Monday, August 22, 2011

The iPhone 5 News Blog News Feed

The iPhone 5 News Blog News Feed

LTE 4G iPhones Coming, But Probably Not Till Next Year

Posted: 22 Aug 2011 09:05 AM PDT


Forbes’ new technology beat columnist Elizabeth Woyke thinks a new Apple job listing on the LinkedIn networking site indicates a strong possibility that Apple’s next iPhone will include Long Term Evolution (LTE) 4G wireless support. LTE advantages besides speedy throughput (the specification provides downlink peak rates of at least 100 Mbit/s, an uplink of at least 50 Mbit/s and RAN round-trip times of less than 10 ms) include low latency, plug and play, FDD and TDD in the same platform, improved end-user experience and a simpler architecture that will eventually result in lower production costs. The latter of course won;t be realized until it’s feasible to drop 3G support, which won’t be right away by any means.

The LinkedIn ad says that Apple’s iOS quality team is headhunting for a “motivated, highly technical Telephony Filed Test Quality Assurance Engineer with excellent problem-solving and communication skills” to join a team that will be responsible for testing and qualifying the telephony (ie: the phone itself, sms, data, etc.) functionality of new iPhone products under development, with particular emphasis on candidate experience in testing various cellular technologies like GSM, GPRS, UMTS, CDMA, 1xRTT, EvDO, and so forth. Other useful skills listed include strong detail orientation and comfort with working at debugging hardware and sleuthing out hard to reproduce issues.

As an aside, it’s reassuring to hear that strong pre-production debugging and quality assurance remain high priorities at Apple, further evidence that last year’s absurdly overblown “antennagate” issue that plagued the iPhone 4 after its initial release last year was one that “fell through the cracks,” so to speak, and Apple is intent on avoiding any repeats.

The Christian Science Monitor’s Matthew Shaer also thinks Apple may be fixing to release an LTE compatible version of the iPhone that will work with Verizon and AT&T’s growing 4G networks, but perhaps not quite yet. Forbes’ Ms. Woyke notes that Verizon Wireless is leading the LTE service charge, announcing last week that its LTE network can now be accessed by more than 160 million American users, which represents more than half the U.S. population. Back in March, Verizon promised to have LTE up and running in 147 markets by the end of 2011.

AT&T expects to initially deploy LTE “sometime this summer” (memo to AT&T — only three weeks of summer left): but is not operational yet, and deployment is not expected to be complete before the end of 2013. Sprint Nextel has a WiMax 4G network operational, but is believed to be pondering a switch to LTE, although that has not been conformed by the company.

However, with even market- leader Verizon’s network still only offering 50 percent U.S. coverage, a 4G/LTE compatible iPhone will still need to support 3G as well for quite some time going forward, which obligates the complication of incorporating both 3G and 4G chips in the same ultra-slim device, adding weight and bulk and negatively impacting battery life between charges.

Consequently, the CSM’s Matthew Shaer cautions that while an LTE iPhone is surely coming, it may not come this year with the new iPhone release hotly-anticipated for September or October. He reminds us that the original iPhone didn’t include then state-of-the-art 3G capability on their initial release, despite the fact that U.S. 3G coverage was already comprehensively in place at the time.

Adding to the 4G LTE iPhone buzz and speculation, Engadget reported last week that they’d been by an informant told that 4G LTE equipment had been recently installed by AT&T in a major Apple store, although with the qualifying caveat that this could simply be associated with long-term preparation rather than evidence that 4G technology will be included in the next iPhone, but the timing is at least interesting.

Looking beyond U.S. borders, LTE support is a mixed bag. It’s available in some major Canadian urban centers from Rogers and Bell Mobility, but there’s far from blanket coverage available, and some areas are still awaiting GSM/3G service.

The Register’s Bill Ray says that UK users shouldn’t expect LTE before around the end of 2013, or early 2014, although some countries in continental Europe, notably Germany, have LTE networks are up and running now.

Both Forbes’s Elizabeth Woyke and the CSM’s Matthew Shaer reference a report from BGR’s Jonathan Gellar that while he can't confirm that the forthcoming fifth-generation iPhone will support 4G LTE, he can confirm that Apple's carrier partners are testing iPhone models with LTE capability, having obtained evidence of a leaked internal iOS test build from one of Apple's major carrier partners with a property list (.plist file) for LTE buried in its firmware, which he says indicates at least that Apple isn't sitting on the sidelines while 4G LTE networks continue to go live around the world.

Takeaway? We can be confident that LTE iPhones are under development, but probably shouldn’t be holding our breath in anticipation of one being released in the next iPhone release.

Source Reaffirms iPhone 5 To Be An iPhone 4 Refresh

Posted: 22 Aug 2011 08:06 AM PDT


The iPhone 5 News Blog’s well-placed source — a top-level executive at an iPhone case company — reaffirms that the next iPhone will not be a revamp, but rather an upgrade of the current iPhone 4.

Two weeks ago, the iPhone 5 News Blog reported rumors from an exclusive source that the iPhone 5 would in fact be little more than a refresh of the current iPhone 4, and may not even be called iPhone 5 — with Apple opting for “iPhone 4Gs” instead. The source, a top level executive at an Asian firm that designs and manufactures consumer electronics cases and accessories, said that the news came from a well-placed source of his own in mainland China, and he trusted the source enough to begin to shape his own company’s plans for iPhone cases going forward.

Today, our source reaffirmed his prediction about the next iPhone, stating that he had heard that “the new iPhone will be a upgraded version of iPhone 4. Got this info from 2 different reliable sources.”

The crux of this rumor centers on the form factor of the next iPhone, which is what concerns our source the most, since he has to consider form factor alterations in the next iPhone for product development. As a result, he knows very little about the extent of internal upgrades and features. Here at the Blog, we’ve surmised that an upgraded version of the iPhone 4 called the “iPhone 4Gs” could indicate that, while the next iPhone may keep the same basic form factor as the iPhone 4, may in fact offer 4G LTE, plus the A5 chip, accounting for both the “4G” and “s” in this purported name. Thus, it would give users a 3G, A4 value option along with a 4G, A5 “pro” option.

This perspective joins a growing sense that 4G LTE could indeed be in the iPhone’s very near future. A well-circulated article today from 247wallst.com stipulates that while “Apple observers have had strong reason to be concerned about Apple's long-term 4G plans,” with most experts believing “that the new iPhone 5 to be introduced next month, will only run on 3G networks,” the article goes on to explain that, because 4G LTE is fast-becoming the new standard, Apple  ”may be in the midst of the development of a 4G iPhone. It is not clear when the product will be released, but if it is in the next few months, Apple has a chance to dominate the new, ultra-fast wireless market.”

To be sure, an iPhone 4Gs could receive a mixed bag of critique from iPhone users and tech pundits. Many iPhone users are clamoring for 4G capabilities for the iPhone, while many more expect a new look — which would include a larger screen that rivals the 4.3″ screens found on competitive smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy S 2. If indeed the next iPhone is a 4Gs and offers higher performance with the same screen and look as the iPhone 4, the tech community may have a difficult time determining how this kind of iPhone iteration would fit into the upper tier of current smartphone designs.

As we have stated earlier, this is just a rumor from one source in the Asian consumer electronics sector, and he came about this information from a third party — not on its own. There is no “smoking gun” that corroborates this rumor as 100% accurate. The reason why it is an interesting rumor, however, is that it comes from a credible, well-placed source with no vested interest in spreading misinformation, and that it presents a new thread to the iPhone 5 rumor mill that has otherwise assumed the next iPhone will be a revamped iPhone 5 with a completely new form factor.



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BestBuy Offers iPhone 3Gs for Free To Make Way For iPhone 5

Posted: 22 Aug 2011 06:36 AM PDT


iphone 3gs deal from best buy

Best Buy’s new promotion today for the iPhone 3Gs joins a cavalcade of other sales and promotions in an effort to clear out legacy iPhone stocks in anticipation of the iPhone 5.

Retailers worldwide are beginning to push hard to get rid of the old iPhone 3Gs in anticipation of the iPhone 5. The most recent bit of evidence came from iPhone 5 News Blog reader Scott P., who tipped us off to a one-day promotion today that Best Buy is running on the iPhone 3Gs. Today only, folks can pick up the iPhone 3Gs for free, along with a 2-year contract upgrade on AT&T. Click here to check out their promotional flyer.

This sale represents the most extreme promo for the iPhone 3Gs we have seen to date, with other promotions, such as the $9.00 refurbished iPhone 3Gs and reduced prices at Target and Radio Shack on both the iPhone 3Gs and iPhone 4 now playing second fiddle to this big deal.

Best Buy clearly hopes to clear out a massive amount of iPhone 3Gs units today to make way for the iPhone 5, in a sort of indirect way. Since the iPhone 5 will undoubtedly be premium priced, the iPhone 4 is bound to become the value-priced alternative, clearing out 3Gs models is a primary objective: although initial claims were that iOs 5 ran satisfactorally on the old iPhone 3Gs, more anecdotal evidence has rolled in over the past few months indicating that it is indeed too high-performance for the old hardware.

While it may seem unlikely that Best Buy would sell many iPhone 3Gss at this late juncture in the iPhone 5 rumor mill, there are plenty of current iPhone users who will capitalize on a great like this for their family members or employees. Regardless, one would assume that this is yet another piece of evidence that the iPhone 5 is well on its way.


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