[hecatae]

Dual core A5 cpu
8mp camera
OTA IOS Updates
HSPA+
No LTE

http://t.co/ojsMqvU
http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/apple-to-release-iphone-4s-with-minor-updates--956098

http://blogs.forbes.com/ericsavitz/2011/05/13/apple-analyst-says-no-lte-in-iphone-5-to-add-sprint-t-mobile/

http://www.unwiredview.com/2011/05/13/next-iphone-to-be-called-iphone-4s-not-5/

[Ben]

This is interesting. I'm sure several of us said when the iPhone 4 launched that this was obviously going to be the casing for a while given the amount of engineering and that an iPhone 4S would likely be the successor.

Since then there has been a lot of talk of iPhone 5. Apple are almost certainly developing it - it could be largely finished - but there's still scope for a souped-up iPhone 4 before the 'next big thing'.

At the moment I see little appeal in an iPhone 4S for 4 owners, however, as, unlike the iPhone 3G, we're hardly struggling with the 4 now are we! However, Apple will likely spring a rather hungry iOS 5 on us that'll have us clamouring for a 4S post-haste :p

[hecatae]

BGR are suggesting announcement August, availability September. Bloomberg article has repeated previous rumours.

[Ben]

Indeed, shouldn't be long to wait now.

I've noted rumours resurfacing of a redesign. They allege that the iPhone 4S is actually a test model featuring internals from the new phone, and that the actual release iPhone will indeed be the 5.

Unless iOS 5 runs like a dog, which I'm sure it doesn't, I'm not sure I'd buy an iPhone 4S at the moment seeing as I just got the white iPhone 4. It's like... I don't need my iPhone to be any better than it already is in terms of the hardware internals.

[3GScottishUser]

The new iPhone will be iPhone5 which will be playing catch up with high end Android phones sporting an 8MP camera and a dual core 1.2Ghz processor.

Apple will still be stopping users doing things including brand new restrictions by installing new software that will work with infra red transponders at concert venues to prevent iPhone users from using thier phones to take still or video images at concerts. No bluetooth exchange of files either and the usual iTunes restrictions.

Shell out lots and be handcuffed if you like...... :(

[Ben]

Apple will still be stopping users doing things including brand new restrictions by installing new software that will work with infra red transponders at concert venues to prevent iPhone users from using thier phones to take still or video images at concerts. No bluetooth exchange of files either and the usual iTunes restrictions.
Bill, what the f?

[3GScottishUser]

This is the new thing:

http://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-concert-patent-2011-6

and

http://www.itproportal.com/2011/06/04/apples-latest-patent-prevents-concert-theatre-piracy/

So beware....

[Hands0n]

The new iPhone will be iPhone5 which will be playing catch up with high end Android phones ...(

Oh my giddy aunt! You do not actually believe that, do you? Place any Android phone you like alongside an iPhone 4, actually use them in tandem for any period of time you like and the iOS device will be smoother in operation, more consistent and accurate touch interface, the whole nine yards. Android still lacks in the "experience" regardless of 8MP cameras and dual core processors. The whole deal is a lot more than a listing of technical specifications. So much more!

[3GScottishUser]

Oh my giddy aunt! You do not actually believe that, do you? Place any Android phone you like alongside an iPhone 4, actually use them in tandem for any period of time you like and the iOS device will be smoother in operation, more consistent and accurate touch interface, the whole nine yards. Android still lacks in the "experience" regardless of 8MP cameras and dual core processors. The whole deal is a lot more than a listing of technical specifications. So much more!

Yes .... and the experience can and seems to be highly restricted and will become even more so on iPhone if the patent applications they have filed above are used. I have no doublt they will be by what has become the most profitable and greedy company in the world today.

We have seen it all before, boom and bust. Companies with a good idea establish a franchise and milk it then get greedy and the competition take the business from them.

A look back at the history of the computing business is interesting and proves that what was a major standard one year can be history the next. In the fast moving consumer electronics world the market leader can become an also ran in a very short period of time. Just look what happened to Sony, Amstrad, Marantz, JVC, Aiwa, Rotel, Casio, Hitachi, Sanyo, etc....

[Hands0n]

Yes .... and the experience can and seems to be highly restricted and will become even more so on iPhone if the patent applications they have filed above are used. I have no doublt they will be by what has become the most profitable and greedy company in the world today.

Oh hold on a moment, this isn't the politics of envy is it? That any company making a profit is by definition greedy and evil? That all success is bad? T

I run Android and iOS side by side, and have done so since the G1 I picked up on eBay a couple of years ago. The experience between the two was chalk and cheese. The gap is narrowing, but Android still has some way to go with respect to ecosystem across devices which Apple excels at right now.

Without fail, the Android devices are less "agile" and usable than the iOS devices. The quality and breadth of applications remains very wide between the two. Android suffers from the very anarchy it created, and Google are desperate to bring a degree of order to the OS. But it has just made things worse with Gingerbread and Honeycomb (I have both right here, in daily use). They may right the wrongs with Ice Cream Sandwich, but that is still a little way off. Meanwhile, right here, right now, iOS users are suffering none of this anarchy across the platforms.

You have to talk it like you see it - and having these devices around me I can see it very very apparent indeed.

[3GScottishUser]

I don't see that to be honest and don't feel the need to pay a premium for a handset upfront or an higher monthly charge to do what an Apple iPhone does.

Android has come a long way since 2.1 when I bought into it. Now with 2.3 it's side by side very comparable with iPhone4 and I have lots of apps without having to pay Apple commission for any of them.

Android is to the mobile phone what Windows is to the PC. Its generic and will be dependent on the quality of the device its installed on. Low cost ZTE or Huawei phones will offer the basics but high end HTCs and Samsungs will have all the bells and whistles although all of them will be familiar to wide range of users with different budgets. Nothing wrong with that as Windows has proven for many decades. You can use Office on a £200 netbook or a £2000 high end desktop, the document will remain the same although the user experience will be better on the more expensive hardware. Point is that one can access the technology at a lower price thanks to the range and competition which expands the user base so that in time as folks get more experienced they can upgrade to better hardware. Apple's strategy requires a big initial commitment to get on-baord and once captured an Apple user has many restrictions to keep them funneling money to the hardware maker.

I am sure the Apple experice can be very nice but it simply isn't the only thing around as the vast majority (90% of computer users and 75% of Smartphone users) proves. Can we have some balance?

[Hands0n]

The balance is that Android still does not weigh up equally to the iOS experience. That is, of course, my opinion based upon usage.

If you actually sat down in front of an iPad 2 and one of the new Honeycomb tablets you would see almost in an instant the gap that exists. People need to know this. There is no balance if we ignore the very apparent, and we would be doing an injustice to the reader on this forum. I am not spending my on time on here to be a sop to any manufacturer or product. If I experience it, I write about it, however unbalanced that may seem. It is the simple pure truth, and completely auditable if anyone would care to come sit down at the table with me in front of these two devices.

I fully expect that to change, in time. Already talk of more cores later this year in the Tegra-powered tablets. It seems that Tegra-2 is not muscle enough for the job. And we are seeing, with Android, what we saw with Linux. It is taking a fairly substantial amount of processor power to make the OS performant. Meanwhile, the more integrated OS and hardware that is Apple's results in a [albeit subjectively] better experience. There's the balance, one is better than the other, so come on Android, man up.

No one is suggesting that Apple is the only thing around, and if you really read what is written we are always and forever talking about other product, services, and systems. It seems our opinions mirror the rest of the world - for example we did some stuff on Windows Phone 7 that has panned out throughout industry. We said it was pants. A lot of others agree. Will WP7 Mango be better? I don't know yet, but for sure we'll have our hands around one when it arrives and we'll write as truthfully about that as we find it. And that is balance too.

[hecatae]

Bill, what the f?

yeah read that concert thing, bloody frightening that they are implementing that

[hecatae]

The balance is that Android still does not weigh up equally to the iOS experience. That is, of course, my opinion based upon usage.

If you actually sat down in front of an iPad 2 and one of the new Honeycomb tablets you would see almost in an instant the gap that exists. People need to know this. There is no balance if we ignore the very apparent, and we would be doing an injustice to the reader on this forum. I am not spending my on time on here to be a sop to any manufacturer or product. If I experience it, I write about it, however unbalanced that may seem. It is the simple pure truth, and completely auditable if anyone would care to come sit down at the table with me in front of these two devices.

I fully expect that to change, in time. Already talk of more cores later this year in the Tegra-powered tablets. It seems that Tegra-2 is not muscle enough for the job. And we are seeing, with Android, what we saw with Linux. It is taking a fairly substantial amount of processor power to make the OS performant. Meanwhile, the more integrated OS and hardware that is Apple's results in a [albeit subjectively] better experience. There's the balance, one is better than the other, so come on Android, man up.

No one is suggesting that Apple is the only thing around, and if you really read what is written we are always and forever talking about other product, services, and systems. It seems our opinions mirror the rest of the world - for example we did some stuff on Windows Phone 7 that has panned out throughout industry. We said it was pants. A lot of others agree. Will WP7 Mango be better? I don't know yet, but for sure we'll have our hands around one when it arrives and we'll write as truthfully about that as we find it. And that is balance too.

if I sat down in front of the Ipad 1 or 2, the first words out of my mouth would be

Does it blend?

I doubt Tegra is going to make the impact on android as of yet, SGS 2 is the current favourite and it's not a Tegra, plus a lib has been created to make it compatible with
Tegra specific apps.

MIPS has just been android certified including Android Market, so ARM now has a Cpu contender, so expect a lot more Android devices soon, with different cpus and the cpu race picking up speed.

[3GScottishUser]

The balance is that Android still does not weigh up equally to the iOS experience. That is, of course, my opinion based upon usage.

If you actually sat down in front of an iPad 2 and one of the new Honeycomb tablets you would see almost in an instant the gap that exists. People need to know this. There is no balance if we ignore the very apparent, and we would be doing an injustice to the reader on this forum. I am not spending my on time on here to be a sop to any manufacturer or product. If I experience it, I write about it, however unbalanced that may seem. It is the simple pure truth, and completely auditable if anyone would care to come sit down at the table with me in front of these two devices.

The 'opinion' has to be qualified in terms of price as well as performance. Tablets are coming thick and fast and whist user experience is important so is value for money and an £800 toy on a mobile contract is simply not a likey buy for most folks who have to get by with 1% or less than inflation rises this year. There are lots of iPad alternatives that can do many of the same tasks for a fraction of the cost and even then they are still really just toys that most will use to pose and surf with.

I'm not sure I am convinced with the vastness of difference of the user experience having played with both iPad and Android tablets taking into account the cost differences. Perhaps in the wealthy South East they are popular commuter train accessories but in Central Scotland tablets have yet to make much of a visable impression regardless of make or model.

[Hands0n]

The 'opinion' has to be qualified in terms of price as well as performance.

The price difference between the iPad 2 and Eee Pad Transformer is less than £40 in favour of the Transformer. The difference between the iPad 2 and the Motorola Xoom (like for like) is over £150. The performance and experience of the iPad 2 vs the Honeycomb I have already described. I do believe that is qualification sufficient to form opinion.


... an £800 toy on a mobile contract ...
There you go dissing again ... I am offering experiential evidence for readers to assess. And you know, as well as I do, that £800 will be equally evident on a Xoom, Samsung Galaxy Pad, HTC's new pad and all of the other top dollar product. So are they all "£800 toys"?

Look, everyone knows that Android tablet on a budget can be had for a few hundred pounds at the most. Fine. But please do not compare a Ford Fiesta with a Porche Carrera and scream down the Porche by calling it some rich kids toy (envy politics again). If people can afford this stuff, and it is utterly evident that they can, then leave them be. It is their business what they spend their 1% above inflation rise on, and not yours or my place to deride them for doing so. The last time I checked we were still a relatively free country to live in.

[3GScottishUser]

OK - so I have installed Twonky Mobile Server on my Advent Vega. I can view video, audio and pictures on my network including from my NAS not only on it but I can connect an HDMI and view them at 720p on my large screen TV. Better still I can use it to access files on my android phone on the TV using the server software in the phone. So all of my media on phone, PCs, NAS etc can be viewed on the tablet or on a full sized display anytime.

You can't do that with an iPad without spending a lot more on accessories!

[hecatae]

This is the new thing:

http://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-concert-patent-2011-6

and

http://www.itproportal.com/2011/06/04/apples-latest-patent-prevents-concert-theatre-piracy/

So beware....

also here: http://www.mobiletoday.co.uk/News/11861/Apple_to_block_iPhone_users_from_recording_live_ev ents_.aspx

[hecatae]

OK - so I have installed Twonky Mobile Server on my Advent Vega. I can view video, audio and pictures on my network including from my NAS not only on it but I can connect an HDMI and view them at 720p on my large screen TV. Better still I can use it to access files on my android phone on the TV using the server software in the phone. So all of my media on phone, PCs, NAS etc can be viewed on the tablet or on a full sized display anytime.

You can't do that with an iPad without spending a lot more on accessories!

any chance of a review, I've never been able to justify the price of Twonky

[3GScottishUser]

Twonky on Android is totally free.

Just download it from the Android Market.

[hecatae]

ok will do, was chargeable on Linux, that put me off

[gorilla]

I'm not sure I'd buy an iPhone 4S at the moment seeing as I just got the white iPhone 4. It's like... I don't need my iPhone to be any better than it already is in terms of the hardware internals.

You do know you'll regret this statement. In your head you've already set aside £500 to buy the next iPhone. @Hands0n has already started queuing :p

[Hands0n]

@Hands0n has already started queuing :p

Its a fair cop :D

[Ben]

You do know you'll regret this statement. In your head you've already set aside £500 to buy the next iPhone. @Hands0n has already started queuing :p

Its a fair cop :D
LoL! Also collared.

Well, no doubt they'll find a new angle for 'blowing us all away' with the next iPhone and I'll be parting with my cash quicker than the Greeks, but it'll take more than a slightly better camera and a slightly better CPU. Since I've got the iPad 2 for the heavy lifting my iPhone is mostly twitter, facebook, texts, photos. Oh, and calls I suppose! :-/

[gorilla]

I know so many people with an iPhone that only use it for facebook / twitter / text and calls. They still don't realise the potential they hold in their hands. They also don't have any music on it "because I don't know how to put it on". This frustrates me greatly. Why buy an iPhone if you're not going to use it? "Because it's cool" is not the answer I'm looking for.
It just shows you how accessible apple products have become. Even 10 years ago, it was hard to find someone with an Apple product, but now everyone has at least one iPod, lots of people have an iPhone, nearly everyone you see with a tablet has an iPad and more and more people have macs in their house.
I wonder how this will affect Apple's brand in the long term?

[hecatae]

current reports suggest two models, an iphone 4s and an iphone 5 will be released. one for the mass market, and one for the apple devoted

[Ben]

I really like the idea of Apple finally releasing a phone dedicated to a lower price point. Perhaps it'll be an all-plastic iPhone 4 ;)

[DBMandrake]

Speaking of plastic:

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/08/26/purported_next_gen_iphone_parts_show_back_panel_ba ttery_logicboard.html

Am I the only one that thinks this white back panel purported to be of the next iPhone is some kind of plastic instead of glass ?

Yes, on the outer view on the left there is clearly a plastic film that has not been peeled off, but the right hand inside view seems to clearly show that the white around the perimeter is plastic - there is no plastic film applied over it, yet it has the matt look of plastic rather than the reflective gloss of glass. The shape of the white piece around the edge and the little tab "fingers" are also indicative of plastic, as it's not something you'd do with glass.

Anyone care to bet that they just had so many broken rear glass panels to replace that they've backtracked and gone for a non-glass back this time around ? Anecdotally the number of cracked rear glass panels on iPhone 4's is extremely high, and Apple replaced a lot under warranty, even though technically they don't have to cover breakage by dropping.

Presumably its some kind of hard plastic that won't scratch too easily, and although it would certainly be scratchable, I think that's better than cracking so easily with a small fall. (The metal backs of iPods scuff and scratch too - so what, at least they don't crack with the slightest fall!)

So are we looking at the final version of the next iPhone, or just one of the many different design iterations they've been through over the last year that don't see the light of day ?

For me the glass back of the iPhone 4 is a bit of a show stopper (along with the whole antenna issue) so if they changed the back to a very tough non-cracking plastic or polycarbonate I'd be a lot happier, even if it might scuff a little bit.

[Ben]

I'd like to think that's a new low cost iPhone 4 8GB, with plastic back, and that an iPhone 5 will be released at the same time, possibly with a metal back. We will, hopefully, see in the near future! I'm getting awfully impatient ;)

The glass front and back with metal rim is a stunning design, and environmentally sound too, but it's not practical. I love Apple design, I really do, but this is a phone... they need to reel themselves in a smidge!

[miffed]

I would FAR rather have a plastic back panel than glass ! The iPhone 4 is an amazing, beautiful piece of hardware - but as someone who likes to keep devices as prisitne as possbile WHILE using them as intended (i.e. NOT in a case ) - it is a non starter ! - I am scared to rest the thing down when it is not in its Gel case - which negates the point of the beautiful workmanship somewhat IMO ?
In fact , I'd prefer to see the iPhone 4 exactly how it is now , but with a Brushed Aluminium back panel , that would be perfect IMO.

One thing I am pretty sure of , is that After SJ's announcement , the next iPhone is going to be substantial ! I don't think they'd dare give us anything less ?

[Ben]

One thing I am pretty sure of , is that After SJ's announcement , the next iPhone is going to be substantial ! I don't think they'd dare give us anything less ?
Yes, I believe that part of their succession plan will have involved introducing significant product refreshes in the coming months, including, possibly, an entirely new Apple product.

WRT iPhone 4 and cases - I've NEVER had a case for a phone. Hate them. iPhone 4 I'm forced to use a bumper on :( The white phone with the blue bumper actually looks great (black with black looked bad, IMHO, hence why I never used the black one) but even here the bumper is marking the metal surround on the phone. :(