Damn.

My parents got one of the very first computers in our town, an Apple ][+ right around Christmas 1980.  That really set the path of my life and career.  (It wasn't an Apple, but I remember first seeing my first computer in middle school math class.  We were supposed to be doing homework, but I just stared and watched the teacher using the TRS-80.  I did the homework at home.)

I bought my own Apple ][gs before leaving for college and that was the last Apple computer for a long time.  After nearly 20 years on the Windows side, I'm mostly back to the Apple side.

It's sad enough when someone who did so many amazing things passes away, but it's far sadder when it's way too soon, right in the middle of some of their best work ever.   There are few I can think of to compare, and they're all known as much as artists as CEOs too: Walt Disney, Jim Henson, John Lennon.  You might not be a fan of their particular work, but you can't deny they changed the world around them.

I wasn't the only one who left flowers outside the local Apple store.  The one close to my house at University Village was closed for some remodeling, leaving a flat black canvas where people wrote with chalk or left flowers.  My picture, taken with an iPhone of course, turned out pretty striking.

iPhone 4S +

Well, I wasn't quite right, it was a mix of my guesses (and keeping around the 3GS).

It's odd the some "analysts" are disappointed.  It is everything people hoped for in the next iPhone, with the exception of a bigger screen, a different shape, and the number 5 in the name.

But looking back, nobody should be surprised.  Other than the very first iPhone, all the rest have been evolutionary steps, adding more and making it more powerful.  And it may be they always do the style change every 2 years rather than every year.  It's nice that I can re-use the case when I upgrade :)

Now I wonder if they go back to a Summer release for the iPhone, or if it's now going to be coming in the fall.  It makes sense to announce the newest iOS version at the big WWDC conference, then give the summer for developers to work and do stuff with it, and release the next iPhone that uses it in the fall.


Judging by the iPhone, I'd guess the iPad 3 that it will be shaped exactly the same as the current one.  Retina on the iPad will be the big (huge) selling point, so they won't need to update the styling to sell it.

iPhone 4/5 prediction

So far, I'm batting 0%, but why not guess again.  I'm predicting Apple will introduce 2 new iPhones.

iPhone 5 is NEW.

• Bigger screen; increasing the resolution to 1024x768 to keep it "Retina" with a bigger screen, existing apps running in an inner section.
• Global phone for all networks (AT&T, Verizon, etc)
• Shaped more like the newest iPad & iPod touch, curves on the back like those.
• 8MB camera is one thing I'd be 100% about.
• NOT increasing the memory choices, still 16 or 32GB.

iPhone 4S is newish.  It will replace the 3GS and 4 as the low end model.

• Some updated things from the iPhone 4, mainly to be a global phone that works on all networks (AT&T, Verizon, etc.)  
• The same camera.
• The screen from the iPod touch to save some costs.  (They're both retina & the same resolution, but the iPod touch's screen is a bit different on the inside.  From straight ahead they look identical, but at an angle the iPhone's does better.  The iPod's is presumably cheaper.)  
• 8GB as the only choice.  
• Maybe a bit thinner, but looking pretty much like the iPhone 4.  
• All that and it will be cheap.  $0 with a contract, and close to the iPod touch price without: $299.

Kindle Fire

The first Kindle came out ~3 years before the iPad.  In a parallel universe, the new Kindle Fire is still the Kindle tablet we'd be getting now if Apple hadn't ever made the iPad at all.  That's a huge difference compared to everybody else who are just making iPad copies.

It's interesting that Apple and Amazon both started with simple devices for specific types of media, books and music, and grew out to encompass the rest.

I almost feel sorry for all the other Android tablet companies, who's going to buy one now, knowing the Fire is coming?

Batteries Forever

Reading about how improvements in computers (twice as efficient every 18 months) have made batteries last longer & longer.  That just gets cooler.

Right now, with wireless off, my Kindle 3 works for at least a month between charges.  So in about 6 years if the pace continues, the Kindle might last a YEAR on one charge.  And at that point, they can put a little solar cell like the little solar calculators have...it might never need to be plugged in at all.

Similar for the iPad or iPhone of the future, Apple could hide solar cells around the screen, or even just in the Apple shape on the back & you'd rarely if ever have to plug it in.  (Though an iPhone in a pocket gets less light, so might need to leave it on a desk :)

We told you so.

Another year, another bar, another iPhone prototype.  Apple, you shouldn't have rejected it:

http://michael.burford.net/2010/05/lost-in-bar-appdenied.html

iPhone 5 screens #2

Hmm, various rumors floating around about the next iPhone.

If it really does get a 4" screen, especially as rumors have said it's wider, maybe Apple will increase the resolution.  If my math is right you can do about a 3.8" screen at 640x960 and have it be above the 300dpi Retina number.

4" is bigger than that.  BUT if you increase the resolution to 1024x768 as well, it would work and have a high enough dpi at the bigger size.  A 640x960 inner section would run every iPhone app as-is, much like how the iPad runs them today.  If the pixels are the same size, apps would look just the same.  There would be a little more bezel area than on the current iPhone, but not bad.  As apps are updated they would use the full screen.

The picture shows black "wasted" space for un-updated apps in the bigger screen.  If the black goes closer to the physical edge of the iPhone, it's only a little more space than the bezel around the current iPhone 4.  And might even be less than in the 3GS if you count to the outside of the curved edges.

In the short term, it's a bit of a pain for programmers.  But in the long term, and these are platforms that will be around for many more years or decades, iPhone and iPad then have the same base resolution going forward.  That would be a huge deal.  One set of graphics to cover both devices.