Clear iPhone 5 Concept Rehashes Old, Cool, Useless Feature
Posted by Michael Nace on Tuesday Jun 19, 2012 Under iPhone 5 Opinion, iTV
A slick, new iPhone 5 concept video harkens back to one of the first iPhone 5 mock-ups, which featured a clear, see-through display. While the feature has no practical purpose, it reflects users’ desire for a revolutionary, new iPhone iteration.
New, viral iPhone 5 mock-ups and concept videos make their way around the tech blogosphere quickly these days, as the enduring desire for the elusive sixth-generation continues to mount among smartphone users. iPhone concepts rarely hit the mark of what the finished product turns out to be, but they are fun and interesting in that they further fuel the excitement and give us a peek into which smartphone features users are hearing for.
The most recent iPhone 5 concept video features an innovative “iClear Retina Display,” which is depicted as a clear, holographic display that still manages to present full-color images and graphics to the user.
Mark Chubb at Phones Review is incredibly magnanimous in his review:
“Of course, as this particular iPhone 5 is a concept the possibilities of it ever becoming a reality is probably pure fantasy, but one does have to say that if Apple did ever deliver an iPhone such as this then it would obviously take the mobile space by storm.”
Perhaps it would, but I’m not quite sure why, aside from this concept being aesthetically interesting, all a Tom Cruise’s iconic holographic, clear tablet computer in the now ubiquitous film, The Minority Report. Cruise’s clear, touchable display made quite an impact on tech users — so much so that this isn’t the first time we’ve seen an iPhone 5 concept like this.
One of the first concept photos I came across when beginning this blog in August of 2010 was this photo, which still ranks high in Google’s Image Search when you type “iPhone 5:”
This older concept is not nearly as developed in that it only depicts white icons. However, it suffers from the same problem as the “iClear” — aside from giving your iPhone a lifelike palm wallpaper, it would do very little to improve the user experience.
Sure, one could imagine holding the display up and looking through it to take pictures, or holding it up to barcodes and other visual cues for improved interactions. But we’re already moving in that direction by way of the iPhone’s ever-improving rear-facing camera, anyway. Clear plexiglass isn’t going to give us any practical features — other than a really cool feature to show off to friends.
But for as much as this new clear concept is pure fluff, it does do one thing: it reinforces once again how badly iPhone users want the iPhone 5 to be a revolutionary mobile device.
In response to my article yesterday, iPhone 5 News Blog commenter Justin had some interesting insights on the topic of Apple creating revolutionary products:
“. . . revolutionary products were not their goal, which is another way to say what I said above, so people shouldn’t expect revolutionary products. Their goal is to create the best user experience and beautiful products. Meeting those goals has resulted in revolutionary products when the technology and opportunity allows, but revolutionary products are not their goal.”
It’s a nuanced point that Justin is making — that Apple simply seeks to make high quality, aesthetically pleasing products, which sometimes results in revolutionary advancements, and sometimes not. I don’t know if I fully agree with that conclusion — wasn’t it Apple who used the tag line “Resolutionary” to describe the Retina Display on the iPad 3? Whether or not being revolutionary is a goal at Cupertino R&D facilities– but he does raise a good argument about whether the iPhone 5 will indeed be “revolutionary” or not.
A lot of commenters yesterday made the point that the iPhone itself is the revolutionary product, and all of the iterations of it will never be more than “evolutionary.” That very well be the case, but when you add up the iPhone 5 concept photos and all of the rumored features that get packed into the iPhone 5 discussion, it’s clear that users have high expectations for the iPhone 5 that Apple may be destined to undershoot.
What’s also interesting is that this “revolutionary” expectation doesn’t really exist with any other Apple product (or any other tech product, for that matter. The iPad 3 never had the level of expectations ascribed to it as the iPhone 5, and for the most part, users have been satisfied with the incremental upgrades to the new iPad versus the iPad 2. Similarly, Apple never seems to be in a position for failing to hit the mark with its new MacBooks or iMacs (though the hefty price tag of the new MacBooks is a little bit disconcerting). Only Apple’s rumored “iTV” comes close to the “revolutionary” moniker of the iPhone 5 — but what the iTV will actually be all about is still anomalous, since there is no previous iTV to work from.
In the end, the iPhone 5 isn’t going to have a clear screen, and most likely will not have tactical touch screens, removable camera lenses, or any other late-breaking patent features. It may not even have NFC technology. And while some of these features may eventually come to subsequent iPhone iterations, the 2012 iPhone — no matter how interesting it turns out to be — might already be in an impossible position of living up to the expectations of being a truly revolutionary mobile device.
By Michael Nace
Michael Nace is the Publisher of the iPhone 5 News Blog and iPhone 6 News Blog. He has published articles about the iPhone since 2010.
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June 19th, 2012 at 12:29 pm
While interesting, I wouldn’t expect to see something like this for many many years. All of the innards would have to fit within the two small black bands at the top and bottom. You might get three minutes of battery life out of the watch battery that would fit. I think Apple has enough of a challenge fitting everything within the current form factor.
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June 19th, 2012 at 12:37 pm
So the battery is transparent along with the circuitry?
It looks pants.
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June 19th, 2012 at 12:43 pm
Some good thoughts in this article regarding (un)realistic iPhone 5 expectations and revolutionary vs evolutionary, but to describe something that is done purely for aesthetics as useless? How un-Apple-like!
Let’s make a list of Apple features done purely for aesthetic value. iPhone 7 would be out before we could come up for air.
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June 19th, 2012 at 1:56 pm
Someone has been renting Iron Man at Redbox again….
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June 19th, 2012 at 4:32 pm
Hmmm, I’m calling it, the year will be 2030. We can see dramatically thinner products along the way a see through “clear” body … no way, not for at least 15 years to come or more.
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June 19th, 2012 at 4:43 pm
@Veracularis… no, the battery and the circuitry are next to the speaker and microphone, silly.
I just want to know where you plug the thing in to get the unicorn farts and leprechaun giggles that it runs on.
It was a pretty cool video, though.
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June 19th, 2012 at 7:04 pm
Yeah, um not only would the battery be really small, but if you thn about, the screen would use more power trying to make a colorful background for everyThing so you could see it. 2030 iPhone 20.
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June 19th, 2012 at 8:52 pm
The only cool thing I found of this was the camera… eliminating instagram. I don’t like instagram.
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June 19th, 2012 at 9:20 pm
Let’s see if I get this right; first, after this Blog was discussing a possible iPhone5 release last summer, we get the iPhone4s patch whose fundamental weakness was and is that it is actually a 3G phone – despite whatever good features it introduced. Second, the following summer when we are told that the week of its Apple’s conference would be the one we had been waiting for, there is no word about the iPhone 5. Now we are told not to expect the next iPhone iteration to be “revolutionary” but “evolutionary” instead; but wait, not so even evolutionary as to introduce (for Apple, not for its competitors) even NFC technology and we are talking about features, as Mike has stated, are even reactionary in nature. Apple acted disingenuous, at best, by declaring its motto of “the week we have been all been waiting for” was only meant for the development community. If it dares to introduce the newest iPhone does not, indeed, unveil some truly revolutionary functionality, it will irreparably damage its credibility. It appears that it is already attempting to downplay expectations; its competitors will be waiting for the Apple iPhone exodus if it fails to meet them.
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June 19th, 2012 at 9:49 pm
“Apple acted disingenuous, at best, by declaring its motto of “the week we have been all been waiting for” was only meant for the development community.”
This is the most ignorant comment I’ve read. You do know that WWDC stands for World Wide DEVELOPERS’ Conference. So yes, that tag line was meant for them. Now move along and go play Angry Birds or something.
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June 19th, 2012 at 10:06 pm
Long time apple fan. Have to admit the new samsung phone looks impressive. Apple has to come thru this time around.
Apple doesnt even have a 4G phone.
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June 19th, 2012 at 10:14 pm
“its competitors will be waiting for the Apple iPhone exodus if it fails to meet them” – yeah, whooboy, those iPhone 4s sales sure are a huge disappointment, aren’t they.
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June 19th, 2012 at 10:43 pm
“This is the most ignorant comment I’ve read. You do know that WWDC stands for World Wide DEVELOPERS’ Conference.” Shameer, thanks as always for your comments here, but come on: you know as well as I do that Apple has used the WWDC as a major product release event that goes well beyond the scope of developers. You know that, up until last year, it has been the perennial even for launching the iPhone. And you know that the keynote address is, above all else, a MEDIA event. The entire mainstream media is invited to it, as well as all of the top tier tech blogs and online websites. For you to believe that Apple conceives of its teaser photos, banners, and tag lines for the WWDC only of developers just makes no sense to me.
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June 19th, 2012 at 11:24 pm
@Joe, Undfeatable, the way we’re going, it’ll be the iPhone 4GSXVI++
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June 19th, 2012 at 11:35 pm
@Shameer, One nice thing about this blog and the commenters is the level of the discussions. Please keep it to the higher level, and please don’t debase it with commenting that says, in effect, “you’re too dumb to know what WWDC stands for”.
I’m just a commenter here, and I’ve made my share of comments that are near the line, but I’ve found when I’m mad, in a hurry, or wanting to show that I’m smarter than the other guy, my posts come off as arrogant.
Thanks, and I look forward to your comments in the future as much as I’ve enjoyed them in the past.
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June 20th, 2012 at 1:07 am
@Jeff … who knows haha … maybe it’ll drive our cars for us, nah that’s not realistic enough 18 years from now. But I seriously do hope this new iPhone is something GOOD. And I know I’ve complained about the next iPhone being good and having to live up to our expectations (and I think it will), but I can’t emphasis that enough!
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June 20th, 2012 at 2:01 am
@Jeff in Everett I strongly agree with your point. Whenever I want to write a comment while I’m annoyed, mad , etc., I just don’t post it. A couple of weeks ago I made a comment on how I would like the iPhone to have a 16:9 aspect ratio so that screen space isn’t wasted while watching video and someone (I don’t even remember who it was, it may even be you. Lol) posted an indirect comment that made me feel a little bit insulted, even though he or she was posting some nonsense about how current televisions don’t have a 16:9 aspect ratio and how someone who uses an iPhone to watch movies and videos was a complete loser. I was going to stay quiet about his argument being complete rubbish but after awhile someone told him off and I just explained how I’m a teenager and I mostly use my iPhone as a media device. The whole situation really irked me even though I look back now and just laugh at how I was annoyed by such a stupid thing. I was thinking of not posting this but I found the mood a little hostile and thought I would shed some light on how something we write could cause a person to interpret it wrong. When people read a comment they aren’t aware of the tone the comment is being written in and in turn can cause misinterpretation. This is a very long comment. Sorry Michael, Jeff and anyone else who actually read this comment.
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June 20th, 2012 at 4:31 am
Hmmm, a transparent iPhone? it wouldn’t be high on my list of requirements but if those things that actually mattered to me were met and the phone was transparent then….great!
Sadly the list of what I really want is now quite long and I really hope Apple meet as many of them as possible with the new iPhone. The high-end smartphone market is moving at quite a pace at the moment and standing still is not enough. The 4S sold well as there was a lot of pent-up demand but another let down like that could see Apple’s legendary sales figures dented somewhat as people have really started noticing what Samsung and to a lesser extent HTC have been producing recently.
I like gimmicks on the phone, but only if the really important stuff has been done first.
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June 20th, 2012 at 5:36 am
Don’t think it will be a good phone when it’s transparant. If you got sunlight, like on the beach, you’re blinded. I like the more likely iPhone concepts instead of this mockup.
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June 20th, 2012 at 9:09 am
@Christian, I wholeheartedly agree with what you put, and if I came across as looking down my nose at people, that isn’t the spirit that I posted it was in gentle nudging, not “hey, knock it off…”
As for being “just a teenager”, you’re quite eloquent in your reply, so good job on that! Concerning the length, you said what you needed very well, and the truth is, I don’t mind being called out when I’m acting obtuse, or what I write is interpreted that way.
@Joe, I like the idea of autopilot, and the technology is certainly there now, but there are mitigating factors keeping it in the can, like what happens when things go wrong. We already have autopilot for parallel parking, and I can only imagine what kind of safety features are built into it.
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June 20th, 2012 at 11:04 am
Apple has slowly won me over with the 4s, and i’ll likely buy the 5.
Just saw this list of features on the GS3. REALLY hope Apple incorporates some of them into the IP5. Smart stay, buddy shot text call, and palm swipe capture are just a few that I would find handy.
Competition is good, so Apple needs to deliver this fall.
NYT & WSJ reviews Samsung Galaxy III
New Samsung Galaxy Phone Bristles With Extras By DAVID POGUE Wow. When Samsung wants to win, it doesn’t kid around.
Its new flagship Android phone, the Galaxy S III, is teeming with features aimed at humiliating the iPhone. It’s like a boxer entering the ring with ceramic body armor and semiautomatic weapons.
The question is, Does it all work together to create a masterpiece? Or is it a heap of chaotic spaghetti?
The Galaxy S III is available from all four major carriers in the United States — Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile ($200 for the model with 16 gigabytes of storage, with a two-year contract). It runs on each carrier’s fastest data network — 4G LTE, for example.
The first thing to know: This phone is huge. Its 4.8-inch screen is a broad canvas for photos, movies, maps and Web pages. But you can’t have a big screen without a big body, and this one is more VHS cassette than postage stamp. It’s the old trade-off: A big phone is better when you’re using it, but a small one is better when you’re carrying it.
Still, once Samsung decided to incorporate a Jumbotron, its designers did a spectacular job designing a case around it. The back is glossy plastic (white or dark blue), rounded at all edges and corners. It’s superthin — 0.34 inches, even thinner than the iPhone — and feels glorious; when you’re nervous, you can rub it like a worry stone.
Samsung may not call it a Retina display, but the screen actually has more pixels than the iPhone’s, 1,280 by 720 pixels versus 960 by 640. It’s nearly as sharp, too: 306 pixels per inch instead of 326. It’s an Amoled screen: bright, vivid and relatively energy-efficient.
The Galaxy has a removable battery and a memory-card slot — take that, Apple! It runs the latest version of the Android operating system from Google (4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich). The camera on the back takes bright 8-megapixel photos, although they’re not very sharp.
More important, the S III’s designers have married hardware with software to create dozens of truly ingenious, handy features. On the iPhone, Apple would probably crow about any one of these:
¶ Smart Stay. The phone’s front-facing camera looks for your eyes. When you look away, the screen dims to save power; it brightens back up when you return your gaze. Brilliant.
¶ Buddy Shot. The Galaxy’s face recognition software knows whose face is in the scene. The first time you take a photo of someone, you can type in the subject’s name — your mom, for example. Thereafter, whenever you take her photo, one tap sends it to her without your having to fuss with entering an address.
¶ Direct Call. If a texting conversation is getting too complicated, just lift the phone to your ear. It calls your texting partner, no taps needed.
¶ Tap to top. Swat the top edge of the phone to jump to the top of a list.
¶ Tilt zooming. With two fingers on the screen, tip the phone toward you and away to zoom in and out of a photo, map or Web page.
¶ Instant muting. Mute audio and video playback by covering the screen with your hand, as though to say, “Shhhh!” Mute incoming rings and notifications by turning the phone face down on the table — in a meeting, for example. That’s just so, so smart.
¶ Palm swipe capture. Save an image of the screen by wiping the edge of your hand across it, as though you’re the scanner of a photocopying machine.
¶ Answering key. You can answer an incoming call by pressing the Home button, and hang up by pressing the on/off button. No need to look at the screen.
All of these features are optional — you turn them on in Settings.
There’s another crazy-great idea in TecTiles: small, embedded-circuit stickers ($15 for five). When your phone gets near a sticker, it activates some task that you’ve selected from a list of dozens in the free TecTiles app: make a call, send a text, adjust a phone setting and so on.
A TecTile on your dashboard could turn on Bluetooth when you get in the car. A sticker on your bedside table could turn the phone’s alarm on. This is fun, useful, outside-the-box thinking.
Not all of the breakthroughs are winners. For example, Samsung makes much of S Beam, which lets you transfer a photo, video or some other file to another phone just by tapping their backs together.
Unfortunately, setting it up is more work than assembling an Ikea dresser. Both phones must be Galaxy S III’s, both must be on and unlocked, and both require the right services turned on in Settings — Wi-Fi Direct and S Beam. By the time you’ve gone to all that trouble, you could have just e-mailed the darned thing.
Another example: In addition to the standard Android speak-to-type feature, the Galaxy offers something called S Voice — a direct copy of Siri on the iPhone.
In addition to the usual Siri functions (“Call Mom,” “Navigate to 200 West 68th Street,” “How tall is Mount Everest?”), you can also use it to open apps (“Open Calculator”), adjust settings (“Turn off Wi-Fi”) and make notes to self (“Record voice”). You can also handle calls by voice (“Answer” or “Reject”), shut up your alarm (“Snooze” or “Stop”) and, delightfully, even control the camera (“Shoot” or “Cheese!”).
In practice, you’ll probably wind up S-chewing S Voice. Not only is her required syntax far more restrictive than Siri’s, but in my tests, S Voice just doesn’t work well.
Me: “Make an appointment with Charlie, Thursday at noon.” Her: “An unexpected server error occurred. Please try again.”
Me: “Turn Wi-Fi off.” Her: “What app do you want to open?”
Me: “Turn Wi-Fi On.” Her: “What Tom.”
Me: “Record voice.” Her: “Network error. Please try again.”
More disappointments: There’s no physical camera-shutter button — you can’t even use the volume key for that purpose, as you can on the iPhone.
And it’s goofy that, after you take a photo, the Share menu offers one-tap access to things called Group Cast, ChatON and Flipboard — but the far more commonly used options, like E-Mail and Text Message, are hidden in a submenu.
There are three illuminated touch buttons beneath the screen: Menu, Home and Back. But after a few seconds, the light turns off to save power, leaving only a completely dark, black strip. Now you have to guess where those buttons are. You’ll quickly learn where to tap, but still.
The thing is, those are very small flies in some really great ointment. The Galaxy S III is an amazing, amazing phone — the crème de la Android. For many people, the next question is: Samsung or Apple?
The Samsung is infinitely more customizable. You can control which status icons appear at the top (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, clock and so on). You choose which of the camera’s 40,000 options appear on the viewfinder screen. You have a choice of text-input systems, including one where you drag your finger across the on-screen keys. A bar-graph screen reveals exactly how much battery charge is being gulped by each app. And so on.
Of course, with great flexibility comes great complexity. The phone bombards you with warnings and disclaimers — sometimes upside-down. You really need a Learning Annex course to master this thing.
With an iPhone, you get far less control, but you get the Apple ecosystem: a smoothly integrated app/music/movie store. Universal charger connectors that show up in cars and hotel rooms worldwide. Hardware and software that were designed together, so features look and work consistently.
But in Samsung’s latest and greatest machine, you get 4G Internet speed, a huge screen and clever motion-sensing features — in a thin, stunningly sculptured slab. In the galaxy of app phones, this one is a bright, beautiful star.
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June 20th, 2012 at 3:17 pm
@Jeff I was not reffering to you specifically so don’t take it as if I was reprimanding you. I was just commenting of how I agree with keeping the environment here civilized.
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June 20th, 2012 at 4:51 pm
I was always thinking, if the phone was clear, I might lose it a lot. I know I should be responsible but it would be kind of hard to keep track of a nearly invisible product, do you think?
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June 24th, 2012 at 9:48 pm
Do you think of the following as a possibility?
Apple is trying to produce mediocre products so when the expectations are on the brink of collapse they will unveil the greatest phone of all time. All the people who may of left will be lured back by the pure awsomeness of the phone.
They may not had tried to do this from the start but had to because of problems with the phone previously.
Or am i being too optimistic?
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April 16th, 2013 at 5:46 pm
An impressive share! I’ve just forwarded this onto a coworker who was conducting a little homework on this. And he actually ordered me dinner simply because I found it for him… lol. So let me reword this…. Thanks for the meal!! But yeah, thanks for spending some time to discuss this subject here on your internet site.
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