Apple’s next generation iPhone 5 has been the target of intense speculation over the past several months, however no solid evidence that an iPhone 5 even existed was available. But, over the past several weeks, parts of what appears to be a next gen iPhone 5 have appeared in images and videos across the web. The parts and rumors suggest that Apple’s new iPhone will have a taller screen, a smaller dock connector, and several other design changes.

On Sunday, Japanese site iLab posted images, released by CydiaBlog, of a fully assembled iPhone 5 hardware, in line with rumors of the new design. The site alleges that these photos are of the next generation iPhone, expected for release during September. Cydiablog offered their thoughts on the images with the following:

The leaked parts shows the bigger screen, different internals (such as a new flex cable holding the Home button in place), and the camera modules (front and rear). The camera module cutout looks to be larger, there is an enhanced version of speaker and microphone configuration at the bottom, new smaller dock connector (instead of 30-pin Dock Connector, 16-pin connector could be introduced). Another notable design change in the new iPhone front panel shows the FaceTime camera has been moved to a centered position above the earpiece speaker (it is currently to left of the earpiece in iPhone 4S and iPhone 4).

The images appear to confirm that the next generation iPhone would have a unibody back plate, unlike the current iPhone 4S which houses the internals in between two pieces of tempered glass as well as a screen with a higher length and same width. The next generation iPhone is expected to be released later this fall, alongside the public release of iOS 6.

Do you think this could be the next gen iPhone? Do you like the overall design? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

{via MacRumors}

Over the weekend leaks from snippets of the most recently released iOS SDK Beta build hinted at a new GPU in future iOS devices. The GPU is still from Imagination Technologies, the maker of all iOS device GPUs to date. But this one is capable of pushing a lot more pixels, as well as compatible with multi-core processing, and GPGPU processing with Open CL – which means it can do tasks other than high speed graphics tasks. Pushing more pixels is something that is already something we would like to see when the full resolution of the iPhone 4 or current iPad is used for high quality, high speed graphics. So this GPU is very likely to be paired with an uprated, or perhaps dual core CPU and herald the introduction of Apple’s A5 processor – the successor to the Apple A4 (SoC – System on a Chip) which powers the current iPhone 4, iPod Touch and iPad.

There are also rumours swirling that the iPad 2 will feature a much higher resolution display, as well as an HDMI output and perhaps an SD card slot. The higher resolution screen is something that would certainly require a faster, more powerful GPU.

Other snippets found inside iOS Beta SDKs, and in Apple’s own developer resources on its own web site talk about “X2″ icons for the iPad. “X2″ icons, which are double the resolution of the standard icons on iOS devices, have been employed by developers for some time in iPhone and iPad applications for use on their “Retina” displays; which are exactly double the resolution of earlier iPhones and iPods. These gives the silky smooth, almost high quality sticker like quality to iOS icons that we expect these days on “Retina” display devices.

Adding this all together, and factoring in that part of Apple’s success with migrating the iPhone and iPod Touch to new screen sizes is based on exactly doubling the screen resolution in the operating system so that existing applications and OS GUI elements can be auto-magically scaled up by two times their current size, it now seems likely that the iPad 2 will sport a newer, faster GPU, which can handle the amount of data throughput that will be needed to drive a display with four times the amount of pixels available to it than that of current iPad models.

9TO5Mac have some information today which hints at new LCD panels for the iPad 2; which do indeed seem to be double the resolution of the existing iPad display panel. Unfortunately their list price is also considerably higher than the existing iPad display panel. Almost double that of the cost of the original iPad’s LCD panel at launch, and four times the price it is currently.

This would mean that Apple’s margins on a high resolution iPad may be constrained, or the retail price may rise… Perhaps we’ll see a two tier launch of the new iPad, with both CPU/GPU (SoC) specifications as well as display resolutions split across a middle price point? Or perhaps Apple will pull yet more magic out of its bag of tricks and launch the new iPad at the same price as existing models, and all the bells and whistles we are hoping for!

Time will tell…

Do you think the new iPad will get a “Retina” display? Will we see a split product range? Have your say in the comments…

During the interview at D8 Steve Jobs commented on the lost iPhone 4G debacle and said that he is unwilling to “let it slide”. It is still not clear if the prototype device was stolen or lost and the DA is still investigating the case.

Last month we reported on the possibility of Apple introducing iPhone 4G / HD in white and black color and published photos of white color iPhone parts. Today Powerbook Medic published new photos of the white color iPhone 4G casing and said:

The digitizer resembles the 3G and 3Gs with the exception of a camera hole next to the top speaker. The back case doesn’t resemble anything we’ve seen so far. The photos do confirm these will likely be available in white.

It’s still not confirmed if Apple will finally introduce the new iPhone 4G / HD in two colors however, many news sources have reported on evidence of next gen iPhone in white color.

Will Apple unveil iPhone 4G in black and white color options during WWDC 2010? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Apple Springs A Leak

I’m a great fan of John Grisham. If you’re not familiar with his work, Grisham is a writer specializing dramatic novels that revolve around a legal theme. One of my favorite Grisham novels is called The Pelican Brief. In it, two American Supreme Court Justices are murdered with no motive or connection. A law student, curious to find an underlying relationship between the two crimes, begins the research the Justices, their legal history, and current case load. The research results in the law student writing a paper that speculates the Justices were murdered as part of a larger conspiracy. While purely speculative on the legal students part, it turns out the legal brief is exactly the truth of the matter. It’s the ultimate conspiracy theory because it turns out to be the truth.

Much in the same way the Pelican Brief is the story of a conspiracy theory that turns out to be true, I’ve been thinking for some time about my own. Mine revolves around Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and the sudden profusion of leaks and freely available previews of upcoming Apple products (iPhone 4G / HD). For a company that has an almost mythical history of secrecy and privacy, it seems mind boggling that every third string engineer celebrating their birthday and unknown Vietnamese web site is offering us insight into some of Apple’s most closely guarded secrets. Consider it for a moment. This was the company that wouldn’t even officially confirm or deny its corporate and spiritual leader was gravely ill at the beginning of 2009 or that he had received a liver transplant to cure him of those ills. Now it seems like everyone has a next generation iPhone 4G / HD prototype to show the world. Doesn’t that strike you as odd?

It’s always been my assertion that Apple’s marketing department is one of the smartest and most forward thinking on the planet. Their overt advertisement campaigns like Mac vs. PC have been pitch perfect. They capture the minds of people by playing on the every day frustrations and emotions they associate with their current computing experience. They are keyed in such a way as to portray the Apple computing experience as easy, fun, and enjoyable; emotions most people don’t associate with computing. And of course, Apple’s constant yet simple assertion that everything Apple “just works” is a powerful reminder when things don’t. But besides the overt successes of Apple’s marketing, there have always been whisperings in the tech community of Apple’s alleged covert marketing as well. How many of the leaks and “unnamed sources inside Apple” are actually Apple employees whose task is to plant information, and misinformation, in the media. If you pay any attention to how items are marketed these days; buzz, hype, and word of mouth are much more important than splashy, overt campaigns. A story planted on a tech blog like Engadget, Gizmodo, AppleInsider, or MacRumors has the opportunity to go instantly viral; traveling across the world faster than any marketing campaign and all for the cost of a phone call with the Caller ID blocked. The Internet has made it possible for a story that started with a phone call in Northern California in the morning to stretch across the globe with little or no effort. Apple is very smart and I’m sure this isn’t lost on them.

Which leads me back to my original point. Since the media shift in March from iPad speculation to iPhone 4G / HD speculation, Apple, the company of intense control and secrecy, seems to have turned into a bunch of bumbling Keystone Kops. First an ultra secret iPhone 4G prototype was lost in a bar in California and splashed all over the pages of Gizmodo, causing a media furor that gave us a first look at the new device. Then another 4G prototype appeared on an otherwise unknown Vietnamese web site which subsequently leaked an iPod touch with a 2 megapixel camera and the new MacBook. Now I’m not saying I know this is a brilliant piece of viral marketing but like my favorite story, the facts we know start to mirror a world we can only suppose exists. I’m of the opinion that this is all in fact a staged and managed campaign by Apple. Why would they risk that? Two immediate implications come to my mind.

First, they get to test market a final prototype iPhone without actually putting it out for public consumption. The iPhone 4G prototype gets “lost”, a gadget blog picks it up, and Apple gets to gauge the reaction to their prototype. Is the reaction giddy excitement? They hit the money and start mass producing it. Is the reaction sad disappointment? Adjust appropriately and move on.

Second, after the iPad release there was a bit of a malaise in the tech news industry in regards to Apple. You know how after something exciting happens you experience a bit of a let down? That’s what was happening with Apple products. What better way then to reinvigorate the buzz and hype Apple products live on then to drop some carefully orchestrated leaks into the media? In a couple of very well timed strokes we’re all out talking about Apple and the next generation iPhone again. I’m sure the machine would have started back up again eventually but the appearance of the prototypes short-circuited the system and got things rolling again.

Like my favorite book, this all may be a large work of fiction. I’m fully prepared to accept that. But if you bring all the facts together you also see that Apple has the talent, mystique, and sheer audacity to make such a move. It ensured people were talking about the next generation iPhone well ahead of its release and brought the iPhone 4G / HD into the mainstream consciousness as well. If David Letterman is doing Top Ten Lists about the new iPhone, you know its made it to the mainstream.

Yes, this may all be a large work of fiction but it’s incredibly intriguing to think it might not be. If it is true, this would be one of the most well orchestrated viral marketing campaigns in history. We may never know the truth but the speculation is an interesting exercise none the less.

What do you think? Could the recent leaks plaguing Apple actually be an orchestrated campaign by Apple itself? Are they manipulating the media for their own ends? Or are some cracks starting to form in Apple’s otherwise secretive demeanor? Should Apple be more open in their product development cycle to prevent leaks from happening? Let us know your thoughts.

Those guys at Apple.Pro have got another scoop. This time it appears to be a bunch of white parts, including home buttons and front panels for the new iPhone 4G / HD.

With Apple ramping up to produce millions of these iPhones for sale over the next few months it is inevitable that some of these stock piled bits and pieces of iPhone 4G will start to leak out. Especially on that side of the world.

I am left wondering what surprises Steve will have left for WWDC 2010!

Is Black and White iPhone getting boring now? Would you prefer some more colors? Let us know in the comments…

Microsoft’s Courier tablet was first mentioned on tech sites a couple of months ago. At the time it was only a concept which existed in the form of a kind of User Interface showcase with cartoon hands controlling a virtual device. But those concept videos were rather impressive and very forward thinking. Of the many UI features that impressed me one really stuck in my mind. It was perhaps the simplest of them all, but it struck me as really nifty. When you want to transfer a picture or note to the clipboard you just slide it to the hinge of the device and it sticks there partly exposed on both screens. You can then flip through pages until you find the one you want. Once there you slide the clipping out onto either screen and paste it. Simple, but so cool I wanted one just so I could try it!

The User Interface of the Courier overall had the same shock and awe effect on me that the iPhone’s did when I first saw it. Before that OS X blew me away similarly.

Because at that stage the Courier was a concept no-one had any idea of the dimensions of the device. Or how much of the hardware was actually real. Or even how close to reality the incredibly impressive conceptual GUI of this thing was. All we did know was that the Courier had two screens, and opened like a traditional book with a hinge in the middle. It also supposedly had a pen, although the UI videos showed both multitouch with fingers and the pen being used. Oh, and it had a camera if the concept videos were accurate. We get to see it taking shots with that, and those snaps being filed away in a scrap book, edited and collated, and used as part of a presentation.

My initial reaction to the hinged device idea was that I wondered how people were going to actually use a device on the move which folded in the middle. How would it stay open on your lap? How would you type, draw or work with it when also having to hold it. Would the hinge be floppy or stiff? It was all the same kind of concerns that people had about how Apple’s take on a Tablet would work for typing and viewing movies etc. But I loved some of the ideas that were being explored with the Courier. Part of the reason that I worried about the folding design was that I envisioned it being around the size of a legal note pad when folded shut. So around the size of a magazine. I am not sure why, but that was my impression. My mind was stuck with the idea of a traditional tablet sized device or something about the size of the iPad, I guess.

Looking at the concept videos again it is fairly clear that this thing is not actually that big. Indeed, pictures that Engadget have today show the device (or at least a mockup) in human hands, and as being much closer to the size of a traditional paperback. For some reason this has made a massive impression on me. Engadet’s information on the device is here.

The videos (which have been around for a while now) are further down the same page. Make sure you watch them. They are obviously not real. By that I mean they are not running on a real device. But there is no reason in this day and age that a User Interface could not do all the things we are seeing there. And if Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 7 interface is anything to go by then the general look and feel all fits. Again though, all we’ve seen of that is flashy web sites and conceptsÉ so far.

Engadget have this to say: “Courier will function as a “digital journal,” and it’s designed to be seriously portable: it’s under an inch thick, weighs a little over a pound, and isn’t much bigger than a 5×7 photo when closed. That’s a lot smaller than we expected.” With reference to that last sentence: Join the club guys!

If, and this is a big if. But if Microsoft can produce this device so that it looks as good as the pictures we have seen to date. And if the User Interface has the functionality detailed in those concept videos, then the Courier is going to be truly remarkable. And I will camp outside a store or travel half way round the world to buy one on day one. And I’ll want to develop for it too.

I am not convinced that this device will be all that the videos and pictures promise. It just seems too good to be true. But if it is then I think we could see a massive shift in power in the mobile market place.

Microsoft could really be making a rather incredible device that people simply must have.

What do you think about the Courier? Is it the iPad slayer or is it promising too much and will it underwhelm in real life?

By: Stephen Northcott

Microsoft’s Courier: Videos of the interface in action

Images and Video Credit: Engadget