I (think I) Saw the iPhone 5

Device in question is against the wall on the left, dark restaurant with an iPhone 4 camera.

Last week I saw a guy using a touch-screen phone that was super thin with a big bright screen and almost zero bezel.

It immediately caught my attention and I asked my friend Kayla, who was facing the table, to let me know if the guy picked it up and used it. It had been, until then, left to sit on the table unused.

The guy this friend was talking to said something that made the guy pull out his phone and pull up the notepad. This was when Kayla and I realized, this super thin phone was an iPhone. Sure enough, the home screen came back up and it was iOS.

It appeared that the screen took up most of the device, it was super thin, and shorter than the current iPhone. The phone was wrapped in matte black, almost like gaffers tape. It is thinner than I was able to convey in this mockup, almost as thin as a Motorola Razor screen.

I’m no good at making mockups but I did my best to illustrate what we saw.

iPhone 5 vs iPhone 4 mockup

These guys were talking about a new cloud service that was similar to “AWS” but had “no net loss.” AWS, for those who don’t know, means “Amazon Web Services” which provide a plethora of syncing and data hosting services, as well as Amazon’s new cloud music system.

We did our best to listen to their conversation as they drank beers but didn’t pull too much from it. Watching the WWDC live right now I now understand more of what they were talking about, which leads credence to the theory that this phone was indeed an iPhone 5.

All this said, I’m pretty sure that some blog like The Unofficial Apple Weblog will see this, post it and turn out that I’m totally high and these two dude work for IBM and everything is totally coincidental. However, I’m hoping that isn’t the case. 🙂

UPDATE: So after being mentioned on the TWiT Network and WWDC coming to pass, a post by Joshua Topolsky came to my attention about the design of the iPhone 5 via another blog post on some other tech site (too many to remember).

Joshua (or his people) made their own mockup and it is scary similar to the design I saw (and tried to mockup myself).

 

This is My Next iPhone 5 Mockup

This is My Next iPhone 5 Mockup

iPad, the First Real iPhone Killer?

Today Steve Jobs and Company announced iPhone 4.0, the future operating system for their iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad devices (don’t like the iPhone moniker throw you off.  While the actual announcement came as much a surprise as did the huge number of sales for the first generation of the iPad (450,000 as of today), the predictions from John Gruber were spot on.

Here’s the short list.  Multi-tasking, unified inbox, custom wallpapers, better enterprise data encryption, multiple Exchange accounts, background tasking (uploading photos to Flickr, running Pandora, Skype SMS/calls etc) as well as nearly 100 other major and minor improvements.  I recommend reading this post from TUAW for all the details.

Gruber said multi-tasking and used Pandora as his example.  So did Jobs today.  Gruber also predicted a unified inbox.  Jobs showed that off today.

But what really caught my attention, and the attention of many others I’m sure, was the Skype news.  Still no Google Voice here but get this.  You will soon be able to run Skype in the background, all the time.  If someone calls your Skype number you simply slide to answer, just as you do now with regular calls to your iPhone.

Obviously we’re all seeing how cool this can be.  We’re on the same level with the possibilities here.  But what about this.  What if you are like me and love your iPhone and have an iPad 3G on the way.  What does this 4.0 update mean for me?  It means, for the first time in my iPhone life, I might dump my iPhone!

Do the math.  If you dump the iPhone for the iPad 32gb WiFi + 3G, you will make a saving of $590 in your first year, including the cost of the iPad!  The second year, and every year after that, you save $1,020!  How does this happen?  Simple.

Get the iPad 32 WiFi + 3G, pay $30/m for AT&T unlimited 3G coverage, pay $30 for unlimited Skype in/out calls within Canada/USA for a year (it’s on sale right now, 15% off), pay $30 for a Skype in/out number (it’s on sale for 50% off right now from its normal $60) and you’re done.

I made a handy chart that explains the savings.

My good friend Ryan @rzhale pointed out how cumbersome it would be to answer phone calls on an iPad.  Remember all the jokes about people carrying around iPads as a phone? Holding them up to their faces as they would an iPhone?  Well get that out of your head because the iPad allows A2DP stereo, two way bluetooth.  That means the stereo headsets with microphones, the bluetooth in-car systems, or simply bluetooth headsets you’re already using with your iPhone to do handsfree phone calls will seamlessly be integrated into the iPad.

With Skype you will have unlimited calls within the USA and Canada (not offered on AT&T at this price) and unlimited SMS for $60 a year.  That’s less than one month of access from AT&T.

Will I be giving up my iPhone once this comes to my iPad in the fall? Maybe, who knows.  But the possibility here is pretty awesome.  I can see the iPad replacing desktop office phones while you’re at work on WiFi, a nice dock and Skype interface for that.  When you head out, slide the iPad in your bag, briefcase, backpack and continue your call over 3G as you drive to lunch.  As long as you are within thirty feet of your iPad, you’re good to go.

For the travelling entrepreneur, you’ve just gained a new level of freedom.  iPad’s 4.0 operating system will allow you to make and take calls and sms while reading email, while writing a Pages or Numbers document, or updating your Twitter status.  You will no longer need your iPod, your Blackberry, your laptop.  You just need your iPad.  Lighter than your laptop, more powerful than your Blackberry or iPod and more functional than an iPhone.

Yeah I know, there are use cases where you need a laptop but for someone like my brother, sister-in-law, mother, father and grandmother, all professionals with corporate-type jobs that travel a lot, the iPad is all they need and something they’d all love to have.  Especially if it means not having to carry so many other devices on their person.

Don’t forget, airlines are even thinking about charging for carry-on luggage, not just your checked bags.  Spirit Airlines is the first to do this.  Yet another reason to decrease all that gadget bloat.

Are you excited about this prospect?  Would this get you to drop your iPhone and contract? Would this get you to get an iPad now or in the fall?

UPDATE: So how about this?  You don’t want the iPad but still want to take advantage of some sort of savings with this iPhone OS 4.0 release.  Check this out.  Did you know AT&T has a Data for the Deaf plan?  Unlimited data and SMS for $40/m.  Now, this might not be as ethical as the above option but it is certainly an option for the penny pincher who wants all the latest gadgets!

How would that break down for you?  Pretty sweet actually.  Here’s the chart.

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These Are Not the Droid (effects) You’re Looking For

Over the last few weeks, Verizon has subjected anyone in front of a television with some pretty interesting commercials.  Kind of… Clovererfield/Transformers-esque.

I’ll go ahead and post one here for your enjoyment.

And then of course, the original advertisement.  Anti-Apple much?  I’m definitely an Apple Fanboy at this point and you might expect that I would be pissed that Verizon would put out such a commercial.  Not really though because it seems to me that it’s about time Apple’s iPhone got some real competition and if that’s the Droid, then bring on the ads.

So there you go, Verizon + Motorola + Google Android = DROID = iPhone Killer.  Fantastic. Competition is good! Apple will again begin pushing the limits on what a phone can do.  Maybe go after those attacks about no flash, only 2mp camera, etc etc.  Meanwhile, since the DROID phone is so closely tied to  Verizon and the iPhone to AT&T, maybe we’ll see some benefits there too right?

AT&T has horrendous 3G coverage around the nation, especially when compared to Verizon.  That’s an obvious first step on AT&T’s part.  How about cost?  I pay my iPhone bill every month and every month I think… wow that’s a lot of money.  I bet with the DROID phone, Verizon will go after AT&T’s bottom line.  Make their DROID plans significantly cheaper than the iPhone.  Any amount over $10 is a dramatic difference, if they were $30 a month cheaper I might even be tempted to switch!  Better 3G coverage and cheaper monthly plans?!

Well, unfortunately, Ronald Reagan was wrong.  Competition doesn’t fuel the benefits he and other “Reaganomics” economists promised.  For the most part, the DROID cost of ownership is exactly the same as the iPhone with only one plan cheaper.  By how much? By a massive $0.01!

Chart created by Nicole Lee from CNet.com

Wow that’s disappointing.  When you break down the differences in price which is only in the text message options, it becomes a total wash.  The DROID is cheaper for the small text message plan (250 vs 200 messages) but for the high end the iPhone is better (5000 vs unlimited).  Guess I’ll stick to my iPhone.

UPDATE: Turns out Verizon plans to charge $15/month for access to Exchange on the DROID, something A&T doesn’t charge for on the iPhone. So if you, like me, use Exchange on your phone, turns out the iPhone is $180 a year cheaper, $360 for the length of the contract which is around or more than than the price of getting out of your contract with either carrier!

Let’s get a bit political.  The Republicans are saying that natural competition between insurance companies will decrease the price of premiums and increase the availability of coverage.  Well, not so true as seen here.  When companies are in collusion with each other to keep prices at a certain point, they have no real reason to undercut the competition.  Ugh.

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AT&T iPhone Wifi – Still Not Working

Not only does it not recognize that I’m on an iPhone and thus entitled to use their AT&T WiFi on my device, it won’t even let me log in with my AT&T Uverse credentials or my Starbucks Rewards username/password.  Grrr…

No iPhone Login? AT&T or T-Mobile?

Funny how when the signin fails for AT&T, it goes to T-Mobile Wireless.  Kind of funny but mostly annoying.  Oh well, at least Kaldi‘s internet works, goodbye Starbucks until you get your Internet woes figured out.

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Starbucks AT&T Internet Stalls, Fails

For the last week or so I have been unable to log into my AT&T WiFi account at any of the three Starbucks here in Columbia. I have three ways to log into the new WiFi network; AT&T Uverse, Starbucks Rewards and my iPhone.

If any of these methods would work, that would be one thing, but for all mediums to be down, and for this length of time, that is crazy.

AT&T needs to get their act together.

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iPhone 3G – It’s Mine

After waiting a day to get the iPhone and avoid the massive lines and over night stays required to get one on the first day, Ryan and I packed up early and headed to San Antonio where we waited in a short line (we were number 22) for the new iPhone.

IMG_0533

They told us they had 36 on hand in the store, 5 black 16gb, 10 white 16gb, and the rest black 8gb iPhones.  Of course I wanted a 16gb and of course I wanted it in black.

Unfortunately, or so I thought, the last black 16gb iPhone was sold to the guy in front of me.  However, the white one is’nt so bad after all.  In fact, I like the look o the white one more than the black one so I guess in a way, I lucked out.

We got the phone no problem, I got the black inscipio case and the really nice screen protectors and pulled out my laptop to finish the setup.  We figured we might as well get it all activated before leaving the store, should there be any problems.

IMG_0534

I used my Verizon Wireless wifi card to get on the Internet and in no time at all my phone was activated and syncing up my music and applications.

I didn’t have any of the troubles other people were having in the day before and the entire deal went over just perfectly, despite was Chris Pirillo has been incessently blogging.  Direct fulfillment was your own mistake Chris…

Anyways, I digress.  The AT&T people did the best they could and everything went so perfectly and smoothly, not a single hiccup.

So far the new iPhone 3G is everything I was promised.  Great service, great speeds, great built quality and the battery life is working out just fine for me.

No complaints from me so far but if I get anything, I’ll be sure to let you know.

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iPhone 3G this Saturday

So it looks like I will be getting the 3G iPhone this Saturday and I need help choosing a color.  Should I get the 16gb iPhone in Black or White?  I really appreciate your votes on this!

[poll id=”4″]

I am leaning towards to the black iPhone, looks sleek and should not show dirt as easily.  The white is luxurious but kinda not my style, I think… Hmmm… Either way they will be in a case.

Last night I had a dream I was getting my iPhone, the AT&T store was guarded by Apple employees with machine guns.  It was scary.

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