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This Is Apple's Next iPhone
An anonymous reader writes "There has been some speculation about it. Not anymore: 'This is Apple's next iPhone. It was found lost in a bar in Redwood City, camouflaged to look like an iPhone 3GS. We got it. We disassembled it. It's the real thing, and here are all the details.' Judging by Gizmodo's reaction, it looks like a winner."
Take a good look at the photo of the back of the phone. The bottom of the device looks white (like a white iPhone) and has the normal iPhone contours. That device is different from the other pictures they're showing.
And not showing the UI? Shenanigans!
From TFA:
> So I called around, and I now believe this is an actual unit from Apple -- a unit Apple is very interested in getting back.
If it's so important for Apple to get this phone back, I wonder why there's no reward...
Android getting too popular and want to create expecation Steve?
Dear
With both engadget and Gizmodo getting their hands on the "next iPhone" in different bars in different cities, it is difficult to believe that somebody actually lost the phones. Either both engadget and Gizmodo got fooled or this is more a marketing campaign than lost phones. I would bet on latter.
Doesn't sound like apple does it?
$5 says its some wannabe iPhone killer, just waiting for everyone to say how great it is before they go "tada! we secretly switched your java with folgers" in hopes of generating hoopla...
"Waste not one watt!" - CZ
"Let's work with Gizmodo to make a big deal out of this new iPhone. This is top secret stuff, and people are going to salivate over it like nobody's business." Maybe.
I find it really strange/coincidental that someone loses a device and it somehow finds it's way to a technology review website? We're not talking finding the Mona Lisa here where the average person would know what it is. We're talking someone in a bar finding a lost iPhone and then realizing that the best place for it would be in the hands of Gizmoto. Unless the Gizmoto guys were the ones that happened to find it. Again, like an employee of the Louvre finding the Mona Lisa.
I also find it odd that the bar would turn it over to a 3rd party, rather than holding on to it in case the original owner came back. Unless this bar has this behavior. For example, if you left your car keys there, they'd just give it to someone else.
I don't buy it. It might be a real iPhone prototype, but I think there's some shenanigans at work here. Maybe something along the lines of:
Apple: Hey gizmoto, we're going to "lose" an iPhone at a bar (really just hand it to you) then you write up a review of what you find as if you just happened to find it sitting at a table. If someone asks about it, we'll tell the media that "an internal source" has indeed lost a prototype.
Gotta love free advertising. I was wondering when the next iPhone/iPad /. frontpage article would take place. Also, the iPad does blend.
It's camouflaged but still has an Apple logo on the back? I agree with some others - this strikes me as more of a marketing stunt than an accidental leak. Letting it run for long enough to verify that it's of legitimate origin, then remotely disabling it isn't inconsistent with this.
Though what I don't get is... this new design is ugly. Maybe it is just an easy access case used while the product is still being engineered (eg, trying several antenna configurations inside the case, etc). But if that's the direction design is going, I'm glad I got a phone in the generation when they didn't look like a cardboard box.
Slay a dragon... over lunch!
Whether this is truly a new iPhone or not, Gizmodo's opinion doesn't count for much. They would adore Job's lunch kit if they found it in an alley
What you're saying is that Gizmodo tends to like Apple products, just like most people do, and that makes their opinion less valid?
Oh, I see. You mean that Gizmodo's opinions are often different than yours and that's what makes them suspect. Got it.
Well the claim is that these were probably supposed to be camouflaged a bit to look like normal iPhones, and that the casing probably isn't what the final thing will look like.
Bah, who knows.
The iphone has a 3:2 screen aspect.
There certainly is something to see here. Namely that if you like the iphone platform, you can look forward to hardware that is competitive with other phones. That's pretty nice.
not at all sad. Japanese phones have been above this level for years, but are AWFUL to use. The UI like it or not is what has made the iPhone superior to the rest of the phones on the market. Sure marketing has some to do with it, the iPhone is hip the Droids and the like are not, but it does what it says it does and does it WELL. And that is why it sells.
"Slashdot, where telling the truth is overrated but lying is insightful."
"Until someone reveals the chipset inside we still have no idea if we are stuck with those horrible infineon chips which are the root of iPhone evil."
;)
I still call fake.
This whole bar story doesn't add up either. I've been to many bars with many cellphones and I've never lost one, how the hell do you lose a prototype iPhone at a bar? That's not just your $500 phone, THAT'S YOUR JOB IN YOUR POCKET.
What are the odds that a iPhone would just happen to be found by gizmodo and engadget? Of all the people in the world? And how much would a popular blog pay for a iPhone prototype? Imagine the hits you'd get with first real photos of the next iPhone! You could even put a no-name blog on the map with real photos. This prototype is incredibly valuable.
If anyone really found a prototype iPhone it would be on eBay until they pulled it, but not before it received thousands of hits and a few dozen bids up to several thousands of dollars, but someone would contact them outside of ebay and negotiate a deal anyway.
Let's not forget that there's not one photo of this prototype iPhone running. Why not? They couldn't charge it? The brains behind engadget and gizmodo can't charge an iPhone? Let me guess, they found a "broken" iPhone prototype at a bar. Yeah, that sounds reasonable.
Some people argue "Well Apple wiped it remotely!" Seriously? Wiped it so well it doesn't turn on at all? Not even a "charge me" screen? I don't buy it. I would be happy with seeing any photo of this thing running next to a regular iPhone, just so you can somewhat compare resolutions.
WHERE'S THE INTERIOR PHOTOS!? ONE photo of the interior, and not a good one. WTF? This is my biggest skepticism. Why not a dozen photos of various processors, the new cameras, the wifi chip, etc. We could piece together every feature of the new iPhone just by interior photos, but they only posted one which shows almost nothing. FTA: "it said it was XX GB, but since we were unable to get the phone to a running state, we couldn't see exactly how large it was." Well if you would have taken photos of the chips someone could probably find the size. FAIL
Changing design doesn't make sense either. Apple has 3 generations of iPhones shaped exactly the same, and now they go in a different direction? Of course Apple did the same thing with the Nano, 5 generations of Nanos and the 3rd and 4th are shaped differently from previous generations, but this is a phone, a lot of money and research has been spent making compatible cases and docks, to change it now would cost a lot of wasted time and money by hundreds of companies.... although that means new licensing fees for Apple.... ok, perhaps new design does make sense
This is either Apple's April Fools on Gizmodo/Engadget or a clever marketing by Apple
UPDATE: while I was writing this post I found this: Apparently Gizmodo did buy this phone:
"iPhone was stolen from Apple, then purchased by Gizmodo."
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
You'd think so.... but possibly not. And this might also account for being able to reduce the size of everything *and* probably improve power usage too.
I think even with older iPhones/iPods they've had funny serial numbers on chips that are similar to, but not quite the same as other off-the-shelf components, making it not entirely clear what they are.