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Apple Announces iPhone 5
Today Phil Schiller took to the stage at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, where he announced the long-expected iPhone 5. The casing is made entirely of glass and aluminum, and it's 7.6mm thick, which is 18% thinner than the iPhone 4S. It weighs in at 112 grams, which is 20% lighter than the 4S. Schiller confirmed that the iPhone 5 has a 4" display, with a resolution of 1136x640. It's a 16:9 aspect ratio. The screen is the same width as a 4S, but it's taller. To accommodate older apps, they either center the app or add black bars to make it look right. The new device also has LTE support. Tim Cook spoke earlier about the iPad, making some interesting claims: "Yes, we are in a post-PC world." He also claimed 68% tablet market share for the iPad, and says iPads account for 91% of tablet-based web traffic. The event is continuing, and we'll update this post as further announcements appear. A real-time liveblog is being quickly updated at Ars Technica. Update: 09/12 18:16 GMT by S : Further details below.
Further details: for the iPhone 5, Apple also added support for HSPA+ and DC-HSDPA. The dynamic antenna is an improvement over the 4S, and can switch connections. In the U.S. LTE partners are AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint. On to processing: the iPhone 5 runs an A6 chip that's twice as fast as the A5, in addition to being 22% smaller. Rob Murray from EA got up on stage to show a racing game, claiming that the graphics "have been built to full console quality." Battery life for the phone will be roughly 8 hours for either 3G talk-time or browsing. Engadget has a feature-by-feature comparison to the 4S.
The new phone's camera has an 8-Megapixel sensor, with a resolution of 3264x2448. It includes a hybrid IR filter, an f/2.4 aperture, and a five element lens. And a sapphire crystal lens cover, for whatever that's worth. There's a new feature for taking panorama shots (claimed 'breakthrough software,' though similar software already appears on actual cameras), and new software for automatically sharing pictures.
Apple also detailed the new connector, dubbed 'Lightning.' It's entirely digital, and 80% smaller than the old connector. It can be plugged in in either direction. Apple has created a bunch of adapters to let old cables and hardware work with Lightning. They then spoke at length about iOS 6, which will run on the iPhone 5, and demonstrated their new Maps app, which includes turn-by-turn directions (also in 3D using a 'cinematic camera'). "Apple is betting heavily on Passbook and other features to give it a leg up in the competition over Google Android and the upcoming Windows Phone 8." Pre-orders for the iPhone 5 start on Friday, and the device will start shipping on September 21. iOS 6 will roll out on September 19.
Apple's Eddie Cue went on stage to discuss changes to iTunes and the iPod. iTunes has been redesigned to work better on the iPad, and, more importantly, iCloud integration has been built in. They've also made a 'mini-player,' which takes up much less screen real estate. The new iTunes will be available in late October. Changes are coming for iPods as well. The new iPod nano looks like a mini iPod Touch. It's 38% thinner than the previous model, but has a bigger, 2.5" multitouch display. It contains an FM tuner with DVR functionality, it has a Home button, and it uses the Lightning connector. The iPod Touch is now 6.1 mm thick and weighs 88 grams. It has a Lightning connector port too, in addition to the headphone jack. The screen is bigger; it's a 4" display, the same as the iPhone 5. It runs on a dual-core A5 processor that's twice as fast as the previous model. Graphics are claimed to be seven times faster. The battery allows for 40 hours of audio playback or 8 hours of video playback. The camera has been upgraded to a 5MP sensor. The iPod Touch comes in colors now. But not grape. Apple also took the wraps off what they call "EarPods." They're like earbuds, but they don't form a seal within the ear. They let air flow continue, and a tiny speaker directs the sound into the ear. The EarPods will come standard with the iPhone 5 and with the new revisions of the iPod Nano, and iPod Touch.
The new phone's camera has an 8-Megapixel sensor, with a resolution of 3264x2448. It includes a hybrid IR filter, an f/2.4 aperture, and a five element lens. And a sapphire crystal lens cover, for whatever that's worth. There's a new feature for taking panorama shots (claimed 'breakthrough software,' though similar software already appears on actual cameras), and new software for automatically sharing pictures.
Apple also detailed the new connector, dubbed 'Lightning.' It's entirely digital, and 80% smaller than the old connector. It can be plugged in in either direction. Apple has created a bunch of adapters to let old cables and hardware work with Lightning. They then spoke at length about iOS 6, which will run on the iPhone 5, and demonstrated their new Maps app, which includes turn-by-turn directions (also in 3D using a 'cinematic camera'). "Apple is betting heavily on Passbook and other features to give it a leg up in the competition over Google Android and the upcoming Windows Phone 8." Pre-orders for the iPhone 5 start on Friday, and the device will start shipping on September 21. iOS 6 will roll out on September 19.
Apple's Eddie Cue went on stage to discuss changes to iTunes and the iPod. iTunes has been redesigned to work better on the iPad, and, more importantly, iCloud integration has been built in. They've also made a 'mini-player,' which takes up much less screen real estate. The new iTunes will be available in late October. Changes are coming for iPods as well. The new iPod nano looks like a mini iPod Touch. It's 38% thinner than the previous model, but has a bigger, 2.5" multitouch display. It contains an FM tuner with DVR functionality, it has a Home button, and it uses the Lightning connector. The iPod Touch is now 6.1 mm thick and weighs 88 grams. It has a Lightning connector port too, in addition to the headphone jack. The screen is bigger; it's a 4" display, the same as the iPhone 5. It runs on a dual-core A5 processor that's twice as fast as the previous model. Graphics are claimed to be seven times faster. The battery allows for 40 hours of audio playback or 8 hours of video playback. The camera has been upgraded to a 5MP sensor. The iPod Touch comes in colors now. But not grape. Apple also took the wraps off what they call "EarPods." They're like earbuds, but they don't form a seal within the ear. They let air flow continue, and a tiny speaker directs the sound into the ear. The EarPods will come standard with the iPhone 5 and with the new revisions of the iPod Nano, and iPod Touch.
whatever
-Lod
yes, when you only get one choice it's nice if it aligns somewhat with your preferences.
don't know what those silly Android folks are thinking with making lots of different styles and shapes. how does anyone know what they are supposed to want?
But but, Steve Jesus Jobs said "3.5 inch was the MOST PERFECT EVAAAR phone size"... and all you fanbois were falling over each other bashing Samsung and Android for large screen size. whatever happened to that????
post-PC world you can't code on ios and the screen is to small to do big typing / excel type work.
This. Slashdot stories are frequently months or even years after the event. Why the sudden urgency?
iPhone whatever...but will it blend?
Where are the lawyers from Samsung when you need them?
It's simple really, iPhones are for skinny people who wear tight pants in order show off their junk. Droids are for IT fatboys who still wear cargo pants.
I blame my Mac keyboard, it knows what I'm typing...
What kills me is that people are going to eat that shit up. They don't realize that they hold a PC in their hand which just so happens to have a phone app. My first computer had an AMD k6-2 300mhz processor (I'm 22, see UID), and I was astounded when I realized my OG Droid had double the compute power. It only took a decade for that to go from being the latest and greatest to being in the palm of your hand being used for fart apps. Tegra games already rival the current-gen consoles in terms of graphics.
PCs aren't dead, they're better than they ever have been before.
In other news, Steve Jobs shits his grave knowing his precious screens are used to display black bars.
My T-Mobile G1 has 5 rows of icons. I expect Apple will sue HTC and win over this innovation that HTC obviously stole years ago.
Won't wirelessly stream video to my HDTV
less storage than the Library of Congress
Lame.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
For a company that wants to be seen as being on the leading edge they could have at least tried competing with the GS3.
HD on a 4 inch screen is like expecting Klipsch loudspeaker performance from a pair of ear buds. Now I'm not saying everyone will have the same experience, but I'm already wearing reading glasses (began at the ripe old age of 28) and am happy to be able to focus on anything within 2 feet, I'm not about to care about HD on a puny display.
"What's that little white blur?"
"That's the opposing team quarterback.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Thats why the rush of suing Samsung to ban their phone or whatever one that could put a shadow over their new one.
1136x640? What kind of crack-smoking resolution is that? It's not any kind of standard and it isn't an integer multiple of the existing iPhone resolutions. I had expected it to be 1440x960 (3x the original iPhone resolution) so that they could keep using the existing Retina Display features, which use simple pixel doubling for noncompliant apps. But what are they going for with this?
It's not going to change your life, get you laid
You don't know my wife...
Filing papers in court I suspect.
To be fair, the GS3 was released only 3 months ago. I don't know if it would be possible for them to adjust their design in the time between the specs for GS3 being released and their production needing to start. Now not competing with the display on the Galaxy Nexus (also a full 720p display and released 9 months ago)... that's a bit harder to understand.
For a company that wants to be seen as being on the leading edge they could have at least tried competing with the GS3.
leading edge of what?
Apple since their inception has been about bringing computing to the masses. It's been about making user interfaces more intuitive. It's also been about design.
I have never ever seen anything from Apple where they wanted their products to be leading edge in technology.
These sorts of statements are so over-the-top. No ipad is going to replace my desktop at work, nor my gaming laptop at home. Apple's success in the last decade has been in part by doubling-down on particular demographics, but notions like these seem to suggest that Apple's success might clouding their perception a tad.
In debates about Christianity, there are two groups: those looking for answers, and those looking to just ask questions.
What's the problem? You just attach a big magnifying glass in front of the screen, like 'Brazil'.
No, I don't remember that. Because it was CmdrTaco's story for the first iPod.
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
1136x640? What kind of crack-smoking resolution is that? It's not any kind of standard and it isn't an integer multiple of the existing iPhone resolutions.
It's an exact 1x the 640 pixel width of the iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, and iPod touch 4. As I understand the summary, retina apps will look the same, just with borders on the top and bottom.
Apple doesn't general do "firsts", but they are the king at "The first X that doesn't suck"
The original iphone was criticized for not having 3g. At the time 3g was not widely available, and all of the 3g chips were power hogging monsters. All of the first 3g phones sucked.
I've got a 4 and I'm pretty damn happy with it. The 5 looks like a pretty good evolutionary improvement and I might pick it up. (The 4s was not enough of an improvement for me to shell out the extra $)
I've been seriously looking at a new andriod too. The S3 and the HTC X one are amazing devices with lots of great features.. But neither ship with andriod 4.1.
That's the problem. Do I get an andriod with really cool bells and whistles? Or an iphone that has a slick, long term reliable end user experience that I'm used to. I know if I pick the 5 all of my apps, music, messages, mail, everything will carry over flawlessly. Just like with my 4.. And my 3g before it.. I've still got the same music library, apps, and email settings carried all the way from my original iphone and that's damn awesome.
The iPhone has been falling behind in the past year or so. Competitors now have better hardware and an equally good user experience. This is why Apple has been resorting to lawsuits: in the phone arena, they face the real prospect of losing serious market share to Samsung. The Galaxy S III is competitive with even the iPhone 5 (though its app ecosystem may not be quite as good) and the Galaxy Note is far superior to the Apple phones.
On the tablet side of things, Apple is faring better. There is still no serious Android competitor to the new iPad, with its unparalleled 2048x1536 display. Android fans usually try to respond by telling me that I don't really need a high-res display. This is a losing argument – once you've seen the new iPad in action, low-resolution tablets look crude in comparison. It really makes a huge difference, especially when reading PDFs and web pages zoomed out. None of the competing 10" tablets come close to the iPad's market share. The smaller, cheaper tablets (Nexus 7, Kindle Fire) are indeed cutting into Apple's business, but they apparently have an iPad Mini prepped and ready to go to compete there. If rumors are accurate and it goes for $249 or so, then it's going to get a lot of purchases. On the other hand, it's hard to say how many will be taken from Google and Amazon, and how many will be cannibalized from sales of the full-size (and presumably more profitable) iPad.
I'm hoping that Samsung's next Galaxy Note tablet will have a Retina-equivalent display. If they can do that and keep the price at $499 to open (like Apple did), then they will have a real competitor on their hands. I'd seriously consider buying one.
The connector is called Lightning. ahahaha. What's the headphone jack called when it gets an upgrade?
I must concede your point. If your married and your spouse happens to like these shiny toys and you get them one, it just might get you get you laid after all.
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/apple
"He also claimed 68% tablet market share for the iPad, and says iPads account for 91% of tablet-based web traffic"
Was anyone else's first reaction to this statement "Wow, that sounds like iPads are inefficient."
How can people get excited by this stuff? The original iPhone was amazing, but surely these 20% thinner/faster/smaller/wider/etc. incremental changes should not be causing the tech world to collectively cream in their pants.
The Onion of course nails this phenomenon perfectly -- starting at 0:21. http://www.theonion.com/video/apple-unveils-muchanticipated-iphone-4se,29489/
Those of us who own shares of AAPL would disagree. Just sayin...
"The only normal people are the ones you don't know very well."
"Yes, we are in a post-PC world."
Who is "we"? Certainly it's not anyone who does work on a computer, or anyone who supports computers that people do work on, or anyone who creates things that people use to do work on a computer. Those poor clods are still stuck in the "PC runs damn near every aspect of business" world.
-Lod
With all of these different versions of iOS and different versions of hardware, Apple is creating Fragmentation! (gasp!)
What is Apple going to do about this?
Why can't old apps dynamically adapt to the new screen size? The iPad has been out for how long now?
Further evidence that this isn't your dad's Apple computer anymore. Back in the early days of Mac, Apple specifically told developers to not make assumptions about the hardware, screen size, processor speed, etc.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
The new iPhone looks suspiciously similar to a Samsung phone from years ago.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
What are you talking about I just pre ordered hers a minute ago.
She says not to forget the milk....
A loop, by its nature, continues. If that didn't make sense, start reading this sentence again.
Maybe that means that iPad users actually use their tablets and Android owners just leave it in a drawer? No way to know without further statistics so its stupid to draw conclusions.
Even better, they could combine the "SS" with the new "Lightning" connector, and shape the S's like lightning bolts! Think about how cool would that be! ... what?
Well, in 3G might have sucked in the US, but it worked perfectly well here around.
Well, my Nexus does have 4.1.1, no problems. It's a little bit on the small side (with only 4.65" and a little bit more pixel than the brand new iPhone 5), it works surprisingly well, I had the second battery pack and external charger picked up the same day I got it, ...
And yes, personally the non-changeable (by the user) battery is a show stopper. I don't need it often, but I do manage to run the battery dry (especially if I was sloppy about keeping it charged up before leaving home), and fixed battery devices (that includes all iDevices but also many Android tablets) don't offer an answer to that.
Having just run on such a fixed-battery device as primary device, I really felt myself getting paranoid about always having it hooked up to the charger, be it in the car, at home, in the train, and so on. (And despite progress in this relation, there are quite a bit of trains that still have no power outlets, now explain me how you plan to use your iPhone for entertainment on your next 18 hours trip across Europe, I mean you'll be sleeping perhaps 6-8 hours of this, but 10-12 hours usage is still hard). And yes, I've been reading ebooks on my mobile devices years before ebooks become mainstream.
The thing is, I only hear these claims uttered sarcastically by neckbeards and other tiresome people in the geekverse. It's like how I only hear "The Earth is 6000 years old" from atheists. And who gives a shit what connector it is as long as the device comes with a cable and I can get a replacement if necessary?
Back in the day geeks and nerds advocated competition and having multiple players in the market- it's how PCs got so cheap with a zillion motherboard and peripheral makers. People who really care about tech should hope for success for Apple, Android and, yes, Windows 8 phones so they can continue to fight it out. Anything else is fanboy horseshit. Yes, being a basher is simply fanboyism of a different platform- just as bad, if not worse.
It is right there in the presentation. Black bars around most apps until they are upgraded.
I admit that is only an aesthetic defect, but aesthetics seems to be a major concern for many Apple fans.
My buddy's wife will have sex with him only when he brings home a half gallon of ice cream for her. Yes, she's fat. He's happy.
For years now the HDD based iPod Classic has survived new iPods of various names and specs, but it gets at best a mention once a year. Will we still see it for again survive another year? I sure hope so, because HDD based players are getting harder and harder to find.
This is further proof that Google already has a working time machine, in order to steal the revolutionary 16:9 aspect ratio, the 4 inch display design. The original evidence was the roll-down notification bar of course.
Seriously, go check this out. They're going to print money with this thing.
And that they did...
Ok, but why is it that every single iPhone I see is covered by a huge honkin rubber protective case?
From what I have seen Apple should quit trying to make the thinnest iPhone possible and instead make something that can survive a drop.
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
yeah you can write the code on it try compiling it on devise though... oh wait.
---Saying gnome 3 is better than windows 8 not so much a compliment as it is damning with light praise.
Yes. I was grandfathered in from the original iPhone, to a 3GS, then a 4. Recently switched to a Galaxy S3 and kept my plan, even with LTE.
Apple's greatest strength and most damning faults laid bare in one comment.
It just works, you know what you're getting, your old stuff keeps working.
Evolutionary, not revolutionary. Does not play well with others.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
If people don't care what apple does, why are they commenting in a thread about it?
Ultimately, this product seems to be one that is geared towards fragmenting their own user-base. It's unhealthy for them as a company, and it's not remotely helpful to the consumer.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
>>>You can see what you are doing on a Pad. and get a full keyboard for typing.
In other words walk past the iPad in the store and buy a small laptop instead. Got it. Tablets are really just small internet-connected TVs..... passive entertainment devices. Laptops are the better choice for people who need to do actual work.
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
That's why RIM is in trouble. I stupidly dropped my 9810 today, nearly 5 feet. Not a scratch; just kept working. Now if that had been an iPhone, that would have been another sale for Apple.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
Now not competing with the display on the Galaxy Nexus (also a full 720p display and released 9 months ago)... that's a bit harder to understand.
Well they've backed themselves into a corner with having absolute pixel positioning, so you can't just arbitrarily change the pixel count like you can on an OS with a UI layout manager. Sorry, let me re-phrase that: on a proper OS. They got away with it once by quadrupling the pixels, but they can't do that again (even if the tech was possible, there wouldn't be any point since we're at the limit of human eye capability). To go to something like 1240x720 would require all sorts of weird scaling, and not look very good. Soooo... what can they do? Maintain the pixel width and add black bars, and put some API for the developers to work around it. I'm very glad I'm not a iOS developer now, I have no idea how they can support that without it being pretty hacky.
"And a sapphire crystal lens cover, for whatever that's worth."
With a hardness of roughly 9 on the Mohs hardness scale, that means it is much more resistant to scratching versus glass. This keeps image quality good, as a scratched lens protection plate will always fuck with the clarity of your images.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
post-PC doesn't mean that the PC isn't around anymore. It just means it's not the main device in most people's lives.
Apple's view is that an app should be hand-customized to support the resolution and screen size of the device
That would have worked back when all Macs had a 512x342 pixel monochrome screen, and it may work on iOS, but Mac screen sizes vary quite a bit as of now. Is the key difference here the fact that iOS apps run maximized but Mac apps need not?
Of course, that completely depends on what your definition of "actual work" is. What you consider "actual work" others might not. I'm sure a construction worker believes that you tinkering on a computer all day is "actual work".
While having two basic shell color models reduces parts supply problems, and allows for quick fixes for breakage, a missing rebrand upscaling of the iPhone 5 is the ability to buy it with shell casing matching school colors.
For example, at the UW Bookstore, you could get a Dawg iPhone 5 with Purple and Gold colors. A part of the proceeds could go to the university or college doing this.
Up till now, most people have settled for fab work done by friends, or used shell cases such as the waterproof rugged casing a lot of my friends who keep them in their purses use, but it's the most obvious thing, other than "signed" cases done by designers such as Hermes or so on.
Face it, if you're going dancing, you probably want the slimmest profile for the phone you can get, as well as a user-identifiable dongle. Just look at the Japanese teen market for ideas in this sphere.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Actually pretty much nobody's impressed with the iPhone 5. With the exception of a lone Samsung employee who as I write this is putting together a memo that'll cause Samsung much embarassment in a trial five years from now...
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
Actually, on Slashdot they've been pretty histrionic every time around--even the first one.
One of the keys to Apple's success is the unshakeable conviction that "Nobody wants X--until Apple figures out how to do it right."
Riiiiight...so the antenna snafu was a feature for easily hanging on unwanted calls, right?
Samsung's panorama feature has been around since at least the Omnia. And it was a function in the Phone app, not a separate app.
Wow, letterboxing? Really? Really? Did Apple just never learn how to make an API for UI elements that doesn't suck?
Yes, in fact they did it from the release of the SDK.
An app has ALWAYS had to take into account the screen might shrink somewhat for an incoming call; it increases the header size.
The same auto-layout logic (again present since the release of the SDK) would also handle simply expanding an app to fill the screen. Some apps might look a little funny until they get updated, but not too bad.
If Apple had increased the WIDTH, then there would have been major issues as many fewer app developers plan for that varying.
The question is if Apple is going to let apps auto-resize, or if they will present bars until you re-compile and re-submit the app. But the point is that apps already are handling variable heights to some degree so this is not a tricky thing.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Actually either would via several methods.
Presbyopia can be dealt with either by progressive contacts, or laser surgery for one eye to be setup for close focus and the other far.
Nice try on not know what you are talking about and still being smug about it.
Samsung was waiting for the presentation to have an official confirmation that iPhone 5 will have LTE...
Now, they'll ask for a ban of the device and people who will preorder will take the risk of waiting for ages before having their brand new phone...
So the lines may be quite short after all... Because people want their breand new toy NOW and not in a uncertain future...
I work for a company that deploys iPhones and iPads. We've given out hundreds of devices. So far we've had 3 broken (screen shattered). You can get a screen replaced for a couple hundred dollars. I've seen COUNTLESS iPhones/iPads dropped without suffering any damage, or just very minor scratching. The only time we see REAL damage is when it lands on a corner and all the force is concentrated in that one small area, and only happens on a very hard surface like concrete. As far as blackberrys, we replace about 3 a week. Usually trackballs and now the touchpads failing, keypads stop working randomly and of course the finish wears off all of them within 3-6 months, so they start flaking. Everyone knows when they inevitable freeze up you have to reboot them by removing the battery. The new problem now is speakers failing, we have people bring in Tours/Curves because their "ringer and speaker phone stopped working" -- tell tale sign every time. Basically we replace blackberrys at LEAST at a 5:1 rate as we do iPhones. No dropping required!
. Things can't just scale with resolution on an iPhone, for example, as they do on a computer monitor, because a finger is not a precise pointing device like a mouse.
ummm.... why not? That is how Android does it.
I was wrong about it automatically adjusting the app size up. It will letterbox...
But like I said since most apps already have to deal with height changes it will be mostly a re-compile (except for games).
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
How is it hypocritical to hope Samsung gives Apple a taste of their own medicine?
Note: Samsung's upset about a patented technology they actually own and invented. Apple sued over mostly design patents that many places in the world mock because they simply shouldn't be patentable. Also it seems quite likely that Apple's own patents will be overturned on appeal since prior art was ignored by the jury.
- Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)
"post-PC" does not mean "no PC"
I'd like to buy one outright and go w/ a no-contract plan. Anyone know how that works?
Yes Apple User I can help you here, it works well and is pretty easy.
When they are available, you go to the store and tell the salesperson that you would like to buy an iPhone 5. The salesperson says 'ok' and grabs one and then tells you what the price is for an iPhone 5 with no contract. You then use your payment method of choice and pay the correct amount of money. Once the transaction is completed, the salesperson hands you your new iPhone 5. You then walk out of the store.
Congratulations, if you have made it this far, you have done what we in the industry call a "purchase". You have now "bought" an iPhone 5 and in most cases you now "own" it.
Please reply if you have trouble understanding these instructions, and Ill do my best to explain how this "purchasing" process works.
the iPhone doesn't use gorilla glass or equivalent, it uses a much cheaper, weaker material than just about all flagship Android devices (the Galaxy Nexus is one exception I can think of). As such, the iPhone objectively has a weaker screen and is hence more likely and more prone to breaking whatever your anecdotes might say. As for the Blackberry I can't comment, but certainly there is objectively some truth in what the GP is saying - the iPhone has a much weaker screen than one would normally expect for the price, particularly when comparing to it's main competition, so it would make sense that on average it ends up with a broken screen more so than at least most equivalent Android (and for that matter, Windows Phone) handsets.
Umm... no. But really lousy try at trolling. The original iPhone was the first device to bring Gorilla Glass to a consumer product, and they have used it ever since. Up until the iPhone was introduced, Gorilla Glass was shelved technology at Corning that they thought would never have a commercial application. Jobs approached the president of Corning because he was unhappy with the prototype screens that were so easily scratched. You can thank Jobs for introducing Gorilla Glass to ALL mobile phones.
"No, no, no. Don't tug on that. You never know what it might be attached to."