This will be easy as there is nearly no fact on the iPhone 5 at this moment. But it is always fun talking about all the speculation flittering and smothering the interwebs.
Reports now available show a possible placeholder for the iPhone 5 in an online retailer. Specs show some promising details of which come off my list of demands. If ever I were to switch back to an iOS device my list of demands would first be met in completion, and no exception could be made. In fact, an exception would be to concede to Android for creating a market for phone manufacturers to push the envelope by providing everything on this list and then some.
Listing...now:
- 4" or larger screen. As my Fascinate has a 4" screen I will never go back to a smaller screen.
- Cutting edge processing power. This is here to make sure the brains of the operation are not compromised to allow the other items of my list to become a reality. Heaven forbid a next gen iPhone with a current gen processor (looking at you iPhone 4).
- Expandable memory. Okay, this is where Apple will fail. iOS will not allow expandable memory as it must contain all its eggs in one basket. Android devices need this expandable memory to expand the memory. Not all Android phones have 16GB, or even 8GB, of internal memory. My phone barely has 512MB. The 16GB MicroSD is a requirement and that is why it came with my phone. This is not exactly the case with iPhone, 16GB and 32GB options are standard. But to expand on this is my wish, nay, demand.
- 4G. If the next iPhone comes out without this, it will fail to impress anyone. 4G is the future of wireless data and may even pose to replace 3G in my opinion.
- Removable battery. To deny its owner the ability to gain access to the battery simply says Apple wants you to know you don't have any power in the matter. And power is the matter. A business man on the road constantly must rely on his phone to communicate and sell. If while commuting without the options to "plug in" and the battery is low, guess what...they pull out the Blackberry. You will not gain the respect of the corporate IT department if upper execs complain that sales are lost due to iPhone usage for business needs instead of Blackberry's where batteries can be simply changed out.
- Slide Out QWERTY keyboard. This would simply be awesome if added. Much like the removable battery and expandable memory, I don't believe this will ever come to iPhone. Please prove me wrong.
While we wait for October 4th to roll around for the official word from Apple's new CEO Tim Cook, this speculation will come to a boil. Floating to the top will surface so much anticipation for a device that may or may not pose any real threat to the future of wireless device growth, but instead spark a whole new slew of lawsuits aimed at keeping Apple in the spotlight while they sort out their emotions for a more open Apple hardware and software environment. Not Android Market open. Why not somewhere in between.
So as of this writing we can use this speculation to scratch of 4" screen and 4G from the above list. Outside of thinner device, fixed antennae issue, and ripped off Android features in iOS5, I don't think anymore items will get scratched off.
