News tagged ‘Hardware’

Apple's new Thunderbolt display was torn down by iFixit.  Surprisingly, but this time it was very easy to disassemble the new display. iFixit found inside plethora of hardware to support normal work of display and docking station functions, which the display performs. iFixit told that both sides of the logic board were packed with different chips so that it was hard to believe that there was no computer inside the display.

The new display includes:

• Pericom PI7C9X440SL PCIe-to-USB 2.0 host controller
• L129NB11 EFL, which looks to be the Thunderbolt port controller
• Analog Devices ADAV4601 audio processor
• NXP LPC2144 USB 2.0 microcontroller
• Delta LFE9249 10/100/1000 Base-T LAN filter
• SMSC USB2517-JZX USB 2.0 hub controller
• Maxim MAX9736B Mono/Stereo high-power Class D amplifier
• LSI L-FW643E-2 open host controller interface
• Broadcom BCM57761 Gigabit ethernet controller
• Supertex HV9982 3-channel switch-mode LED driver IC

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Giga.de has produced a physical prototype mockup of the future iPhone 5. They made it look like in the latest rumors. Everything is done from a solid block of aluminum.

A 3D computer model was created based on leaked CAD designs, hardware components, several leaked hints, cases and other believable mockups. This model was then used to build a very detailed, true prototype iPhone 5, that you can actually hold and feel in your hands.

This prototype width and height are 59.94 mm and 109.98 mm, compared to 115.2 mm x 58.6 mm dimentions of iPhone 4. The prototype is also a bit thinner than its predecessor. Teardrop style with a thickness of 6.86 mm at the top and only 5.33 mm at the bottom.

Here are photos of iPhone 5 Design Prototype compared to iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4:

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M.I.C. Gadget is reporting that iPhone 5 prototype device was lost by Foxconn or possibly stolen. That is why there are lots of iPhone 5 cases in China today. The design could really be the final one since case manufacturers must be very certain to have shipped "thousands" of cases already. Producing a mold for silicone case costs tens of thousands of RMB (thousands of USD) and a mold for hard plastic cases costs even more.

A case supplier told that a device had gone missing from the Foxconn factory in the Shenzhen Futian district. The prototype was disguised in a case to make it look like the current device. It was apparently a test model with a finalized iPhone 5 teardrop chassis but only had slightly modified iPhone 4 internals.

The person who had access to the prototype wiped the phone's software, thus disabling the GPS hardware needed to track it down. It was then allegedly sold to one of the iPhone case manufacturers for RMB ¥20,000 (about $3,100). We were told that Foxconn was aware of the loss and had penalized internal management for the incident. We also heard from another source that the person who "lost" it was paid to do so.

We are very sure that one or more of these case manufacturers have access to what is believed to be the prototype of the iPhone 5 with the finalized design. It is not simply getting tipped on the dimensions and shapes of the next iPhone to make the molds.

By looking at iPhone 5 case photos one can say that the future iPhone 5 has teardrop desing. It is much thinner (33%) than iPhone 4, but a bit larger in height and width. The height of the case is 4.84 inches (12.3 cm), width - 2.72 inches (6.9 см). The dimensions of iPhone 4 are 4.5 x 2.31 x 0.37 inches (115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3 mm).

Take a look at the video, where this new iPhone 5 teardrop design case is compared to iPhone 4 and iPod Touch:

Here are the photos:

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9to5Mac reveals features of the "Assistant" voice-powered personal application that will appear on the next-generation iPhone. The site claims that Assistant allows users to handle scheduling, reminder, and messaging tasks by voice. The system will be also capable to ask user questions to clarify what is being said.

The system will actually speak back and forth with the user to gain the most information in order to provide the best results. The user essentially can hold a conversation with their iPhone like it is another human being. For example, if a user is making a meeting with me, they will say “setup meeting with Mark” and the first “bubble” of the conversation thread will say that. After that, the system will speak back: “which e-mail address should Mark be notified at, work or personal?” This question will both be spoken out loud by the iPhone Assistant and shown as a new “bubble” in the conversation thread. The user will then respond with the email address they want to notify me at, and the appointment will be made. The iPhone will even show a quick glance at a calendar view to confirm the appointment. If the Assistant was sending an SMS, as another example, a mini SMS view would appear so the user has a quick glance at the SMS thread.

Assistant will also integrate with WolframAlpha that will help users receive answers to factual, and  "Find My Friends" service and speech-to-text transcription from Nuance. Of course, such power-consuming application will require more powerful hardware, suggesting that Apple will integrate  A5 chip and RAM to 1 GB to support the heavy workload into the new iPhone.

Research firm Gartner has published sales forecasts for the tablet market, stating that a lack of momentum from competitors will allow iPad to be absolute leader during the holiday shopping season. Looking further ahead, Gartner predicts that Apple will maintain more than 50 percent share of this market segment through 2014 even as Research in Motion’s QNX and Microsoft's Windows 8 platforms are expected to build up some momentum. Research vice president at Gartner Carolina Milanesi explains:

“This is because Apple delivers a superior and unified user experience across its hardware, software and services. Unless competitors can respond with a similar approach, challenges to Apple’s position will be minimal. Apple had the foresight to create this market and in doing that planned for it as far as component supplies such as memory and screen”.

Gartner has lowered its estimates for sales of Android tablets in 2011 by 28% over second quarter’s projections, noting very weak adoption due to its interface issues, high prices and limited app availability.

The company expects that Android will see growth as Google releases its next-generation Android’s "Ice Cream Sandwich" and addresses fragmentation across the Android ecosystem. However, according to Gartner's sales forecasts, Android tablets will not catch up the iPad by the end of projection period of 2015.

Today Adobe announced in a blog that it will add new features to its AIR platform and Flash Player allowing for use of 3D-accelerated graphics in mobile and desktop devices. Also the company notes in a press release:

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The currently rumored iPhone 5 release dates have been October 7th, 14th, and 15th. PocketGamer source claims that Apple will hold its iPhone 5 press conference on October 5th:

Our inside source says there will be a press conference announcing the new hardware on October 5th, with retail release occurring a week later. This broadly fits with the movement of recent rumours, which peaked with a - since proven erroneous - 21st October release date, bought forward to a October 15th date, according to Orange CEO Stephane Richard.

The symbolism works well too: iPhone 5, iOS 5, October 5.

Apple might also show up white iPhone 4s, that was recently found in AT&T internal system.

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Apple's customer service call centers - AppleCare has reported AppleInsider that the company expects that a large influx  of iOS-related support calls beginning Monday, October 10th, suggesting that Apple may release the iOS 5 on this date.

For instance, one person familiar with the matter said his local AppleCare call center has been told to expect an eightfold increase in customer calls on that day, and that staff are being advised ahead of time for the increased traffic.

The person could not say with any certainty what will be released on that Monday, but noted that the increase in call volume is related to iOS. This led them to speculate that Apple could release iOS 5 and iCloud on Oct. 10.

Apple always releases its major iOS updates a couple of days ahead of the new hardware release. For example, the iPhone OS 3.0 was released on June 17th, 2009 while the iPhone 3GS was released on June 19th, 2009; last year iOS 4.0 was released on June 21st following the iPhone 4 release on June 24th. So, we may expect release of new iPhone 5 after October 10th. Moreover, there are lots of rumors suggesting that Apple is planning to announce its next-gen iPhone in mid-October.

According to BGR, citing “trusted source”, Apple is goint to release iOS 5 8 Beta to developers this Friday. A golden master version should be expected " in a week around September 23rd.

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Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reports that Apple plans to send the golden master version of iOS 5 to its iPhone and iPod touch assembling partners during the period of September 23rd through 30th. So the new hardware could be launched around mid-October. That means that the assemblers will have time to install software on already produced new iPhones. But the analyst claims that design of the iPhone 5 would not be changed and Apple planes to ship 30 million units through the end of the year alongside production of an additional 5 million units of the existing iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS models

While many have been holding out for a significantly redesigned iPhone 5 offering a thinner, tapered profile as shown in third-party cases supposedly based on leaked design documents, essentially no evidence for such a model has surfaced in the form of parts leaks or other details. While some have suggested that the N94 is a decoy/scrapped/backup model and that Apple is keeping the redesigned model under tighter wraps, Kuo is not seeing signs of such a model anywhere in Apple's supply chain.

Apple’s sales in China are up sixfold and reached $3.8 billion in second quarter revenues. Chinese market remains largely untapped and Apple could increase iPhone sales there by reaching agreements with additional Chinese carriers. However until now Apple hasn’t succeeded in reaching the agreement with the largest wireless operator China Mobile, and the sole Apple’s carrier in this country remains China Unicom. Moreover, according to DigiTimes, Apple’s iconic smartphone will compete with devices from both carriers:

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The Makayama Movie Mount is a case for iPad 2 that can significantly improve video capture by clipping to the device a number of accessories related to professional photography. These peripherals include third-party tele-lenses and wide angle lenses, lights, microphones and a tripod providing pan and tilt camera movements, and stable shots.

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Have you ever wanted to run your iOS applications on your Mac, Windows or Android device? Creator of iEmu, new Kickstarter project, want to raise funds to make this possible.

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Early last week there appeared some rumors that Apple has been testing a 4G LTE-enabled iPhone with carriers. In an "internal iOS test build" was found a property list file (.plist) for LTE. This might mean that Apple was already testing LTE hardware. This LTE.plist file, however, was found only in some of the builds (GSM iPhone 4, CDMA iPad 2) and it was related to Apple's internal "Fieldtest" application.

LTE is the term the next generation wireless broadband network that is currently being deployed by both Verizon and AT&T. Data speeds for LTE should be significantly faster than the iPhone's existing 3G network.

Other rumors suggest that it is unlikely that Apple will make the jump to LTE so early with the iPhone 5, because, as Apple's Tim Cook said, the first generation of LTE chipsets forced a lot of design compromises, and Apple was unwilling to make those compromises. Such compromises could include very short battery life for mobile phones.  But, as far as we know, AT&T had installed 4G LTE equipment in a major Apple retail store and Apple had put out a job listing for field test engineers with expertise in LTE.

The Next Web reports that Hewlett-Packard engineers have tested webOS on iPad and to their dismay they found out that webOS runs on Apple’s hardware more than twice as fast as on the TouchPad hardware.

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