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It’s Monday morning, and who’s excited about a new iPhone this week? Judging from the volley of related news over the weekend, the tech press sure is — so we’ve assembled a handful of stories you might have missed since leaving work on Friday to kick off iPhone 5 week.
Yerba Buena Decoration Composed of Stretched-Out iOS Icons
MacRumors is reporting that the rainbow of colors Apple has decorated the Yerba Buena Center with ahead of Wednesday’s media event appear to be made up of iOS app icons that have been stretched vertically, creating the look of smeared paint on a canvas. Among the icons spotted are the built-in Music, Game Center, iTunes, Stocks (?) and mobile Safari apps. Of course, the natural presumption is this “stretching” is Apple’s way of hinting at the iPhone 5 itself, which is rumored to be a bit taller, making room for an extra row of icons on the home screen. We won’t have long to find out, given that Apple’s event kicks off Wednesday, September 12 at 10am PST.
WSJ Confirms Next iPhone Capable of Global 4G LTE
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that yes, indeed, the iPhone 5 will be unveiled this Wednesday with 4G LTE data speeds — and that includes “the U.S., Europe and Asia,” unlike the new iPad released earlier this year. Of course, there’s no guarantee that this 4G LTE will work everywhere, given what Qualcomm senior vice president Bill Davidson calls a “patchwork quilt in terms of spectrum.” Data from IDC reveals that only three countries in the world have made significant progress with LTE: Japan, South Korea and the United States, where Verizon Wireless has far and away “the largest LTE network in the world.”
AT&T Quietly Unlocking Some In-Contract iPhones
As first noted by Ars Technica over the weekend, AT&T appears to be unlocking even current, in-contract iPhones for those who request it online — even though their official policy remains unchanged. We have independently confirmed Friday’s report on our own 64GB iPhone 4S which is only 11 months into a two-year renewal agreement, and plenty of others appears to be having the same good fortune. We completed the form on Friday afternoon and by Sunday morning had received the good news via two emails. After a backup and restore, the pleasing “Congratulations, your iPhone has been unlocked” message appeared on iTunes. It’s curious that AT&T is doing this just days before Apple is rumored to introduce its latest iPhone, but for those who plan to stick with their current, in-contract handset, it’s worth giving it a shot to see if your luck of the draw is equally good.
Apple’s New 9-Pin Dock Connector Same Size as Micro-USB?
AppleInsider is reporting that new, smaller nine-pin dock connector Apple will allegedly debut this Wednesday on the iPhone 5 is almost identical in size to the very common micro-USB connector in wide use with Android and Windows Phone devices. The discovery was made by French blog Nowhereelse.fr, who showed off the two connectors side-by-side against advertising material for Chinese manufacturer Meizu, although there appears to be no connection between them. However, the new dock connector is “slightly longer and thinner” than micro-USB, so there doesn’t appear to be any way to interchange them.
iPhone 5 Will Stick with Existing iPhone 4S Capacities, Pricing
9to5Mac is reporting that the so-called iPhone 5 will debut on Wednesday with the same storage configurations and pricing as the iPhone 4S did. That’s not much of a surprise given that it’s unlikely the handset will exceed 64GB of storage this year. The report also notes the handsets will again be offered in black or white. Last but not least, 9to5Mac is claiming that preorders of the iPhone 5 “will begin soon after” the announcement this week, with “several new accessories” read to ship alongside it.
Follow this article’s author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter
(Image courtesy of MacRumors and Luis Gutierrez)
