Purported design schematics for the iPhone 5 confirm an opening for a 4" display

Purported design schematics for the next iPhone have emerged, confirming what the leaked parts yesterday showed, namely an opening for a display that is roughly 4" in size.

Back-of-the-napkin calculations from the engineering blueprint return about 7mm taller and slightly wider front panel part than what we have now, which is not much at all, and certainly preferable than increasing the width too much and messing up with one-handed operation.

CEO Tim Cook said yesterday they will double-down on secrecy about Apple's upcoming products, which might have something to do with the current leaks, or it could just be an elaborate decoy and Apple unveils something totally out of whack - these schematics look rather legit, though.

source: MacRumors

Screen shots of Apple's new 3D Maps app leak

It appears to be an Apple-heavy news day today. After the leaking of new iPhone parts from several sources, BGR has also obtained screenshots of Apple’s 3D maps app, which is expected to debut in iOS 6 (and will presumably be announced at WWDC during the June 11th keynote address). 

We’ve been reporting on Apple’s interest in creating their own mapping solution for a while now – with the success of Google’s Android operating system Apple became concerned about how much they relied on Google’s iOS apps for supplying basic features. Apple has always made the front end of the Maps app, but up to now they’ve relied on the Google Maps backend for the data.
 
While Apple started the project as a way to become self-sufficient, the competition for offering location-based deals has been heating up, with Google and others moving to leverage their platforms to take on GroupOn and other deals-based websites. That’s lucky timing for Apple, who will now control all of the location-based data that is collected.

Unfortunately the images captured by BGR’s “trusted source” were made in a hurry and aren’t the most beautiful things to look at, so BGR created a mockup of what to expect based on them. It appears that the app has moved from the blue theme seen in the current Maps app to the silver theme seen in the iPad, leading to the speculation that iOS6 may shift the UI towards the iPad’s aesthetic.

Also, you can see a little arrow key in the lower left corner – that button lets the user pop into or out of the 3D navigation mode. According to the source Apple is currently field testing the app now. Check out the mock up and blurry-cam snapshots below.

HTC One X DROP TEST

We found an interesting unofficial drop test of the new HTC Flagship, the HTC One X:



In this test you will see me drop the HTC One X three times. Once on its back from waist height then the same way from shoulder height. The next thing that I did was chest high face down to get a full shot on the Gorilla Glass.

After the first two drops you will notice the shell of the HTC One X can really take a beating only showing minor scratches and dings, except for the scratch that we noticed going across the camera lens.

The difference between the HTC One X drop test and other drop tests, is that there is no removable battery that will pop out when you drop it. Just watch the video and you will see what happens..

source: www.youtube.com

Stories you shouldn't have missed this week

It is once again time for a short recap of the past week. Perhaps the most significant event that we reported was the Motorola Mobility acquisition by Google, which is now a done deal. As a result, CEO Sanjay Jha was replaced by Dennis Woodside, and who knows, Mr Jha may not be the only person in need of a new job as thousands of Motorola employees might be given the sack soon, if rumors are to be trusted.

In other news, NVIDIA unveiled its Kai platform, which is the company's recipe for delivering Tegra 3 Android tablets at the very reasonable price point of $199. While no device announcements have been made yet, it would not be surprising if such affordable slates hit the market before the year's end.

Want an iPhone-related story? Here's one: it is rumored that two iPhone prototypes are being tested, and both of them flaunt a 4-inch display. But as with all Apple rumors, whether this is true or not will be known once the next iteration of the device is announced officially.


source: Phone Arena

Google Nexus tablet details leaked, will be quad-core and may include Jelly Bean

A “trusted source” speaking to TechnoBuffalo has confirmed many of the details about the upcoming Nex

us tablet…although whether or not Google’s 7” tablet is actually named “Nexus” is not one of those details. The source did confirm that it will be built by ASUS and will be one of the hardware giveaways for Google I/O on June 27th, something we’ve been expecting ahead of its July ship date.

One exciting tidbit is that they also were receiving “conflicting reports” on whether or not the tablet would come preinstalled with Jellybean, the next major version of Android. That would come as something of a pleasant surprise, since many analysts were not expecting the next major version of the little green robot operating system to appear until late fall or early winter.

Also of great interest is the source indicated that the tablet would indeed be rocking a quad-core Tegra3 device, not the dual-core solution that some had expected in light of Google’s attempts to price their tablet aggressively. Of course NVIDIA has said on more than one occasion that part of their project strategy is to help bring to market a sub-$200 Tegra3 tablet, so we may still get the low price point that many of you have been hoping for.

Who out there would be interesting in a $199 quad-core Nexus tablet running Jelly Bean this summer? We reckon quite a few people would be. Is it too good to be true? Most of the hardware and pricing rumors seem reasonable. We have no idea how close Jelly Bean is to fruition, although in the past Google has turned out major software updates in less than a year, so it’s not impossible, even if it’s far from certain. And in a way it’s just a matter of months either way – even if Jelly Bean doesn’t hit until this fall, we’re sure the vanilla Android tablet would be one of the first devices to get the update.

source: TechnoBuffalo via Droid-Life