Apple iPhone 2.0 Patent Shows Dual-Touchscreen Flipphone

It’s rare that Apple’s patents actually show the exact form factors of devices they have in development, but this “dual sided trackpad” patent for a phone seems to definitely show that they’ve got some flipphone version coming up. The patent itself outlines a phone that has two multitouch sensors, both on the “bottom” part of the phone. When it’s closed, the phone acts like your current model iPhone. When it’s open, only the bottom part of the phone is touch-sensitive, whereas the top part is just a display.

The top/bottom touchscreen difference has the interesting effect of bringing some new features such as actually drawing out a number on the touchpad, rotating and old school dial (?), simulating a T9 dialpad, or even having both sides of the touchscreen active at once for some crazy control.

What’s the point of this? Besides new features, apparently many people HATE the candybar form factor and won’t even consider a phone a real phone unless it’s a clamshell. Like Jack Bauer, for instance. [Unwired View]

Chrysler Cars With In-Car Internet and WiFi This Year; Road Safety Stats Set to Plummet

Chrysler has announced its intention to bring internet access to its vehicles. The functionality will be added to existing models this year, and will be followed by assembly line produced, internet ready automobiles. The connections will rely on mobile phone towers and a monthly subscription charge will be levied on those taking up the service. Talking about the development, a Chrysler spokesperson said:

“We want to make the radio itself a WiFi port,” whatever the hell a WiFi port is. We’re guessing the spokesperson meant WiFi connectivity will be coming using a modified internal radio. Whether Chrysler will trick out their own navigation systems with an internet browser to make use of the functionality is not clear, but using WiFi instead of EDGE on your iPhone whilst driving has got to be a help, even if it isn’t great for general road safety. [Washington Post]

iPhone SDK Downloads Top 100,000 in Just Four Days. RIM, Microsoft Watch in Horror
It seems like only yesterday Apple’s servers were overwhelmed by the unbridled lust of developers, feverishly downloading the newly released iPhone SDK, going offline and back again like cheap Christmas tree lights. Today Apple is reporting that over 100,000 SDK downloads have been made in a span of just four days. That’s amazing considering that [...]

Huffington Post: New York Apple Stores running out of iPhones?

Filed under: iPhone

If you were planning to buy an iPhone at one of the three New York Apple Stores, then you might be out of luck. According to The Huffington Post, the SoHo, 59th Street (5th Avenue Store), and new W 14th Street locations are all sold out of this hot little phone.

At the 59th Street store, an Apple employee was quoted saying, “You can always go online.” So, if you are looking for an iPhone in NY, you might be left only two options: AT&T stores, or Apple’s online store.

Update: the online US Apple Store is showing “5-7 days” shipping time for both the 8 and 16 GB models.

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Apple settles “millions of colors” class-action lawsuit
Apple has settled with two professional photographers who had charged the company with falsely advertising the quality and capabilities of its MacBook and MacBook Pro notebook displays. The out-of-court settlement, for which terms were not disclo…