iPhone 5 Rumors Spawn Mockups

[TangoJuliet]

http://www.macrumors.com/2011/02/16/iphone-5-rumors-spawn-mockups/

The explosion of rumors that Apple is working on a variety of iPhone designs including smaller ones and iPhones with 4" screens has spawned a significant amount of speculation and mockups about the possibilities.

In particular, the talk of a 4" screen and rumors of an "edge to edge" screen resulted in this mockup by mjay2k which shows that a 4" screen could fit on an existing iPhone 4 sized device by extending the screen to the left/right edges. Similarly a smaller iPhone could use the existing 3.5 screen in a similar fashion.

Another take on the "edge to edge" screen, submitted by a reader. This image tries to look like a "spy" shot, but we believe is just another creative mockup.

Finally, this old design mockup pre-dates the iPhone 4, but shows another take on a large screen format with a reduced prominence of the home button.

I read this story and here is my guess on the new iPhone "5". If you go to the above site and look at the first set of photos - the mockups are UGLY. There is no way apple goes that route. I think the last picture is more where apple is going to take the phone. The phone needs some sort of bezel/edge to it so that you have some place to hold the phone without clicking on links accidentally.

This summer's release will be more of a "GS" version rather then a full blown change. The revision following this will be the one that all the rumors are coming from. There will only be one type (same phone for VZ & AT&T) so that apple doesn't have to use different chips to work on the networks.

I do think they will eventually do away with the home button. At first I was not a fan of this but as I thought more about it I think it'll be ok. I usually hold my 3GS with one hand and use my thumb to hit the home button then use the same thumb to slide the phone open in one swoop. By removing the home button the only way to turn the phone on would be the on/off switch on the top. Apple may use multitouch to replace the home button as well. Say a three tap to turn it on and then a swipe to open it up.

This iPhone "6" will be a longer 4" wide screen without any home button. I've read reports of speculation that apple will go with a touch screen on the back of the phone but I don't think it'll be feasable with all the cases and such.

Lastly, I believe the rumors of a "nano" are probably true. No better way to go after android then making a "free" version of the phone (with 2 year contract). Sure, apple would have to switch to a cloud based storage system to cut down on costs. I do think they'll offer a very small amount of local storage (2-4GB) for pictures and video, etc at first and when the cloud is ready go with that.

Cliffs:

New iPhone "5" will be more of a "GS" version
One model - can be used on VZ or AT&T
Cheaper, smaller, light storage (2-4GB) nano version
iPhone "6" will be the redesign - no home button, longer 4" wide screen

 

[SamanthaAa]

Look's kinda weird with so big screen and also 'Five Mini' is not really the best idea on the planet ...

 

[silverpig]

The last picture in there looks pretty neat.