iPhone 5 also headed to T-Mobile USA this fall?

TiPb’s hearing that T-Mobile is well on their way to prepping their iPhone 5 roll out, likely for this October (which just so happens to coincide with the timeline we previously heard Apple was considering for launch). If Sprint iPhone 5 rumors are to be believed, along with previous rumors of iPhone test units running on T-Mobile, we could finally see Apple’s devices on all four major US carriers this year.

While also a GSM/HSPA/HSPA+ network, T-Mobile iPhone 5 would have to work on AWS (Advanced Wireless Services, which operate in the 1700 and 2100 bands), a very different set of 3G frequencies than AT&T. Whether or not Apple could combine all those frequencies into one GSM iPhone 5 antenna array, never mind a single CDMA/GSM “world phone” that could work on Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, and T-Mobile, is the question.

AT&T is also into the process of trying to acquire T-Mobile US, in part to use their AWS spectrum to boost AT&T’s own LTE 4G rollout. How, if at all, that would affect an AWS iPhone 4 is unknown. However, Canadian carriers Moblicity, Wind, and Videotron use the same 3G bands as T-Mobile US, so an AWS-compatible iPhone 5 would still have some limited international appeal.

Flipboard To Add Video Content, Head To iPhone

href="http://cdn.everythingicafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/flipboard.jpg">class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-23354" title="flipboard" src="http://cdn.everythingicafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/flipboard.jpg" alt="" width="360" height="480" />Flipboard is one of our favorite iPad apps, and according to Reuters, href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/25/us-media-flipboard-idUSTRE77O4XK20110825">it’s about to change in a big way. The customized news app plans to expand from just the text-based media that it currently offers into video offerings, picking up TV shows, movies, and streaming video.

Chairman and Chief Executive Mike McCue says that they’re hoping to add video at the end of this year, with the long term possibility of also selling ebooks through the app.

Up until now, Flipboard has been an iPad only affair, but McCue also said that the company is working on an iPhone/iPod Touch version, for people who don’t have the larger companion piece of hardware.

[via href="http://www.bgr.com/2011/08/25/flipboard-to-add-tv-shows-books-and-movies-iphone-app-on-its-way/">BGR]

App Store Rolls Out Redesigned Category Pages

href="http://cdn.everythingicafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Screen-Shot-2011-08-25-at-1.20.50-PM-520x258.png">class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-23357" title="Screen-Shot-2011-08-25-at-1.20.50-PM-520x258" src="http://cdn.everythingicafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Screen-Shot-2011-08-25-at-1.20.50-PM-520x258.png" alt="" width="520" height="258" />Apple has pushed out a minor tweak to the App Store layout, bringing category pages more in line with the App Store home page. Previously, when you visited a category (like “games” or “productivity”) you’d just see a grid of icons for apps, with maybe a few highlighted as being “what’s hot”.

Now, starting with “education” and “games”, href="http://thenextweb.com/apple/2011/08/25/apple-rolling-out-new-app-store-category-home-pages/">these category pages have been overhauled to match the App Store home page, with a large rotating banner of important titles, and the “what’s hot” and “new and noteworthy” apps more prominent.

This change is also reflected in the iPad version of the app store.

 

Apple shuts down $0.99 iTunes TV show rentals

Apple seems to have removed $0.99 TV show rentals from iTunes and Apple TV. In a statement provided to Wall Street Journal technology blog, All Things D, Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr explained:

“iTunes customers have shown they overwhelmingly prefer buying TV shows. iTunes in the Cloud lets customers download and watch their past TV purchases from their iOS devices, Apple TV, Mac or PC allowing them to enjoy their programming whenever and however they choose.”

Fox seems to confirm the reasoning:

“After carefully considering the results of the rental trial, it became clear that content ownership is a more attractive long-term value proposition both for iTunes customers and for our business. To further enhance the value of ownership, we are working with Apple to make content available within their new cloud-based service.”

Apple announced $0.99 TV Show rentals are part of the all new, all streaming Apple TV in 2010 but never got all the US networks on board, nor did they manage to roll the service out beyond the US. While networks likely felt $0.99 undervalued their content, let’s be clear — it overvalued it. $100 for 100 hours of non-repeatable TV is ridiculous. Subscriptions, which Apple has reportedly been pursuing, make far more sense at scale and volume. Whether the networks will ever agree to that or not is the question. (And at this point there’s no evidence iCloud, despite its ideal positioning, will be part of the answer.)

At least we can take some comfort in the fact that nature has shown in knows what to do to dinosaurs.

[All Things D]

Apple offers Tim Cook 1,000,000 reasons to stay until 2021

In the 8-K filing following their top-level restructuring this week, Apple revealed that they were awarding new CEO Tim Cook quite the signing bonus:

In connection with Mr. Cook’s appointment as Chief Executive Officer, the Board awarded Mr. Cook 1,000,000 restricted stock units. Fifty percent of the restricted stock units are scheduled to vest on each of August 24, 2016 and August 24, 2021, subject to Mr. Cook’s continued employment with Apple through each such date.

As noted by MacRumors, that’s worth almost $400 million at current prices. Half the stock can be divested in 5 years, the other half in 10 years, as long as Cook is still with Apple.

This would, of course, be in addition to his salary, options, and bonuses. (Last year those totaled $58 million.)

No word yet on the corporate jet…

[SEC via MacRumors]

Poll: Average Age of Developers

Over the past couple of years, I’ve seen an incline of the amount of amateur (age-wise) developers taking their stands on the App Store. I know for sure that href="http://www.iphonealley.com/news/7-year-old-ios-developer-connor-zamary-releases-application">there aren’t too many seven year old developers, but I’m curious as to see the approximate age range of developers currently developing for the iOS platform.

I’ve been working with a few 13-16 year old developers in the past few months, so am very interested in what the model is. If you’re an iOS developer (meaning you are currently or have developed for the iPhone, iPod Touch or onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.ipadngravy.com');" target="_blank" title="iPad" href="http://www.ipadngravy.com">iPad), it would be much appreciated if you could vote in the below poll with valid information, as putting in fake info could hinder the ultimate results. No, iPhoneAlley is not attempting to stalk you for pleasure, that’s my job. src='http://www.iphonealley.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif' alt=';)' class='wp-smiley' />

style="display: none;">type="hidden" name="poll_id" value="9" />

style="text-align: center;">What age are you? (developers only)

style="text-align: center;">type="button" name="vote" value=" Vote " class="Buttons" onclick="poll_vote(9);" />

style="text-align: center;">href="#ViewPollResults" onclick="poll_result(9); return false;" title="View Results Of This Poll">View Results

Hopefully the results of the above poll will be surprising to everyone, including myself. It has no closing time, meaning you can keep on voting forever (although only one time for each unique visitor). I know the results won’t ever be a completely accurate representation of the actual age of iOS developers today, but anything that comes out of it will suffice.

Win a FREE mophie juicepack air! [Friday Freebie]

You can never have too much power, so the awesome folks at the TiPb iPhone and iPad Accessory Store are giving away a FREE mophie juicepack air to one of our every-bit-as-awesome members. All you have to do to win is head on over to our iPhone Accessory Forum and tell use why you need all that extra mophie power!

Giveaway starts now and ends Sunday at 12pm PDT. Ready… set… ENTER NOW!

Jailbreak Enthusiast ‘Comex’ Hired by Apple

Right on the verge of the Steve Jobs surprise, as the shock is slowly abating, Apple recently picked up a smart mind. Jailbreak enthusiast ‘Comex’, more commonly known as the hacker behind JailbreakMe.com, has joined Apple as an intern.

Made evident through a onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/twitter.com/#!/comex/status/106863873952448512');" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/#!/comex/status/106863873952448512">tweet on the specialist’s part, Comex has joined Apple as an intern. The tweet read:

“It’s been really, really fun, but it’s also been a while and I’ve been getting bored. So, the week after next I will be starting an internship with Apple.”

Comex is more commonly known for the creator of JailbreakMe.com, a simple way for people who desired to do so, to jailbreak their iPhones, iPod Touches and iPads. With an easy slide upon visiting the website from your mobile devices, similar to the “slide to unlock” slider to unlock your device, your device will immediately go through the jailbreaking process.

The 19-year old, who is currently living with his parents and was previously searching for an internship, has stated that hacking just comes easy to him. While his hacking wasn’t quite in Apple’s best interest before, he still considers himself an Apple fanboy. It wasn’t specified what exactly he is going to be doing over at Apple, but this isn’t the first time that a king jailbreaker has been hired at the Cupertino-based company. I would expect he’ll be working on safe-proofing the OS to make jailkbreaking not users’ best interests or on some other job of the same sort – just my 2 cents.

Got any ideas on what Apple has in mind for the genius “developer” that is responsible for ways to jailbreak your iOS devices?

Add more functionality to the stock Messages app with SMS+ [jailbreak]

SMS+ was just made available in Cydia for jailbroken devices and adds a whole lot of functionality to the stock Messages app. A lot of people may argue that apps like BiteSMS already do all that SMS+ does. If you’re someone who prefers the stock messages app, this may be a better choice for you. The price tag is also a bit more manageable as it’s priced at only $1.99.

Once installed, you can pop into settings and customize what options you’d like to add. There’s no new icon like there is with Bite. This app integrates tightly with the default Messages app.

SMS+ includes the following features and then some –

It’s currently available in Cydia for $1.99.

[$1.99 - Cydia Search Link]

Apple taking over Twitter? (humor)

As much as I’m addicted to Twitter and pretty much anything Apple, this article from onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.scoopertino.com');" target="_blank" href="http://www.scoopertino.com">Scoopertino made me laugh.  I’ll stick with Twitter though.

Meet Twapple:

class="alignleft" title="Twapple" src="http://scoopertino.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/twapple_screen2.jpg" alt="" width="614" height="461" />

CUPERTINO, CA — Out with the Tweets, in with the Twapps.

In one of its more surprising moves, today Apple announced it had acquired Twitter. The world-changing social media site will now be known as Twapple — combining the power of Twitter with the simplicity of Apple.

In general terms, the site will continue to work as it has in the past. But Apple has unveiled a revolutionary new way to Tweet Twapp.

Rather than force you to expend valuable energy dreaming up clever new Tweets every day, Twapple does the work for you. It automatically posts clever Apple-designed quips from your Twapple name at designated intervals.

“Twapple is the perfect solution for people who don’t have the time, but don’t want to miss out on the social media revolution,” said Apple spokesperson Elias Highland.

But can an automated Twapp really sound like it came from you? According to Apple, it can sound even better — thanks to a new Twapple feature called Personalities.

Upon signup, you can browse a list of 128 Personalities to find the one that best matches you — or the person you’d rather be. Just pick one, and start Twapping.

You can try an old favorite like Funny Man (or his counterpart Funny Lady), who can find humor in even the most tragic events. Or try out a new Personality like Harlot, who blurs the line between flirting and felony.

“We built our library of Personalities and Twapps on an analysis of over 400 million Tweets made in the last year,” explained Highland. “We’ve duplicated all the familiar personality disorders. The only difference is, now you can make them your own.”

Apple says that it plans to build a whole new ecosystem around Twapple. Personalities are open to developers, so you’ll soon be able to choose from thousands of $.99 Personalities at the Twapp Store.

-From onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/scoopertino.com/twitter-swallowed-by-apple-relaunched-as-twapple/');" target="_blank" href="http://scoopertino.com/twitter-swallowed-by-apple-relaunched-as-twapple/">Scoopertino

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apple Eyeing Up Streaming Media Says WSJ

In an article today about Apple after Jobs’ departure, the href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904875404576530871704590688.html">WSJ briefly dropped mention that Tim Cook might be eyeing up bringing streaming video to the AppleTV. While extremely short on details, the paywalled article mentions

Apple is working on new technology to deliver video to televisions, and has been discussing whether to try to launch a subscription TV service, according to people familiar with the matter.

Unfortunately, that’s the only mention the article makes of the rumor. If there sources are correct, it could mean Apple is trying to get ont he streaming TV bandwagon, and get video piped into your home on the fly.

Even if true, I wouldn’t imagine we’ll see this for quite a long time. Apple has always had trouble with major distributors getting rights for their services. They battled over music, movies and television in iTunes, and I wouldn’t be surprised if streaming rights were just as hard fought over.

New and updated iPhone and iPad apps for Friday, August 26

Every day, TiPb gets flooded with announcements for new and updated iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad apps and games. So every day we pick just a few of the most interesting, the most notable, and simply the most awesome to share with you!

HeyCrowd: Poll the crowd, vote on an endless stream of questions and discover what people think. [Free for iPhone - App Store link]

Angry Birds: It’s the epic conclusion to Mine and Dine with 15 new levels! [$0.99 for iPhone - App Store link]

Facebook Messenger: Now with links to phone numbers and addresses and an improved ability to copy and paste text. [Free for iPhone - App Store link]

PhotoGrid: Browse pictures from your Facebook friends in a timeline based grid layout. Add a comment or like a photograph if you want! [$0.99 for iPhone - App Store link]

Star Walk – 5 Stars Astronomy Guide: Now with a multi-wavelength view of the Sky: lets you explore our Galaxy and the distant Universe in a range of wavelengths from X-rays to the longest radio waves. [$2.99 for iPhone - App Store link]

Any other big app or game releases or updates today?

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

Learn Adobe Photoshops Elements 9 Quickly And Easily for iPhone, iPad

Photoshop Elements users may want to check out Learn Adobe Photoshops Elements 9 Quickly And Easily for the iPhone and iPad. It’s packed with 9 hours of 3-5 minute video tutorials that teach how to best edit your photos.

Tired of slogging away manually making alterations to photos? Finding very little respite in turning a generic picture into art? Experienced instructor Jerron Smith narrates you through easy-to-learn tutorials in the use of Photoshop Elements 9. With personal touches and humor, you will start with the basics – the welcome screen, and progress through setting up watch lists, editing your photos, correcting red eye, and much more. Jerron Smith walks you through, focusing on each facet of the program.

Learn Adobe Photoshops Elements 9 Quickly And Easily is available on the iPhone and iPad for $9.99.

[App Store link]

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

Tweetbot 1.6 brings Tweetmarker support

Tweetbot – A Twitter Client with Personality has just updated to version 1.6 and with it, brings Tweetmarker support. Tweetmarker is a service that marks the last read tweet in your timeline so that it can be synced between other Twitter clients.

Since its release, Tweetbot has been my favorite Twitter client on the iPhone. Tweetmarker is a great addition to the app and I look forward to what future updates may bring.

Tweetbot is a full-featured iPhone (and iPod touch) Twitter client with a lot of personality. Whether it’s the meticulously-crafted interface, sounds & animation, or features like multiple timelines & smart gestures, there’s a lot to love about Tweetbot.

The update includes:

Tweetbot is available on the iPhone for $2.99.

[App Store link]

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

Apple updating iPad App Store with better category pages

It looks like Apple is finally updating the iPad version of the on-device App Store with better category pages… at least for some of the categories like Games and Education. (Desktop iTunes seems to be getting them as well but no love for iPhone so far.) The new category pages look a lot like the main App Store features page now, with big billboards and splashier graphics.

Will the rest of the sections get the updates over time as well, or is Apple saving this new look for the more visual categories? What about iPhone, would it work on the smaller screen? Do you think it will make the hundreds of thousands of apps more discoverable than they were before?

[The Next Web]

Prototype iPhone N94 back plate gets leaked?

MacPost has received what, if authentic, appears to be the back plate of Apple’s iPhone N94 prototype. Whether N94 is iPhone 5 or an updated iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S is unknown.

The codename ‘N94′ marked on cover clearly indicates that it is a fifth-generation iPhone part. The front cover, however, is labeled “EVT2″ (Engineering Verification Testing) with date ’07-June-2011′, marking it as early development prototype.

Code references to N93 and N94 were discovered a while ago by 9to5Mac, and seen in the wild (and on T-Mobile) by BGR and while MacCast ascribes them to perhaps GSM and CDMA variants of iPhone 5, it might be too early to tell at this point. However, if these represent iPhone 5, they’re a far more conservative update than recent case leaks, and renders commissioned by MacRumors would have suggested.

TiPb also heard previously that Apple has a lower-end budget iPhone or iPhone nano ready to go for this year, making the mix even harder to predict than usual.

[MacPost via MacRumors]

Daily Deal: Incipio Ultra Light Feather Case for original iPad only $8.95

For today only, the TiPb Store has the Incipio Ultra Light Feather Case for original iPad on sale for only $8.95 — that’s a whopping 74% off!. Get them before they’re gone!

Shop Incipio Ultra Light Feather Case for original iPad now!

iPhone 4S Prototype Back Spotted

 

href="http://cdn.everythingicafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/iPhone-5G-Back-Cover-White.jpg">class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-23367" title="iPhone-5G-Back-Cover-White" src="http://cdn.everythingicafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/iPhone-5G-Back-Cover-White-1024x876.jpg" alt="" width="614" height="526" />href="http://www.everythingicafe.com/reported-iphone-4s-casing-leaks/2011/08/26/">We only just reported on a leaked internal casing for the rumored iPhone 4S, when href="http://www.macpost.net/977/iphone-5-evt-prototype-n94-back-cover-audio-and-volume-parts-leaked/">this pops ups: the back cover of a prototype iPhone 4S. It’s marked with the codename href="http://www.everythingicafe.com/apple-rumored-to-test-t-mobile-white-iphone-4/2011/04/24/">N94, which is thought to be the internal testing code href="http://9to5mac.com/2011/06/12/next-iphone-reaches-final-testing-stage-verizon-likely-wont-support-3g-facetime-this-year/">for an upcoming unit.

The rear is also labelled  “EVT2″ (Engineering Verification Testing) and dated ’07-June-2011′, marking it as an early prototype.

So far, this has been the strongest evidence we’ve seen for a final design of the upcoming iPhone.

The big question on everyone’s mind is if this will be the only iPhone released by Apple this Fall. What about the tapered, rounded design that was doing the rounds, thanks to leaked case designs? And what about tales of Apple producing an iPhone specially for China? Or is this going to be for a low-cost, 8GB iPhone 4 variant? We don’t know, but one way or another, there’s a surprise in store.

[via href="http://www.macrumors.com/2011/08/26/iphone-n94-prototype-back-cover-is-this-actually-the-iphone-5/">MacRumors]

Prototype iPhone N94 back plat gets leaked?

MacPost has received what, if authentic, appears to be the back plate of Apple’s iPhone N94 prototype. Whether N94 is iPhone 5 or an updated iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S is unknown.

The codename ‘N94′ marked on cover clearly indicates that it is a fifth-generation iPhone part. The front cover, however, is labeled “EVT2″ (Engineering Verification Testing) with date ’07-June-2011′, marking it as early development prototype.

Code references to N93 and N94 were discovered a while ago by 9to5Mac, and seen in the wild (and on T-Mobile) by BGR and while MacCast ascribes them to perhaps GSM and CDMA variants of iPhone 5, it might be too early to tell at this point. However, if these represent iPhone 5, they’re a far more conservative update than recent case leaks, and renders commissioned by MacRumors would have suggested.

TiPb also heard previously that Apple has a lower-end budget iPhone or iPhone nano ready to go for this year, making the mix even harder to predict than usual.

[MacPost via MacRumors]

Leaked iPhone 4 casing show updated antenna, no home button?

iPatchiPods is claiming to have received some images of what it and MacRumors believe are an updated iPhone 4 (or iPhone 4S mid frame casing with some intriguing design changes, including a modified antenna array and the apparent lack of a home button.

The frame shows that this model will have two antenna breaks at the bottom of the casing. Currently the GSM version has breaks in the lower left side and top bar and the CDMA version are both on the top bar. The changes could be to improve reception, reduce the death grip problems, support different GSM bands (including AWS for T-Mobile US), or even to support both CDMA and GSM as a “world phone”.

The bottom of the frame is the most interesting part to look at. There is a lack of any defined “Home Button” area. The current iPhone 4 equivalent part shows an area cut out for the Home Button; according to iFixit. Could this mean that Apple will go capacitive and remove another moving part from the iPhone?

There has been a rumor recently that Apple is planning on releasing a cut down version of the iPhone 4 alongside the iPhone 5 when it is launched. This would make sense and this could well be the casing from it. The idea of not having a Home Button or a redesigned one would make sense too in many ways. The current iPhone 4 has a definite weakness in this area — I have had mine replaced three times for an unresponsive button.

[MacRumors]

Daily Tip: Here comes Hurricane Irene, get your iPhone ready!

Here’s a quick no-brainer or two from your hurricane-prone pals at Android Central for those of you in the path of Hurricane Irene, scheduled to make landfall along the North Carolina coast on Saturday. (They’ll help you out for any natural disaster, though, from the recent east coast earthquakes to the next winter snowstorm, so keep ‘em handy!)

Any tips you folks want to share? Let’s hear ‘em.

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@tipb.com. (If it’s especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we’ll even give ya a reward…)

Reported iPhone 4S Casing Leaks

href="http://cdn.everythingicafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/ip4s.jpg">class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-23360" title="ip4s" src="http://cdn.everythingicafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/ip4s.jpg" alt="" width="564" height="425" />href="http://www.macrumors.com/2011/08/25/iphone-4s-casing-resembles-iphone-4-with-some-antenna-changes/">MacRumors and href="http://www.ipatchonline.co.uk/">iPatchiPods have found a piece of hardware they believe to be the casing of an iPhone 4S — a subtle redesign to the iPhone 4 which retains much of the signature look of the original. The antenna looks redesigned, with the breaks at the bottom rather than the top.

The casing also doesn’t have a clear place for the home button, reinforcing rumors that Apple may switch to a capacitive home button, rather than the traditional, physical button we’re all used to.

The rumors of the next generation of iPhone have swung back and forth wildly over the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5, to the point where it’s entirely likely that both will launch. href="http://www.everythingicafe.com/low-price-8gb-iphone-4-in-the-works/2011/08/23/">A recent rumor pegged a low-cost, 8GB version of the iPhone 4 to be released, which this case might represent.

 

Comex Of JailbreakMe Becomes An Apple Intern

href="http://cdn.everythingicafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Screen-Shot-2011-08-26-at-8.24.10-AM.jpg">class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-23363" title="Screen Shot 2011-08-26 at 8.24.10 AM" src="http://cdn.everythingicafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Screen-Shot-2011-08-26-at-8.24.10-AM.jpg" alt="" width="548" height="176" />

Comex, the brilliant jailbreaker who created a simple website that you could visit to jailbreak your iPad — called JailbreakMe — has informed the world over Twitter that he’s decided to go work for Apple. In a href="https://twitter.com/#!/comex/status/106862869345337344">pair of href="https://twitter.com/#!/comex/status/106863873952448512">tweets, he said:

It’s been really, really fun, but it’s also been a while and I’ve been getting bored.

So, the week after next I will be starting an internship with Apple.

Comex has expressed his hope that href="https://twitter.com/#!/MuscleNerd">MuscleNerd will take over the reins of JailbreakMe.

I’ll be curious if he aims to spin this into a long-term job with Apple, or if he’s just in it to learn a bit, and then will return to the nefarious world of the jailbreaker?

[via href="http://www.everythingicafe.com/forum/threads/comex-hired-by-apple.78658/">the forum]

Leaked iPhone 4s mid frame reveals slight changes in design?

iPatchiPods is claiming to have received some images of what it and MacRumors believe are of an iPhone 4 or iPhone 4s mid frame casing. The images show a similar size casing to the current iPhone 4 with one or two subtle changes.

The frame shows that this model will have two antenna breaks at the bottom of the casing. Currently the GSM version has breaks in the lower left side and top bar and the CDMA version are both on the top bar. The changes could be to improve reception, reduce the death grip problems, support different GSM bands or even be a world phone!

The bottom of the frame is the most interesting part to look at. There is a lack of any defined “Home Button” area. The current iPhone 4 equivalent part shows an area cut out for the Home Button; according to iFixit. Could this mean that Apple will go capacitive and remove another moving part from the iPhone?

There has been a rumor recently that Apple is planning on releasing a cut down version of the iPhone 4 alongside the iPhone 5; when it is launched. This would make sense and this could well be the casing from it. The idea of not having a Home Button or a redesigned one would make sense too in many ways. The current iPhone 4 has a definite weakness in this area, I have had mine replaced three times for an unresponsive button.

[MacRumors]