Chủ Nhật, 5 tháng 6, 2011

Separated iPhone 5 LED Flash Rumor Makes Little Sense

Rumor has it that the iPhone 5 is due to get an upgrade on its rear-facing camera, bumping up to an 8-megapixel design. But new purported, leaked photos of iPhone 5 parts and cases show what looks like a LED flash on the other side of the device. Where's the logic in this new design?

The tech media is currently abuzz with newly-surfaced photos of cases and backplates that seem to show an LED flash that is positioned on the other side of the supposedly new iPhone 5 design. There is a great deal of excitement and anticipation surrounding this new development, with iPhone enthusiasts anticipating a dramatic shift in the iPhone 5′s rear-facing camera array, which is already purported to be getting an 8-megapixel upgrade.

While few are questioning the voracity and reliability of the photos and sources, even fewer are scrutinizing the logic of a separated LED camera flash, and what the basis would be for Apple to shift the iPhone's camera flash so dramatically far away from the sensor itself.

The few theories on why the iPhone5 could feature a separated LED flash are seemingly logical at first glance: we all know that there were light issues with the camera sensor on the white iPhone 4, and even flash and camera issues with lighting on the original iPhone 4 back in the Summer of 2010. It would be easy enough to assume that moving the LED flash to the other side of the iPhone 5 would somehow solve the problem.

But given the lights limitations of LED flashes, this seems doubtful at best.

While LED flashes have become increasingly popular on smartphones, the light that they emit is still not as bright as other flash forms, such as a Xenon flash. As a result, the camera flash from a LED is sometimes not bright enough to fill the photo with ample light in low-lit conditions. This is why devices like the iPhone (and all other smartphones with rear-facing cameras) have positioned the LED flash in close proximity to the sensor; it's a way of maximizing the amount of light that ultimately enters the camera, as reflected off of the subject.

By definition, moving the camera flash away from the sensor on the iPhone 5 would put an already lesser-lit flash at a farther distance from the sensor — and at a greater angle to the subject being photographed. It's hard to believe that moving the LED flash could ultimately help in this regard — unless the new flash turned out to be something of the Xenon type.

Shifted LED Flash on the iPhone 5 To Eliminate Red Eye?

Another theory suggests that the moved LED flash on the iPhone 5 could be to counteract red eye. But this new design seems dubious as well.

the Nokia Astound's 8-megapixel camera sensor array with dual LED flashes.

It is true that red eye is caused by red light being bounced back off of the irises of people into the camera, which is often caused by on-camera flashes that are in close proximity to the sensor or shutter. But in order to truly eliminate red eye, the flash source would need to be sufficiently far from the optical axis of the camera, and it is doubtful that moving it a couple of inches to the right would do the trick. In order to reduce red eye, it would make more sense for Apple to further refine the use of a pre flash on the iPhone 5g, a technique that causes a person's irises to contract, thus minimizing the bounce-back of red light.

HTC's Evo 4G also has two LEDs in close proximity to the sensor.

Does An 8-Megapixel Camera Require That the LED Flash Be Farther Away?

Finally, perhaps the moved flash on the iPhone 5 has something to do with the addition of a 8-megapixel camera? That could be the case, however, to date, no other 8-megapixel smartphone sports a separated LED flash like the one that is purported in the photo. The Nokia Astound features not one, but two LED flashes right next to the sensor. The same goes for Nokia's N86.

But it isn't just Nokia that is using this camera and LED flash set-up. HTC is doing the same thing with their Evo iphone 5 4G. Like the Nokias, it features two LED flashes in close proximity to the camera sensor.

What is apparent from these other smartphones with 8-megapixel cameras is that the 8mp sensors need more light, and they need that light relatively close to the sensor in order to avoid grainy photos. If this is the case, then why would Apple continue to use just one LED flash for an 8-megapixel camera, and put it on the other end of the rear plate?

Newer iPhone 4 case designs account for the LED flash so as not to interfere with it . . .

Separated LED Flash Could Lead To a New Photo Discoloration Problem on the iPhone 5

As we have reported in another article, photo discoloration was an early problem on the iPhone 4, and more than a few theories abounded as to why this was the case. While some suggested that it was the result of a software issue in how the iPhone 4 processed yellow light, others postulated that many photo discoloration problems were caused by iPhone 4 case designs, which were too hastily retro-engineered from iPhone 3Gs designs and did not account for the LED flash. As a result, some of the cases came too close in contact with the LED flash and resulted in partially concealing the flash strobe.

Anyone who has ever accidentally had a part of their finger over the flash of a camera knows how it can discolor a photo.

This purported iPhone 5 case — and separated LED flash — might discolor photos.

Newer iPhone 4 cases have re-designed the camera lens cutouts around the iPhone 4′s sensor and flash so as not to conceal it. However, in the recent purported photo of the iPhone 5 case, the cutout for the LED flash would be closely cropped to the flash itself, lending to the theory that photos could easily become discolored. Another unknown is what the effect of having such a expanse of colored case between the sensor and flash would cause — could it lead to further discoloration?

It is possible that Apple has a new patent for an LED camera flash that will be bright enough to be positioned on the other side of the iPhone 5. But I have combed all of the Apple patents, and I can find nothing to suggest this. I remain skeptical of all purported "leaked" photos of the iPhone 5 — and these recent ones are no exception.

Photo enthusiasts: what do you think? Can you find any evidence out there to suggest how this new camera array would make any sense for the iPhone 5 apple? We'd love to hear from you, and start a discussion on whether or not these new photos make any real sense.

Here's more on the iPhone 5 news.

Ten Reasons Why The iOS Is Better Than Android, And Will Toshiba’s New 4″ Display Show Up In iPhone 5?

Ten Reasons Why The iOS Is Better Than Android, And Will Toshiba's New 4″ Display Show Up In iPhone 5?

Read Charles Moore's new report on how Apple may be putting Toshiba's new 4″ screen into the iPhone 5, plus 10 reasons why iOS still rules over Android.

Perhaps you're one of a growing number of prospective smartphone buyers or upgraders who's considering going with an Android handset instead of waiting for the iPhone5. If so, you might thank yourself for taking a look at a new column by LifeHacker's Adam Dachis, entitled "Top 10 Ways iOS Outdoes Android," before making the leap.

Adam isn't an Android-basher or Apple partisan, declaring that he loves both of these mobile operating systems and their corresponding hardware, and affirming that both operating systems have their respective strengths and weaknesses, but that in some areas he's convinced that the iOS outdoes Android. Worth checking to see whether they're ones that resonate with your needs and tastes.

In summary they are:
10. The iTunes Media Store
9. AirPlay
8. Find My iPhone
7. A Better Support System
6. Better Battery Life and Management
5. iTunes and Tethered Syncing
4. No Crapware
3. A Bigger and Better Variety of Apps
2. A Well-Designed, Intuitive User Interface
1. Consistency

If these ten reason why iOS still outshines Android sound like advantages that would be important to you, check out the complete discussion and explanation of why they are included on this list here, and let us know what you think.

Will Toshiba's New 4″ Smartphone Display Find Its Way Into The iPhone 5?

At the 2011 Society for Information Display (SID) conference held in in Los Angeles last week, Toshiba unveiled new high-resolution LTPS (Low Temperature Polycrystalline Silicon) smartphone displays, featuring up to 367ppi (pixels per inch) resolution density, in physical sizes ranging from 3.3-inch to 4.0-inch diagonal and supporting resolution formats ranging from Wide VGA (480 x 864) to HD (720 x 1280). Additionally, these displays will demonstrate advanced technologies such as high-contrast (up to 1,500:1), high-color (up to 92% NTSC), and wide viewing angle (up to H/V 176/176).

Toshiba's SID announcements of course beg the question of whether these new display technologies and particularly 4″-sized screens might find their way into a future iPhone version — perhaps even the iPhone 5g, although it's highly doubtful the rumored iPhone 4S, if that turns out to be the next iPhone 5 release later this year, will get a 4″ display.

Here's more on the iPhone5 news

Separated iPhone 5 LED Flash Rumor Makes Little Sense

But given the lights limitations of LED flashes, this seems doubtful at best.

Shifted LED Flash on the iPhone 5 To Eliminate Red Eye?

Another theory suggests that the moved LED flash on the iPhone 5 could be to counteract red eye. But this new design seems dubious as well.

the Nokia Astound's 8-megapixel camera sensor array with dual LED flashes.

HTC's Evo 4G also has two LEDs in close proximity to the sensor.

Does An 8-Megapixel Camera Require That the LED Flash Be Farther Away?

Newer iPhone 4 case designs account for the LED flash so as not to interfere with it . . .

Separated LED Flash Could Lead To a New Photo Discoloration Problem on the iPhone 5

Anyone who has ever accidentally had a part of their finger over the flash of a camera knows how it can discolor a photo.

This purported iPhone 5 case — and separated LED flash — might discolor photos.

Here's more on the iPhone 5 news.

iPhone 5 4G to take its place with other pseudo-4G experiences

All the debate over whether the iPhone 5 will or should offer support for 4G networking misses the overriding point: 4G is a fraud. It doesn't exist. Not really. Whether it's Verizon with its barely-there 4G network, or AT&T whose 4G network exists only on paper, or T-Mobile and Sprint pushing pseudo-"4G" networks which are so much slower than what 4G is supposed to be that competing networks have adopted the "4G LTE" moniker as a way of distinguishing themselves from it, there is as of yet no legitimate 4G experience to be had. It's why Apple didn't add 4G to the iPhone 4 last year, and doesn't want to add it to the iPhone 5 4G this year either. Yet the march to 4G is well on its way, at least in the marketing departments of the carriers, which leaves Apple in the awkward position of not wanting to add mostly-useless 4G hardware to the iPhone5 due to the various ways in which it could be a net-negative for the overall experience. But Apple may have to give into 4G hype anyway, effectively offering a worse (for now) product in the name of staying in the game.

The challenge of delivering a 4G iPhone 5 starts with the issue of which "4G" variant Apple would start with. AT&T and Verizon are both betting on 4G LTE, and it's the best (fastest) flavor to date. But Verizon's 4G LTE network is mostly not yet built, and AT&T's network 4G LTE network doesn't exist. The latter is complicated by the fact that AT&T is in the process of acquiring T-Mobile and its nationwide pseudo-4G network, meaning that Apple could be looking at needing to support multiple kinds of 4G within the iPhone 5g. And that's before Sprint and its brand of pseudo-4G come into the equation, with Sprint being the only carrier Apple doesn't have to worry about. But even in attempting to play along with the Verizon and the AT&T-T-Mobile 4G experiences, Apple could end up with an inferior iPhone 5 product in the process.

Support for multiple types of wireless technology means more drain on battery life. The iPhone 5 is already looking at supporting AT&T's 3G GSM, Verizon's CDMA, and presumably, AT&T's aging EDGE since AT&T never did finish building its 3G network. On top of that, add support for 4G LTE plus maybe T-Mobile's brand of 4G, and along with wifi that's half a dozen different types of potential receivership going on. And unless Apple has figured out how to build a single antenna which can interact with all the various cellular networks, 4G support could mean more networking hardware packed into the iPhone 5. That either means it has to be thicker than Apple wanted, or other features (capacity? battery?) have to be reduced in order to make room. Suddenly, in the worst case scenario, you're looking at an iPhone 5 which, for the sake of supporting 4G for the relative handful who would actually be able to use it, would be a worse-off product for everyone else. But with the entire cellular marketplace from carriers to hardware vendors all pretending that 4G is for real at a time when it's still a little-understood pipedream, Apple will have a hard time remaining the only honest player with regard to 4G amidst an industry-wide fraudulent representation of what 4G is and isn't. In other words, a 4G-enabled iPhone 5 could bring with it more bad news than good, even though it would likely outsell a non-4G iPhone 5 by quite a large margin. Here's more on the iPhone 5 news.

iPhone 5 mystery release date elicits carrier 4G conspiracy plot

If the four major U.S. carriers haven't conspired, separately or collectively, to delay the iPhone 5 release date until later this year, then it sure as heck looks a lot like they have. While most signs point to the iPhone 5 (here's the scoop on iPhone 5 features) arriving the latest of any new iPhone generation in its respective year, no clear reason for a delay on Apple's part have surfaced. Even as Apple attempts to extend the iPhone 4 era with the white iPhone 4, the Verizon-specific iPhone 4, and whatever other iPhone 4 tricks might be up its sleeve, it's still a mystery as to why the iPhone 5 apparently isn't on track for summer 2011 release, even as customers prepare to feel the burn. For insight as to what's really going on, one might best look at those who have the most to gain from a late iPhone 5 arrival, and their primary motivation for it. The latter is clearly 4G, and the former comes in the form of Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and even Sprint.

Why would all four carriers want the iPhone 5g to arrive late? They don't, per se. But what they do want is for the 4G era to officially commence in the minds of the public. Each carrier appears to believe, for various reasons, that it has the upper hand when it comes to the 4G era. Sprint already has a sizable 4G network; Verizon has the marketing lead on the faster 4G LTE variant; AT&T is acquiring T-Mobile which should give it a combination of homegrown 4G LTE combined with a broader non-LTE 4G base. The trouble is, outside of geeks and enthusiasts, few care about 4G or even understand what it is. That won't change until there's a 4G enabled iPhone. So while Apple doesn't like to adopt technology while it's still largely in the vaporware stage (4G LTE barely exists on Verizon or AT&T), Apple may nonetheless feel the pressure to make 4G happen with the iPhone 5. And oddly enough, each carrier potentially benefits from a iPhone 5 4G happening later than sooner.

First there's Verizon, which is in the process of betting its reputation on a 4G LTE network that it's barely begun building. The millions of Verizon customers who just bought the Verizon iPhone 4 when it launched earlier this year are going to be more likely to upgrade to the Verizon iPhone 5 if more time has passed since the launch of the former. Then there's AT&T, which still has almost no 4G presence at all. The carrier needs time to integrate T-Mobile's network into its own, which will allow it to offer "4G" of one kind or another in various places. Assuming the iPhone 5 includes multiple 4G variants, AT&T could be the big winner – but not until the merger is sufficiently complete; a 4G LTE iPhone 5 launch right now could do AT&T more harm than good. And then there's Sprint, which is about to become the only major U.S. carrier without the iPhone, and the smallest. Sprint is unlikely to add the iPhone to its lineup until 4G happens, so if Apple needs more time to make a 4G enabled iPhone 5 happen, then so be it. Bottom line, the carriers desperately want 4G to be accepted by the public, as it's their collective best shot at continuing to upgrade cycle of new smartphone hardware this year and next, even as speeds and capacities begin to surpass what a pocket sized device might reasonably need. And because the public will begin caring about 4G at the precise moment the iPhone gains 4G, the behind the scenes pressure on Apple to release a 4G iPhone 5 is enormous. If pulling that off takes a little longer than expected and the iPhone 5 release date is held back by a season as a result, the public may be less than thrilled but the carriers won't mind a bit. Here's more on the iPhone 5 news.

iPhone 5 release date obliterated as factory burns, iPad 2 up in smoke

Whatever chance the iPhone 5 had of seeing a release date in June on the heels of the white iPhone 4, those odds just went up in smoke – literally – in an unfortunate explosion and fire at the factory where Apple has its iOS devices manufactured. As a result, iPad 2 inventory is expected to once again fall behind demand after Apple initially struggled to keep up after the March launch and had just recently caught up to the point where an iPad 2 review would ship to a customer a week or two after it was ordered. But while the exact impact on iPad 2 availability remains to be seen, this should put to bed the pipe dream that saw Apple somehow introducing the iPhone5 a mere six weeks after first shipping the white iPhone 4. The lack of any reports about iPhone 5 manufacturing being underway at such facilities (this kind of news always leaks) already made it clear that Apple wasn't about to attempt the PR-suicide stunt of ending the iPhone 4 era a month and a half after it launched a new iPhone 4 model. But even if Apple were planning to secretly launch the iPhone 5g in June, those plans would certainly have to be scuttled after the factory damage.If nothing else, those who've been holding out hope a soon-arriving iPhone 5 will now be able to erase any doubt and weigh their actual options: buy an iPhone 4 now or wait for awhile longer before Apple announces what comes next. The cautious among us will likely still opt to wait another two weeks to see what Apple does with its early June WWDC Keynote. But even if there were a surprise iPhone 5 4G or even iPhone 4S (whatever the heck that's supposed to be) planned for June 6th, Apple wouldn't be able to ramp up from zero inventory at this point in time for such a launch; it'll have a difficult enough time maintaing inventory levels of the already-shipping iPhone 4 and iPad 2. Our revised advice: if you've been meaning to pick up an iPad 2 but haven't gotten around to it yet, hurry before they suddenly get harder to find for awhile. And our iPhone buying advice hasn't changed: the arrival of the white iPhone 4 made it clear that the iPhone 5 won't come until late summer or fall, and while either option is defensible, it's difficult to ask someone to wait for a phone whose release isn't known beyond the fact that it isn't soon, and whose features are at this point still a blank slate. Here's more on the iPhone 5 news.

iPhone 5G Case Design Shows Redesigned Camera Flash

GadgetsDNA points to a new Chinese case design found on Alibaba that claims to be for the "iPhone 5G".
1.100% brand new high quality crystal case for iphone 5g .
2. Provides a comfortable grip, added protection against accidental drops .
3. Perfectly fits the iPhone 5 g, easy to insert and remove .
What's unusual about the case is that it seems to depict a very thin-bezel design as well as a distinct camera design. (It should be noted that their iPhone 4 "crystal" designs also have little in the way of bezels") The camera flash appears to be on the opposite side of the case rather than adjacent to the camera itself.

While there's been talk of these more dramatic changes, the most recent reports have claimed that the next iPhone will actually only contain minor cosmetic differences over the iPhone 4.

It's possible we could see these design elements in the future if not the next release, as the iPod Touch camera was found in case designs a full release cycle ahead of the ultimate release.

Update: It should be noted that their iPhone 4 "crystal" cases also share the same thin edge, so the camera design alone may be main difference in the new iPhone case design. This would fit with the "minor cosmetic differences" described in the previous report.