The iPhone 5 News Blog

Modern technology has done a great to deal to improve communication, business productivity, medicine, and other critical aspects of life. But it also provides the basis much of our entertainment as well. And no company’s products constitute “fun” more than Apple’s gadgets.

There was a time — not too long ago — where video games were the domain of children, and computers were only capable of either running games or business applications. Few people were able to imagine how other elements of entertainment would come to home and mobile computing — things like music, video, the internet, social media, and a million other technological diversions.

In this way, the iPhones and iPads of the world have become grownups’ toys.

But the entertainment factor of the iPhone and iPad is certainly not lost on the younger generation, either. More and more apps are being crafted with the youth demographic in mind. And by “youth,” I don’t necessarily mean “teenager” — that age bracket has had its share of online entertainment for quite some time now. A newer movement in app development is to make games and apps that blur the lines between education and fun. The iPad, in particular, has become a very effective tool in exposing children to mobile computing and gesture-controlled apps. Because of this, a new generation is springing up behind up whose little fingers know how to peruse the iPhone and iPad as well, if not better, than we do.

I recently asked my 6 year-old son to try to collect his thoughts on how we views the iPhone and iPad. This is what he typed:

Hi, I am Elliott. I am 6 years old .

I love the iPad because of the apps.

Here are some apps that I like:

For instance, angry birds space is going to be my favorite app.

I like it because of the birds and pigs  come on play it.

We have to kill the pigs always.

I don’t like monster dash It’s a bad app.

I like the I  pad  and Iphone to use it to play  apps.

Here is  a new product from apple.

Next we have the Iphone It’s cool.

Also angry birds is also a fun app for Iphone.

Moody monster is ok.

Fruit ninja puss in boots is good too.

Of course, Elliott focuses on the arcade variety of apps in our Apple ecosphere, but the fact is, the iPhone and iPad afford him the opportunity to practice math, spelling, astronomy, history, and other subjects. It even seems as if the format of the iPad makes it easier to expose Elliott to academic concepts that are a bit more advanced than what he gets taught at school. Elliott seems to agree:

What’s better a computer the Iphone or Ipad?

I choose  Ipad because it has a big screen.

And don’t have a mouse.

It’s true that the iPad is clearly well-suited for the classroom environment — much more so than even the laptop. Steve Jobs had a vision of the iPad — perhaps as a modern-era stand-in for the old chalk slate of yesteryear — as a learning device that would lend all kinds of educational benefits to students from kindergarten on up, giving young students the benefit of developing fine motor skills and rudimentary concepts.

There’s no doubt that the educational factor in Apple products — and particularly the iPad — was a passion for Steve Jobs. now that he is gone, we can only hope that Tim Cook and the rest of the Apple team remain as committed to continuing to make its products accessible to the youth going forward. But Elliott offers Cupertino plenty of encouragement to keep pressing on with their good work:

There are great products by apple.

Keep up the good work apple.

You can do it apple.

The iPhone 5 News Blog fact-checks paid Network World troll John Cox and his cynical weekly mischaracterizations of the iPhone 5 and iPad 3 rumor mills.

Network World blogger John Cox appears to make some portion of his living these days trolling the various tech-related websites included in the Google News aggregate who speculate on the iPhone 5 and iPad 3. Espousing journalistic integrity, Cox regularly seeks to expose the blog posts from these tech websites — including the iPhone 5 News Blog — as shoddy, irresponsible journalism. It remains to be seen why it hasn’t dawned on Mr. Cox that blogs such as this one are not by any means staffed by bona fide news journalists (we’re pretty clear about that on our About Us page, which states “We do not ‘break news’ here.”)

At the same time, John Cox essentially does exactly what we do here — just one abstraction level farther away from the original story. His hook in every article is, “You read it here second.” That’s actually not true: you, dear reader, read it here second — you read it third in Cox’s article, along with his flippant tone, misquotes, and mischaracterizations.

Mr. Cox apparently fails to understand or enjoy the fun of speculating, opining, and discussing rumored Apple gadgets. And nor do his readers, as most of his roll-up articles fail to garner more than a couple supportive comments. However, since no one is holding Cox’s accounts to account, we thought we’d start a little column, entitled the Troll-Up.

You read it here fourth:

One of Cox’s riffs is to deride bloggers for referring to “many people.” “many analysts,” or “many stories,” as opposed to listing all of them in our blog posts. He takes aim at InRumor first:

“Nicole” at InRumor starts her post, headlined “Will the iPhone 5 be released as ‘The New iPhone’?” with a quote from Apple CEO Tim Cook, concluding this week’s new iPad announcement: “Across the year, you’re going to see a lot more of this kind of innovation.”

Apparently, calling the Next iPhone the new iPhone is the height of this kind of innovation, in Nicole’s eyes.

Not just some people, but “many people” are confused by Apple’s name game with the new iPad, Nicole declares.

Wait — so, many people weren’t confused by Apple’s name game with the new iPad? Like you, I follow Google News all day, every day, and there were articles up and down the news wire reporting on the confusion and discussion that came out of the New iPad launch event. It had been widely reported that the New iPad would be either “iPad 3″ or “iPad HD” — no one saw “the New iPad” coming. Even Phil Schiller admitted that they chose not to give the New iPad a conventional name in order to defy expectations. When expectations are defied, people get confused. And when Apple does it to the iPad, many people get confused.

Cox takes aim at me on this as well:

If Nicole is confused, Michael Nace at iPhone5NewsBlog seems to be enduring an existential crisis brought on by the name of the new iPad and its implications for the name of the new iPhone.

“Apple Enthusiasts Confused Over ‘New iPad’ Name,” his headline declares.

Really? I’m having an existential crisis brought on by the name of the new iPad? According to Cox:

Nace is disconcerted. “[I]t is Apple’s marketing department that has ginned up its own customers by establishing reasonable naming conventions for its devices — and then wantonly breaking them in disconcerting fashion,” he complains. We’ve always wondered where Apple’s wanton naming-convention breakers were lurking.

“With the ‘New iPad,’we don’t really know what we have here,” Nace continues, the angst clearly deepening. “Is this a refresh of the iPad 2, or an overhauled design? According to the preponderance of evidence from the mainstream tech media, the New iPad has not impressed enough to warrant calling it an overhaul. Thus, even though the New iPad is the third-generation iPad, will there be an ‘iPad 3′ next year?”

Disconcerted? Angst-ridden? Apparently so, according to Cox. Cue the flippancy: “Our head is going to explode. Why, oh why is Apple causing us now to wonder if the fourth-generation iPad will actually be called iPad 3?”

Believe it or not, however, Cox actually manages to levy an opinion, all while mocking everyone else for having one. He states it as thus:

Nace and Nicole are among those who truly believe the product name is either “The New iPad” or “New iPad.” Yet clearly it’s not. Apple’s Website product tab simply says “iPad.” The text refers variously to “third-generation” and “new” but both terms clearly are, to use Nace’s own term, “qualifiers,” not the proper name of the product.

But that’s not entirely right, is it? While tabs and URL subfolders at apple.com simply use “iPad,” “The New iPad” is used widespread all over the website, including the store page, to differentiate the new iPad iteration. Even top consumer electronics companies like Case-Mate are using the term “New iPad.” The point here, however, is not that Mr. Cox’s opinion is wrong, but rather that he has the audacity to levy one just after poking fun at other blogs who did the same.

What’s particularly galling about Mr. Cox’s sanctimonious coverage of the iPhone 5 and iPad rumor mills is that he manages to engage in it more decadently than most of the other blogs and writers he derides weekly. In an article entitled, “Apple iPad 3 may have new textured touch interface,” dated March 7th at 10:41 am ET, Cox seemed to have been going for a blockbuster pre-iPad launch bombshell article, hoping to take credit for preempting a revolutionary haptic feature for the iPad 3′s screen.

Mr. Cox wades stridently into the iPad 3 rumor mill: “The iPad 3 may feature what’s known as a haptics screen – one that gives your fingers the sensation of different physical textures, depending on the image they’re touching. The supplier named, in a news story by the British mobile website Pocket-Lint, is Finland-based Senseg, which acknowledged in a separate story last year that it’s “working with a certain tablet maker based in Cupertino,” Calif. Apple is headquartered there.”

Why is it that citing primary sources like Mac Rumors, 9to5Mac, IBT, and the Wall Street Journal — news outlets citied on this blog regularly — never seem to be good enough to pass muster in Mr. Cox’s column, but Pocket-Lint is a super-credible source? Even Cox himself admits that the basis of the rumor is a result of suggestions: “Pocket-Lint’s Stuart Miles stitches together some suggestive “no comment” comments from Senseg executives, with a hands-on experience of the technology at Mobile World Congress in Spain earlier this month.”

Are you kidding me? This is as speculative and rumorish as anything else Cox mocks in his articles. Besides which, the haptic feedback patent is as old as the hills — it dates back to the summer of 2010 — and it is total rumor mill fodder.

Mind you: at face value, I have no problem whatsoever with Mr. Cox’s article — that’s the kind of thing I and many other bloggers do on a daily basis on our respective blogs. I just think we’d all like to see John Cox play by the same rules he criticizes other blogs for breaking. Until then, his weekly rumor roll-ups will continue to smack of hypocrisy.

People like John Cox have long complained about rumor mills, and the fact that there is seldom “hard news” to report on. To not enjoy or appreciate the fun of speculation is fine — but to both mock and engage in it simultaneously in the guise of a “roll-up” article would seem to be worthy of a response. Hence, the “troll-up.”

By Michael Nace

ifun: iPhone iphone ticker.de — a German online magazine that says it has some 7.620 articles focused on the the iPhone, reports that two new iPhone models are showing up on the Vodafone service carrier site October 03: an iPhone 4S in data storage capacities of 16 GB, 32 GB, and 64 GB and iPhone 4 with 8 GB

Two interpretation possibilities are offered by the magazine.: Either a over-motivated Web programmer a little too much put here in things, or Vodafone Germany is preparing behind the scenes for both new iPhone models: an iPhone 4 with 8 GB of memory otherwise based on current models, and in addition a iPhone 4S with the memory options of 16, 32 and 64 GB, both devices alternatively in white or black.

A GigaOM take on this story is also being reported by the New York Times.

Meanwhile, 9To5Mac reports that Inside the latest iTunes beta is specific mention of an “iPhone 4S,” along with an image of a CDMA iPhone 4.

Moving along, Gizmodo Brazil is reporting that a new, lower-priced made in Brazil iPhone is ready. According to their sources, new Brazilian Foxconn plant is manufacturing iPhones and has inventory basically ready to be delivered, including purportedly leaked photos to back up the claims.

The article notes, based on what I can discern from a Yahoo! Babelfish Portuguese to English machine translation, is that since the Brazilian Government announced that Foxconn would invest billions in Brazil, only “manufacturing iPads” had been specifically mentioned, but that in some interviews, the minister Aloízio Mercadante made it clear that the first Apple products to leave the the Foxconn fabrication facility in Jundiaí would be iPhones and iPods

The site reports that information they have now is that Foxconn Brazil output is currently 100% dedicated one to smartphones, although it seems production has been slightly delayed from it’s original startup target of July in order to coincide with the arrival of new iPhones, and their read now is that it will be an iPhone 4 variant with 8 GB memory. Like most of us, they’re unsure as to whether the new iPhone Apple will unveil tomorrow will be a completely remodeled iPhone 5 or an iPhone 4S, but are certain it will have an A5 CPU and an 8MP camera, and soon buyers will be able to find iPhone 4s with “Designed by Apple in California, Assembled in Brazil” in the store.

Whatever, it will all be much clearer tomorrow.

Note: Not our usual The iPhone 5 News Blog fare, but we thought it would be of interest to iPhone and other iOS device users as the software is for converting downloaded videos for viewing on iPhone, iPad, and iPod, and you can’t beat getting a thirty dollar program for free. You’ll have to hurry, though, as the offer ends Monday at 18:00 GMT+8 (Shenzhen/Hong Kong time) so there are only a few hours left at time of this posting. I downloaded a free copy, and the process is pretty simple and quick. – CM

iSkySoft is offering an unlimited giveaway for iSkysoft iTube Studio for Mac ($29), which can be used to download videos from YouTube, convert downloaded videos for iPad, iPod, iPhone and more.

This giveaway campaign will only run until Sep. 19th, 18:00, GMT+8, so don’t delay. Anyone can get a free copy from the specific giveaway page until the offer closes on Monday. All it takes is entering your name, email address, and a comment on the giveaway form.

You can check it out at:
http://www.iskysoft.com/itube-studio-mac/giveaway.html

iSkysoft iTube Studio for Mac helps you download videos (HD videos supported) from YouTube, FaceBook, TNT, BREAK, Google Video, and many other video-sharing sites opened in Safari. Convert the downloaded videos or FLV videos on your hard drive to use with iPhone, iPod, iPad, PSP and mobile phones; or to any video and audio format of your choice. Built-in Mac FLV player enables you to view the downloaded videos conveniently.

Features:
• Download videos from YouTube and other similar video-sharing sites
• Convert downloaded videos for iPad, iPod, iPhone (iPhone 4) and more
• Play and manage downloaded videos or flash videos on your Mac’s hard drive

iTube Studio for Mac Key Features

• Download YouTube Videos and more. Easily download web videos from a wide range of popular video-sharing websites like YouTube, Yahoo, Break, Metacafe, Facebook, etc. and save on Mac or convert to any format you like.

• Convert Directly for Apple DevicesConvert downloaded videos for iPad, iPod, iPhone and more. It automatically determines the optimized file format, bitrate, and resolution for the selected target device.

• Convert FLV Videos Quickly convert downloaded videos or FLV videos on your hard drive to MP4, WMV, MOV, AVI, etc. You can also extrace songs from music videos to MP3 for listening on you iPod.Integrated with Safari

• Automatically detect videos when the video starts to load in Safari, saving you time of waiting the video to load fully. Click the prompt “Download” button and the wizard will do the rest for you. Convenient FLV PlaybackIt allows you to play the downloaded videos and FLV format videos stored on your Mac with embedded FLV video player conveniently. Just double click the downloaded video in “Library” to start playing.Watch, Download, and Convert
Concurrently

• Let it run background to do the task of video downloading and conversion, and watch more videos on YouTube. One click and you can add video you like to the download queue.

iTube Studio for Mac More Features

• Download When Video Starts to LoadAutomatically detect the video when it starts to play and you can start downloading with one click.Multi-task Make EasyDownload and convert several videos in one go. iTube Studio is the fastest way to download and convert videos.

• Convert Flash for iMovieConvert downloaded videos directly for editing tools like iMovie, FCP, and you can create your own masterpiece.Easy-to-useWith a few simple clicks, you can download and convert YouTube videos to view on Apple devices or for anywhere use

System Requirements
• Intel-based Mac(32-bit or 64-bit)
• Mac OS X 10.5, 10.6 or 10.7

Regular Price – $29.00 Demoware

For more information, visit:
http://www.iskysoft.com/itube-studio-mac.html

Editor’s Note: The iPhone 5 News Blog is not receiving any remuneration for running this information — in fact, the company didn’t even contact us. It was something that Charles came across and thought people who read this blog would be interested in. From time to time, we like to pass along good deals and interesting services to our readers. But they are never offered as any kind of revenue generator for this blog — this blog only generates revenues from banner ads.

From HowToArena.com

Earlier photos that purported to show reams of new, larger iPhone 5 screens sporting elongated home buttons has met some fresh skepticism.

iPhone 5 enthusiasts may remember a set of leaked photos from mid August that purported to depict staffers at either Fxconn or Pegatron churning out reams of new screens for the iPhone 5, and that these new screens were decidedly larger than the iPhone 4, complete with an elongated home button cutout. We reported on it — albeit with a healthy bit of skepticism — in an earlier article. These photos became exhibit A in the speculation that the iPhone 5 would indeed feature an overhaul of its current from factor, which would include a 4″+ screen and radical changes to the home button — two iPhone 5 features that have received a lot of attention over the past year or so.

A new revelation today from HowToArena, however, purports to show a leaked component for the iPhone 5 that would suggest the home button will remain the standard, circular button featured on previous iPhone models.

According to AppleInsider, who has helped to perpetuate the story, “The “iPhone 5 Home Button Flex Cable Ribbon Circuit,” found by How To Arena, appears to indicate that the home button of the next-generation iPhone will have a similar shape and size as the one found on previous iPhone models.”

A mid-August photo of purported iPhone 5 screens with cutouts for elongated, multi-touch home buttons.

This new piece of evidence, albeit unconfirmed, supports the other end of speculation regarding the next iPhone: that it will retain the overall form factor and hardware characteristics of the iPhone 4. The iPhone 5 News Blog‘s own source from within the consumer electronics accessories industry, who chooses to remain anonymous, has continuously confirmed that the next iPhone will indeed utilize the iPhone 4′s specs, which we have reported in earlier articles. Even as recently as today, he confirmed to us in an e-mail, “By the way, looks like it’s quite clear that what the new iPhone will look like. We are delighted that our old iPhone cases can continue to sell…”

To be sure, the photo of this purported home button component is an easy one to fabricate: you simply have to take an iPhone 4 and start telling people it’s actually from an iPhone 5. At the same time, it can be argued that a small part like this would be much easier to smuggle out of Foxconn or Pegatron than to take a relatively clear photo of staffers pumping out sheets of new iPhone 5 screens admist the draconian security that Apple’s components suppliers and assemblers are no doubt required to maintain.

At best, this new photo is a wash, and simply counters the earlier elongated home button/larger screen claims. It is by no means what we could call a “smoking gun” piece of iPhone 5 evidence.

By Michael Nace

BGR's purported Best Buy document.

There’s a lot of excitement about two management-level Best Buy missive that reference the October iPhone 5 launch. But does everything on these documents add up to a confirmation?

For as much as Apple’s Worldwide Loyalty Team may (or may not, considering yet another lost iPhone prototype) be adept at keeping a lid on new Apple products, their draconian presence only extends so far. (No farther than the SFPD, apparently.) Components suppliers have proven to be much more porous than Cupertino in leaking information, and U.S. retailers and mobile carriers even moreso.

That’s why so many eager iPhone 5 users are heralding the BGR release of a leaked Best Buy document that purports to frame the launch date in week one of October. BGR‘s excitement is palpable, particularly with respect to the Sprint announcement: “What’s a tad bit more interesting, however, is the mention (and further anticipation) that Sprint will be carrying the iPhone 5 at launch. Best Buy makes sure to note that Apple product introduction and launch dates are subject to change, but a preorder date changing is pretty different from a new carrier getting a phone for the first time.”

An early October launch of the iPhone 5 still represents the best educated guess of when the iPhone 5 may be launched. As a result, the BGR document at face value seems plausible, and in the end, it may prove to be a true prophesy for when the next iPhone gets released.

That being said, it cannot be ignored that the Best Buy document isn’t giving BBYM managers — or us — anything even close to a confirmation on the iPhone 5 being announced during the Labor Day week. The document is simply giving managers a heads-up on the same expectation that all of us have had up until late last week: that the iPhone 5 maybe would have been announced this week.

The thing is, it’s looking less and less likely that it will be.

In the article that we published a couple of days ago giving some alternatives to the seemingly failed September 7th launch, we talk about how difficult it would be at this juncture to mobilize the media for an effective iPhone product announcement this week. Considering that this is a shortened week in the U.S., with virtually no one in the media (myself excluded) working, the only realistic media event could take place this Friday — a typically poor choice for any press conference, as far as days of the week go.

And considering that BGR released this purported Best Buy document yesterday, it’s sort of old news: most of the tech media had written off a Labor Day week iPhone 5 media event last Friday, when no media invites were sent out by Apple.

One fact still remains: while Best Buy executives most definitely know the whats and whens of the next iPhone, that information will continue to be redacted from store manager-level missives like the BGR document until the iPhone 5 announcement is complete. These directives, after all, are far from being classified, secure documents. Anyone who has ever worked at a McDonalds, Blockbuster video, supermarket, or other major retailer has seen documents like these splayed out on a manager’s desk or table in pain sight of employees, usually in an unkempt, coffee-stained condition.

With all due respect to Best Buy store managers: while I’m sure you do great work, Best Buy would never trust you with information like the iPhone 5′s announcement date.

And when you think about it, the managers at Best Buy, Target, Radio Shack, and all of the other retailers who carry the iPhone don’t even need to know when the iPhone 5 gets announced. Since Apple typically puts a buffer of time between their product announcements and actual launches, there will be ample time to send out marching orders to store-level managers once the iPhone 5 takes the stage at Cupertino.

Whenever there are inconsistencies between a leaked iPhone 5 photo or document and the report itself, it always makes me wary. And there is a major inconsistency in the BGR report that is worth noting.

The Best Buy document says: “iPhone 5 product introduction expected, pre-sales begin for expected October week 1 launch . . .” This simply means that Best Buy is telling its managers to keep a heads-up for the iPhone 5 announcement this week, since, once it happens, pre-orders will begin in earnest. After all, the page we’re looking at is for “Week 9/4.” That means that everything that we’re seeing listed on this page pertains directly to the Labor Day week.

But BGR gets this wrong.

In their report, they state: “Thanks to a leaked document from a Best Buy source, we have discovered that Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile stores are anticipating taking preorders for the iPhone 5 starting in the first week of October.” Um, no. The document clearly says that pre-orders would begin this week, should the iPhone 5 get announced, ahead of an October week 1 launch. Did BGR actually read this document more than once?

Now, everyone makes mistakes, and the great thing about a blog is that it’s much easier to correct them than it is to deal with errata in a print document. But BGR doesn’t even get their correction completely right. Their update states: “Our source clarified that it’s actually possible presales will be starting this week with the phone arriving in the first week of October, not preorders starting in October.” It isn’t “possible” that pre-orders could start this week if the iPhone 5 is announced; if it is announced, pre-orders would start this week.

In light of these inconsistencies, I call for BGR to make every page of that purported document available to the media. It would also be helpful to unearth other examples of similar Best Buy documents to compare the voracity of this one. Again: while the possibility of an early October release is very plausible, it still doesn’t make this story — or document — either truthful or accurate in and of itself.

By Michael Nace

New purported photos of the iPhone 5's screen.

More purported evidence surfaced today that the iPhone 5 is looking more and more like a refresh of of the iPhone 4 — at least in terms of form factor and screen.

The latest news comes in the way of purported leaked photos of components, which shows a form factor and corresponding screen that looks remarkably similar in size and style to that of the iPhone. IBT had this to say about the photos in reference to screen size: “the N94 images showed a device similar to Apple’s current iPhone 4 handset. The only major difference noted by both sites was the camera module, which has a markedly different shape to the component currently used in the iPhone 4.”

Recent articles have concerned themselves with the size of the next iPhone’s screen, with top iPhone 5 competitors sporting screen that surpass the 4-inch mark. If Apple decides to hold true to the current specs of the iPhone on the next iPhone, the screen is likely to stay the same. Tech analysts have pointed out that the iPhone 4′s chassis offers only limited capabilities for expanding the screen, and that biggest it could be in order to retain proper screen resolution might be 3.7″ at most.

This is a purported photo of the iPhone 5's chassis. Does it match up with the photo above?

This report comes on the heels of other component photos from last week, which show a new iPhone chassis that looks remarkably like the iPhone 4, and, while suggesting that it will have capabilities of functioning as both GSM and CDMA iPhones, does not suggest a radical, new for factor. You can check out those photos and article here.

In addition, new reports and sightings such as these further corroborate the intel that the iPhone 5 News Blog received from its own exclusive sources recently, which purport that the iPhone 5 will in fact utilize the same form factor and screen size as the iPhone 4. To be sure, it is entirely possible that everything we are seeing and hearing right now from the rumor mill is planted by Apple to lower expectations in a bid to blow users’ minds when the iPhone 5 is finally released — should Apple choose to actually call the next iPhone “iPhone 5.”

Let’s also not forget: even if Apple chooses to use the iPhone 4′s form factor and screen, groundbreaking features such as 4G LTE, NFC, an 8-megapixel camera, Nuance, and an advanced gesture home button could all still dramatically improve upon the current iPhone’s design — even if in the end the next iPhone is called “iPhone 4Gs” or “iPhone 4s.”

By Michael Nace

An upcoming new Droid smartphone from HTC is promising a beefy 4.5″ screen. If the iPhone 5 turns out to use the same screen and form factor as the 4, its screen will look puny next to its competitors.

The recent debate and conflicting rumors over whether the iPhone 5 will turn out to be either a refresh our an overhaul has had much to do with the form factor of the next iPhone design, and whether form factor alone determines if a new iPhone is indeed a refresh or an overhaul. Given the fact that the iPhone 3Gs was a refresh of the 3G and featured the same form factor, and the iPhone 4 was an overhaul and offered a completely new form factor, this syllogism leads many iPhone users to use form factor as a litmus test for the new iPhone’s level of ingenuity, in spite of the fact that the 3Gs and 4 were refreshes and overhauls, respectively, based on other features moreso than form factor alone.

Whether the iPhone 5 will need to have a new form factor or not for you to consider it an overhaul, however, will not change the fact that, if the next iPhone retains the same screen dimensions as the current iPhone 4, it will undoubtedly be outclassed by its top Android rivals in screen size.

Both the Samsung Galaxy S 2 and the Nexus Prime are slated to get 4.3″ screens that would dwarf the current screen specs of the iPhone 4. This is bound to irk avid iPhone users, who have been clamoring for a larger, edge to edge screen for the iPhone 5 since the start of the rumor cycle. Smartphone users as a whole are beginning to recognize that, as smartphones become smarter, the need for a larger gesture area becomes apparent. Typing, for example, is particularly painful on a 3.5″ screen (which I am currently experiencing as I write this blog post, thanks to Hurricane Irene knocking out my power for 36 hours and counting. Thank God for 3G.) Even if the next iPhone features significant upgrades, such as an 8 megapixel camera or even 4G, the lack of a larger screen could create a gap between Apple and Android.

To add insult to injury, there is yet another new Droid phone coming up that will up the ante with an even bigger screen. The HTC “Waikiki” – which is perhaps the stupidest rumored name I’ve ever heard come out of the Droid universe, next only to Ice Cream Sandwich – is rumored to sport a luscious 4.5″ screen, along with an impressive list of features such as 1.2 Ghz dual core processor, 1 GB RAM, 8 megapixel camera, and qHD display.

It’s enough to make an iPhone user feel jealous.

If you have been following the iPhone 5 rumor mill since its beginning, then this isn’t the first time (nor likely the last) that you will hear rumors of two iPhone 5 species coming to the next iPhone release. Some have framed the rumor as an iPhone 5 “pro” model and a “lite” model, whereas others have imagined the fabled iPhone 4s playing the “lite” role to the “pro” iPhone 5 in September. There were even rumors of an iPhone 5 Nano for some time — a smaller version of the iPhone that would give users a truly pocket-sized option.

The most recent iPhone 5 rumor suggests that, “The iPhone ‘Lite’, whose name is yet to be confirmed, will feature components that are native to the iPhone 4, except smaller and cheaper.” This rumor, which purportedly comes from “sources familiar with the matter,” are completely unconfirmed, and are just a likely to have come from an underpaid customer service representative at an AT&T kiosk at the mall than anyone inside the walls of Cupertino.

The new rumor seeks to substantiate the rumor by stating that “the target markets of the so-called iPhone ‘Lite’ are those in developing countries, where a lower price point would prove more effective than piling on the technology,” and that “Charlie Wolf, with Needham & Company told Bloomberg that ‘Apple’s strategy is changing from targeting 25 per cent of the global mobile phone market…to 100 per cent.’”

Even if lowering the price point of the iPhone to accommodate developing countries’ ec0nomies indeed is a prevailing goal at Apple, Inc., there is no reason to believe that Apple would in fact offer a value-priced version of the new iPhone 5, when the company is most likely preparing to discount the iPhone upon the release of the iPhone 5. In this way, the iPhone 4 will become the “iPhone lite” that comprises this rumor.

Furthermore, if Apple was to release an iPhone 5, iPhone 5 “lite,” and keep selling the iPhone 4, it would present a complex and confusing set of choices for iPhone customers, who would find it difficult to discern the real difference in quality and performance between an iPhone 5 “lite” that would “feature components that are native to the iPhone 4″ and the original iPhone 4 itself.

Another consideration is that two versions of the iPhone 5 may dilute the market impact of the much-anticipated device.

What do you think? Would you find a smaller, cheaper iPhone 5 “lite” or “nano” desireable, or are smaller mobile phones “so 1998?”

By Michael Nace

The iPhone 5 News Blog is officially launching a new sister site — the iPhone 5 News Ticker. Read all about our idea behind this new kind of iPhone 5-related blog!

Whenever we go looking for news online, we’re usually confronted with two types: auto-aggregated news from the likes of Google or else some sketchy “autoblog,” or a traditional-style news source or blog like this one, where real human being sifts through real news and report on it. The first type often fails to give us exactly what we are looking for, or else gives us results that we’ve already encountered. The latter doesn’t really let blogs like this one process and report on lots of news stories in a given day, since our articles and posts are more editorial-like and run 500+ words.

We’ve started the iPhone 5 News Ticker as a middle point between these two news source types.

The Ticker is a different blog format, which features a short post that captures the basics of the prevailing iPhone 5 stories and rumors for the day, and then presents what we think are the best articles that cover the stories. Because the posts are short and sweet — with much less writing and pontificating on our part — we can pump more of these out a day, keeping you in the know on all things iPhone 5.

The other cool thing is that the iPhone 5 News Ticker has a real ticker, just like on cable news! We actually run two of them (CNBC style) — one for the Ticker site, and one for the iPhone 5 News Blog.

So, if you’re truly addicted to iPhone 5 news, you could really just keep the ticker open throughout the day to see all of the news updated on the fly.

We’ll also be sure to link any iPhone 5 News Blog articles to their corresponding posts on the Ticker, so that you can get the complete picture of all the reports on current iPhone 5 news.

We hope you like the new site. As always, thank you all for the support, readership, and active comments here on the blog. You’ve definitely created a thriving, informed community of iPhone 5′ers!

P.S. — If you ever have news that you think needs to be on the Ticker, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

 By Michael Nace