“A 30-pin dock connector cable claimed to be a prototype part for Apple’s forthcoming iPhone 5 has surfaced overseas, along with more details of a handset with a sliding screen cover that could suggest a hardware keyboard,” Neil Hughes reports for AppleInsider.
“tw.apple.pro posted on Monday a photo of a part claimed to be from the iPhone 5. It appears to show the 30-pin dock connector and the ribbon used to attach it inside of Apple’s handset,” Hughes reports. “The report claims Apple has built a new iPhone model with a ‘sliding cover.’ It notes that the alleged device has a ‘frame shape’ similar to the current iPhone 4, though the device is ‘slightly thicker’ than the current-generation iPhone.”
Hughes reports, “Though the roughly translated report does not specifically indicate that the ‘sliding cover’ would involve a keyboard, the same site earlier this month said that Apple was evaluating three prototypes for the iPhone 5, and one of them allegedly has a slide-out keyboard.”
Read more in the full article, which includes a photo of the part, here.
MacDailyNews Take: Once again: People who don’t like typing on iPhones have rarely or never typed on iPhones or have not yet allowed themselves to let the iPhone do it’s job. Trust the iPhone, don’t fight it. Remember, a Jedi can feel the Force flowing through him.
A hardware keyboard is a significant selling point for only one group of customers: those who already own a phone with a hardware keyboard, and that group is a niche. A nice niche, but a niche nonetheless… I type far better on my iPhone than I expected I’d be able to, and that seems to be true for everyone I know who owns one. The only people who struggle with the iPhone keyboard are those who are already accustomed to a hardware smartphone keyboard. – John Gruber, June 5, 2009
Related articles:
Antiquate your iPhone – and cover half the screen – with plastic-buttoned slide-on keyboard – September 17, 2009
iPhone typist hits 56 WPM (with video) – February 10, 2010
Trust your keyboard every time, young Jedi…
Trust in iOS Grasshopper, and you will prosper.
Mdn take…. Spot on
If the IPhone 5 begins the slide out keyboard era of the iPhone, the iPhone 4 may be my last iPhone.
I’ll buy up a few to keep for spares.
Arthur C. Clarke, I believe it was in “Childhood’s End,” made a very astute observation – the more truly sophisticated a device becomes, the fewer buttons, dials, switches, etc. It needs. He as writing in particular about a spacecraft, but I think it applies here as well.
There are credible rumors, and there are ones like this.
My fingers are too big for the touch screen. Typing errors abound. A slide-out keyboard would be a nice addition.
JM, Do you realize that the buttons on a physical keyboard are smaller than on the virtual keyboard? It’s true.
Yeah I have big hands too.
Everyones fingers are too big for the iPhone. But if you don’t use the entire pad of your finger to press each key you’ll have an easier time.
Since your fingers are rounded the tip of your finger shouldn’t take up much more surface area than that of an infant’s. It’s only when you press your finger into the screen that it will be so fat as to press multiple buttons.
The iPhone will never regress; that’s what a physical keyboard and “slightly thicker” device would be.
Am I the only one that thinks this may be for an iPad?
I hope Apple isn’t going down this road.
Why are we assuming this slideout is a keyboard? Could be physical controls for gaming.
I think you hit the nail right on the head.
Slide out keyboard…rubbish!
The only thing holding back the iphone/pod/pad as far as gaming is a better method for controlling the game. The use of touch and the gyroscopic sensors have made some amzing new types of games…but we still really need some sort of hardware controls to make it useful for many games
Maybe similar to slide out controls Sony has? Apple has what Nintendon’t…
That is what I hope it will be too, although it would present some problems for the iOS games marketplace, like compatibility and fragmentation.
Leak bait . . .
A micro “astroid”
Is Apple regressing to last year’s Nokia designs now that Jonny Ive is bolting the stable?
Apple will never revert to just a slideout keyboard iPhone. That would be regressing. But, it makes sense that if, according to Tim Cook, Apple will not concede any market that we may see a cheaper iPhone and one with a slideout keyboard. I see the slideout keyboard targeting mostly the corporate users stuck on their crapberries. I will never use one with a slideout keyboard but I’m not gonna fault somebody for finally seeing the light because of one.
I hear that maizen! Options never hurt anyone.
If auto correct were so great, sites like damnyouautocorrect.com wouldn’t exist… Apple has a long way to go to make auto correct more tunable and increase it’s accuracy. Here’s to hoping IOS 5 has a user definable and customizable dictionary.
Yes, it will also run flash, have a committed on/off switch, a floppy drive, and a USB port.
i hope its not true. it would make Jobs look dumb. during one of his keynotes he bragged about how great virtual keyboard. he pointed out how a real keyboard can’t change as software changes.
slideout keyboard at this stage in industry is a step back and not innovated
Although Jobs has been known to backtrack, I don’t think that is likely in this case. As you point out, a virtual keyboard can be modified to suit a specific application (e.g., texting) or language (e.g., hand-drawn characters) or whatever. I will be very surprised if an iPhone with a physical keyboard is released.
Perhaps an approach for expanding the display real estate without increasing the physical dimensions of the iPhone 4?? Who knows…many of us on this forum have been around long enough to enjoy what we currently have in hand while waiting patiently for the next Apple product release. Compared to the early to mid-1990s, this is Mac user nirvana. Even the most optimistic did not prognosticate this level of Apple dominance.
No matter how big your fingers are, only a very small portion of your finger actually makes contact with the touchscreen.
A keyboard is like training wheels, but the invention of training wheels allowed huffy to extend the addressable market of an existing product to 3,4,5 and 6 year olds who with the addition of a bolt on part.
It would be cool if you could get the keyboard and then ditch it for an extra battery pack once you realize you don’t need it LOL
oh the holy grail of the tiny little keyboard. When you think about it it is a bad idea on any small device.
@C1
Hi-larious. Thanks for the larfs! I needed that today.
Why does everyone assume “slide out keyboard” means “with physical buttons”??
Apple could easily introduce a “slide out” component with a virtual keyboard that also switches to whatever the app needs. Game pad, trackpad, custom keyboard, etc…
Good point Darth!
Er, Varth!
I find it more than a little hilarious that MDN’s comment– “or have not yet allowed themselves to let the iPhone do it’s job.”–betrays evidence of the (Non) Intelligent Keyboard’s funky auto-correct feature! (It’s not “it’s” it’s “its”.) I love it!
MDN, one beef I have with with the iPhone keypad is evident in your take: it supplies the word “it’s” in place of “its.” Let’s get educated, people.
don’t u guys think that the sliding cover might be for the new ipod instead of the new iphone?