Verizon CFO confirms iPhone 5 will be Dual Network

Verizon finally gave us some real information announcing they have sold 2.2million iPhones in their 2011 First Quarter Sales Report. We also got huge details about the iPhone5. A Verizon CFO let slip that the iPhone 5 will be a "Global Device", meaning it will work with both Verizon and AT&T. There was
Verizon crushed Wall Street expectations with $3.26 billion in profit with revenue reaching nearly $27 billion. Revenue is up 10% from last year. Revenue is expected to increase as 4G smartphones are becoming much more readily available. Wireline (non-wireless) revenue was down 2.22% from last year. Verizon's first batch of the new 4G phone, the HTC Thunderbolt sold 260,000 phones. While this is a good number, it's nowhere near the sales of the iPhone.

Did Sony CEO Howard Stringer Spill The Beans About An 8MP iPhone 5 Camera?

We're recently reported that very few new features appear to be solid for the iPhone5. But a recent slip-up by the Sony CEO suggests that an 8-megapixel camera might be a definite upgrade for the next iPhone. read Charles Moore's new article:

MacNN, Appleinsider,, CNET, and several other Apple-watcher sites reported over the weekend that Sony CEO Howard Stringer may have inadvertently revealed that Apple is gearing up to equip the iPhone 5 with an eight-megapixel camera.

9To5Mac's Seth Weintraub, who attended the event, reports that Stringer, in a Talking Tech with Sony event interview with The Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall in New York, commented that his company's camera sensor plant at Sendai, Japan, is among 15 of the company's facilities damaged by last month's catastrophic earthquake and tsunami, and that the supply interruption will delay shipments of sensors to Apple. Since Sony sensors are not used in the iPhone versions 4 and 3GS, which employ 5-megapixel and 3.2 megapixel OmniVision camera sensors respectively, it's not a major deductive leap to infer that the higher-resolution CMOS sensors sourced from Sony would most likely be destined for the next revision iPhone 5.

A PhoneArena blog from six weeks ago notes that OmniVision shares nosedived last summer when a rumor spread that due partly to complaints about a yellowish color shift in still photos shot with the OmniVision sensor camera, Apple might be moving to Sony for its next generation iPhone camera sensors — possibly Sony's Exmor R sensor unit that is used in the Sony Ericsson Xperia arc and Xperia neo. That 8MP sensor is backlit to help it finesse low light conditions, similar to the way the iPhone 4′s 5MP OmniVision sensor does. Indeed, rumors of Apple dropping OmniVision in favor of Sony as its iPhone camera supplier are longstanding.

PhoneArena also reports that OmniVision has announced that it has an 8MP camera sensor of its own coming, the OV8820, which incorporates the same low-light performance enhancements, plus HD video at 60fps, and Full HD at 30fps, and which had been projected to begin mass production in March, but that production problems have occurred.

Not everyone agrees that Apple will use Sony CMOC camera sensors in the iPhone 5. Analyst Yair Reiner of Wall Street's Oppenheimer & Co. is quoted by Appleinisider isaying he expects OmniVision to remain Apple's camera supplier for the fifth-generation iPhone, corroborated by checks with contacts in Apple's supply channels, dismissing the notion an Apple-Sony hook-up as "rather silly."

Whatever, regardless of whether the iPhone 5's camera supplier is to be OmniVision or Sony, it looks like camera sensor supply problems may be a significant factor in Apple's evidently postponing the iPhone 5 introduction from an anticipated Worldwide Developer's Conference release until some time later in the year. With the iPad 2′s camera performance being that unit's most unanimously panned feature in reviews, Apple will want to get the camera right in the iPhone 5, where it is arguably a much more important feature than it is with the tablet product.

Also, with Sony Ericsson rumored to be getting 12MP+ camera equipped phones ready for summer release, Apple will need at least the 8MP sensors to remain even ballpark competitive in that context.

Dueling iPhone 5 Release Rumors; It's Like Daisy Petal Picking

It's coming in June; it's coming in June – not; it's coming in…..

Appleinsider's Neil Hughes says that rumors of a later-than-usual iPhone model revision for 2011 are being fueled by notoriously secretive Apple being even more secretive than usual in its dealings with overseas suppliers subcontracting to build the devices and their various components as regards the iPhone 5.

Hughes cites a note to investors by Ticonderoga Securities analyst Brian White, who is on a tech company visit sweep through Taiwan and China, commenting last Friday that "Apple is keeping its iPhone 5 cards extra close to the vest on this launch to avoid a falloff in iPhone 4 demand ahead of a refresh, especially given the February launch of the CDMA iPhone 4 with Verizon." However, White guesses there's still room for the iPhone 5 to still launch in June or July, consistent with Apple's usual calendar envelope for major iPhone announcements and revisions, and noting that there's really no solid evidence supporting either that postulate or a later iPhone 5 release in the fall.

TheStreet's James Rogers agrees with White, suggesting that with iPhone 5 rumors "ping-ponging" back and forth, the chatter, and in some instance angst, over a significant iPhone 5 release delay may be getting overblown.

On the other hand, Rogers notes — as I too have here previously — that Apple's press release for the June Worldwide Developers' Conference (WWDC), which in recent years has been a venue for iPhone revision announcements, made no reference to new hardware, a seemingly pointed omission, and affirmed instead that this year's WWDC will be focused on unveiling the future of iOS and Mac OS. Of course, we can't discount the possibility of a Steve Jobsian "one more thing" surprise announcement of the iPhone 5 at the keynote climax, whether or not the ailing (and we hope mending) Mr. Jobs is there to deliver it.

My takeaway is that while Apple's new and revised product releases are at least roughly predictable more often than not, attempting to pin them down to a precise time frame is a mug's game and an exercise in frustration and futility, compounded by the fact that from the moment the iPhone5 (launch of which is inevitable at some point in the not too distant future) is announced, new speculation will ramp up focusing on iPhone 6. Indeed, the iPad 2 announcement was still weeks in the future when prognostications about an iPhone 3 began circulating.

Waiting out anticipated product announcements can be frustrating, or part of the fun, depending on how you choose to look at it, but the upside is that current iPhone 4 is an excellent device that will do a fine job for you if you really need to make a purchase in the short term.

Concept case would turn your iPhone into a Leica

OK, so yes, this Leica i9 case for the iPhone 4 is still just a concept. You can't actually buy a case yet that fits around your iPhone and turns it into a Leica camera (though you can buy some nice lenses or an audio tape case). But this idea is just too cool to pass up. Outside of the standard retro charm of having a Leica attached to the back of your iPhone, the idea here is that you can use the iPhone's dock port to attach a high-quality premium camera to the back of your high-quality premium smartphone, enabling some really excellent mobile photography.

There's probably some technical magic that has to be worked here as well

– I don't know how feasible it is to have the dock hook up to and even control a high quality camera lens like this, especially with that design and size. But heck, if we can get the iCade made into a real product, this is certainly possible, right?

iPhone 5 Specs: Thinner, Larger 3.7-Inch Screen, Home Button With Gesture Area & More

Joshua Topolsky, former Engadget Editor has just revealed some interesting information about Apple's next generation iPhone – iPhone5, which is rumored to be released in September.

According to Topolsky who writes at This is my next, the 5th generation iPhone will be completely redesigned and it will look like iPod Touch 4G rather than iPhone 4.

Topolopsy reports that according to their sources, iPhone 5 will be thinner than the iPhone 4, and have a "teardrop" shape, which goes from thick to thin like MacBook Air.

He has revealed that the home button will be enlarged and will double up as the home button and also a gesture area:

this falls in line with testing we've seen for gestures on the iPad, and our sources say that gestures are definitely coming in a future version of iOS. The home button will likely be enlarged, but not scrapped altogether.

He also confirms that iPhone 5 will come with a larger 3.7 inch screen (compared to the 3.5 inch screen), which will occupy nearly the entire front of the phone while keeping the same resolution.

The sketch supplied to them by a source indicates some form of inductive or touch charging but their sources have not been able to confirm it.

You can also checkout the mockup of what the next generation iPhone will look like based on information they've received.

We really like the idea of the home button doubling up as a gesture area and though we like the design of iPhone 4, will love to see a completely redesigned iPhone, which is thinner and comes with a larger Retina display.

What about you? Please share your views in the comments section below.

Smart Bezel Could Be The Big, New "Mystery Feature" For the iPhone 5

As the tech community endlessly prognosticates on the next big features for the iPhone5, there's no doubt that Apple  has kept some of the best bits hidden from the public. But could the recent exposé on Apple's Smart Bezel patent be the mind-blowing feature that makes the iPhone 5 the smartphone of the year?

Bigger screen. 8 megapixel camera. iOS 5. NFC technology, The A5 chip. Most if not all of these predicted new features for the iPhone 5 are improvements rather than innovations — even NFC technology has already been tried on the Droid platform.

Where's the magic? Where's the defining feature for the iPhone 5 that will launch it into greatness? With the iPhone 4, we saw the advent of the front-facing camera, which gave smartphone users a next-generation way of communicating on the go. How will the iPhone 5 deliver a similarly siezmic breakthrough?

Enter Apple's Smart Bezel.

All this week, tech websites have been parsing a curious Apple patent that reveals plans to develop and deploy a dynamic, gesture-controlled bezel around the iPhone 5's screen, giving users a secondary means of navigating games and applications. Fast Company I think has summed up the technological aspect of the Smart Bezel patent the best, explaining that:

"The display relies on printed, segmented electroluminescent units (or similar tech) that would be hidden when not activated. These units would display additional info when needed–we're thinking games controls, an improvement to the awful messaging/alert system iOS uses, and display-wasting info like battery life bars or a clock."

Just as the old Atari joystick gave way to the advanced game controls of today, so too will smartphones like the iPhone 5 feature more gesture control.

To be sure, the Smart Bezel would be a bona fide breakthrough in technology, should it deliver on its promise of significantly expanding the gesture control and display layout of the iPhone 5. It's true that other extended touch surface concepts exist on current smartphones, such as the Palm Pre, but if Apple can push the exvelope with this new innovation, it could revolutionize the way that iPhone users interact with their iPhone; not just an improvement on what already exists, but a true innovation that would send the other smartphone designers into catch-up mode..

And from a more practical standpoint, the Smart Bezel would also give the iPhone 5 an effective alternative to the cumbersome home button, which many believe will be moved or replaced in one way or another.

The idea of the Smart Bezel has been kicking around for some time now. For the most part, the idea of adding more gesture control was initially being ascribed to the iPad 2. Many analysts foresee that tablets and smartphones will continue to feature more and more gesture control features apart from the touch screen itself. Much in the way that the simple Atari joystick of yesteryear has advanced to the complex array of buttons, joysticks, sliders, and gesture control, so too will the chassis of the next generation of smartphones and tablets include bezels, backs, and other interesting nooks and crannies that will give users new vistas of control over their mobile computing experience.

iPhone 6 Rumors: New Design, Polysilicon Liquid Crystal Panels

Well now, we haven't seen the iPhone5 anywhere near coming out to play yet and it appears the rumours of the following iPhone, the iPhone 6 have already started doing the rounds, the rumour that the iPhone 6 will have a new design. According to an article over on Yahoo News, by way of Apple Insider, Ming-Chi Kuo of Concorde Securities published a report that claims the next generation iOS smartphone currently being called the iPhone 6 will sport a "new design and greatly improved hardware specifications for the sixth-generation iPhone."

Apparently the iPhone 6 is apparently expected in the first half of 2012. Another report by Japanese newspaper, Nikkan also claims that the iPhone 6 will sport new Polysilicon Liquid Crystal Panels manufactured by Sharp and will release in 2012.

So there's a couple of rumours' concerning the sixth-generation iPhonealbeit somewhat early, so do any of our readers have their own wish list for the iPhone 6? If so feel free to let us know your wishes by dropping us a comment below…many thanks.

iPhone 5 Fake Keynote Rehearsal by Steve Jobs

If all the speculation about the iPhone 5 isn't enough for you, there is now apparently a video floating the net waves of iPhone guru Steve Jobs rehearsing the iPhone 5 intro keynote, although one does have to say it's obvious that it is a fake. According to Cult of Mac, apparently the Steve Jobs in the video sounds a lot like George W. Bush, and according to TUAW, by way of Macrumors, the fake video says that the iPhone 5 will have "digital scent technology" and a battery that doesn't require charging.

The video can be found on Chinese site Tudou and lasts 46 seconds and even has the Steve Jobs impersonator stopping mid keynote to change his shoes and says they are as light as an iPhone5.

Have to say it is a considerable poor attempt at faking an Apple keynote, but the big question here is why would anyone want to create such an obvious fake? Smell-o-vision and a lifetime battery sounds good though, lol.

iPhone 5 & iPad 2 Keynote Possibly

Looks like the WWDC Even this year will be held on June 5 to June 9 and is marked down as the Corporate Meeting' placeholder, wonder what we can expect this year then. We all know by now that at WWDC events Apple announced new iPhones and iOS software so surely that means we can expect the likes of the new iPhone 5 and a new iOS update and features.

June 6 is more likely to be the Keynote, hopefully Steve Jobs will be the man talking about new Apple devices and software but this is not known as of yet.

There is not much to go on here to tell you the truth other than visiting 9to5Mac and AppleBitch for a screenshot of the event dates, we all know that  announces a new iPhone at WWDC in June with a release in July so it is a safe bet that the iPhone 5 will be announced.

Will we get to know official news about the iPad 2 soon or will this also be announced officially in June? Join us on Twitter or Facebook for up-to-date news as soon as we receive it.

More rumors of larger iPhone 5 screen

Here we go again with the rumors that the iPhone 5–or whatever Apple chooses to call its fifth-generation iPhone–will have a larger screen. This one comes out of China, where iDealsChina has posted what it claims is a photo of the front bezel or digitizer panel for the iPhone 5.

Here's the long caption that was posted along with the image, which was first noticed by 9to5Mac:

China's 1st iPhone 5 photo has surfaced! From this photo it seems that the screen size will be larger than iPhone 4. There has been a lot of speculation about a larger screen and maybe this will be one of the upgrades we will see when iPhone 5 is released this summer.

Previous rumors have the iPhone 5 sporting a 4-inch "edge-to-edge" screen, which some are interpreting to mean that it will have a smaller bezel or border. With so many of the new Android smartphones having more generous screens than the iPhone, some consumers–including many CNET readers–are hoping that the next iPhone will have a larger screen.

It's also worth pointing out that a recent rumor suggested the next iPhone and iPad will ditch the home button for onscreen gesture commands. But as you can see from this photo, there's a spot for the home button.

If you're looking for a track record on iDealsChina's rumors, it's hit and miss. In 2008, this Chinese reseller of Apple parts claimed on its Web site that an iPhone Nano was in the making (ironically, those same rumors of a smaller iPhone are making the rounds now). But it did better with posting images of some molds for iPhone 3G cases prior to that model's launch.

iDealsChina says that more photos of parts for the iPhone 5 "may be available soon" and that the part it would really like to see is the back of iPhone 5 to "verify if the rumored tapered back is true."

Summer iPhone 5, iOS 5 still alive, white iPhone 4 gone from Apple.com

The dream of a summertime iPhone 5 and iOS 5 release is still alive so long as the white iPhone 4 hasn't made an appearance on Apple.com – and thus far it's been invisible instead. Despite claims that the suddenly white-hued fourth generation iPhone is floating in the ether and ready to crash retail as soon as this week, a quick glance at Apple's website and online store makes it clear that the white iPhone 4 still does not yet officially exist. And that's a ray of hope for those who really, really wanted to buy an iPhone 5 this summer, as a white iPhone 4 appearance would mark the end of hope. So what's really going on here?Last month promised the white iPhone would arrive this spring, so a white iPhone 4 launch this week wouldn't be a shocker in that regard. But the company was careful (or perhaps careless) to not mention the version number of the white iPhone it promised, leading to dual competing interpretations: a white iPhone 4 at the beginning of spring, or a white iPhone 5 at the end of spring. Realistically, they can't both happen, as Apple wouldn't put a white iPhone 4 on the market only to turn around and kill it off, along with the rest of the iPhone 4 lineup, a month an a half later. So if the white iPhone 4 does indeed arrive in the coming days, don't plan on seeing an iPhone 5 in any color until the fall at the earliest. But as long as Apple.com is treating the white iPhone 4 like it still doesn't exist, feel free to do the same – for the moment, at least. And good luck figuring out when iOS 5 might arrive, as a last minute white iPhone 4 arrival would mean that chaos has ruled the day and all Apple products with the number "5″ in their name are on the public backburner for now. Here's more on the iPhone 5.

Dueling iPhone 5 Release Rumors; It's Like Daisy Petal Picking

It's coming in June; it's coming in June – not; it's coming in…..

Appleinsider's Neil Hughes says that rumors of a later-than-usual iPhone model revision for 2011 are being fueled by notoriously secretive Apple being even more secretive than usual in its dealings with overseas suppliers subcontracting to build the devices and their various components as regards the iPhone 5.

Hughes cites a note to investors by Ticonderoga Securities analyst Brian White, who is on a tech company visit sweep through Taiwan and China, commenting last Friday that "Apple is keeping its iPhone 5 cards extra close to the vest on this launch to avoid a falloff in iPhone 4 demand ahead of a refresh, especially given the February launch of the CDMA iPhone 4 with Verizon." However, White guesses there's still room for the iPhone 5 to still launch in June or July, consistent with Apple's usual calendar envelope for major iPhone announcements and revisions, and noting that there's really no solid evidence supporting either that postulate or a later iPhone 5 release in the fall.

TheStreet's James Rogers agrees with White, suggesting that with iPhone 5 rumors "ping-ponging" back and forth, the chatter, and in some instance angst, over a significant iPhone 5 release delay may be getting overblown.

On the other hand, Rogers notes — as I too have here previously — that Apple's press release for the June Worldwide Developers' Conference (WWDC), which in recent years has been a venue for iPhone revision announcements, made no reference to new hardware, a seemingly pointed omission, and affirmed instead that this year's WWDC will be focused on unveiling the future of iOS and Mac OS. Of course, we can't discount the possibility of a Steve Jobsian "one more thing" surprise announcement of the iPhone 5 at the keynote climax, whether or not the ailing (and we hope mending) Mr. Jobs is there to deliver it.

My takeaway is that while Apple's new and revised product releases are at least roughly predictable more often than not, attempting to pin them down to a precise time frame is a mug's game and an exercise in frustration and futility, compounded by the fact that from the moment the iPhone5 (launch of which is inevitable at some point in the not too distant future) is announced, new speculation will ramp up focusing on iPhone 6. Indeed, the iPad 2 announcement was still weeks in the future when prognostications about an iPhone 3 began circulating.

Waiting out anticipated product announcements can be frustrating, or part of the fun, depending on how you choose to look at it, but the upside is that current iPhone 4 is an excellent device that will do a fine job for you if you really need to make a purchase in the short term.

June iPhone 5 release dies at altar of April white iPhone 4

The June iPhone 5 dies at the altar tomorrow as the white iPhone 4 is set to hit retail stores, prolonging the iPhone 4 era indefinitely and bringing an official and to any hope of the iPhone debuting at June's WWDC conference or a separate press event. This will mark the first summer in the iPhone's history in which no new iPhone generation has surfaced in the summer. There's still no clear indication of what has specifically led to Apple's change in behavior, although the first hint of scheduling flux may have been the February release of a Verizon compatible iPhone 4. Many at the time questioned why Apple would launch a Verizon iPhone 4 a mere few months before the arrival of the iPhone 5, and now the answer is more clear: the iPhone 5 was ultimately more than a few months away. Now the white iPhone 4 comes at a time when many thought the iPhone 5 was just around the corner

Signage

But any hope of a nearby iPhone 5 has to go away, for now, with the arrival of the white iPhone 4. Simple business sense dictates that Apple wouldn't be adding an iPhone 4 color now if it were expecting to launch the iPhone 5 in any less than three or four months. That doesn't mean the iPhone 5 has been pushed back to 2012 or even to the edge of the 2011 holiday season; it simply means that early summer is clearly off the table. That begs the question of what, if any, new hardware Apple will launch during its WWDC keynote. The upcoming iOS 5 operating system, which will likely be released alongside the iPhone 5, can be counted on to be previewed at WWDC. But with the iPhone 5 off the table (Apple won't preview new hardware that far in advance), the iPad 2 having been just released, and the iPod lineup not due for revamp until September, Apple may end up using WWDC to launch new Mac hardware – or nothing at all, as the WWDC is the keynote for a developer conference and not a mainstream press event, although it's been used as the latter in the past.

Dive in or wait

The most common question we've received all year has been "When is the iPhone 5 release date?" The answer: we still don't know. But as far as the corollary question, "Should I wait for the iPhone 5 or buy the iPhone 4 now?", the answer is this: the iPhone 5 can't be expected, at this point, any sooner than August or September. How much longer do you really want to wait? Here's more on the iPhone5.

iPhone 5 Carbon Concept Pictures

There have been many speculations of next generations of iPhone recently, some saying that the iPhone 5 will come out this fall, around September or October depending on the production progress of Apple. Before this blockbuster is officially released, designers around the world have chances to introduce their own ideas. We have seen many concept pictures of iPhone5, and Teo Hazo has just shown us another concept named iPhone5 Carbon.

The iPhone 5 Carbon's design contains all recently leaked information and this is highly rated by professionals as it helps people imagine the future design of iPhone 5. According to the concept, iPhone 5 is quite similar to iPhone 4, however, the housing of the device is made of carbon and glass. We also can't see the physical Home button and its bezels have become much smaller.

The iPhone 5 Carbon also features a 4 inch display with the resolution of 1120 x 780 pixels. The 8 megapixel rear camera allows us to capture 1080p HD videos at 30 fps. Moreover, the iPhone 5 is integrated with dual LED flash, runs on the dual-core A8 processor, which is seen as the next upgrade of the A5 processor on the iPad 2. iPhone 5′s battery capacity is also very respectable, allowing 8 hours of 4G functioning time and up to 18 hours on WiFi.

Sometimes, I think the work of iPhone's designers is quite simple, just pick one of those awesome concepts out there or at least, they could suggest them a lot of ideas. That's the big advantage that other manufacturers never have. What is your opinion about this concept?

Privacy Concerns Over iPhone, Android Data Sharing Could Squelch iPhone 5 Features

A new report indicating that both the iPhone and Android phones store users' visited locations are stoking condemnation from governmental officials and raising privacy concerns among smartphone users. Could an escalation in the privacy debate prompt Apple to abandon certain new features on the iPhone 5?

The privacy debate spurred on by Google's Street View a few years back has now expanded into the realm of the iPhone.

A recent article from the Wall St. Journal's tech department reveals that two of the top smartphone designers — Apple and Google — are in fact tracking users' whereabouts and activities and storing this data without encryption. While Google is no stranger to being at the center of privacy concerns with respect to user data collection, the fact that the iPhone is now caught up in the discussion comes as much more of a shock to Apple customers,considering that Apple has not traditionally offered products or services that would require collecting and processing user data.

WSJ.com writers Julia Angwin and Jennifer Valentino-Devries are reporting that the iPhone and Google's Android smartphones, "regularly transmit their locations back to Apple and Google, respectively, according to data and documents analyzed by The Wall Street Journal—intensifying concerns over privacy and the widening trade in personal data."

Both Google and Apple are claiming in one way or another that their collection and storage of this data is innocuous, and is meant to enhance services and features that their customers rely on daily. According to the WSJ.com article, the data is said to be used to "build giant databases of Internet WI-Fi hotspots . . . help local-business lookups and social-networking features . . . help cellphone networks more efficiently route calls . . . build accurate traffic maps . . ." and eventually provide valuable intelligence that will allow Google — and Apple, apparently — to custom-target advertising based on their daily patterns and habits.

It all seems brilliant to users in theory, but when reports like these surface and iPhone users learn that their movements are indeed being tracked, smartphone technologies become a bit more worrisome to the average user. For as much as this sort of data collection is presented to consumers as a "technological marvel" for improving search results, shopping experiences, and customized information, many fear that devices like the iPhone could be invasively used by governmental and law enforcement institutions to incriminate users, as well as make it easier for hackers and identity thieves to steal information.

MSNBC recently highlighted the possibility in a segment, claiming that racial minorities in the United States could be targeted as a result of this functionality on the iPhone. Host Thomas Roberts stated that both the iPhone and Android smartphones use a, "Universal Forensic Extraction Device," which can "copy the entire content of a cell phone including text messages, contacts, GPS data and do it in just minutes. Michigan State Police purchased this device, though we don't know how exactly they're using it but civil liberties groups worry that the device endangers the privacy rights of blacks and Latinos. A Nielsen study shows blacks talk on average twice as much each month on their cell phones as white counterparts."

You can read the rest of the report here.

Whether or not this report rings true for minorities in the United States is debatable. However, the report illustrates how privacy issues can indeed dampen the evolution of smartphone technology for average users and make them wary of using devices like the iPhone 5.

Will Privacy Concerns Affect Purported iPhone 5 Features?

As many iPhone 5 devotees know, there are several rumored iPhone 5 features that could be affected by a surge in concern over whether the iPhone is providing Apple and other agencies sensitive, private information. This would be particularly true with NFC technology, which would undoubtedly interface sensitive banking information with the iPhone platform, and would also increase the occasions where users reveal their location and patterns, since the iPhone 5 could used dozens of times a day to pay for goods and services.

The iPhone 5 News Blog wrote about the privacy issues with NFC almost nine months ago in this article, long before privacy concerns were even being talked about for the iPhone.

Other iPhone 5 features could also be affected, such as Air Sync technology and even the rumored cloud data storage feature that many iPhone users are hoping will bump up the iPhone 5's ability to store more music, photos, videos, and files. If a plurality of users are concerned enough about the fact that Apple is collecting user data, it could be enough to shy away from purchasing the iPhone 5 if several of its features expose too much of users' private information.

Now that the privacy debate has reached the iPhone, Apple will most definitely have to address it for the iPhone 5. At present, Apple has declined formal comment about the allegations levied in the WSJ.com report, but they are most likely preparing an explanation for the media that will debut next week. In the meantime, Apple's marketing department will be hard at work re-crafting their feature descriptions to focus less on how cool technologies like NFC are, and more on how Apple is safeguarding all of the user data that gets tracked and collected as a result of using them on a daily basis.

June iPhone 5 release dies at altar of April white iPhone 4

The June iPhone 5 dies at the altar tomorrow as the white iPhone 4 is set to hit retail stores, prolonging the iPhone 4 era indefinitely and bringing an official and to any hope of the iPhone debuting at June's WWDC conference or a separate press event. This will mark the first summer in the iPhone's history in which no new iPhone generation has surfaced in the summer. There's still no clear indication of what has specifically led to Apple's change in behavior, although the first hint of scheduling flux may have been the February release of a Verizon compatible iPhone 4. Many at the time questioned why Apple would launch a Verizon iPhone 4 a mere few months before the arrival of the iPhone 5, and now the answer is more clear: the iPhone 5 was ultimately more than a few months away. Now the white iPhone 4 comes at a time when many thought the iPhone 5 was just around the corner

Signage

But any hope of a nearby iPhone 5 has to go away, for now, with the arrival of the white iPhone 4. Simple business sense dictates that Apple wouldn't be adding an iPhone 4 color now if it were expecting to launch the iPhone 5 in any less than three or four months. That doesn't mean the iPhone 5 has been pushed back to 2012 or even to the edge of the 2011 holiday season; it simply means that early summer is clearly off the table. That begs the question of what, if any, new hardware Apple will launch during its WWDC keynote. The upcoming iOS 5 operating system, which will likely be released alongside the iPhone 5, can be counted on to be previewed at WWDC. But with the iPhone 5 off the table (Apple won't preview new hardware that far in advance), the iPad 2 having been just released, and the iPod lineup not due for revamp until September, Apple may end up using WWDC to launch new Mac hardware – or nothing at all, as the WWDC is the keynote for a developer conference and not a mainstream press event, although it's been used as the latter in the past.

Dive in or wait

The most common question we've received all year has been "When is the iPhone 5 release date?" The answer: we still don't know. But as far as the corollary question, "Should I wait for the iPhone 5 or buy the iPhone 4 now?", the answer is this: the iPhone 5 can't be expected, at this point, any sooner than August or September. How much longer do you really want to wait? Here's more on the iPhone5.

Concept case would turn your iPhone into a Leica

OK, so yes, this Leica i9 case for the iPhone 4 is still just a concept. You can't actually buy a case yet that fits around your iPhone and turns it into a Leica camera (though you can buy some nice lenses or an audio tape case). But this idea is just too cool to pass up. Outside of the standard retro charm of having a Leica attached to the back of your iPhone, the idea here is that you can use the iPhone's dock port to attach a high-quality premium camera to the back of your high-quality premium smartphone, enabling some really excellent mobile photography.

There's probably some technical magic that has to be worked here as well

– I don't know how feasible it is to have the dock hook up to and even control a high quality camera lens like this, especially with that design and size. But heck, if we can get the iCade made into a real product, this is certainly possible, right?

iPhone 5 Fake Keynote Rehearsal by Steve Jobs

If all the speculation about the iPhone 5 isn't enough for you, there is now apparently a video floating the net waves of iPhone guru Steve Jobs rehearsing the iPhone 5 intro keynote, although one does have to say it's obvious that it is a fake. According to Cult of Mac, apparently the Steve Jobs in the video sounds a lot like George W. Bush, and according to TUAW, by way of Macrumors, the fake video says that the iPhone 5 will have "digital scent technology" and a battery that doesn't require charging.

The video can be found on Chinese site Tudou and lasts 46 seconds and even has the Steve Jobs impersonator stopping mid keynote to change his shoes and says they are as light as an iPhone5.

Have to say it is a considerable poor attempt at faking an Apple keynote, but the big question here is why would anyone want to create such an obvious fake? Smell-o-vision and a lifetime battery sounds good though, lol.

Metal iPhone 5 not what doctor ordered, unless Apple has trick up sleeve

A spiraling information trail from overseas suggests that the new iPhone 5 will be made of aluminum metal and not the sharkproof glass which the iPhone 4 has employed. This would help explain why Apple appears to be keeping the white iPhone flame alive (hello, arbitrarily white iPad 2), as the move away from the tonally troublesome iPhone glass would help facilitate the possibility of a white iPhone 5. Here's the problem, though: forget about whether a metal iPhone 5 would be white, silver, black, or purple. The trouble with the prospect of a metal iPhone 5 is that the iPhone has been there before – and the results weren't pretty.

If asked to rank metal, acrylic plastic, and glass in order or strongest to least durable, most folks would leave them arranged in exactly that order. But the iPhone's history has shown otherwise. The original iPhone had a mostly metal back, and was easily susceptible to scratching, denting, you name it. The second iPhone body (3G/3GS) moved to acrylic and instantly offered a more durable iPhone experience. Then came the iPhone 4 and its glass body, which despite the connotations (and the "scratching" nonsense concocted by a few geek clowns), has turned out to be the most scratch-proof and durable iPhone material yet. And now Apple wants to move beyond that by taking the iPhone 5 back to the original metal, which was the weakest link in the iPhone's history? That doesn't add up.

Sure, an aluminum iPhone 5 would bring the iPhone in line stylistically with Apple's Mac computers, most of which sport a brushed metal aluminum body, as well as the iPad 2, which sports a brushed metal rear surface. But the metal bottom of the original iPad offered easy evidence that it's an overly scratchable and dentable design choice – and if Apple has come up with a newer, more durable kind of metal body for the iPhone 5, then suffice it to say that they weren't using it on any of their products as recently as a year ago.

Then again, Apple has made progress in moving toward metal surfaces whose durability is less weak than in previous years. For a long time Apple's "Pro" laptops were made of Titanium, which proved to be a poor choice in the long term for reasons ranging from scratching to surface flaking. And Apple has largely moved beyond the protectively absurd choice of chrome for the rear surface of the earliest iPods. But an aluminum iPhone 5 just doesn't seem like the right answer. Our buddies at The Mac Observer have done a nice job of trying to translate the original foreign language report in order to make heads or tails of it. But our gut says that while Apple clearly has a desire to bring its various major products into stylistic alignment, the idea of a metal iPhone 5 is something that Apple already proved to itself wasn't such a good idea the first time it tried it. Here's more on the iPhone 5.

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Did Sony CEO Howard Stringer Spill The Beans About An 8MP iPhone 5 Camera?

We're recently reported that very few new features appear to be solid for the iPhone5. But a recent slip-up by the Sony CEO suggests that an 8-megapixel camera might be a definite upgrade for the next iPhone. read Charles Moore's new article:

MacNN, Appleinsider,, CNET, and several other Apple-watcher sites reported over the weekend that Sony CEO Howard Stringer may have inadvertently revealed that Apple is gearing up to equip the iPhone 5 with an eight-megapixel camera.

9To5Mac's Seth Weintraub, who attended the event, reports that Stringer, in a Talking Tech with Sony event interview with The Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall in New York, commented that his company's camera sensor plant at Sendai, Japan, is among 15 of the company's facilities damaged by last month's catastrophic earthquake and tsunami, and that the supply interruption will delay shipments of sensors to Apple. Since Sony sensors are not used in the iPhone versions 4 and 3GS, which employ 5-megapixel and 3.2 megapixel OmniVision camera sensors respectively, it's not a major deductive leap to infer that the higher-resolution CMOS sensors sourced from Sony would most likely be destined for the next revision iPhone 5.

A PhoneArena blog from six weeks ago notes that OmniVision shares nosedived last summer when a rumor spread that due partly to complaints about a yellowish color shift in still photos shot with the OmniVision sensor camera, Apple might be moving to Sony for its next generation iPhone camera sensors — possibly Sony's Exmor R sensor unit that is used in the Sony Ericsson Xperia arc and Xperia neo. That 8MP sensor is backlit to help it finesse low light conditions, similar to the way the iPhone 4′s 5MP OmniVision sensor does. Indeed, rumors of Apple dropping OmniVision in favor of Sony as its iPhone camera supplier are longstanding.

PhoneArena also reports that OmniVision has announced that it has an 8MP camera sensor of its own coming, the OV8820, which incorporates the same low-light performance enhancements, plus HD video at 60fps, and Full HD at 30fps, and which had been projected to begin mass production in March, but that production problems have occurred.

Not everyone agrees that Apple will use Sony CMOC camera sensors in the iPhone 5. Analyst Yair Reiner of Wall Street's Oppenheimer & Co. is quoted by Appleinisider isaying he expects OmniVision to remain Apple's camera supplier for the fifth-generation iPhone, corroborated by checks with contacts in Apple's supply channels, dismissing the notion an Apple-Sony hook-up as "rather silly."

Whatever, regardless of whether the iPhone 5's camera supplier is to be OmniVision or Sony, it looks like camera sensor supply problems may be a significant factor in Apple's evidently postponing the iPhone 5 introduction from an anticipated Worldwide Developer's Conference release until some time later in the year. With the iPad 2′s camera performance being that unit's most unanimously panned feature in reviews, Apple will want to get the camera right in the iPhone 5, where it is arguably a much more important feature than it is with the tablet product.

Also, with Sony Ericsson rumored to be getting 12MP+ camera equipped phones ready for summer release, Apple will need at least the 8MP sensors to remain even ballpark competitive in that context.

June iPhone 5 release dies at altar of April white iPhone 4

The June iPhone 5 dies at the altar tomorrow as the white iPhone 4 is set to hit retail stores, prolonging the iPhone 4 era indefinitely and bringing an official and to any hope of the iPhone debuting at June's WWDC conference or a separate press event. This will mark the first summer in the iPhone's history in which no new iPhone generation has surfaced in the summer. There's still no clear indication of what has specifically led to Apple's change in behavior, although the first hint of scheduling flux may have been the February release of a Verizon compatible iPhone 4. Many at the time questioned why Apple would launch a Verizon iPhone 4 a mere few months before the arrival of the iPhone 5, and now the answer is more clear: the iPhone 5 was ultimately more than a few months away. Now the white iPhone 4 comes at a time when many thought the iPhone 5 was just around the corner

Signage

But any hope of a nearby iPhone 5 has to go away, for now, with the arrival of the white iPhone 4. Simple business sense dictates that Apple wouldn't be adding an iPhone 4 color now if it were expecting to launch the iPhone 5 in any less than three or four months. That doesn't mean the iPhone 5 has been pushed back to 2012 or even to the edge of the 2011 holiday season; it simply means that early summer is clearly off the table. That begs the question of what, if any, new hardware Apple will launch during its WWDC keynote. The upcoming iOS 5 operating system, which will likely be released alongside the iPhone 5, can be counted on to be previewed at WWDC. But with the iPhone 5 off the table (Apple won't preview new hardware that far in advance), the iPad 2 having been just released, and the iPod lineup not due for revamp until September, Apple may end up using WWDC to launch new Mac hardware – or nothing at all, as the WWDC is the keynote for a developer conference and not a mainstream press event, although it's been used as the latter in the past.

Dive in or wait

The most common question we've received all year has been "When is the iPhone 5 release date?" The answer: we still don't know. But as far as the corollary question, "Should I wait for the iPhone 5 or buy the iPhone 4 now?", the answer is this: the iPhone 5 can't be expected, at this point, any sooner than August or September. How much longer do you really want to wait? Here's more on the iPhone5.

White iPhone delay partly due to UV protection

In an interview with Ina Fried at AllThingsD, Phil Schiller and Steve Jobs gave a little insight into what made the white iPhone 4 so tough to produce. Actually, it wasn't really the manufacturing itself, but the materials science needed to make sure the white iPhone was in every way as capable and durable as the black-painted iPhone 4.

Schiller told Fried, "…There's a lot more that goes into both the material science of it–how it holds up over time…but also in how it all works with the sensors." There's also a reference to how the white iPhone needs more "UV protection" than the black one, which I would guess comes from the light that is not absorbed by the black paint passing through the white paint instead.

There's a lot of tech that goes into the iPhone, and I'm really not surprised that something like a coating of white paint turned out to be tricky, but I think everyone (including Apple, it sounds like) was surprised at how long it took to sort this out. Still, the white iPhone goes on sale tomorrow. Will you get one? Will you apply sunscreen to it?

[via tuaw]

iPhone 5 on September 13th: five reasons release isn't worth waiting for

If the iPhone 5 really is to be a September baby, it'll be unveiled in September 13th. And that being the case, our official advice has changed: if you're sitting around waiting for more information on the iPhone5 in order to make a decision on whether to buy an iPhone 4 now or keep waiting, and it turns out the iPhone 5 really is coming in the fall instead of the summer, go ahead and take the plunge on the iPhone 4 now. Bear in mind that this advice is conditional upon the iPhone 5 being held back until the fall; if it does indeed arrive this June then you're best off simply waiting another six weeks. But Apple traditionally holds its fall press event on the second Tuesday of September, namely the 13th in 2011, and if that event is to be the first sign of the iPhone 5 along with the iPod models which will debut that day, don't bother waiting. Here's why.iPhone 4 rocks: Several members of the Beatweek staff have been using the iPhone 4 since last year, and while we'll likely all upgrade to the iPhone 5 as soon as it arrives, here's what we've learned about the iPhone 4 in the mean time. It's by far the most ideal smartphone on the market. It's faster, more versatile, thinner, and lighter than any previous iPhone model, and offers significantly more battery life with a much better screen. The supposed "iPhone 4 antenna issue" simply does not exist except in the minds of the deviants who concocted it. On its own merits, it's nearly the perfect smartphone; we'd be hard pressed to come with things we don't like about it.

4G pipedream: Even if the iPhone 5 does end up offering 4G networking, that'll only work in the scant areas in which Verizon and AT&T have actually built 4G networks. For the vast majority of iPhone 5 customers, it'll be the same 3G or even EDGE experience that they'd have gotten on the iPhone 4. Unless you live in one of a handful of big cities where 4G LTE will arrive early, this is not a reason to wait for the iPhone 5.

Verizon already has the iPhone: For those Verizon customers who wanted an iPhone but skipped the iPhone 4 because they thought the iPhone 5 was just around the corner, we'll ask you this: what exactly have you gained by waiting? A few more months of being stuck with your existing phone, which you clearly don't want? And now you're looking at another few more months of doing the same? You're not winning this battle.

Question marks: In other words, it's all we know about the iPhone 5. Will it offer better specs and features than the iPhone 4? Certainly. What will those specs and features be, and will any of them be relevant to you? No way of knowing. Waiting means you're gambling that the iPhone 5 will offer something over the iPhone 4 which will have justified your wait. Waiting does not equal playing it safe; it's just a different kind of gamble.

Have it both ways: The real clincher is that even if you buy an iPhone 4 now, you can still buy an iPhone 5 later. Sure, you'll end up paying $200 above sticker for the iPhone 5 because you'll have used up your upgrade cycle on the iPhone 4 purchase. But nothing says you can't turn around and sell your iPhone 4 in September (for more than you paid for it, thanks to the magic of unsubsidized pricing), and put that money toward paying your iPhone 5 ransom. You'll still end up having paid at least little bit for the privilege using an iPhone 4 between now and iPhone 5 launch day, but it won't preclude you from getting to experience both iPhone generations. Here's more on the iPhone 5.

iPhone 5 to feature A5 processor, iPad 2 stays with A4

The oft-quoted DigiTimes, a Taiwanese tech industry favorite publication, has revealed that Apple is outsourcing the production of its A5 processor chip, which many expect will be based on the ARM Cortex A9 design and used in the forthcoming iPhone 5, to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.

AppleInsider reports that Apple's A4 chip is currently produced by Samsung Electronics, but the move to Taiwan Semiconductor for production of the A5 chip is because of Samsung's inability to keep up with Apple's supply demands.

This rumor follows many regarding Apple's iPhone lineup, including a larger, 4-inch screen and an iPhone Nano.

The DigiTimes report also speculates that the iPad 2 will retain use of the current A4 chip, though it will be an enhanced version of it. The iPhone 5 will be the first to sport the new A5 chip.

White iPhone 4 Now Available

Following yesterday's official announcement from Apple regarding the release of the white iPhone 4 today, Apple is now offering white iPhone 4 in its online store.

You can now order this bad boy through Apple's store in both 16GB and 32GB storage capacities. The current shipping time is 3-5 business days. If you would rather not wait that long, you can always run down to your nearest Apple, AT&T, or Verizon Wireless store to pick one up!

The white iPhone 4 is available in Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Macau, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, U.S.A, and UK.

Let us know in the comments if you've ordered the white iPhone 4 or have already picked it up in-store!

iPhone 5 Coming in September, Similar to iPhone 4

According to a report from Reuters, Apple is scheduled to begin production of the iPhone 5 in July/August with a September release. This news coincides with other reports that Apple will push back the next generation iPhone's launch to a later fall date.

It is unclear as to why Apple is not following the usual summer release schedule for the iPhone, but all signs point to a different roadmap for 2011. The iPhone 5 is reported to have a faster processor and look very similar to the current iPhone 4.Reuters,

"Apple Inc suppliers will begin production of its next-generation iPhone in July this year, with the finished product likely to begin shipping in September, three people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

The new smartphone will have a faster processor but will look largely similar to the current iPhone 4, one of the people said. They declined to be identified because the plans were not yet public."

Apple's focus will be on software at WWDC this summer. iOS 5 will be previewed, and the iPhone 5 will most likely ship with the new OS. If the iPhone 5 does closely resemble the iPhone 4, iOS 5 could be what sets the new device apart from the iPhone 4.

We've heard that the iPhone 5 will be a significant redesign of the iPhone 4, but there have also been multiple reports claiming that the device will be similar to the current design.

A recent analyst report speculated that the iPhone 5 will have an A5 processor with a 8 MP camera. While the device could remain similar to the iPhone 4, it will definitely have some significant hardware upgrades to set it apart form its predecessor. For a comprehensive look at what to expect from the iPhone 5, check out this infographic.

The white iPhone 4 will supposedly be released at the end of this month, which would give Apple enough time to profit off its sales before introducing the iPhone 5 in the fall.

What do you think about this iPhone 5 news? Are you ok with waiting till the fall for its release, or will you be picking up another smartphone (Android?) this summer?

Apple executives defend crowdsourced data collection in building new iPhone features

In an interview focusing on the issue of access to users' location data, Apple executives defended the concept of collecting anonymous data to provide valuable new services in the future.

The company's official question and answer response to location services issues noted that Apple was collecting anonymous user location data to build an improved traffic database that would power a new service related to maps "in the next couple years."In an interview conducted by Ina Fried of the Wall Street Journal, Apple's chief executive Steve Jobs was asked whether he thought that companies like Apple "need to let people know specifically what you guys are doing with the information and choose whether to participate in these commercial projects, or do you think Apple and others should have fairly broad use of anonymized data."

Jobs responded, "If people don't want to participate in things, they will be able to turn location services off. Once we get a bug that we found fixed, their phone will not be collecting or contributing any crowdsourced information. But nor will it be calculating location."

However, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing Phil Schiller then questioned the legitimacy of the question itself, nothing that "sometimes it helps people to understand an analogy that describes what these things are like because they are so new.

"I would think an analogy of a crowdsourced database is every time you walk into a retail store, many retailers have a clicker that counts how many people come in and out of the store. Nobody really cares about that because it is completely anonymous. It is not personal data. It is not anything to worry about. It's not something that people feel is private because it is really not about them. It's a coagulated total of all traffic.

"These crowdsourced databases are sort of like that. Things like that aren't so scary when you think about them in everyday terms," Schiller said.

Big Brother bears gifts

That's an apt analogy, because Apple already conducts anonymized data mining of foot traffic in its retail stores as part of an effort to improve how products are presented and how features such as Genius Bars and store cash registers are located. Nearly every retailer does the same thing.

On the web, Google and other companies regularly introduce products that have benignly ulterior purposes. For example, Google operated a Goog411 service that provided free, automated answers to callers' questions over the phone. Those calls were actually used to record realistic speaking voices in natural settings, data Google used to enhance its voice recognition algorithms.

Similarly, Google's reCaptcha project (originating in the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University) is used to provide a free security service for web publishers that challenges users to type the correct captcha as it appears to prove they are a real person. However, the words displayed by the system are taken from Google Books and the Internet Archive sources to double check the automated OCR work in correctly identifying scanned text.

Traffic will be the only new leak today, thanks

Apple's efforts to collect anonymous information from millions of devices to improve the accuracy of location lookups or to power new services (like traffic) are the same thing, its executives maintain.

When asked what other uses the company may make of collectively culled data, Jobs said only that "we mentioned the traffic service and I think that is all we are going to mention at this point in time before we have something to announce."

Pressed further about other the possibility of crowdsourced data being used for other purposes, Jobs said "we are building a crowdsourced database based on traffic and that is what we are saying."

Concept case would turn your iPhone into a Leica

OK, so yes, this Leica i9 case for the iPhone 4 is still just a concept. You can't actually buy a case yet that fits around your iPhone and turns it into a Leica camera (though you can buy some nice lenses or an audio tape case). But this idea is just too cool to pass up. Outside of the standard retro charm of having a Leica attached to the back of your iPhone, the idea here is that you can use the iPhone's dock port to attach a high-quality premium camera to the back of your high-quality premium smartphone, enabling some really excellent mobile photography.

There's probably some technical magic that has to be worked here as well

– I don't know how feasible it is to have the dock hook up to and even control a high quality camera lens like this, especially with that design and size. But heck, if we can get the iCade made into a real product, this is certainly possible, right?

iPhone 5, white iPhone 4 theories get release this week

Two competing theories regarding the nature of the iPhone5 having been running parallel amidst the vacuum of any official word about a release date, but there can only be one that's right – and that answer should arrive by default one way or the other this upcoming week. On the one hand there's the "white iPhone 4 is arriving this week" theory based on Apple exec Phil Schiller's public proclamation that there will be a white iPhone coming "this spring." The other theory says that the "white iPhone" in question is actually a white iPhone 5, and since Apple's WWDC keynote is in early June, which is technically still spring, we can still expect the iPhone 5 along the lines of Apple's traditional annual updates. Both theories are equally plausible, and both are justifiable interpretations of Schiller's words. But they can't both be right, and one of them is about to get struck down.

There's the popular scenario in which Apple pops out the long fabled white iPhone 4 this week. In that case you can firmly wave goodbye to the idea of seeing an iPhone 5 (or for that matter iOS 5) in June, as Apple isn't about to add a white model to the iPhone 4 lineup a mere month or so before it turns around and bargain-bins the entire iPhone 4 era in favor of an iPhone 5.

But then there's the other scenario in which the white iPhone 4 doesn't get launched. That would tell us two things. First, it would mean that the iPhone 5 must be just around the corner. And second, it would mean that the iPhone5 is sticking with a design which allows for a white model; in other words, so much for the notion of an all-brushed-metal iPhone 5 era.

Either interpretation holds water, but they can't both be right. The only thing Apple has has to say about the iPhone lately is that the iPhone sold 113% better in the first quarter of 2011 than it did in the first quarter of 2010, which says that the iPhone 4 era has been a successful one. The question now is whether it's nearly over in favor of the iPhone 5 era, or whether Apple has plans to extend it longer than usual by adding a white iPhone 4 to the mix. We'll get some answers this week about the iPhone 5, based on Apple's actions (or lack thereof) regarding the iPhone 4. Here's more on the iPhone 5.

iPhone 5 Wedge Form Factor And 3.7″ Display Rumors Ramp Up, But There's This Imminent White iPhone 4 Release…..

Read Charles Moore's new column on the new possible shape of the iPhone 5 and the imminent release of a white iPhone 4s.

Hope everyone had a great Easter weekend. We're back in the harness, with new rumors afoot about the iPhone 5's revised form factor. Will it be made of carbon fiber? (extremely doubtful this time around), aluminum? (considerably more probable), or stick with the current glass back? (I'm guessing likely not).

thisismynext.com's Joshua Topolsky says that while current Internet chatter is suggesting the iPhone 5 will be little more than a speed bump (ie: A5 chip) and feature enhancement in the iPhone 4 form factor what he's been hearing from a variety of unnamed sources is that the iPhone 5 will have a more iPod touch or mini iPad 2 look, with a larger display screen of perhaps 3.7," retaining the present resolution, and occupying most of the device's front face with only a slim marginal bezel, but with a larger Home button also supporting gestures.

Why not an even four-inch screen? The reasoning is that with 3.7″ diagonal and the current resolution, pixel density – the key to Apple's Retina Display bragging rights, would drop from 326 ppi only down to 312 ppi — still comfortably above the somewhat arbitrary Retina Display technology threshold of 300 ppi. However, with a four-inch screen, pixel density with the same resolution would go down to 288 ppi.

Even with a 3.7″ screen, rendering would be somewhat less sharp than it is with the iPhone 4′s display. A good analogy is the G3 iBook and Pismo PowerBook laptops I was running back to back several years ago. Both machines had 1064 x 768 resolution displays, but the Pismo's was 14.1″ while the iBook display was 12.1″ in physical dimension, which made its rendering significantly sharper and crisper than with the larger PowerBook's screen.

Other rumors include an iPhone5 with a larger display and a wedge or teardrop shape thinner than the iPhone 4 and reminiscent of the generation 2 MacBook Air.

However, here's the thing once again; a redesign that radical for release this coming summer or even fall would not set well with a whole lot of folks who've just bought Verizon CDMA iPhone 4s and white iPhone 4s (expected to start selling by the end of the week — possibly as early as Wednesday April 27), who are going to be unhappy campers. A degree of this dynamic is inevitable with the release of any new product upgrade. Think of the folks who had just bought MacBook Airs last September. It happened to me when I bought an aluminum unibody MacBook three months before Apple morphed that model into the 13″ MacBook Pro with FireWire and SD Card support. However, in this instance, a radical iPhone 5 revamp release sometime in the June – September time window would be really hot on the heels of the white iPhone 4 release.

Not that I'm certain Apple won't do it anyway, but why would they go to the considerable trouble of ramping up white iPhone 4 production and channel distribution only to replace it with a new model in just a couple or three months' time? Doing so just to wring a few more sales out of a lame duck iPhone 4 seems pretty cynical, and Apple is usually a classier act than that. Which is another reason why I think an iPhone "4S" upgrade with an A5 processor and perhaps an 8 megapixel camera seems more likely in the near term, with the iPhone 5 release held off until late fall or even 2012.

On Monday, Chris Chang of the Chinese Apple-oriented site M.I.C. Gadget posted an image of a white iPhone with a larger display than depictions of the white iPhone 4 have shown, which he says my be someone's mockup…. or…."prototype iPhone with an A5 processor that game developers are using to prepare their iPhone 5 apps." Interesting, but nothing conclusive there. Still mostly rumors and conjecture, but the white iPhone 4 at least should be reality by the end of the week.