iPhone vNext?

[Allara]

I'm about to the point where I can get upgrade pricing on the iPhone 3G S. I was wondering if anyone out there had heard any rumors about a potential next-next-next gen iPhone that might potentially come out this summer? I may want to just wait. (Note: I'm currently using the iPhone 3G.)

[deezy]

I would have to assume so, a new iphone has come out every summer since the original.

[Allara]

Yeah. I guess the question is, does anybody have any idea what the new "killer feature" is likely to be? If they rev the speed/RAM again, I'd wait. But if it's something silly, I may not.

[Rennys]

You know Apple, they're very strict on keeping their next generation product features under wraps until they actually announce it.

[Andaas]

This is just a guess on my part, but I would think the Summer '10 iPhone release will be the iPhone "World" phone. Which will essentially be the end of the AT&T exclusivity in the US and the availability of the iPhone under both GSM and CDMA service providers.

No guess on whether that will include a hardware upgrade, though I would lean against it as the iPhone 2G vs. 3G didn't bump the CPU, so the 3GS will probably be the planned configuration until the iPhone 4G in 2011 (unless they do that in 2010!).

[Peotr]

Didn't Apple just buy a technology company? An appliance processor designer?

If I was looking to test the waters I'd probably buy something used until the summer release.

-- Peotr

P.S. I love how all the new touch-screen cellphones call themselves revolutionary, cutting-edge and 'professional', 'cause I'm sorry, it's just a bunch of companies playing catch-up / rip-off again. I'm sorry, but Nexus One (http://www.tomsguide.com/us/Google-phone-spec-Nexus,news-5335.html) is not revolutionary, it's mimicry.

[Allara]

Not testing the waters, I already have the v2 iPhone. Just debating going to v3 or waiting until v4.

[Lonskils]

I'd assume there won't be anything significant until the internet capabilities go up. Paying 30 bucks a month for internet on that phone is driving me insane for the dial up connection speeds it has. Yes I know that is on AT&T, but I'm just not quite sure they can do much more with the phone besides add more gigs to the storage until they can get more internet speeds. The ability to use flash programs would sure help as well. I hate not having flash!!

[Aerothas]

Not that this has anything to do with this but I'm loving my Motorola Droid.

[deezy]

Personally, I can't wait until flashed is eventually fazed out by htlm5 and beyond. Flash is a hog.

right now, everything uses flash, whatever replaces it, I'll be fine with. but I want to have my flash for now until then!

[Hailie]

I still have the first iPhone. I am waiting until the summer to see what happens. Usually everyone else knows about new releases before we (at&t) do. I spent a day with the Director of the US iPhone Sales for Apple and he said that they sometimes don't even tell him about certain things until it's announced to everyone.
You never really know for sure and I don't like to go on rumors. I'm just going to wait. At this point, you might as well wait 6 months.

[Aindayen]

[QUOTE=Hailie;246952 he said that they sometimes don't even tell him about certain things until it's announced to everyone.
[/QUOTE]

I doubt this highly.

Ain

[Hailie]

I doubt this highly.

Ain

Ok..? I don't believe everything I'm told, but I work with a lot of people everyday and I can read them pretty well. He didn't come off as a liar. Either way, doesn't really matter. =)

[Aindayen]

:)

[Lonskils]

http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/12/apple-may-bump-camera-in-next-gen-iphone-to-5-megapixels.ars



When Apple unveiled the iPhone 3GS in mid-2009, it included serious improvements to the built-in camera hardware, bumping the resolution from 2 to 3.2 megapixels. That trend may well continue with the next version of the iPhone: the latest intelligence about CMOS image sensor supplier OmniVision suggests that the company will be supplying Apple with 5 megapixel sensors for the next-generation iPhone, expected to launch in summer.
The original iPhone and the iPhone 3G made use of compact and relatively low-cost imaging hardware consisting of a rather average-performing 2 megapixel CMOS sensor mated to a fixed-focus, fixed-aperture lens. This combination proved serviceable for most average picture taking—even downright good given ample lighting—but definitely suffered in low light, close focus, and tricky lighting scenarios.
For the iPhone 3GS, Apple switched suppliers to OmniVision, utilizing the company's 1/4" 3.2 megapixel CIS paired with a true autofocus lens. This combination offered increased resolution, a truly useful 30 fps video option, and vastly sharper close-up shots. Combined with a "touch to focus" software feature that linked focusing and metering to an area of the image that the user could choose by simply touching the screen, the new hardware proved far superior to previous iPhones.
Taiwan-based DigiTimes, which broke the news of the iPhone 3GS's impending camera upgrade (http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/04/next-gen-iphone-to-get-32-mp-upgrade-via-omnivision.ars) last year, reports that OmniVision is expected to double the number of image sensors—from about 20 million to about 40 million—that it will supply to Apple in 2010. Unnamed sources indicated that an unknown fraction of that 40 million will be the new, 5 megapixel sensors, which Apple will use in next summer's expected iPhone hardware revision.
As many readers may know, packing more megapixels onto the same sized sensor generally results in smaller, less-sensitive pixels. However, OmniVision's 1/4" 5 megapixel sensor uses a technique called backside illumination (http://www.ovt.com/technologies/omnibsi.php) to maintain—and in some cases increase—sensitivity of these smaller pixels. It works by flipping the traditional architecture of CMOS image sensors upside down, letting light fall on the "back side" of the sensor. This means that more light hits the actual sensing diode in each pixel location.
The result of using backside illumination is that Apple can use OmniVision's 1/4" 5 megapixel sensors as a drop-in replacement for the current 3.2 megapixel one in the iPhone 3GS. It significantly increases the resolution without compromising on low-light performance or requiring a larger lens to accommodate for a larger sensor. These sensors also offer full 1080p HD video resolution at 30 fps—a significant improvement over the iPhone 3GS's paltry VGA video resolution.
DigiTimes was completely accurate when it came to revealing that OmniVision's 3.2 megapixel sensor would be used in the iPhone 3GS, but not so accurate (http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/08/rumor-latest-ipod-to-get-a-camera-is-the-ipod-classic.ars) when it reported that cameras with such sensors would end up in revisions to the iPod touch, iPod nano (which ultimately ended up with a low-resolution video camera), and, of all things, the iPod classic. If this latest report is accurate, though, the next iPhone could pack some serious imaging horsepower. It should also keep the iPhone competitive with recently released smartphones such as the Motorola Droid, which have higher resolution camera sensors.