iPhone 2 Rumor Round-up. Verdict: Don’t Believe Everything You Read
So yesterday you saw our iPhone 2.0 wishlist, packed with things we’d love to see. But the new iPhone has really had the intertubes throbbing with rumors, as people desperate to get their hands on the new tech dig up info. Or at least, desperately look for info in the strangest places, and invent wishful stories. Check out the 10 rumors we think are most interesting. And remember, though you may want to believe, not all of this is going to be accurate.
iPhone 2 to be 22% thinner. Thinness-wise it may not be cake-cutting MacBook Air slim, but the iPhone’s already fairly slender. You want more thinness, and more capability?
Verdict: Maybe, but only if you leave some good stuff out.
Better battery, more RAM. Who wouldn’t want these features in a portable media player? It’d have to be a balance against the 22% thinner rumor. But technology does advance quickly…
Verdict: A definite possibility, at least on the RAM front.
GPS function on board. More accurate than cell-tower positioning, and rumors based on FCC info even say Broadcom is chip-provider. Then again, wouldn’t on-board GPS require Apple to develop turn-by-turn navigation software?
Verdict: Could be true. Location-based services FTW.
Squarer shape. Icons hidden in the iPhone SDK hint at a squarer shape versus the shiny curved corners of the first version. True, or are the icons just placeholders?
Verdict: Who knows, but why mess with a winning design?
Front-facing camera, mobile TV. A source in Swisscom, Switzerland’s iPhone supplier suggested these two. Many a 3G phone can do video-calling, and mobile TV seems like progression from the slightly unexpected youTube app.
Verdict: Camera and video calling is reasonably likely, assuming 3G technology. Mobile TV? No way.
US low-end iPhone to cost $200. Kevin Rose set the rumor mill spinning when he suggested that the iPhone 2 would launch at half the 8GB iPhone price, and $100 less than the 8GB iPod touch.
Verdict: Sounds nice, but Kevin’s predictions have been off-target before…
Spain to get 100 iPhone 2, UK to get 100 version. Local reports in Spain suggested this price for people signing up to a 24-36 month contract and the Times suggested similar deals in the UK.
Verdict: Our contacts say not this cheap in Spain, but it’s not like we’ve seen signed contracts or anything.
iPhone to ship first week of July. An insider with the UK’s O2 apparently let slip to T3 that they’ll be “very busy” in the first week July. And similarly on June 9th. 2+2=4.
Verdict: A four-week news-to-launch timescale is reasonable, but disagrees with what we’ve learned from our sources.
Quanta using FedEx to move huge numbers of iPhones. Forbes.com staked out Apple contract manufacturer Quanta, and saw frantic activity. Could be iPhone 2s, could be someone else’s electronics: the boxes are just plain brown.
Verdict: At this point in the timeline, anything’s possible.
iPhone 2 games to cost upwards of $27. The CEO of Spanish game developers LemonQuest says that a new generation of iPhone games are coming, and that they’ll be sold in iTunes for the equivalent of around $27.
Verdict: Understandable, given the capabilities the new iPhone would have and the already-revealed game-friendly SDK. However, developers are free to set their own prices on games, so don’t expect every game to cost $27. When’s the last time you saw a mobile cellphone game cost that much?
So, there you have it. Which’ll prove accurate? The truth is out there… and we’ll find out on Monday.
A small VoIP company called iCall has ported their software to the iPhone, allowing users to reroute ongoing calls to their free VoIP service in a matter of seconds. The app actively scans for accessible Wi-Fi networks and prompts the user to transfer the call once connected.
