It doesn’t have 3G. It doesn’t have true GPS. It doesn’t have instant messaging or 3rd party apps or even cut and paste. With all it’s current shortcomings, the iPhone is still a worthy “Swiss Army Knife” of smartphones that you can confidently take with you through airport security, on a plane, and throughout your trip as an excellent traveling companion. In fact, I’ll boldly exclaim that the iPhone is all that I could ask for in my travels and I really put it through it’s paces on a recent trip.
El Jobso and Co. might just be exploring the possibility according to a recent patent filing unearthed, as usual, by the folks at Apple Insider.
Some of the juicy details include:
“capacitive array element [that] may be a dual-sided panel that is capable of sensing touch from either side and sending signals indicative of the touches to a host device (e.g., a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a digital music player or a mobile telephone unit).”
Of course, many Apple patent filing simply disappear into the dim, dank vaults of 1 Infinite Loop while others show up in ways or products we never could have guessed — but that certainly doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try!
I’ll admit, the idea doesn’t hold much appeal to me, or to those still waiting for their big-apps iTablet Safari Pad, but I’ve learned never to underestimate Johnny Ive and Cupertino’s finest. If anyone could make this little miracle as functional as it is “lick-able”, it’s them.
What do you think? Does this give us any hard insight into a next-gen iPhone? How does the idea of a translucent touch screen grab you? Is a flip phone a great idea or just another point of failure in the waiting?
Maybe you’ve heard, we now have an official section for the Phone different Native App Watch. We are keeping track of all the developers who are talking about creating software for the iPhone with the new SDK. We are going to keep it updated with the latest news as it arrives and adding (we hope never subtracting, but it’s possible) new companies as they pop up.
Know of a software company or piece of software that’s not on our handy-dandy table? Do tell!
This plus the App Wait-a-Thon means that if you want to slake your thirst for native app news in the run up to the June release, Phone different is the place to be. We’ll have another batch of Wait-a-Thon posts coming up this week, of course, giving you more chances to win a $100 iTunes Gift Card. In the meantime, congrats to last week’s winner, AnteL0pe!
With the recent announcement of the iPhone SDK, we became witness to the iPhone’s possible future in gaming. If you are a portable gamer, you probably already own a Nintendo DS or a Sony PSP. Perhaps in the future, you will just use your iPhone? The iPhone is flying off of the shelf these days and with the App Store around the corner, there is no excuse for users not to get a little gaming action. Electronic Arts is a huge developer and publisher for video games. What if they port games to the iPhone? A little Need for Speed Underground anyone? Imagine holding your iPhone like a steering while and using the accelerometer as you rotate the phone left and right to steer, then lean the iPhone forward to accelerate and tilt it back to brake and change your views by touching the screen… oh, the possibilities.
What do you foresee as possible future uses for the iPhone as a gaming platform? We could start with Nintendo’s Wii for inspiration…
But the times, they may be a changing! Look no further than the Windows Weekly Podcast, where Thurrott had this to say about Microsoft’s own Windows Mobile platform efforts when compared to the iPhone (transcribed):
“I have one very callous thing to say myself about the Windows Mobile guys, which is s**w them because, no offense, but seriously, you guys have had - I was there for the first version of WindowsCE, Pegasus I think it was called, and I have watched as they’ve mismanaged this smartphone market from day one. It has… it has always lagged behind, it’s not always been Microsoft’s fault - I understand part of it is just the nature of the business - but you know, Apple revolutionized the smartphone business not just with the hardware and the software but also with the way that they’re now presenting this stuff to users and updating the system over time, providing new functionality. This is something that doesn’t happen with other smartphones and it’s the type of thing where I can go to a Microsoft event and they can announce a new version of Windows Mobile, and that thing, I won’t see it in a store for another, you know, at the time, 18 months. That’s ridiculous. That’s ridiculous. Yeah, s**w ‘em. If a Windows Mobile device was better than an iPhone I would use it, but you would have to show me that device.”
Wow. Guess even Balmer hath no fury as a Windows pundit scorn…
We couldn’t wait until our regularly scheduled podcast to talk about the iPhone Software Roadmap. Mike and I were also lucky to be joined by Phone different writers Chad Garrett and Rene Ritchie! Listen in as we chat up all the new announcements about the new Enterprise features and the SDK.
This post is also a Wait-a-Thon post! Your comment posted here enters you for a a chance to win a $100 iTunes Gift Card! Also note that starting today, you can use your User Referral Link (found here when you log in) to get two entries in this week’s drawing.
Everybody here at the iPhone Blog is very, very excited about the iPhone SDK Roadmap. We can’t wait for native apps, for more functionality, for games, for Apple to go after BlackBerrys. We can’t wait - seriously - it’s going to kill us waiting until “Late June” for all this good stuff. We’ve called in a team of psychiatrists, it’s not looking good.
We bet you feel the same way.
So to help ease the pain we’re instituting the iPhone Blog App Wait-a-Thon! Starting next week and then every week until Apple releases the iPhone 2.0 Software Update, we are going to give away a $100 iTunes Gift Certificate to a lucky reader.
You may not be getting your native apps now, but at least your can download some emo music to drown your sorrows, or a Pixar movie to cheer you up, or the first three seasons of LOST1 to help remind you that it’s not that bad.
Here’s how it will work: Sometime during the week, two to three of our blog postings, articles, or reviews will have “Wait-a-Thon” after the title, that’s your cue to comment on that entry. Comment on that entry and you’ll be automatically entered in that week’s drawing. (Just one entry per post counts, max three per week).
The iPhone Blog merged with the Phone different site in May of 2008. Both sites were founded on a premise that comes one from one of Apple's old slogans: Think different. The iPhone Blog: for people who dare to phone different.
"
