“A Taiwanese website that has been the source of numerous Apple hardware leaks now claims that Apple has built three hardware prototypes for its next-generation iPhone, including one model with a slide-out physical keyboard,” Neil Hughes reports for AppleInsider.
“The new details come from tw.apple.pro, but are the result of a rough online translation,” Hughes reports. “The site’s source claimed that Apple has built three prototype models for its anticipated ‘iPhone 5,’ and one of them has a ‘sliding cover’ that conceals a keyboard,”
Hughes reports, “Another prototype reportedly built by Apple looks largely like the iPhone 4, but has improved hardware including longer battery life and superior camera. That version of the handset would not be a major physical change from the previous-generation iPhone 4, and would be akin to the iPhone 3GS replacing the iPhone 3G, the report said.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Slide-out mechanical keyboard? Can we get one with a buggy whip holder, too?
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
Would be hilarious if the slide out was a touch screen keyboard.
Parade of ridiculous roumors continues.
And a SCSI port.
Don’t forget HDMI.. hehe
Firewire!
I would personally really like to see an iPhone with a slideout physical keyboard. I find the touch keyboard to be nearly useless, especially when combined with the “predictive text” that has such a lag to it that I always hit the space bar before the suggested word pops up, then have to go back and type what I first typed correctly. Drives me insane. Plus can only use one finger to type, not two thumbs.
The probably with the entire screen being a touch screen is that the entire screen is a touch screen! So anytime you even accidentally touch another part of it, something happens.
I do not know what the perfect solution is, but I find the iPhone 4 touch keyboard to be entirely lacking, as well as the horrid auto-correct features. I do have large hands, but not like a NBA player’s.
I agree.
In my case, my fingers are too large for the virtual keys. Errors abound. Slide-out would be a nice alternative.
Wait a minute, your fingers are too big for virtual keys!?! Keys whose visual representations are actually larger than a slid-out keypad?
Hmmm, reports of Neaderthal extinction are greatly exagerated.
Your fingers are too large for the virtual keys, but somehow they’re not too large for the even smaller, tiny, physical keys? Interesting.
I have large hands and fingers also, and I can bang away on the virtual keyboard pretty efficiently; certainly as efficient as the tiny slide-out bubble keys.
I think typing on the virtual keyboard is a little like racing: If you try to go too fast, you’ll actually be slower than if you slowed down a bit an focused on smoothness.
Just sayin’.
This isnt going to happen, why woudl they go back 4 years?
They would “go back 4 years” quite simply because there is customer demand for it. This would finally be a reason for me to get an iPhone, and other comments in this thread show that I am far from being alone in wanting this. The virtual keyboard is a PITA, yet i have no problem with the BB I have to use for work. The Apple Fanboys should just get over the fact that not everyone wants a virtual keyboard.
Anybody who says that their fingers are too big for virtual keys is either talking bullshit or is not using an iOS virtual keyboard.
Put your iPhone into vertical orientation so that the keys are as small as possible and then push the flattest part of your thumb onto the ‘G’ key.
I chose G because it’s surrounded by loads of other keys and your thumb is almost certainly covering some other keys, such as RTY,FGH and CVB too. However, the clever thing is that the virtual keyboard calculates the entire area that you touch and then works out the centre of that area and regards that as the target. In this case, you should see it respond by generating a ‘G’.
Because it calculates where you were aiming for, it’s possible to type just by using your thumbs and still get excellent accuracy.
Here you go:
http://www.boxwave.com/products/keyboardbuddycase/apple-iphone-4-keyboard-buddy-case_3968.htm
If you don’t like it, why don’t you turn it off?
Settings:General:Keyboard:Auto-Correction
Too easy, huh?
Once you “let go” and trust the predictive virtual keyboard, it really starts working.
Took me the longest time to get that.
Of course, fine motor control varies greatly.
Yeah, except that it makes mistakes all the time…
that’s what you meant to type. TRUST IT…..
All these news are meant to legitimize form factors sitting in warehouses. You see if apple will be making these, then they are not obsolete and not uncool.
They are just prototypes. They don’t mean anything at this point. But I’d like the next iPhone to have an edge-to-edge screen.
This, plus a redesign of the GUI would really help. Competition is catching up. It’s time for Apple to take another huge step forward.
The iPhone is more than 4 years old, it has tons of copycats and WP7 looks actually good and different, so a new design is welcome.
What? No cup holder?!
I got your slide out hangin’.
Please, have mercy.
Oh God, here we go . . . ’tis the season for Taiwanese manufacturer rumors. Has anyone ever tracked these to see if ANY of them have ever come true? One would think that nobody would read DigiTimes anymore with their track record, except as fantasy and humor.
No all wrong, that wasn’t a keyboard sliding out, it was a floppy drive
Slide out keyboard….. Yeah this rumor has merit lol
There is no reason for a slide out keyboard, once you use the iPhone touchpad for awhile you’ll get faster typing than on a keyboard.
In order not to be left behind, one version of iPhone 5 will run Windows 7 as its OS.
Yes, so that Apple has to make a different iPhone model for every market with a different language. Yes, so that Apple can make the iPhone thicker and heavier, and more prone to breakage. Yes, it all makes sense… 😉
Guys, you must understand that there ARE people who are having a hard time figuring out the touch keyboard. Also, there are people who simply do not CARE about whatever you (or Steve) have to say about how fast the touch keyboard is — they just WANT their button keyboard and will get it somewhere else if Steve doesn’t give it to them. Some of these people are stubborn, while most have valid reasons (they tried, didn’t like it and don’t want it). In other words, there are people with DIFFERENT preferences from yours. They aren’t less valid than yours.
The point here is not how ‘stupid’ the idea of slide-out keyboard is. It is whether such a solution is worth it or not. I believe slide-out keyboard falls into the same category as matte screens, ExpressCard slots, Firewire on Macbooks, bundled remote with Macbooks and all those other features that have been eliminated because too few people want them, and even fewer would actually use them.
Nothing prevents Apple from exploring these options, though. I am not going to completely dismiss this rumour. The prototype may as well exist. The likelihood of it ever becoming a final product is quite small, though.
Matte screen? Bite your tongue! I’m reading this on my MBP with anti-glare display. Gorgeous screen. And quite useful.
There must be a reason why the matte screen is still an option. Probably because it sells pretty well.
We all know these are mole-catcher protos. Or they want to sucker other manufacturers into rushing the make them. IE the Eric T. Mole way.
I second this insight!
When the competition’s main tactic is copying Apple’s every move, Apple execs probably have fun developing these random projects to see who’s dumb enough to take the bait.
Also, it keeps the gossip columns full and keeps Apple in the minds of investors.
Slide-out keyboard = Snowball’s chance in hell of ever occurring on an Apple phone.
It is simply not the way Apple does things. It is a step backwards. It is derivative, not innovative. They may improve the touch keyboard, though.
I have no doubt that they have prototypes in a lab somewhere with keyboards, but the chance of those prototypes becoming actual products is zero and zero.
Sorry to those with large fingers, but if yours are like mine are, you’ll probably be better off with a touch keyboard and predictive text than a physical keyboard with keys that are half the size.
–mAc
I call BS for a slide-out keyboard. Apple surely wouldn’t do such a nasty thing to the iPhone. The current iPhone is thin and sturdy and adding a physical keyboard just doesn’t make any sense. I wouldn’t doubt that Apple has made all sorts of prototypes but Steve will take one look at them and say “No good” and that’s it.
Sure, I hear they also have a prototype that hooks on your back and can be used as a jet pack too!
Apple has touch screen controls on an iPod nano. That should be a clue as to how this is going. Slide out keyboards are RIM-jobs.
Slide-out keyboard? I’d consider it.
Apple has been moving away from moving components – so adding a moving keyboard with 50 or so moving keys makes perfect sense! NOT!
how about a 4.3 in screen or something. I can’t stand that I’m stuck on a little 3.5 when android and others have bigger screens
A 4.3″ inch screen with half the resolution. And it doesn’t fit in your pocket. Dont be jealous of android. Ask hom what os he’s on. Only 10 percent of android users are on the current firmware.
What about an independent bluetooth keyboard in the iPhone styling?
IMNSHO, anybody who still has trouble with other parts of his hand touching the screen while typing has the skills of my 4yo grandson. If those skills don’t improve, yeah, I think you should get yourself an iPhone model for the disabled (In my country they say: differently abled). Or try typing with your wrist instead.
Sorry, couldn’t help it. Personally I have never typed faster before on a phone keyboard.
iPhone… and iPhone Pro.
It’s quite common in ANY industry to have different versions of the same product for different consumers, at different price points.
You will almost always end up with more of the market. See iPod. There were those that only bought an iPod when the Nano came out because of size. Some first bought a shuffle because of price.
I don’t think Apple can differentiate between versions anymore solely with storage space.