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iPhone 5 details
Posted: Wed Sep 15, 2010 1:12 pm
by Sabre
We'll, now that we all know about the iPhone 4, it's time to start with details about the iPhone 5...
Qualcomm chipset being purchased
The possibility of a Verizon-based Apple iPhone now seems more likely, as reports indicate that the 5th generation iPhone won't come equipped with the typical Infineon baseband chipset, but rather ones provided by Qualcomm.
Apple's relationship with Qualcomm isn't really new. We reported last month that Apple submitted a run for over a million units of Qualcomm's CDMA chipsets for a CDMA version of the iPhone 4. This could still be possible, resulting in an iPhone 4GS if Apple continues its current release pattern.
However new reports indicate that a mixed-mode Qualcomm chipset--apparently first announced last year--will connect to multiple networks--LTE, CDMA/EV-DO and GSM/UMTS. This would mean that Apple wouldn't need to create a standalone CDMA model for Verizon, but rather release a next-generation device that can be used on any 3G and 4G wireless network around the world.
The mixed-mode Qualcomm chipset became available for prototyping in mid-2010--possibly released too late for Apple to incorporate into the next version of the iPhone. As it stands, it's speculated that Apple may move forward with the CDMA-equipped iPhone 4GS for a June 2011 release, and use the new Qualcomm chipset for a June 2012 iPhone 5 release.
Re: iPhone 5 details
Posted: Wed Sep 15, 2010 1:54 pm
by Raven
Oh my god you Apple people are fucking insane.
Re: iPhone 5 details
Posted: Wed Sep 15, 2010 2:55 pm
by Sabre
Don't make ASSumptions... I'm just here for the tech

I own one Apple device... the only one I have ever owned...
Re: iPhone 5 details
Posted: Wed Sep 15, 2010 3:26 pm
by scheherazade
Re: iPhone 5 details
Posted: Wed Sep 15, 2010 4:42 pm
by Mr Kleen
my 3GS is still kicking around just fine, thanks. now about the iPad 2...

Re: iPhone 5 details
Posted: Wed Sep 15, 2010 4:54 pm
by Raven
That comic really made my day.

Re: iPhone 5 details
Posted: Wed Sep 15, 2010 5:14 pm
by PGT
I've got a first gen iPhone sitting here in my Scandyna dock, rocking as an iPod
[I had to actually think about that it was called....i-something, iTouch, no, iPhone, no....i______ (POD!)]
Re: iPhone 5 details
Posted: Wed Sep 15, 2010 5:19 pm
by complacent
If Qualcomm can deliver the chipset they've toted... it is pretty cool stuff.
3G, 4G(LTE) gsm and cdma? What phone company wouldn't want it?
Re: iPhone 5 details
Posted: Wed Sep 15, 2010 9:08 pm
by PGT
well, it all depends on the handset's radio frequency. to be a "world" phone, its got to be quad-band. Not all frequencies are created equal and voice and data react differently to penetration in buildings, terrain etc. Its not as simple as the standards alone....it has to do with stuff further down the stack.
<---- spent 2007-2009 working for a GSM Association company doing consulting work involving RF coverage of networks in the Caribbean and South America. You'd be surprised at how many handsets won't work outside the U.S. due to RF coverage.
Re: iPhone 5 details
Posted: Wed Sep 15, 2010 10:19 pm
by complacent
PGT wrote:well, it all depends on the handset's radio frequency. to be a "world" phone, its got to be quad-band. Not all frequencies are created equal and voice and data react differently to penetration in buildings, terrain etc. Its not as simple as the standards alone....it has to do with stuff further down the stack.
<---- spent 2007-2009 working for a GSM Association company doing consulting work involving RF coverage of networks in the Caribbean and South America. You'd be surprised at how many handsets won't work outside the U.S. due to RF coverage.
from what i understood about this chipset, it would do the 800, 850, 900, 1700, 1800, 1900, 2100 2G/3G GSM/WCDMA bands that most of the world is currently using... throw in the ~700-ish Verizon LTE band and you've got
one helluva globe-trotting device. IMHO, I may very well be wrong on a freq or two.
Re: iPhone 5 details
Posted: Thu Sep 16, 2010 8:53 am
by missvenezuela85
Yay! Iphone for Verizon!
I still have my mac book from 2006 and its still running like new. I still have the first gen Itouch and it works like new... I also still have my original Ipod photo (the 1st ipod in color) and it actually still turns on. lol
Re: iPhone 5 details
Posted: Thu Sep 16, 2010 9:35 am
by Raven
missvenezuela85 wrote:Yay! Iphone for Verizon!

Ah yes, the holy grail of Apple fanboy rumors.

Re: iPhone 5 details
Posted: Thu Sep 16, 2010 2:08 pm
by chicken n waffles
Raven wrote:missvenezuela85 wrote:Yay! Iphone for Verizon!

Ah yes, the holy grail of Apple fanboy rumors.

let me guess... droid fanboy?
Re: iPhone 5 details
Posted: Thu Sep 16, 2010 3:07 pm
by Sabre
^^^ lol, nope... he doesn't like the Droid either...
Re: iPhone 5 details
Posted: Thu Sep 16, 2010 3:12 pm
by missvenezuela85
Sabre wrote:^^^ lol, nope... he doesn't like the Droid either...
Mine Eris is SOOOOOOOOOO slow..... the iPhone looks so much cooler... (insert sad banana hear)
Re: iPhone 5 details
Posted: Thu Sep 16, 2010 3:19 pm
by Sabre
Interestingly enough, my iPhone seems to slow down with every update

Re: iPhone 5 details
Posted: Thu Sep 16, 2010 3:39 pm
by complacent
Sabre wrote:Interestingly enough, my iPhone seems to slow down with every update

you do have the very first one...
Re: iPhone 5 details
Posted: Thu Sep 16, 2010 3:50 pm
by Sabre
lol, I have the 8088 of iPhones in other words

I'll upgrade when this one dies or they move to 4G.
Re: iPhone 5 details
Posted: Thu Sep 16, 2010 4:49 pm
by missvenezuela85
Sabre wrote:Interestingly enough, my iPhone seems to slow down with every update

they do it on purpose to get you to upgrade
Re: iPhone 5 details
Posted: Thu Sep 16, 2010 9:40 pm
by Raven
Sabre wrote:^^^ lol, nope... he doesn't like the Droid either...
Yup, I hate all smartphones equally.

Re: iPhone 5 details
Posted: Fri Sep 17, 2010 5:48 am
by chicken n waffles
Raven wrote:Sabre wrote:^^^ lol, nope... he doesn't like the Droid either...
Yup, I hate all smartphones equally.

makes perfect sense.
/dripping plate of sarcasm
Re: iPhone 5 details
Posted: Tue Jan 18, 2011 4:15 pm
by Sabre
More news
Apple is reportedly going to add a new ARM Cortex A8 processor to its iPhone 5.
Apple Daily, ,a Hong Kong based newspaper, reported that Apple's iPhone 5 will be powered by a dual core processor with SGX543 graphics. It is reported that Apple is in contact with a Taiwanese component maker for the A8 SoC. Currently Apple uses a custom made A4 SoC in its iPad and iPhone 4 and uses SGX535 graphics and video support.
The report of Apple's chip boost follows the recent slew of smartphones that were released at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Most of the phones, such as the Motorola Atrixare running on dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 processors. Also Motorola's Xoom tablet uses the same processor, ushering in features such as 1080p video playback capability which the iPhone and iPad currently lack.
Imagination Technologies' SGX543 architecture was released in Jan. 2009 at CES. The chip design delivers real-world performance of 35 million polygons per second and 1 Gigapixel -- 1 billion pixels -- per second fill rate at 200 MHz, making it capable of driving HD screens with smooth high definition 3D graphics.
Including this architecture in Apple devices will allow the iPhone to offer 1080p video playback and HDMI support.
Re: iPhone 5 details
Posted: Tue Jan 18, 2011 4:22 pm
by complacent
I read a cool article over at
readwriteweb with some cool software theories that tied in their recent purchases for both talent and tech.
either way, i'm happy to reap the benefits of competition, be it android or ios. i'm open to either.
Details on iPhone 5 are Minimal
An Engadget exclusive from last week cites "reliable sources" in detailing the latest rumors about the upcoming iPhone 5 and iPad 2. The iPhone is currently being tested by senior staff on Apple's campus, it said. But even the sources aren't giving out details on what the phone will be like, only saying it's a "compete redesign."
However, we can put together a list of Apple's latest acquisitions, hires and patents to start giving us an idea of the iPhone's future.
iPhone 5 Expected to Support NFC
For starters, a 2010 Apple hire of a notable NFC (near field communication) expert Benjamin Vigier and the filing of several related patents, including one for a mobile payments service, suggest that the next iPhone will include an NFC chip inside - the same technology that Google's latest flagship Android phone, the Nexus S, has now. With Android's newest release, Android 2.3 (code-named Gingerbread), support for NFC has been built-in.
This short-range, high frequency wireless technology allows for data exchanges between two devices in close proximity to each other. It will soon form the basis of Google (and others') upcoming mobile payments initiatives.
But Apple, too, appears to have plans in this area. Patents point towards ideas for things like iPay, iBuy and iCoupons, all of which suggest Apple is building some sort of mobile wallet.
iPhone 5 Becomes Intelligent, Thanks to Siri?
Among Apple's other high-profile acquisitions was April 2010's buyout of Siri, a personal mobile assistant that was spun out of SRI International, and whose core technology came from a DARPA-funded artificial intelligence project called CALO. Siri was transformed into an iPhone application that could listen to questions either spoken aloud or typed in and then provide answers. At first, the focus was on the sort of out-and-about questions you may have, e.g. When does that movie show? What Chinese restaurants are nearby? Can I get a table at my favorite Italian place? What's the phone number for a taxi company?
Only a few months post-acquisition, the app was updated to integrate results provided by the computational knowledge engine, Wolfram Alpha. For those unaware, Wolfram Alpha is a new sort of search technology which can provide factual answers to questions, as opposed to a list of search results. It currently consists of 10 trillion-plus pieces of curated, objective data from primary sources, and it can perform calculations on the fly - over 50,000 types of algorithms and equations are now possible.
With this sort of technology built into Apple's next iPhone, assuming that's the case, the device could easily go head-to-head with Google Android's voice search and voice actions, the former which directs you to results from related Google Search properties and the latter which helps you perform actions on your phone, including sending text messages, routing a trip on a map, pulling up a map of nearby attractions or businesses, launching the phone's music player to play a certain song or artist and more.
Will iPhone 5 up the feature set of its competitor? It's likely. One of the interesting things about Siri is that it integrates with third-party data sources like OpenTable for restaurant reservations and Yelp for local business listings. Those services, incidentally, also exist as iPhone apps. What if Apple tied together this new voice interface to the device not only with the services themselves, but could also direct you to the appropriate app to learn more? You would then have a whole new interface for locating and launching apps - a search engine of sorts, even, where the focus isn't on what app name you need to find (as iPhone's native search does today), but on what action you need to take.
iPhone 5 Ships with "Cloud iTunes?"
Another Apple acquisition from April 2010, was Lala.com, a cloud-based music streaming service. No doubt this talent-hire was for the purpose of gaining insight and knowledge into the details of building a solid music streaming service like the popular, but now defunct, Lala.
iTunes, the centralized repository of music, videos, apps and more is quickly becoming outdated as new streaming-only services crop up left and right. Some, like Rdio, provide access to your own content library along with 7 million or so digital tracks while others, like MOG, forgo access to your own tracks entirely, offering only its catalog of 10 million songs. Rdio and MOG, as well as Napster, Rhapsody and (the still-yet-to-launch stateside) Spotify, are reasonably priced subscription services where around $10 a month provides you with all-you-can-eat access to music.
Apple has never offered a subscription model for iTunes, but with the Lala acquistion, that appears to be in its future. With iPhone 5, you may be able to purchase, download and stream everything from your phone, no desktop software required, and all for one low monthly fee.
iPhone 5 to Offer Facial Recognition?
In September, Apple acquired facial-recognition firm Polar Rose, whose technology was previously used in a consumer-facing service that automatically tagged your Facebook and Flickr photos with your friends' names. While speculation at the time focused on how Apple could use the facial recognition to improve its desktop products like Aperture and iPhoto, there's no reason why it would ignore its mobile products.
Integrating facial recognition into the iPhone could mean a device that knows its owner, for example, and unlocks the phone just for them. Or whose photos are automatically tagged with the names of friends and family, which are then synced to iPhoto on the Mac.
Can Apple Execs Deliver Jobs' Vision for iPhone 5?
In summary, that's a very smart smartphone we've just described: one that knows who owns it, unlocking just for them, one that can listen and respond to your questions, that can provide factual answers or point you to a related mobile app, one where your music library (and maybe more) is stored online, one that includes NFC for mobile payments, and one that works on whatever carrier you choose. Frankly, that sounds downright magical.
Steve Jobs has long been a visionary for this industry, and his ideas and creations have dramatically impacted how people interact with technology. iPhone 5, assuming it offers all the above, could do that yet again. But we'll have to see if Apple can pull it all off without Jobs' day-to-day presence at Apple.
Re: iPhone 5 details
Posted: Tue Jan 18, 2011 7:27 pm
by PGT
one item that isn't being talked about much is that Apple is moving to the cloud. Their new Stanley, NC datacenter is meant to power the next-gen of iTunes. You don't need tons of storage locally b/c you'll access the content over the wire(less)....from their facility. Music/Movies-as-a-service.
One could surmise that the next-gen iPhone will go this route too...focusing on throughput and processing power vs. a big-stinking-drive in it.
Re: iPhone 5 details
Posted: Wed Jan 19, 2011 11:51 am
by Sabre
PGT wrote:One could surmise that the next-gen iPhone will go this route too...focusing on throughput and processing power vs. a big-stinking-drive in it.
If this is the case, they are REALLY going to need to nail down the cell networks then to SLA's. The cell network really needs a major overhaul, but until someone put the proverbial pitch fork to them, it's not going to happen.