News Of Dual-Network iPhone 5 Benefits Verizon More Than AT&T

Verizon’s recent gaffe confirms that the iPhone 5 will indeed be a dual-network device that will work with both CDMA and GSM. While the notion of a dual-network iPhone 5 isn’t much of a revelation, the news helps Verizon more than AT&T. Here’s why:

Another slip of the tongue has confirmed yet another detail about the upcoming iPhone 5.
Less than three weeks after Sony CEO Howard Stringer tacitly admitted that the next iPhone 5 camera would be of the 8 megapixel variety, Verizon’s Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo seems to have now confirmed that the iPhone 5 will indeed be a dual-network device, supporting both AT&T’s GSM and Verizon’s CDMA technologies. Venturebeat reports that “in an attempt to deflect an analyst probing for details on Apple’s next phone, Verizon inadvertently mentioned that [the iPhone 5] will be a ‘global device’.”
While the iPhone community is always happy to have virtually any detail about the iPhone 5 confirmed or corroborated (except, perhaps, for the recent report of a late September release), news of a dual-network iPhone 5 should not come as an earth-shattering revelation to those who have followed the it over the past six month of so. It is true that Apple had to fashion an alternate CDMA-equipped iPhone 4 to work on the Verizon network, creating two network variants with very slight design differences between the two.
But the production of the CDMA model was a work-around for Apple; obviously, a deal with Verizon had not been solidified by the time the iPhone 4 was launched in the summer of 2010, meaning that the initial AT&T model had no CDMA capabilities. And as we all know, there was no way that Apple could have clandestinely outfitted the original AT&T iPhone to run on CDMA — too many iPhone geeks out there pop open their new iPhones to look under the hood. Any stealth move to equip the iPhone 4 for both networks would have been discovered. This time around, however, it makes good business sense to make sure that the iPhone 5 works on both networks; it will keep production costs down and make shipping and inventory far easier.
An interesting question to consider, however, is whether or not a dual-network iPhone 5 benefits either carrier, or is it just a wash?
I would argue that, while the dual-channel iPhone 5 revelation isn’t going to be any kind of groundbreaking game-changer for either mobile carrier, it is Verizon that may have the most to gain from the notion that both companies will share the same iPhone design.
More than any other iPhone 5 topic on this blog, the subject of AT&T versus Verizon has inspired more angst, vitriol, and hurt feelings. We wrote an article about it a while back, and people weighed in on the issue with gusto, defending their mobile network providers with bravado. It’s a fact: iPhone users are passionate about their carriers. AT&T and Verizon are like political parties around here. (I guess Sprint customers are the Independents.)
Thus, I know that I am stepping into a minefield with Verizon customers when I reluctantly state that CDMA is generally considered to be the slower of the two mobile technologies, disallowing the kind of multi-tasking that AT&T iPhone users typically enjoy. Whether or not this is true, however, is not the issue: the fact remains that this is the prevailing belief about Verizon.
With this is mind, one can imagine that it can only benefit Verizon for prospective iPhone 5 customers to see that the device works on both networks. Unlike the iPhone 4, which has two variants for GSM and CDMA, the iPhone is the same phone, same specs, same technology. AT&T will no longer be able to infer that they have the “better iPhone” model.
Sameness is the name of the game for Verizon this time around, as they will finally have a chance to compete with AT&T right out of the gate with the iPhone 5. The game plan will be the same for both carriers: AT&T will tout speed and versatility, and Verizon will roll out their maps. It should be a real hoot.
Perhaps this admission by Verizon about the dual-channel iPhone 5 will turn out to be the first innoquous shot fired in the iPhone 5 network wars?

<< Read Now >>

Greenpeace’s “Green Libel:” Calling Apple the “Least Green” Tech Company

Greenpeace claims that Apple is the "least green" tech company. Does that really make any sense?

For years now, Apple has led the way in the technology sector on environmentally-friendly design concepts and business practices. But Greenpeace’s recent report indicating that Apple’s investment in a data center — reportedly for a soon-to-be-unveiled cloud data storage feature on the iPhone 5 — doesn’t jive with Apple’s eco-ethics. What gives?
Anybody who is a big believer in Apple products knows that green technology and environmental concerns have long been a priority for their research and development. Regardless of where one charts on the ideological spectrum when it comes to environmental issues, one thing is for sure: Apple has been an honest broker in its environmental initiatives. While a cynic might suggest that the green angle on Apple products is little more than a marketing pitch for its devoted customers, the end result of Apple’s eco-friendly developments are unquestionable.
Browse the various gadgets at Apple.com and you’re bound to notice that its most popular products boast a wide array of green-inspired features. For the MacBook series of laptops, Apple devotes an entire section to the environment, highlighting how an efficient power supply, advanced power management, 5.2 energy star qualification, and fewer toxins used in the construction of the design materials all lead to some of the greenest electronics out there on the market today.
The same is true with the iPad, iPhone, and iPod: Apple’s glass displays are recyclable, as are the aluminum chassis used on the MacBooks. In addition, Apple goes out of its way to package its products with an emphasis on minimalism, saving tons of cardboard, plastic, and other packaging materials.
But what is most impressive is Apple’s advancement in battery technology. For as much as carbon emissions are the flavor of the month when it comes to the environmental debate, fewer things pollute a landfill more than alkaline batteries and the grandpappy of rechargeable battery technology: the NiCad. Apple’s LiON battery technology — which really came into its own in 2010 with the iPad and MacBook Pro — is simply out of this world, allowing users to get maximum longevity and performance out of the battery packs used to power their mobile devices.
Given all of the efforts that Apple has made to accommodate environmental concerns, does it strike anyone as strange that an eco-activist organization like Greenpeace would levy such a scathing claim against them, labeling Apple as the “least green” tech company in the world?
It is, in effect, a green libel.
Greenpeace’s report, which is entitled How Dirty is Your Data?, is specifically targeting data centers throughout the world who rely on coal-fueled electricity to power their energy needs. The Guardian reported that, “The facility’s power will be supplied by Duke Energy, with a mix of 62% coal and 32% nuclear.” Apple’s top ranking on Greenpeace’s list stems directly from their recent purchase of petrabytes of data storage at this facility in North Carolina. In case you didn’t hear about it, this investment by Apple is most likely going to account for ushering in cloud data storage on the next iPhone 5 — something that the vast majority of avid iPhone users are incredibly excited about.
The Guardian goes on to state that Greenpeace’s findings are little more than an educated guess: ”Greenpeace drew on publicly available information on investments made in data centres, to estimate the maximum power these facilities will consume, and matched that information with data from the government or utilities.” In short, their findings are mere speculation, in spite of the fact that they are reported empirically.
Guess what, folks — you can’t power petrabytes and petrabytes of data storage for all of the music, photos, videos, and files that we love — not to mention the vast amounts of data storage that top corporations and governments rely on to keep commerce and services running — with a few windmills. The Guardian says, “Data centre energy demand already accounts for 1.5% to 2% of world electricity consumption and is set to quadruple over the next 10 years.”
Regardless of what we may think of coal-powered electricity, we have still yet to come up with a means of powering high performance technology assets like mass data servers with anything less than fossil fuels (or nuclear power, though these days it isn’t the most popular alternative power source). It is unrealistic for Greenpeace or any other iPhone user for that matter to desire more power, more storage, more productivity, and more Appley goodness without their being an increase in the carbon footprint.
We cannot have our cake and eat it, too.
The good news is that Apple has already been so pro-active in reducing its carbon footprint that one could argue that it has some leeway for expanding its data servers. After all, imagine how much less power is used throughout the world on Apple machines, thanks to all of the above-mentioned eco-features? Given all of these advancements, is Greenpeace claiming that Apple is a bigger eco-offender than the top Chinese technology companies, which do not have to abide by any carbon standards whatsoever?
Scan the Greenpeace website, and you quickly come to realize that destroying the coal industry is their primary focus. Whether or not you agree or disagree with coal power or Greenpeace, you have to ask yourself this question: is Apple really the best company to bully over coal-powered electricity and environmental responsibility?

<< Read Now >>

Latest White iPhone 4, iPhone 5 and iPhone 6 (Yes!) Scuttlebutt From All Over

The white iPhone 4 is due out soon. How about the iPhone 5?

Charles Moore of the iPhone 5 News Blog probes deep into the new rumors of the white iPhone 4 — and touches on new developments for the iPhone 5 and even iPhone 6!
The Italian news site PhoneItalia says that according to information received “from a reliable source,” they can reveal (“perhaps”), that the white iPhone 4 will go on sale in Italy on April 26.
With the qualifier that this information is based on hearsay from from the unnamed source and therefore, can’t be verified or refuted directly by the editors of iPhoneItalia, they note that the white iPhone product code is already open at H3G stores in Italy, so declare the news to be “almost certain though not announced,” especially in light of many other rumors indicating a possible release of the white iPhone in late April.
The French Apple-watcher site HardMac suggests that the white iPhone release could well be a strategy of Apple’s to ease pent-up demand fro something new in the iPhone category, given a fairly strong consensus that the iPhone 5 will not be coming until the fall, with the best explanation of that delay coming from experts studying the supply chain in China who say that Apple has not yet ordered any new components for iPhone 5 production and that no new manufacturing chain is being built so far, and deduce that the probable reason for that would be that the A5 dual-core processor, expected to be a key upgraded feature in the iPhone 5, is in short supply because of heavier than anticipated demand for the iPad 2, leading to a constant shortage of iPad 2.
Since it’s unlikely that Apple would release the white iPhone in Europe or elsewhere before it hits the U.S. market, if this scuttlebutt is correct, it’s looking good for a white iPhone debut soon after Easter.
As for the iPhone 5 itself, when it does arrive, HardMac notes divers predictions that it will have a metal housing made of aluminum of Liquid Metal and a higher-resolution screen than the iPhone 4 in the neighborhood of 8 to 12 million pixels.
HardMac also notes that rumors are also ramping up that the iPhone 6 is being readied for a projected launch in the “first semester” of 2012 featuring a completely different design from previous models, which would suggest that the iPhone 5 will be an evolutionary development from the iPhone 4, and not a clean slate redesign.
Back in the U.S.A. and points east, AppleInsider’s Neil Hughes cites a note issued by Concord Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo on Monday contending that the iPhone 5 will only have “slight modifications” from the iPhone 4′s spec., including the faster A5 processor, an 8 megapixel rear camera and a Qualcomm baseband that would enable the same phone to support both GSM and CDMA wireless services (but no 4G?), and that it will not enter trial production until August and full production in September due to component shortages caused by the Japanese earthquake/tsunami/nuclear disasters, and to finally be released for sale for sale likely after Apple begins its next fiscal year beginning in October, with anticipated overall iPhone (4 and 5) shipping volumes of 28 million and 32 million units for 2011.
However, Hughes says Kuo thinks Apple will at least give us a peek at the iPhone 5 at the World Wide Developers Conference to be held June 6-10 at San Francisco, and that due to its similarity to the iPhone 4, one of its primary selling points will be the new iOS 5 operating system, which of course will support the iPhone 4 as well. The Register’s Rik Myslewski, on the other hand, says he thinks a preview of the iPhone 5 at the WWDC is highly unlikely, given that with the he iPhone 4 is still selling quite well, undercutting it by announcing that an improved model that won’t appear until months later would be poor strategy.
Hughes observes that Kuo’s track record for predictive accuracy is pretty strong, his having called the iPad 2′s retention of a 1024 x 768 resolution display and use of lower-quality iPod touch cameras instead of iPhone 4 units.
Kuo predicted last month that Apple would begin white iPhone 4 production in April to ship late in the month, and concurs with the European rumoristas that the iPhone 6 will likely be rolled out during in the first half of 2012 in order to counter “fierce competition” from Android-based products.

<< Read Now >>

Late iPhone 5 Release

The iPhone 4 has been Apple’s most successful iPhone by far, as the delayed release of the Verizon iPhone and rumors of a white iPhone 4 on the way keep sales brisk. But is the success of the iPhone 4 pushing back the iPhone 5?
You know the old saying: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
For as much as Apple analysts have pointed to the rise of the Droid platform in 2010 as the first shot fired in the smartphone wars, and that the iPhone 5 has to “keep pace” with Droid technology to remain competitive, iPhone 4 sales remain brisk. Apple sold nearly 40 million iPhones in 2010 alone — most of which were of the iPhone 4 variety — and the launch of the Verizon iPhone in 2011 and the soon-to-be white iPhone 4 (which we predicted as a spring 2011 release back in October) all point to continued robust sales throughout the spring and early summer.
Given this reality, why are we even surprised that the iPhone 5 remains sidelined?
There’s no doubt that the iPhone 5 has been completely designed and tested by Apple — there have even been rumors of iPhone 5 prototypes being spotted from North America to Asia. But we know for a fact that Apple has yet to begin iPhone 5 production, with some reports indicating that even no “production roadmap” has been presented to Apple’s component suppliers and assemblers.
Now, just because the news leak-prone Asian suppliers haven’t seen the production roadmap doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist: the iPhone 5 could most likely be put into production at a moment’s notice by Apple, since by this time, all of the plans and specs for the next iPhone are in place. But when you consider how successful the iPhone 4 has been over the past 10 months or so, why even bother rushing the iPhone 5?
To be sure, a severely-stalled iPhone 5 could irk enough stalwart iPhone users to defect to Droid, as we have reported on in another article. But there is another angle to this iPhone 5 delay: Apple may may have realized that stalling the iPhone 5 will funnel more prospective iPhone users to the iPhone 4.
After all, why spend all of the time, money, and resources to improve on the iPhone 4 if it’s still selling like hotcakes?
I often use Nintendo’s various gaming consoles as an analogy to Apple’s own marketing and production logic, and the Wii proves this rationale beautifully: the Wii hasn’t been updated in years, and yet the console — and its litany of games — continue to sell robustly. All Nintendo has to do every year is refresh the product with something cosmetic — such as the black and red Wiis — or the addition of new accessories, like the Wii Motion Plus.
In many ways, the white iPhone 4 is akin to these above-mentioned examples, and a simple, cost-effective way of extending the lifecycle of the iPhone 4.
Will Apple Wait Until 2012 to Release the iPhone 5?
Up until this point, the iPhone 5 News Blog hasn’t entertained rumors that the iPhone 5 could get pushed back as far as 2012 — for the most part, we’ve stuck to our belief that it will make its debut at the end of the summer. (And we were the first blog to predict a late-summer release of the iPhone 5, by the way.) However, the only factor that supports the notion that the iPhone 5 could be released as late as 2012 is the continued sales success of the iPhone 4.
In the first quarter of 2011 alone, Apple has sold 16.24 million iPhones. And with the release of the white iPhone 4 sometime in April or May, as well as continued rumors of the late iPhone 5, it isn’t unrealistic to imagine that Apple may come close to doubling up on sales at the end of the second quarter.
With all of this in mind, perhaps the most effective way of ensuring a timely release of the iPhone 5 is for people to stop buying the iPhone 4?

<< Read Now >>

The Latest News On The White iPhone 4 & Its Impact On The iPhone 5 Release

iPhone 5 News Blog columnist Charles Moore reports on the latest news surrounding the white iPhone 4 and how it may impact the release of the iPhone 5.
It’s not the news a lot of increasingly impatient would-be iPhone 5 upgraders are waiting for or want to hear, but it’s looking like the near-mythological white iPhone 4, originally intended to debut June 2010, and which has been the object of an Ahab-like obsessive quest by some iPhone fans over the past 10 months, is finally going to materialize.
On Wednesday, a tweet from Apple Senior Vice-President of Marketing Phil Schiller affirmed: “The white iPhone will be available this spring (and it is a beauty!),” reiterating a tweet to the same effect Schiller had made in March, which had in turn reiterated an announcement made by Apple in December 2010. On Thursday, Reuters’ Hong Kong-based correspondent Kelvin Soh reported that according to unnamed industry sources, Apple’s far-eastern subcontractors Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd., a division of Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology Group, have at long last begun production of white iPhone 4s, and Bloomberg News reported this week that AT&T and Verizon would have stock of white iPhones by the end of April.
Actually, the impatient and financially flush can have a white iPhone now from whiteiphone4.com which offers a White iPhone 4 Full Conversion Kit for $259 (pictured).

So, why is this bad news for folks with their sights set on an iPhone 5? Well, noting concrete, but it seems highly improbable that Apple would have Hon Hai ramping up production of a white variant of the iPhone 4 if it was about to release an iPhone 5 anytime soon, and my deduction is that if the white whale iPhone does materialize over the next couple of weeks as predicted, then the prospects for an iPhone 5 release before fall (or mid-late September, which is technically late summer) at the earliest will be looking slim. As The Register’s Tony Smith noted on Wednesday, Apple be looking to a white iPhone 4 rollout as a way to rekindle interest in the the current model, extending its production lifespan, if the iPhone 5 really won’t be out until late 2011 or even early 2012.
Also on April 13, the Taiwan-based industry-watcher Web journal Digitimes’s Yenting Chen, Daniel Shen, and Steve Shen reported that “Apple has not yet released a production roadmap for iPhone 5 as shipment volumes of iPhone 4 have continued to mount and related suppliers are not yet ready to shift their production lines for new products, according to sources at Taiwan-based touch panel makers… amid growing market speculation saying that Apple will delay the launch of the iPhone 5 until September, or even 2012 because of a shortage of upstream components.”
Mssrs. Chen and Shen x 2 also relate that their unnamed insider sources tell them that Apple has not yet released a production roadmap for iPhone 5, that touch panel shipments for iPhone 4 have remained steady, and that they have not seen a timetable to stop current production in preparation for the next-generation of iPhone, speculating that with demand for the iPhone 4 still strong, Apple may have decided to stick with some incremental upgrades or enhancements of the current version (such as the Verizon variant several months ago and the rumored white iPhone 4 release, as well as perhaps a bargain-basement prices an entry-level iPhone 4 model, and/or adding 4G support with a new 4G LTE chip by Qualcomm when it’s ready) and hold back an iPhone 5 release until its customary June or July time envelope in 2012, while its engineers undertake a major overhaul of the iPhone 5 to resolve some design and component issues. Or not.
The takeaway here is that if Apple releases a white iPhone 4 in the next month or so, the odds of an iPhone 5 announcement at the June World Wide Developer’s Conference, or in July have to logically be considered low, but what do I know?
Looking for more on how the white iPhone 4 will impact the release of the iPhone 5? Read Michael Nace’s opinion piece about it here.

<< Read Now >>

The iPhone 5′s Return To The Internal Antenna, Metal Back Would Be a “Mea Culpa” For Apple

A metal-backed mock-up of the iPhone 5. Will it be an admission from Apple that the iPhone 4 was indeed flawed?

The “Antennagate” scandal of 2010 spooked iPhone users and marred the early image of the iPhone 4. While Apple fought hard in the press to brush off the reception issues, if the iPhone 5 features either an Internal Antenna and/or metal back, will it be a tacit admission that the iPhone 4 was flawed?
We’ve talked in the press about a panoply of possible new features for the iPhone 5. However, the discussion of either a return to the internal antenna or a metal back (or both) is seldom mentioned in iPhone rumor roundups. The primary reason for this is that the appearance of either or both of these features on the iPhone 5 would not in fact constitute “new features,” but rather would be “fixes” to the contentious Antennagate issue that gripped the tech world in the summer and fall of 2010.
Regardless of where you might be on the antenna issue for the iPhone 4, few current or prospective iPhone users seem to be against the iPhone 5 design returning to earlier, more reliable reception technology. In their March 17th posting, 9 To 5 Mac aptly stated the high probability of the reemergence of the metal back feature. Referencing a reliable source from Foxconn, writer Mark Gurman reported that “Apple has decided to move away from the back-glass enclosure found on the fourth-generation device and move to something similar to the back of the first-generation iPhone from 2007.”
Gurman went on to explain that “if Apple keeps the same antenna design (which was not mentioned by sources) as the iPhone 4 and adds the flat aluminum back, this back should not cause any reception issues.” International Business Times seconds this rumor, and also adds that the iPhone 5 will indeed revert back to the internal antenna seen on the iPhone 4. In this way, Apple is essentially doubling up on fixing the antenna issue.
However, should these two fixes show up on the iPhone 5, how is Apple going to handle it from a PR perspective?
After all, Steve Jobs and the rest of Apple’s marketing and PR mechanism worked overtime last summer to squelch the escalating criticism about the purported faulty antenna and “death grip.” Their approach to dealing with the problem turned out to be complex at best: while on one hand they brushed off the criticism as “overblown,” affirming that the iPhone 4 had the same level of reception quality as its competitors, Apple also responded by distributing free bumpers for the iPhone 4, which was seen by many to be a work-around for an obvious design flaw in the antenna.
This time around, with the iPhone 5, Apple will have to address the decision to return to previous designs when it comes to reception. By utilizing either the internal antenna or metal black, it will be a de facto admission that the iPhone 4 was indeed flawed to some extent. With the metal back, Apple will have some plausible deniability — they can always claim that the decision was entirely aesthetically motivated, especially if they go with a Liquid Metal over Aluminum.
But a return to the internal antenna on the iPhone 5 will be harder to spin.
Apple has always prided itself as a product leader when it comes to quality, performance, and innovation of personal computers and mobile computing devices. And for the most part, the company has managed to live up to the reputation that it espouses. And while the iPhone 4 was indeed an advancement of the iPhone technology as a whole, it is more likely to go down in history as the first hiccup in the iPhone lineage. Let us hope that the hiccup ends with the iPhone 5.
What do you think? Was “antennagate” just a witch hunt by the press, or was it a big enough problem to be newsworthy? And will a return to the internal antenna and/or metal back on the iPhone 5 convince you that the iPhone 4 antenna design was indeed faulty?

<< Read Now >>

Smart Bezel Could Be The Big, New “Mystery Feature” For the iPhone 5

Apple's patent for the so-called "Smart Bezel." Will it end up on the iPhone 5?

As the tech community endlessly prognosticates on the next big features for the iPhone 5, there’s no doubt that Apple  has kept some of the best bits hidden from the public. But could the recent exposé on Apple’s Smart Bezel patent be the mind-blowing feature that makes the iPhone 5 the smartphone of the year?
Bigger screen. 8 megapixel camera. iOS 5. NFC technology, The A5 chip. Most if not all of these predicted new features for the iPhone 5 are improvements rather than innovations — even NFC technology has already been tried on the Droid platform.
Where’s the magic? Where’s the defining feature for the iPhone 5 that will launch it into greatness? With the iPhone 4, we saw the advent of the front-facing camera, which gave smartphone users a next-generation way of communicating on the go. How will the iPhone 5 deliver a similarly siezmic breakthrough?
Enter Apple’s Smart Bezel.
All this week, tech websites have been parsing a curious Apple patent that reveals plans to develop and deploy a dynamic, gesture-controlled bezel around the iPhone 5‘s screen, giving users a secondary means of navigating games and applications. Fast Company I think has summed up the technological aspect of the Smart Bezel patent the best, explaining that:
“The display relies on printed, segmented electroluminescent units (or similar tech) that would be hidden when not activated. These units would display additional info when needed–we’re thinking games controls, an improvement to the awful messaging/alert system iOS uses, and display-wasting info like battery life bars or a clock.”

                                                                  Just as the old Atari
                                                              joystick gave way to the
                                                      advanced game controls of today,
                                                   so too will smartphones like the iPhone
                                                        5 feature more gesture control.


To be sure, the Smart Bezel would be a bona fide breakthrough in technology, should it deliver on its promise of significantly expanding the gesture control and display layout of the iPhone 5. It’s true that other extended touch surface concepts exist on current smartphones, such as the Palm Pre, but if Apple can push the exvelope with this new innovation, it could revolutionize the way that iPhone users interact with their iPhone; not just an improvement on what already exists, but a true innovation that would send the other smartphone designers into catch-up mode..

And from a more practical standpoint, the Smart Bezel would also give the iPhone 5 an effective alternative to the cumbersome home button, which many believe will be moved or replaced in one way or another.
The idea of the Smart Bezel has been kicking around for some time now. For the most part, the idea of adding more gesture control was initially being ascribed to the iPad 2. Many analysts foresee that tablets and smartphones will continue to feature more and more gesture control features apart from the touch screen itself. Much in the way that the simple Atari joystick of yesteryear has advanced to the complex array of buttons, joysticks, sliders, and gesture control, so too will the chassis of the next generation of smartphones and tablets include bezels, backs, and other interesting nooks and crannies that will give users new vistas of control over their mobile computing experience.
How exciting is it to imagine that it all might begin with the iPhone 5‘s Smart Bezel?



What Exactly is a “Bezel,” and How Can It Be “Smart?”

                                                         An example of a chrome bezel from
                                                            an iPhone 3G. Could the bezel
                                                       on the iPhone 5 be a "Smart Bezel?"

I’ve had several comments stating that folks still don’t understand exactly what the bezel of an iPhone is, and what exactly it would mean for it to be “smart.” To use Wikipedia’s definition, a bezel is “a band of metal containing a groove and a flange (i.e. projecting lip) holding a watch crystal or gemstone in its setting.” Traditionally, bezels have been used primarily in jewelry, however, Apple ascribes the term for the chrome rim that surrounds the iPhone’s touch screen.
To date, this bezel has been little more than a cosmetic feature of the iPhone, as well as a means of securing the touch screen. The idea behind a “Smart Bezel” will be to make it touch sensitive so that iPhone users will be able to control the functions of apps and games. Imagine being able to run your fingers up and down the chrome bezel of your iPhone to control volume, scroll, pan, and control other aspects of your mobile computing experience. The other reason why the Smart Bezel is an innovative idea is that it would allow users to play games and use apps without their fingers having to conceal the touch screen when gesturing. By having gesture control available on the bezel, you could keep the touch screen in full view at all times without having to block the screen with your finger.
Some have suggested that the inclusion of a Smart Bezel would mean that the edge-to-edge screen design would probably not materialize for the iPhone 5. That’s probably true. So, the question then becomes: what would you rather have — more gesture control or an edge-to-edge touch screen?

<< Read Now >>