iPhone 5 details

[PGT]

and then there's the brouhaha that T-Mobile had with their Sidekick failure. All contacts were stored on the cloud instead of locally and then an upgrade in a datacenter corrupted the storage array, causing subscribers to lose everything.

On the one hand, people lose their phone's data all the time if it tanks and they hopefully backed it up at some point. Moving the data to a cloud app makes a LOT of sense....if the company behind that app doesn't fuck up.

[Sabre]

Sony CEO makes an oops

During a recent interview with the WSJ’s Walt Mossberg, Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer may have inadvertently let it slip that Sony plans to supply Apple with 8 megapixel cameras for the next-gen iPhone. While discussing the Japanese earthquake, Stringer noted that Sony’s camera sensor plant in Sendai had been affected and that shipments of 8 megapixel camera sensors to Apple were subsequently delayed.

[Sabre]

The Reg

Apple fans may have to wait till next year before they can junk their iPhone 4s in favour of iPhone the Fifth.

Analyst firm Avian Securities said that production of the iPhone 5 won't begin till September, meaning a holiday launch at the earliest, or even a New Year's debut.

The note, reported in Business Insider, is based on chats with key component suppliers, which support a consensus view that launch will be either a late 2011 or early 2012 event.

The note adds that a low-spec, low-price iPhone is also on the Apple roadmap, though exactly where on the roadmap is unclear.

[Sabre]

A5: All Apple, part mystery

A closer look at Apple's A5, the second-generation processor that powers the iPad 2. Apple Inc.'s iPad2 has only been publicly available for about a month. However, it appears this young device has kept few secrets since we have known there were 21 magnets in the smart cover and saw a die floorplan of the A5 within mere days of its release. The flurry of the first wave of disassembly and dissection seems to have died down while we might assume that some very detailed circuit analysis is likely just beginning to be scoped out.

Coll write up on the Apple A5 SoC

[complacent]

i just think it's rad that a single company will spec and build both the chipset and the os... straight gangster!

[Sabre]

It's why their stuff has been so stable... same goes for consoles!

[Sabre]

'Fierce competition' drives Apple's iPhone 6 changes

If you're hoping that the iPhone 5 will be a thoroughly redesigned handset, one analyst says to chill: the next iPhone will make only "slight modifications" to the iPhone 4 when it ships in the fourth quarter of this year. For bigger changes, you'll have to wait for 2012's iPhone 6.

AppleInsider reported on Monday that Ming-Chi Kuo of Concord Securities has heard from his "supply sources" that the iPhone 5 will begin mass production in September, and that it would be equipped with an A5 processor as is in the iPad 2, an eight-megapixel camera, and a dual-mode baseband chip. Otherwise, it'll have the look-and-feel of Apple's most popular handset ever, the iPhone 4.

The iPhone 5's Qualcomm baseband chip would enable the same electronics to support both GSM and CDMA wireless services – which, in the US, would mean both AT&T and Verizon – although antenna design would almost certainly need to be modified for each type of service, as are the antennas in the GSM and CDMA iPhone 4s.

Regarding that rumored eight-megapixel camera, SoftPedia ups the ante to the OV12825 12.6 megapixel sensor just announced by OmniVision (warning: PDF), which would provide 4,224-by-3,000 pixel resolution for stills, and 1,080p 60-frame-per-second video. SoftPedia, however, admits that its source is "unsupported chatter".

[Sabre]

Mole: iPhone 5 in testing now, on sale in September
Let's hope, haha.

[Sabre]

Ars: Report: iOS 5 golden master at end of Sept. for Oct. iPhone 5 launch

Already in its seventh developer beta, iOS 5 is supposedly scheduled to reach golden master status—the official version which will be available to end users—during the last week of September. This latest tidbit comes from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who believes Apple will unveil what is essentially an updated iPhone 4 model in mid-October.

According to a research note supplied to MacRumors, Kuo said that Apple's contracted iPhone assemblers, Foxconn and Pegatron, are set to receive the final version of iOS 5 between September 23 and September 30. This version will supposedly be flashed on to existing iPhone 5 units that have already begun production, allowing for the devices to roll out around mid-October. The information aligns with some previous rumors that pegged the device to ship in the same time frame.

Also, according to Kuo, supply chain checks haven't revealed any evidence of a rumored new form factor. Instead, all evidence supports our belief that the next-gen iPhone will be largely the same as the current device with a few minor changes. The iPhone 5 will continue to use a 3.5" Retina display, and will likely retain the full glass front and back. Upgrades are expected to include an A5 processor with 512MB of RAM—the same as the current iPad 2—and an 8 megapixel rear-facing camera.

While analysts are often wrong in their prognostications, the firm date for the expected golden master release of iOS 5 has piqued our interest. While Apple only promised a "fall" release for iOS 5 in June, this seems to be the closest we have heard of a final release date, and it makes sense. Apple is currently releasing beta updates to Mac OS X 10.7.2, iTunes 10.5, iOS 5, and iCloud on a regular basis. All these pieces of software will have to be ready and vetted to launch iOS 5 and ostensibly an updated iPhone.

Apple has yet to send out invitations to the media for what had become an annual early September announcement of new iPod models. Such an event seems the most likely time to announce a new iPhone as well. However, it looks as though it won't happen until late September or even October this year—when iOS 5 is in final form and ready to show off to the public.

[Sabre]

The Reg

Don't spit your coffee out, but further rumours today make it more likely that the iPhone 5 will have a 4-inch screen.

Hitachi Displays and Sony Mobile Display Corporation are already shipping 4-inch LCD touch screens destined for next gen iPhones, say "sources within Apple's Far Eastern supply chain" picked up on AppleInsider.

The whisperings from the manufacturers reinforce rumours last week that predicted an expanded iPhone.

This mythical screen won't just be bigger than the 3.5" current offering. It will be at a slightly higher resolution, packing 330 dots per inch compared to the current pixel density of 326dpi on the iPhone 4S, making it officially high resolution.

The new wonder-screen will be OLED too which will make it more energy efficient than current screens and could compensate for the battery bleed that will result from having to light a bigger screen.

Apple's new screen may use a new type of LCD with a manufacturing process based on a "modified IGZO" (for indium, gallium, zinc) technology. The source for the latter was an investors' report by stock analyst Peter Misek.

An OLED screen would make for a thinner display with superior viewing angles. Importantly it would also reduce power consumption, important if the battery needs to light a bigger screen. The OLED screen will have no need for dual-bar LED backlighting.