facial recognition will get a huge amount of air play, as will the 3-D supported AR/VR that work with the backside sensors, and so let's hope it all works as well as rumors suggest.

AppleInsider said:

It's not clear why the latest auction didn't generate as much interest as past sales, but it may be that bidders wanted a "pure" machine. The displayed unit was upgraded with a green case, an extra 8 kilobytes of RAM, and a 1702 EPROM chip, letting it run programs immediately after booting instead of waiting for them to enter RAM.

I think it's fairly clear that the modification of a vintage machine would decrease its value at auction.

bluefire1 said:

If AR comes to the iPhone 8 this fall, it will mean that Apple feels they perfected it. It won't just be exciting; it will be a game changer. 

Apple doesn't necessarily wait for perfection any longer.  When they released Maps, it was far from perfect.  When they released Siri, they called it a "Beta".  They've done that with a few other offerings as well.

Having said that, I do believe that Apple will bring us something good with AR, and if it isn't perfect right away, it will at least be better than their rivals' and will become the game changer in time.