Apple wants NFC, but not for the iPhone 5

The Internet is all abuzz with talks of near-field communication (NFC) chips in mobile phones and the newest and (and thinnest!) forms of payment.

Apple is particularly interested in NFC with rumors stating the company may equip the upcoming iPhone 5 with such capabilities. New reports show the interest is still there, but it’s unclear which phone will utilize the technology.

Forbes magazine reported Apple plans to bring NFC to iPhone 5, but a separate report last week claimed that Apple had indeed abandoned the plans citing "the lack of a clear standard."

Today, The New York Times reported Apple has a definite interest in NFC tech, although the iPhone 5 may not be NFC-enabled.



The author of the article, Nick Bilton, said Apple does indeed plan to integrate NFC but "it is unclear" which handset it will appear in.

"One person familiar with the new Apple feature said the phone's credit card information would be tied to information currently used on iTunes, which would make it simple for customers to set up the new mobile payment method on the iPhone," the report claimed.

Although the technology is highly anticipated in various tech circles, products like Google’s Nexus S have failed to garner mainstream excitement over the feature.

Of course, only time will tell if the feature is included in the iPhone 5 or not.

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Are these iPhone 5 engineering drawings?

The site iDealsChina is at it again, posting what it claims are CAD renderings of the next-generation iPhone, which many presume will be called the iPhone 5.
The site says the "mold engineering" drawings were created to help guide accessory manufacturers in the production of their protective cases. Some similar drawings leaked in advance of the iPad 2 launch and an iPad 2 mockup that was spotted at CES in January ended up looking very similar to the actual iPad 2, which went on sale today.

If the purported renderings are to be believed, the next iPhone will look very much like the current iPhone 4 but have a larger screen. Recently, iDealsChina posted an image of what it claimed was a screen digitizer for the iPhone 5. It, too, showed a larger screen with a "edge-to-edge" design. However, some sites claimed the image was a fake.

It's also worth mentioning that these supposed renderings fly in the face of a Taiwan's Economic Daily News report from a few days ago that suggested the next iPhone would have a milled aluminum body that more closely resembled the iPad 2's design. That report also claimed Apple would be changing its antenna design.

We have no idea if these renderings are from Apple (or just created in CAD by someone else) but we do think it would be a good idea for Apple to move to a slightly bigger screen without making the phone any bigger. Why not?


Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20042078-1.html#ixzz1GXomeLoy

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So far I'm passing on the iPhone 5

Now that the iPad 2 is coming, or at least is being announced later this week, the rumor mill has switched to the iPhone 5. So far there are a whole lot of upgrades packed into this thing, but nothing is really blowing me away as “revolutionary”. See a quick roundup below:

* It will cost less, but will not be an iPhone nano

* Four-inch display

* Upgraded multi-core A4 processor (A5?)

* Gobi WWAN chip that works on both CDMA and GSM (Verizon iPhone already has it)

* Near Field Communication (NFC) — following the Nexus S

* Newly designed antenna (no more death grip)

My guess is most likely we’ll see a “new look”, bumped up specs (A5 processor) and a 4-inch screen. When you put all of that together, it lags far behind what the iPhone 4 introduced. For starters, with the iPhone 4 the world suddenly experienced an iPhone with a retina display, front and rear facing cameras, 720p HD video recording, Facetime, and more. The iPhone 4 was a worthy upgrade, whereas the iPhone 5 seems more like some specs being bumped up.

Of course, the above is all speculation, and it will be a while before we get a true glimpse at what the iPhone 5 will be all about.

In the interim, I continue to hear friends raving about their Verizon iPhone 4, despite my comments on why you shouldn’t run out and get one. This makes me realize that even if the iPhone 5 is just a spec bump, the people that weren’t eligible to upgrade to the 4 will definitely be waiting in line for the 5. This will, of course, translate to a sell-out success for Apple this summer (if the rumors of the launch date hold true).

I’m hopeful that Apple will surprise all of us with not only a revolutionary experience with the next generation iPhone, but a redefined tablet experience in the form of the iPad 2.

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