For those seeking a tactile, hardware iPad game controller, the Fling Joystick for iPad ($30 for 2) offers both good news and bad news. The good news is that when the Fling is compatible with a game, it completely changes the experience for the better. It makes the controls accurate and supplies that reassuring physical feedback of a hardware controller. But the bad news is that the Fling isn’t compatible with as many games as you’d think it would be. Even with games that use a virtual directional pad seemingly suited for the joystick, the Fling often interferes with various game elements to the point the game is unplayable. If you think the Fling will work with your favorite game just because it utilizes a virtual d-pad, think again, as there’s a good chance you’ll be disappointed.
Steve Jobs reportedly hates buttons, so here’s a great way for Apple to combine three of the iPhone’s buttons into one. Why not take the ringer switch and combine it with the two volume buttons into a single volume rocker/switch? Ingenious.
Apple makes a Smart Cover for the iPad, so why not the iPhone as well? Here’s a cool concept of how an iPhone smart cover could take things to the next level via a tactile keyboard that overlays the iPhone’s current touch keyboard. By moving the keys lower to cover up the iPhone’s home button, and overlapping the iPhone’s sides, the smart cover supplies both extra room for your fingers and more screen space. An LED backlight means you can type in the dark.
When not in use, the smart cover folds behind the iPhone and doubles as a stand.
Ready for some déjà vu? In a strange repeat of a similar incident last year, Apple has contacted police concerning a lost iPhone prototype that went missing from their possession in a San Francisco bar in July, according to CNET. The prototype iPhone was in the possession of an Apple employee prior to its disappearance at a Mexican bar and restaurant called Cava 22 in San Francisco’s Mission district.
CNET reports that the whereabouts of the iPhone prototype are still unknown, but claims it may have been sold on Craigslist for $200. They offer no further details on the Craigslist sale, however, so it’s unknown what leads them to suspect it was sold on the popular online classifieds site.
Immediately after the prototype went missing in the bar, Apple tracked the iPhone to a two-story house in the Bernal Heights neighborhood. Apple then contacted San Francisco police, explaining they were “desperate” to have the phone returned and said it was “priceless,” according to a source.
Police then, along with Apple investigators, visited the Bernal Heights home and spoke with a twentysomething man who confirmed he was at Cava 22 the same night as the prototype iPhone went missing. The man denied knowing anything about the phone, however. Police then received permission from the man to search the house. Police found nothing.
Next, Apple investigators offered the young man money for the prototype, promising no questions or charges, but the young man reiterated that he knew nothing of the phone.
The incident is eerily similar to an incident last year when Apple employee Gray Powell lost an iPhone 4 prototype in a German bar in California. The prototype was later sold to website Gizmodo, who took apart the phone and published images of it on their website. Two men not affiliated with Gizmodo were later charged with misdemeanors in the incident.
As far as the iPhone 5 is concerned, this isn’t even the first (or second) purported sighting of the next-gen device in a California bar this year.
In June, we reported on a story told by tech host Leo Laporte on his MacBreak Weekly podcast. He spoke of an account of a possible iPhone 5 sighting in a Silicon Valley bar. The person who spotted the prototype snapped photos of the device, then showed them to Mr. Laporte, who described the device as “slightly curved” and looking slightly like a Nexus S Android phone. Mr. Laporte’s recounting of the iPhone 5 prototype story can be viewed in the YouTube video below beginning around 48 min, 33 sec:
Another dubious “iPhone 5” prototype sighting occurred one month later in July—coincidentally, about the same time today’s report claims Apple’s prototype went missing—only this time the spotter managed to snap a spy shot. That photo can be seen below.
The photo shows a device that some claim may be a prototype device due to its flat back, round corners, and thin profile. To us, it resembles an iPhone 3GS.
It should be noted, however, that while Apple does put prototype iPhones through real-world testing in public places, the prototypes are usually disguised and wouldn’t be recognizable as a “next-gen” device. For example, the Gizmodo iPhone was hidden in a case that made it look like an iPhone 3GS. An image of that iPhone 4 hidden inside its “3GS” casing can be seen below, courtesy of Gizmodo:
CNET doesn’t offer any updated information on the recent missing prototype other than the recounting of the events that occurred in July. It’s possible that the device is still missing, or Apple investigators could have tracked its trail through the supposed Craigslist sale and had it safely returned. Whatever happened, Apple is unlikely to update us.
Apple already sells the world’s most popular camera in the form of the iPhone 4 (based on the number of images posted to Flickr). But what if you wanted something a bit more traditional, with a wider lens, dedicated shutter button, etc, yet still be able to take advantage of the iPhone’s photography apps? Black Design came up with this sweet concept of a camera that is powered by an iPhone.
I’ve always thought Apple selling a camera would be a natural fit for the company—even more so now that they seem dedicated to improving the iPhone’s camera software and hardware. Make no mistake, the iPhone 4 has an awesome camera. But why not put all that newfound knowledge into a dedicated product?
It’s clear that Apple is making iOS flexible enough to run on different types of hardware.
What is the AppleTV if not a similar concept? It runs iOS and even uses much as the same internal hardware as the iPhone and iPad.
Apple’s stated mission for new products is that they have to be class defining and offer something no one currently does. It’s the huge number of camera and image-editing apps available for the iPhone that would allow Apple to offer a best-in-class camera experience—developers wouldn’t have to do much to their apps for an iOS-based iCamera, if at all. Just think what apps they’d come up with if given SDK access to the equivalent of a Canon EOS Mark II’s hardware.
Check out the gallery below for all of Black Design’s concept images.
Apple turned on its new iTunes Match service last night for developers to test out, and there was at least one big surprise revealed. The $25 per year service allows users to mirror their music library in Apple’s cloud without any uploading, then users can stream or download 256 kps versions of the songs on their various devices. Pretty cool feature, especially if you ripped your music catalog with low bit rates or downloaded poor quality versions off bit-torrent. Insanely Great Mac posted a video showing how the service looks on the iPhone:
I’m looking forward to freeing up some memory on my iPhone and iPad. iTunes Match will allow you to access your music on up to 5 different computers, although it’s still unclear if the iPhone and iPad counts toward that number.
Insanely Great Mac also posted a video showing what the service looks like on a Mac:
Engadget today published images of a purported iPhone 5 front-screen that looks much like an iPhone 4 screen except for one significant addition: a small LED light indicator like that found on Apple’s Macbooks (seen below).
A green LED light next to the camera on a Macbook Pro.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen evidence of a front-facing LED light indicator for the next iPhone. Back in July, we published a report on how Apple was adding a LED alert light on the iPhone’s front to coincide with a revamp of iOS’s notification system. One of iOS 5’s new features will be a Notification Center that will organize and time stamp alerts from apps.
Our article was based on a source from the iPhone Download Blog who wrote in to clarify a June report from Digitimes that said the next iPhone would get dual LED lights. The “dual lights” was being misinterpreted to mean the next iPhone would get two LED camera flashes. The source indicated that, in reality, one of the iPhone’s new LED lights would go on the front of the iPhone as a notification indicator.
With the notification light, Apple may be looking to copy one of the Blackberry’s most beloved and business-friendly features: the infamous blinking red light on its front. Businesspeople in particular rely on the light to be alerted to important messages in a timely manner. Apple has made a strong push into the corporate world with both the iPhone and iPad, going out of its way to add business-friendly features, including setting up a bulk-purchase program for apps, adding crucial corporate-security features like SSL VPN and remote wipe, and adding compatibility for common corporate email systems like Microsoft’s Exchange ActiveSync. The indicator light could be another addition to the iPhone’s business-friendly arsenal.
The new LED light could also serve the same role as its counterpart on Apple’s laptop: to notify users that the front-facing camera and/or back camera is recording video.
Although Apple has in the past used green as the color for its laptops notifications, the LED light on its magsafe power cords are capable of producing several different colors to indicate charging status. Likewise, the iPhone’s light could change colors to indicate different statuses, such as low battery, notifications, etc. The video below shows a mockup of what an iPhone front LED might look like in action:
One caveat to Engadget’s report today is that the leaked front-screen images seem to be for an iPhone 4S and not a totally redesigned iPhone 5:
….according to the mark along the bottom of this part, we’re apparently looking at an “EVT1” (Engineering Verification Test) piece from March 3rd 2011 (making it about three months older than the white N94 back covers that made the rounds last week, assuming they’re legit). Additionally, when our sources last checked around June and July, the N94 had yet to hit the DVT stage, so it’s hard to determine whether these parts will remain the same in the final design, or whether the N94 will even make it to the production line at all.
Even if the iPhone 5 (ie, iPhone 4S) does not get a totally redesigned exterior, a feature like an LED light indicator along with improved internal hardware and iOS 5’s cloud features could go a long way toward making people feel like an iPhone 4S is indeed a new-and-improved device worth shelling out cash for.
MacPost has published some rather unexciting images of what it claims is the back covering for the fifth generation iPhone. The image shows a white cover that seems to match the iPhone 4’s back cover except for one interesting detail:
The codename ‘N94′ marked on cover clearly indicates that it is a fifth-generation iPhone part. The front cover, however, is labeled “EVT2″ (Engineering Verification Testing) with date “07-June-2011″, marking it as early development prototype.
Few months back, 9to5Mac first found references to “N94″ and “N93” while digging around in iOS 5.0 SDK, suggesting that these are internal code names for two unreleased iPhone models (probably for iPhone 5 GSM and CDMA model).
With two versions of the iPhone rumored to be due this fall—an iPhone 5 and a reworked iPhone 4—it’s unclear which phone this part would be destined for. We’re hoping that the iPhone 5 gets a complete new look, so we’re rooting for this as an iPhone 4 “Part II” casing.
MacRumors has posted a photo of what it claims to be the metal frame for the upcoming iPhone “4S.” The frame, if legit, seems to indicate changes are coming for the iPhone’s antenna:
The mid-frame images above show that this so-called iPhone 4S will have two antenna breaks at the bottom of the casing. This differs from both the AT&T (GSM) iPhone 4 and Verizon (CDMA) iPhone 4. In AT&T’s iPhone, the antenna breaks are in two spots, along the lower left side and top left sides. On the Verizon’s model they are both at the top sides of the casing.
The reason for the movement of the antenna breaks is to accommodate different frequencies of the different mobile technologies. This “iPhone 4S” appears to have a slot for a SIM card, suggesting that at a minimum it will support the GSM standard like the original AT&T iPhone 4. It is believed the iPhone 5 will support both GSM and CDMA, but we haven’t heard anything definitive about the band support for this iPhone 4S.
We’re not exactly sure what leads MacRumors to think it’s a legit frame, but the site is usually a good source for iPhone rumors. As photographed, the frame looks nothing like the current iPhone 4’s frame, as seen in the photos below from iFixIt:
Taiwan Economic News today is reporting that Apple has taken on Sharp as a second manufacturing partner to produce LCD screens for the next-gen iPad 3, possibly replacing Samsung.
Also, Japan’s Sharp, which has worked with Apple on a joint venture and set up a new production line specifically for the partner, is expected to squeeze Samsung out of Apple’s display panel supplier list by joining the iPad 3 supply chain.
LG Display will remain the primary supplier of LCD screens for the iPad 3, which sources say will be released in early 2012.
The report also claims that component suppliers for the device will make delivery of parts in small quantities in October, which matches up with a recent report from the Wall Street Journal that said Apple was partaking in a trial production run for the iPad 3 in October.
Although LG was originally the sole supplier of screens for the iPad 2, Samsung was brought on reportedly after early models exhibited light leak problems. Samsung’s output of iPad screens eventually grew to outpace LG’s.
One of the reasons for Apple’s partnership with Sharp could be because Sharp is the only company in the world who previously produced high-resolution QXGA screens—the 2048×1536 screen rumored to go in the iPad 3—on a mass scale.
