Second-gen iPhone Confirmed?

gadgetopia writes "ITWire is reporting that the Taiwanese manufacturer Quanta has seemingly confirmed a second generation of the Apple iPhone. Another report referenced by the article suggests the new model could come with a different case design. 'Quanta and Apple already enjoy a strong relationship, with Quanta building both MacBooks and iPods for Apple to sell worldwide, although Foxconn (Hon Hai Precision Industry) is reported to be building the first batch of iPhones due to arrive in the US market by the end of June. Reports suggest Quanta has received an order for 5 million iPhones which are to be shipped in September ... Presumably this could entail a 3G or even 3.5G HSDPA iPhone for European markets due to get the iPhone by the end of the year, or even the addition of more memory - imagine a 16Gb or even 32Gb iPhone, unlikely though those will be this year mainly due to the high cost of 16 or 32Gb of flash memory.'"

OpenMoko

[fredan]

And as an alternative there is OpenMoko [openmoko.org] which, of course, runs Linux and is complete open.

Not a second iPhone, but a widescreen iPod?

[maubp]

Some have speculated that this is in fact a widescreen iPod, rather than a second revision of the iPhone (for a non-USA market?)

How about voice dialing and better battery

[Sciros]

Rather than more memory (aren't there iPods with that already?) how about they at least confirm that the current iPhone has voice dialing or make darn sure they put it into the next release. I can only imagine the number of idiots trying to press "buttons" on their flat touch screen while driving. (if they've confirmed it then nevermind, and that's good to hear)

A longer-lasting battery is also a MUST if you want to use the sucker as *both* a media player/comp00tar and a phone. Want to watch a movie? Sure, but then you're out of a phone, buddy. Not so sure that's a great tradeoff. In-flight entertainment on long trips and something to call a buddy to pick you up from the airport? Better luck next time ^^

So, things to look forward to in the next release perhaps.

Re:Can we please get out the next OS first!

[catbutt]

Tiger is working well for me. An update would be nice, I suppose, but frankly I don't really care that much.

I'm far more interested in seeing apple jump into the phone business and keep everyone else playing catch up.

These kind of news remind me of...

[Masa]

Adam Osborne [wikipedia.org] and his statements, which led to the bankruptcy of his company, Osborne Computer Corporation.

I'm not implying that Apple would face similar fate. I'm just wondering, why these kind of news does not damage the company nowadays like in the "good" old days.

Confirmation

[geauxtiggers]

I was in a Cingular store on Friday, talking with the store manager about the iPhone and number portability. He mentioned that a second version of the phone would be out for Christmas of this year. The later version is supposed to be 3G capable. Since Cingular doesn't have the 3G coverage all in place just yet for all cities, I am not too concerned about it. My nephew will get the first gen hand-me-down when the 3G one actually makes it to market.

the Mom test

[Gary W. Longsine]

I plan to test the iPhone by handing the iPhone to my Mom and asking her to call my brother. I suspect that she'll be able to do it, with no training. If I'm right, then the iPhone will be quite popular. Apple will wind up selling their "smart phone" to people who would never buy any of the "smart phones" on the market today, because they are too difficult to use.

Try Googe

[thegnu]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibibyte [wikipedia.org]

You may get the irony in this young troll's comment.

(also, try Googing Googe before you get on my case)

Re:How about voice dialing and better battery

[Jellybob]

Since it's running Mac OS, and Mac OS already has voice control built in I think it's a fairly safe bet it'll have voice dialing, and once it hits Europe it will be practically a requirement, since at least in the UK it is illegal to use a phone without hands free whilst driving.

The wider market consists of regular people....

[NDPTAL85]

Yes, catch up. Features are irrelevant when the User Interfaces to use them suck so much that mostly no one uses them. How many owners of Treos, Blackberrys and WM devices use even 40% of the features of their phones? The iPhone's breakthrough UI will enable regular folks to use MORE of their device then they could with other smartphones. So yes, in that regard which just so happens to be the MOST IMPORTANT ONE, the others will all collectively and individually be playing 'catch up'.

Re:the Mom test

[blhack]

I disagree with your test. A better one would be to hand it to her for a week, then try to take it away and see what happens. I have a blackberry, for the first few days or so, the interface was VERY strange to me, and it took a lot of pecking around before I figured out the philosophy of how everything was layed out. Now, I don't think i will ever own a different phone. Navigating through other peoples phones now is a pain, nothing is organized with any sort of logic, and the menus look like those of a fisher price toy.