Tag Archives: tim cook

An iPhone with a Nokia-style sliding keyboard would make more sense than a folding phone

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It’s the year 2005, and Nokia’s E-Series phones have a cult following that’s difficult to ignore. The phones came with a relatively large-ish screen, but what really sealed the deal was the fact that you could slide the screen to reveal a nifty, usable QWERTY keyboard underneath. Before the iPhone became the computer in your pocket, the Nokia E-Series phones were the computers in everyone’s pockets. The E stood for Executive, and it wasn’t uncommon to see businessmen in suits strutting down the road with Nokia phones in their hand and Jabra earpieces in one ear. It was the iPhone and AirPods combo, nearly 15 years prior.

I think the fundamental problem with the smartphone touchscreen isn’t its size, it’s how we use it. Screens have a finite amount of space for infinite amounts of data, which makes designing interfaces really complicated, and using them even more so. In that regard, just empirically, a bigger screen on a smartphone doesn’t make it ‘better’… which is why this concept by Johan Gustafsson feels so refreshing. In a world where smartphones are finding new ways to push more pixels into a smartphone, Gustafsson’s iPhone Q brings a level of sensibility to that computer in your pocket – by simply making it a miniature computer!

The iPhone Q (named after the fact that it comes with a dedicated QWERTY keyboard) presents a bold ‘new’ vision for the iPhone. I use the word ‘new’ in air-quotes because while adding a dedicated tactile keyboard to a phone isn’t new, it’s new for the iPhone, and more importantly, it presents a new format as smartphone companies desperately try to make their phones look less blockish and more gimmicky. In a world of folding phones with creased displays, pathetic battery-lives, and clunky bodies, the iPhone Q feels like that perfect premium, enterprise-grade smartphone to pair with the iPad Pro or the MacBook Pro. The phone comes sans a notch, but makes up for the lack of a front-facing camera with a complete tactile keyboard right underneath the screen. The screen slides upwards in landscape mode, revealing the 42-key keyboard below, which can be used as a much more functional alternative to the on-screen keyboard, allowing you to quickly replay to messages and send out emails in a jiffy. A dual-lens camera on the back reinforces the fact that the iPhone Q is less of a multimedia device, and more of a piece of functional hardware, designed for a niche of executive users.

Sure, the iPhone Q is just a concept, but even conceptually, it feels much more contextual and sensible than a folding iPhone with a larger screen. Quite like the iPhone Pro, designed for professional media-creators, the iPhone Q serves a niche group of users, becoming a perfect alternative to people who still use BlackBerries. Sure, they may be a small group RIGHT NOW, but if the iPhone did sport a dedicated slide-out keyboard, I’m pretty sure a lot of executives and office-goers would promptly make the shift!

Designer: Johan Gustafsson

This iPhone 13 concept sports a rear camera with a 3-inch display inspired by the Mi 11 Ultra

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PS Design’s iPhone 13 concept poses a pretty interesting question. Wouldn’t it be nice if your smartphone had a display on the rear that let you see what was in the frame while you clicked selfies? Sure, you’ve got the front-facing camera for selfies, but hear me out. With multiple cameras and sensors on the smartphone’s rear, one could argue that the front-facing camera is a bit of a qualitative compromise. Instead, put a tiny display on the rear and use it to click all sorts of incredible selfies, while being able to compose your shot the way you want to. It’s something Xiaomi is apparently trying out with the Mi 11 Ultra, and it’s also something most folding phones have attempted too. PS Design’s conceptual iPhone 13 sports a secondary rear display too, although it’s capable of doing a lot more than just letting you click better selfies.

A better way to describe PS Design’s iPhone 13 concept is to compare the rear display to Apple’s closest product – the Apple Watch. The 3-inch always-on rear display practically mirrors the watch’s capabilities, allowing you to see the time, notifications, and a wide variety of other data on it. The display on the rear uses Apple’s low-temperature polycrystalline oxide (LTPO) technology to provide its always-on feature, and the fact that it sits right beside the main camera setup (and that it’s larger than the Mi 11 Ultra’s display), means the front of the phone can ditch the notch entirely, creating a beautifully bezel-less iPhone that leaves little to be desired.

Another feature on this conceptual device is its ceramic body… which does seem unusual for the iPhone line-up, but it borrows from Apple’s Watch series, offering high gloss, scratch-resistance, and the ability to hold onto color better (Apple’s red iPhones have shown the color fading over time). The white ceramic body does stand out well against the large black camera bump, almost making it look like the original Google Pixel smartphone (it’s a good look, tbh). Moreover, the large camera bump is coincidentally both wide and centrally aligned, which means the phone won’t rock when you place it on a flat surface… although, with that useful, always-on display on the back, you’re more likely to rest your phone with the camera bump facing upwards right at you!

Designer: PS Design

Retro iOS icon collection gives your iPhone a classic Apple Macintosh vibe!

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It doesn’t get more Apple Fanboy than this… (In a good way!)

You can now turn your new, bleeding-edge iPhone into a beautiful throwback machine with this retro icon set by digital designer Ben Vessey. Titled the iOS (Old School), this handmade set of over 100 icons gives your iPhone a beautifully vintage ’84 Apple Macintosh vibe with its pixelated style. Available in both regular and dark mode variants, Vessey’s lovingly and painstakingly designed icons for virtually every commonplace app, and made them available on Gumroad for an extremely reasonable price of £3.99 ($5.53).

The icons make use of an Apple iOS 14 feature called Shortcuts, which lets you create custom thumbnails for apps (MKBHD shows you how in this video). Vessey’s app-pack comes with more than 110 beautifully vintage-styled icons and both black and white backgrounds that you can use to turn your modern smartphone into a retro-inspired, clean, minimalist device that would probably impress Jobs! Does it also increase battery life? I doubt it, although the dark mode should consume lesser power, theoretically!

Now all you need to do is pop one of these retro-themed Spigen smartphone cases and you’re absolutely set!

Designer: Ben Vessey

Click Here to Buy Now

Click Here to Buy Now

This folding iPhone explores a clamshell format like the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip and the Moto RAZR

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Here’s what we know so far. Apple’s patents ranging back as far as a decade cover technologies revolving around folding phones. The company has even been patenting hinge details, flexible glass technologies, and people ‘close to the matter’ claim that Apple’s even created working prototypes that have been tested by Foxconn to fold and unfold as many as 100,000 times… but there’s really no guarantee whether these prototypes will really become mass-manufactured ‘folding iPhones’. Up until they do (if they do, that is), all we can do is imagine what a folding iPhone would look like, and it seems like designer and YouTuber Technizo Concept may have an idea in mind.

The iPhone Flip (created by Technizo Concept in collaboration with LetsGoDigital) shares the same nomenclature and folding format as the Galaxy Z Flip from Samsung, albeit with a few key differences. The device measures about the same size as your current iPhone 12 Pro Max, but it sports a folding line across its ‘waist’, which allows the iPhone to fold in half like a clamshell phone from the 90s. This folding structure allows the smartphone to become more compact and easier to carry (although the resulting folded form would be twice the thickness of the phone), while also giving you the option to use the iPhone as a miniature laptop by folding it halfway in an ‘L’ shape. However, the most noteworthy detail on the iPhone Flip is the presence of a secondary screen right beside the camera bump. Designed to match the camera bump’s shape identically, this secondary screen is perfect for reading notifications on the fly, or even using as a preview window while clicking selfies with the main camera module. You could even shut the iPhone Flip halfway and prop it up against a surface, essentially being able to click distant selfies without a tripod.

Notable leaker Jon Prosser mentioned that even if Apple does release a folding iPhone, it won’t be before 2023. Prosser even went on to say that the iPhone would opt for an inward-folding screen over an outward-folding one, and the likelihood of a smaller, clamshell-type iPhone was more than a larger, book-shaped iPhone inspired by the Galaxy Fold. I’m just here to say that you better start saving up money if you want to buy a folding iPhone when it drops… because there’s no way it’ll be cheap!

Designers: Technizo Concept & LetsGoDigital

Image Credits: LetsGoDigital

Turn your iPad into an all-purpose adjustable screen with Twelve South’s hovering stand

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In hindsight, you really can’t call the HoverBar Duo an iPad ‘stand’. The multi-hinged, incredibly versatile, height/direction adjustable arm is capable of doing much more than your conventional stand is. In fact, think of it as a mechanical butler who just holds your iPad for you at any angle you want, for any length of time. More versatile than a stand or a tripod, the HoverBar Duo for the iPad and iPhone is better described by the things that it’s capable of… and it’s capable of quite a lot!

Simply put, the HoverBar Duo holds your iPad or iPhone wherever you want it, and in any orientation you need. The multi-hinge arm is infinitely adjustable (sort of like the lamp on a dentist’s chair), and the choice between a flat-base and a clamp-base gives the HoverBar Duo the ability to be placed practically anywhere – on a table or a kitchen counter, or even suspended from a shelf or a rod. A universal clip allows the HoverBar Duo to hold onto a wide variety of devices, including older and later models of the iPad as well as all generations of the iPhone (this obviously means it works with *most* Android phones and tablets too). The rather long two-part arm allows the HoverBar Duo to hold your device at eye-level, giving you the ability to turn your iPad into an extra monitor that’s on the same level as the iMac, while the multiple hinges mean you could position the iPad to serve as an angled kiosk/terminal, a sketching tablet, or even an impromptu television or FaceTime machine. Moreover, the infinite adjustability means you could potentially use the HoverBar Duo to position your smartphone or tablet’s camera at any angle, turning it into a makeshift tripod with varying degrees of freedom! As I said earlier, the HoverBar Duo isn’t just merely an iPad ‘stand’… it’s a whole lot more!

Designer: Twelve South

Leaked AirPods 3 images show earbuds with curved stems, like in the Apple AirPods Pro

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When you’re a trillion-dollar company with wildly successful products, it’s kinda difficult to keep things under wraps. With the global supply chain for Apple being spread across multiple countries and multiple continents, a leak from some rogue employee is bound to happen, and happened, it has! Images of the new AirPods 3 have been circulating on the Chinese social network Weibo, with the folks at GizmoChina even jumping on the gun to create renders that show what the third generation of the company’s consumer-grade TWS earbuds will look like.

At a first glance, the AirPods 3 look like a hybrid between the regular AirPods and the AirPods Pro. They feature the same earbud style as the AirPods, but come with a smaller, slightly angled stem, found in the pro-version. This relatively smaller design also translates to changes in the case design, which is definitely shorter and stouter, resembling the kind of case you’d get with the AirPods Pro. Apple’s slated to announce the AirPods 3 sometime this month. They officially called off their March event, but that hasn’t stopped the company from launching products along with press releases. Little is known about how the AirPods 3 will measure up in the specs/performance department, but credible leakers have mentioned that the earbuds may come with AirPods Pro-style active noise canceling.

Designer: Apple

Images via GizmoChina and LeaksApplePro

Redesigned AirPods Pro Case looks sleeker and slips into your pocket more easily!

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If you’ve ever felt like the AirPods Pro case looks like a dental-floss box, you’re not the only one. The AirPods debuted in 2016, rapidly rising to occupy the #1 place when it came to TWS earphones, but the case sort of feels like an afterthought. It’s clunky and doesn’t really sit well with Apple’s design philosophy of sleekness, so designer Iván Antón decided to redesign it to make it sleeker and more memorable-looking.

Antón’s redesign turns the Apple AirPods Pro case from something that looks like a ‘box of floss’ to a really classy-looking ‘chewing-gum-stick dispenser’. The rounded-box shape gets ditched for a taller and sleeker capsule shape, with lids on both ends, allowing individual earpieces to fit into each end of the case. Sure, the redesign presents some structural issues – like where would one place the Qi charging coil, or the battery, but what Antón’s concept really provides is a sense of variety, while sticking to Apple’s design philosophy of building sleek products.

The redesigned AirPods Pro case also fundamentally changes the UX of the AirPods. The two separate openings house the left and right earphones, and while they do that, they also hint at a behavior that’s common within the AirPods user community of using just one AirPod at a time to maximize battery life. While Antón’s AirPods Pro case redesign is just a fan-made concept, it’s definitely visually interesting… primarily because it highlights that the AirPods don’t NEED to go in a boxy-looking case. Instead, the case could be a whole lot sleeker and easier on the eyes!

Designer: Iván Antón

The folding iPhone may be more of a reality than concept, thanks to this YouTuber’s rough prototype

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If there was one person on the planet I’d trust with hacking together a folding iPhone, it’s Scotty Allen. Based out of Shenzhen (and for a good reason), Scotty has a penchant for tinkering with electronics and we’ve even covered some of his exploits before, including building his iPhone entirely from scratch, and even adding a headphone jack to the iPhone 7 after Apple famously removed the beloved feature.

Of late, Scotty’s been obsessed by the idea of a folding iPhone, so much so that he decided to embark on the journey of making one. Now this video is by no means anything close to what Scotty’s gearing for (and he even talks about the obstacles against him), but it’s an introduction to this new journey he’s planning on taking, and he even has a resourceful hacker-friend who can help him realize this dream.

So what is the video about? In short, Scotty managed to get his hands on a flexible display that he hooked to a control board and subsequently to a Raspberry Pi 4. The Raspberry Pi was then instructed to mirror an iPhone’s screen, bringing the familiar home page to the flexible display. The flexible OLED doesn’t even have a digitizer module, which means it doesn’t register touch functions either. Unfortunately, that’s about as far as Scotty’s gotten, because it isn’t as simple as putting a flexible display on a rigid iPhone and calling it a folding device. Both pieces of hardware need to communicate seamlessly, and Scotty mentions how difficult that can be, given that the protocol MIPI (Mobile Industry Processor Interface) isn’t exactly accessible to everyone and that you really need to be a major player to get access to the documentation and the NDAs. Moreover, iOS itself is a closed-source operating system, which means building a device that’s iOS-compatible is another challenge altogether. However, Scotty seems determined… and as someone who’s literally built an entire iPhone from scratch by buying parts off the roads and markets of Shenzhen, he’s quite literally positioned to be the one guy who can beat Apple to the punch when it comes to building the first folding iPhone!

Video Credits: Scotty Allen

The iPhone 12 MagSafe charger gets an old-fashioned touch with Grovemade’s wooden charging stand

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The iPhone user certainly has an archetype, doesn’t it? I’m thinking of someone with AirPods in their ears, Starbucks coffee in one hand, Tesla keys in the other. However, that archetype only speaks to a small subset of iPhone users. There is, however, a certain sect of iPhone users who share an affinity for the old-fashioned touch. I’m talking wooden desk, wooden pen-stand, hand-carved wicker chair. Grovemade‘s products clearly cater to that latter category of people.

I wouldn’t outright call Grovemade old-fashioned, but rather I’d say their work is a confluence of sensibilities and materials. Primarily relying on wood and metal to craft their products, Grovemade’s designs boast of an old-world charm that’s also intertwined with modern minimalism. Take for instance the Wood MagSafe Stand, available in both Walnut and Maple variants. The stand, which sports a wooden halo mounted on a steel base, allows you to slip your iPhone MagSafe wireless charger in, routing the cable from the bottom. It then gives your iPhone 12 a nice, wooden armchair to hang out on, letting you rest it in either landscape or portrait while it charges. Paired perfectly with any of Grovemade’s other wooden tabletop accessories, and probably a nice glass of barrel-aged whiskey…

Designer: Grovemade

Apple is expected to release the new 2021 iMac with 5 color options, just like the iPad Air

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It’s been two years since Apple’s high-end computing department really saw a new release (we’re talking about the polarizing ‘cheesegrater’ Mac Pro from 2019). Reliable leaker Jon Prosser, however, has some news on this front. While Apple hasn’t really announced any March event, Prosser believes the company will launch a smaller Mac Pro, and will upgrade the 24-inch iMac series… with color options.

The colored iMacs are really a hat-tip to the candy-colored iMac G3 series from back in 2008. According to Prosser, who collaborated with Concept Creator over the following images, the 2021 iMacs are likely to come in 5 colors – black, white, green, blue, and rose gold… just like the 2020 iPad Air. The colors will be much more subtle than the iMac G3’s, but they provide an interesting dynamic to the aluminum-clad all-in-one computers.

When viewed from the front, the new iMacs tend to resemble the iPad too, with the bezel treatment. Unlike previous iMacs that came with a massive chin under the screen that sported the Apple logo, the new iMacs will have much more uniform bezels. It isn’t really apparent if they’ll also come with FaceID — although given they’ll be used indoors, in settings where masks aren’t really required, Apple could just as easily integrate the FaceID modules right into the design. Speculators also say that these new iMacs could be powered by Apple Silicon, making them not just a visual upgrade, but a performance upgrade as well!

Designers: Jon Prosser & Concept Creator