Maybe No Smart Bezel On the iPhone 5, But Plenty of New Gestures

Recent iPhone 5 production rumors also shed light on new screen components, suggesting that the next iPhone may leverage some of Samsung’s exciting, new AMOLED screen technology.
You could say that, since user interaction is what makes having a smartphone so invigorating, a smartphone’s greatness is measured by its screen. And since multitudes of iPhone 5′ers have been pining for a larger, cooler screen for the iPhone 5 for well over a year now, it’s safe to say that an iPhone 5 with any screen upgrade will be an epic win for Apple.
Lost in today’s iPhone 5 cycle, amidst reports that preliminary iPhone 5 orders from Apple are being split between both the Pegatron and Foxconn iPhone components facilities, is an intriguing bit of news from UBM TechInsights, a kind of tech thinktank and investigative body that informs investors and tech influencers on what’s going on in the smartphone market. Their recent report reveals that Apple’s next screen for the iPhone 5 will indeed be quite impressive.
According to the report, “Samsung will continue to make the A5 processor for Apple, despite legal wrangling between the cell phone rivals.  Also, Apple has recently filed patents around OLED touch screens, which could suggest iPhone 5 will include a larger, sharper display, also improving visibility in sunlight and reducing power consumption.”
We’ve collected all of the article that relate to the iPhone 5′s rumored production progress in an article on the iPhone 5 News Ticker. Check it out here, or read on:
As I’m sure you’re aware, Samsung continues to be a major product leader when it comes to OLED touch screens. At the 2010 CES, “Samsung demonstrated a laptop computer with a large, transparent OLED display featuring up to 40% transparency and an animated OLED display in a photo ID card” (from Wikipedia), and are now rolling out their Super AMOLED Plus displays, which utilize “real stripe matrix (50% more sub pixels), thinner form factor, brighter image and a 18% reduction in energy consumption.”
It seems apparent that the iPhone 5 is bound to get an impressive new screen, and one that could very well be curved — as some rumors have suggested — due to Samsung’s new technology that allows their screens to be incredibly flexible, thin, and even transparent.
A Side Note: Changeable Topography Screen
A long while back, I referenced one of Apple’s immensely cool patents for a changeable topography, a fancy term for a screen that takes on the shape and feel of whatever it is displaying. Not only would a shape-changing screen be a monumental breakthrough in gesture control and mobile computing, leading to tons of fun with gaming, social networking — even giving people the opportunity to “touch” each other through their screens — it would also give the sight impaired a seat at the table of the smartphone game.
It occurs to me that the current AMOLED screen technology is getting to the point where realizing Apple’s patent may be possible. I’m not predicting it for the iPhone 5, but who knows? Maybe for the iPhone 6?

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Maybe No Smart Bezel On the iPhone 5, But Plenty of New Gestures

It remains to be seen if the iPhone 5 will receive new gesture functions alla the fabled “smart bezel.” But the new beta version of iOS 5 is revealing a new set of gestures that could prove to replace traditional buttons.
Rumors and prognostications about the fabled “smart bezel” have faded over the months, as the iPhone 5 becomes more and more of a reality. Almost from the very beginning of the iPhone 5 rumor cycle, the smart bezel rumor was coupled with related rumors that Apple would get rid of a physical home button and look to diversify gesture control areas on the iPhone 5, as well as open up new ways to control the device.
It very well may be that significant hardware changes like smart bezels and moved home buttons may not make their way onto the iPhone 5, but the newest beta version of iOS 5 has revealed that the platform itself — once it is released in its full regalia in the fall — will equip the iPhone 5 with new gestures to play around with.
The latest beta build features Assistive Touch. Apple Insider reports that, “With Assistive Touch, an overlay menu is displayed that presents the user with commands that usually require certain physical actions, such as rotating the screen or shaking the device. This new feature allows for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch to be more accessible to those who may not be able to accomplish these tasks.”
At present, Assistive Touch offers limited functionality, only allowing for basic functions, such as locking the screen, adjusting volume, rotating the screen, and pinch/swipe movements.
But perhaps what is most interesting about Assistive Touch is the ability to customize gestures to complete otherwise complex gestural tasks on the iPhone. As Apple Insider explains, “Users can also create custom gestures, tracing certain patterns or movements with their fingers on the screen to accomplish some tasks that may be difficult. These gestures can then be given a name and accessed from the Assistive Touch menu.”
New Gestures for a Bigger Screen on the iPhone 5?
We already know that iOS 5 will work fully with the iPhone 4, and will even offer somewhat limited functionality with the iPhone 3Gs. But in spite of iOS 5′s flexibility to work on legacy iPhone devices, it has clearly been developed with the iPhone 5 in mind. After all, it was released after the iPad 2, but before the iPhone 5.
Perhaps the crux of Apple’s Assistive Touch is to make the gestural interface of the iPhone 5 more immersive due the inclusion of a larger screen? It would seem that adding more sophisticated gesture control to a sprawling new iPHone 5 screen would be an ideal way to further boast of the iPhone 5′s new dimensions.
We really won’t know how Assistive Touch works (and feels) until we see how it fits on the iPhone 5. But in the end, it could prove to be just as impressive as a smart bezel.

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