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MacBoobsPro

macrumors 603
Jan 10, 2006
5,114
6
How the f*** do you use the damn thing? There's no tactile feedback for the buttons so how do you send a text message? Do you move a cursor on a screen and then tap to select or have they figured something else out?

I say make it look like that but add a proper keypad and a small clickwheel because I simply can't figure out how the hell that would work.

Can somebody enlighten me because I've got no bloody idea.

I would guess it works like a laptop track pad. You move your finger 'above' the pad i.e. non touch/no buttons so the highlighted section moves around the screen in conjuction wih your finger moving around the pad. Then when you wish to select the highlighted number/letter/song etc just touch the pad?

They say no buttons so thats how i figure it would work. Or the trackpad could be like a click wheel where you actually touch the pad for scrolling and then press the whole pad in to select. But that would be a button wouldn't it?
 

Chundles

macrumors G5
Jul 4, 2005
12,037
493
I would guess it works like a laptop track pad. You move your finger 'above' the pad i.e. non touch/no buttons so the highlighted section moves around the screen in conjuction wih your finger moving around the pad. Then when you wish to select the highlighted number/letter/song etc just touch the pad?

They say no buttons so thats how i figure it would work. Or the trackpad could be like a click wheel where you actually touch the pad for scrolling and then press the whole pad in to select.

Well that's bollocks then. No way is that simpler than having buttons.
 

MacBoobsPro

macrumors 603
Jan 10, 2006
5,114
6
Well that's bollocks then. No way is that simpler than having buttons.

Actually if you forget the 'hovering bit' and imagine using the pad with your thumb and just pressing a bit harder to select something its actually a lot easier to use.

Ooh, im liking this imaginary phne already.

I hope thats how it works. If not ive just given away a frickin brilliant idea.
 

MrSmith

macrumors 68040
Nov 27, 2003
3,046
14
Well, my testicles dropped pre-Thatcher era which means I remember when you really dialed a telephone number. So I appreciate the convenience of being able to clear a misdialled number. However, if now we have to hover our fingers above a pad and touch with the right amount of pressure, while carrying heavy shopping and our third littl'un on the number 69, I would have to say, a la Chundles, it's bollocks.
 

EGT

macrumors 68000
Sep 4, 2003
1,605
1
If it were the real deal, I'd be very disappointed. It must be fake, Apple don't hold the term iPhone.
 

iMeowbot

macrumors G3
Aug 30, 2003
8,634
0
It`s 101% fake. Everybody knows Apple`s wont be called iPhone any more.
That in itself doesn't mean very much. Preproduction Apple literature does turn up in real life with fake or code names as placeholders.
And if they are serious bout a trackpad on this phone, Why cant I see a cursor on the screen?
The mouse cursor disappears even on the Mac when the keyboard is in use, and all the screens in the mockup appear to be making use of on-screen buttons.

More damning is that none of the interface elements shown appear to have any use for that giant pad thing, the interface on the "iPod mode" looks like a step backwards, and the keyboard displays (especially the alpha one on the right) would be painful to use without a stylus.
 

MacBoobsPro

macrumors 603
Jan 10, 2006
5,114
6
The mouse cursor disappears even on the Mac when the keyboard is in use, and all the screens in the mockup appear to be making use of on-screen buttons.

More damning is that none of the interface elements shown appear to have any use for that giant pad thing, the interface on the "iPod mode" looks like a step backwards, and the keyboard displays (especially the alpha one on the right) would be painful to use without a stylus.

Like ive said there wouldnt be a cursor like a mouse pointer, it would be like the iPod interface where certain options are highlighted and you just scroll to what you want then press the wheel/pad. I can actually see this working very well in the OPs attached image.

Typing a message would be quite a fluid experience if not a bit weird at first. Just imagine it as an iPod with a sqaure pad instead of a wheel. :)
 

thejadedmonkey

macrumors G3
May 28, 2005
9,188
3,361
Pennsylvania
Typing a message would be quite a fluid experience if not a bit weird at first. Just imagine it as an iPod with a sqaure pad instead of a wheel. :)

Current phone software uses iTap input method, which allows savy teenage texters (much like myself) to type long coherent messages using you and are instead of u and r very very fast. I won't say it's impossible with the iPhone, but I just don't see how it's doable. I used the search feature on the iPod and it was clumsy as anything. If apple is going to use the same UI on the iPhone, there's no way it will be a hit for texting by the teenage market, who Apple is probably going after.
 

MacBoobsPro

macrumors 603
Jan 10, 2006
5,114
6
Current phone software uses iTap input method, which allows savy teenage texters (much like myself) to type long coherent messages using you and are instead of u and r very very fast. I won't say it's impossible with the iPhone, but I just don't see how it's doable. I used the search feature on the iPod and it was clumsy as anything. If apple is going to use the same UI on the iPhone, there's no way it will be a hit for texting by the teenage market, who Apple is probably going after.

Im sure they will find away IF they do go the iPad route.
 

Flowbee

macrumors 68030
Dec 27, 2002
2,943
0
Alameda, CA
You all can debate the merits of this phone's design all you want, but the tag line "Many abilities. No buttons." is a very amateurish attempt at writing ad copy. Apple would never consider using it. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that any ad agency submitting this idea to Apple would be fired on the spot.
 

QCassidy352

macrumors G5
Mar 20, 2003
12,032
6,061
Bay Area
You all can debate the merits of this phone's design all you want, but the tag line "Many abilities. No buttons." is a very amateurish attempt at writing ad copy. Apple would never consider using it. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that any ad agency submitting this idea to Apple would be fired on the spot.

I agree with that. No way is this real, for that reason, and the fact that it's called "iphone."

That said, if it were real, I'd be pretty unhappy with it. If it's a touch screen, you'd get fingerprints all over it. If it's a sensor-screen, it's not going to work right. I want real buttons.
 

redeye be

macrumors 65816
Jan 27, 2005
1,138
0
BXL
I'm with MacBoobsPro on the interface thing, no cursor, just iPod style functionality. Just ad a various-display-trackpad-visual thing like:
Toshiba_qosimo_lighted_touchpad.jpg


It would work nice. I'd say

I do agree however this will most probably not be an Apple product. And the copy is awful indeed. Maybe some engineer came up with it to sell the idea to Steve ;).
 

MonkeyClaw

macrumors regular
Feb 18, 2006
180
0
Asheville, NC
Well though it says iPhone, it could be an internal name just like iTV is (steve himself said that when it was previewed) and that this could be a simple advertising test board hence the message at the bottom.

As for how it works, I would assume it would work like the pattents since this is essentially what is described in them. The pad would be fore the gesture technology Apple has been working on. I could actually see this thing working quite well if they implemented the concepts correctly.
 

nbs2

macrumors 68030
Mar 31, 2004
2,719
491
A geographical oddity
However, if now we have to hover our fingers above a pad and touch with the right amount of pressure, while carrying heavy shopping and our third littl'un on the number 69, I would have to say, a la Chundles, it's bollocks.

And that, my friends, is the challenge with this phone. With the iPod, you can have it in your pocket and you know that depending where you click/touch you can play/pause, restart/advance a track, menu (not helpful), select to move backward/forward in the track, or change the volume.

With this, the way it appears, none of that is possible. How can I, while the phone is in my pocket distinguish between answering/ignoring/silencing my phone without engaging the wrong one?

All that being said, if this deisng is real, I expect that this issue will be resolved in some way before release. Otherwise, count me in with Smith and Chundles and calling this bollocks.
 

conradzoo

macrumors regular
Oct 6, 2005
107
0
I think its real. Not as shown in the ad though...

It would only, but perfectly, make sense if the bottom part, now grayed out, would be a kinda (perhaps monochrone white with blue) touchscreen mimicking the upperpart screen buttons.
 

Pieira

macrumors member
Sep 6, 2003
48
0
I'm surprised by the number of people who use their phone/ipod while it's in their pocket! I suppose I occasionally skip a track but most of the time I'm pressing buttons, I'm looking at the screen.

I think this interface may be brilliant or absolutely awful I'd have to try it, it looks to me a bit wacom tablet idea to me in which case it could be fantastic, if its like a laptop trackpad it would be awful.

Probably fake though.
 

OdduWon

macrumors 6502a
Jul 4, 2006
591
0
CaliVerse
WOW a touch pad!

Looks cool :p with this mini touch pad, maybe we will get a paint application :D Is'nt about time apple released a paint application ;)
 

someguy

macrumors 68020
Dec 4, 2005
2,351
21
Still here.
What happens when you are on a call and put the phone up to your face? And if the sensor-pad-thing is disabled during a call, does that all of the phones features are inaccessible during a call?

For this and many other reasons (most of which have been mentioned here already), I declare shinanagins. :p
 

Chris Bangle

macrumors 6502a
Apr 3, 2006
577
0
UK
Hmmmm It is very convincing. I dont think its real because an apple leak is very rare but i think it is real coz it looks so real... Very difficult to call this one. See what appleinsider say about this.


Oh yeh , id buy one straight away if this is it.

the phone dial pad looks like an apple patent ive seen
 
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