In a sketch supplied to us by a source, the home button is doing double duty as a gesture area; this falls in line with testing we’ve seen for gestures on the iPad, and our sources say that gestures are definitely coming in a future version of iOS. The home button will likely be enlarged, but not scrapped altogether. Furthermore, we’re hearing that the screen on the device will occupy the entire (or near to it) front of the phone, meaning almost no bezel. Our source says the company is doing very “interesting things” with bonded glass technology, and has been exploring designs where the earpiece and sensors are somehow behind the screen itself, making for a device where the display is actually edge-to-edge. Regardless, the sketch we’ve seen suggests the screen will go up to 3.7-inches while keeping the current resolution, and at that size, pixel density goes from 326 to 312 (a drop of 13ppi). That means that Apple can still tout Retina Display technology (the claim is that anything above 300ppi means the pixels aren’t distinguishable at 12 inches). Rumors have been suggesting that the size would bump up to 4 inches, but at that size with the current resolution, pixel density drops to 288, making it harder for Apple to use the RD branding.
Category: Apple
On Apple, Samsung and ‘Look and Feel’
Go read Nilay Patel’s coverage of the new Apple v. Samsung lawsuit. I’ll wait for you to come back.
Ok. Welcome back. Crazy stuff right? To me, its pretty clear that Samsung intentionally ripped off the look and feel of iOS and Apple’s hardware design when making its phones and Android UI, TouchWiz.
This is about Samsung’s design choices. And while Patel is careful not to draw parallels between this suit and the one Apple had against Microsoft in the mid–1990s.
Apple: We Have Tons of Cash
Another incredible quarter for the Cupertino company.
On Samsung and Apple
Nilay Patel, on Apple’s case against Samsung:
Taken as a group, it feels like a remarkably solid case — Samsung can’t just up and countersue Apple with its own patents and hope to walk away with a handshake and a cross-license because of the various trademark, trade dress, and design patent claims. How the company decides to deal with those issues remains to be seen; there’s no question in my mind that Samsung designed TouchWiz to look and feel as much like iOS as possible, and then marketed it as such.
‘Why Does Apple Hate…’
This is a hilarious list, via Neven Mrgan.
‘Always Dangerous’
Harry McCracken, after listing several articles about Apple not ever entering the phone market, etc.:
It’s worth noting that while all of these stories turned out to be wrong, that doesn’t mean that the folks who wrote them were clueless. Some of their rationales, in fact, were darn logical–they just happened to be erroneous. Very few people outside of Apple have a knack for channeling Steve Jobs’ thought process. And even if you understand Apple better than most people, it will surprise you at least some of the time. Declaring that it will never do something is always dangerous.
‘Don’t Mimic Real-World Interfaces’
‘Going Where no Mac Has Gone Before’
However, the iPhones and iPads seemed to have crept into most Enterprise class companies from the top floor boardrooms as well as the server rooms in the basements. Not only does the current version of iOS 4.3.1 play nicer with Exchange Activesync than Windows Phone 7 and even Android but its extra management features provide comparable security to BlackBerry Enterprise Server managed BlackBerry’s. In fact, the iPhone comes out tops on this fight too since it doesn’t require a Client Access License for it to be managed. Apple has even released a free tool to allow Exchange Admins to lock out other iPhone features if the need be.
‘Used Several Times per Day’
Ian Hines, on what lives in his menubar. In case you missed it, I posted details on mine yesterday.
Creating Symlinks in Automator
Symlinks are a great way to use Dropbox to sync application data that normally is restricted to one Mac. These can be set up in Terminal, but not everyone is comfortable in the command line.
Thankfully, the guys over at Junecloud have put together an Automator actions that make this task as simple as drag and drop. Simply select the folder you want to sync — make sure it’s already on your Dropbox — and then point Automator where the link should go — usually in your ~/Library/Application Support folder.
More on Sameness
I got several emails and tweets asking questions about yesterday’s post, “On Sameness,” so I thought I’d just answer them all here.
The Wallpaper
That wallpaper is by John Carey over at fiftyfootshadows. It’s part of his “Dust” collection, which he posted in January of last year. If you’re looking for high-quality, stunning wallpaper images, look no further than his site.
The Menubar
My menubar is slightly different on my two machines, but here’s the basic set I keep on both boxes:
On Sameness
I — like many of you — spend a ton of time in front of a Mac. Probably too much time.
I have two Macs that I bounce between — a 27-inch iMac at home, and a 15-inch MacBook Pro at work, which is usually in clamshell mode, hooked up to a 27-inch LED Cinema Display.
I like keeping these computers as alike as possible. I use an Apple Extended II and a Magic Mouse at home, with the same keyboard and a Magic Trackpad at home. I use the same wallpaper, show generally the same folders on the desktop and arrange the Dock the same way on both computers. Both machines have use the same screen saver, same user name and same password. I use the majority of the same apps at home and at work, and if there’s anything unique that I need, LaunchBar is just a keystroke away.