[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrM1u_gu49A]
We showed you photos a few days ago of what is claimed to be the display covers for the 4.7-inch iPhone 6, which appeared to have slightly curved edges. Chinese site iFanr (via NWE) has now posted a video of the same part, giving a sense of how the larger phone will feel in the hand compared to the iPhone 5s …
We’ve of course seen a number of such comparisons with mockups, but this is the first with what is claimed to be a genuine part.
While Apple has issued developer guidelines on how to facilitate one-handed use with a larger screen, the video makes it pretty clear that the company is leaving behind Steve Jobs’ insistence that your thumb must be able to comfortably reach all four corners of the screen. With a screen of this size, you’re likely going to be using it two-handed at least some of the time.
This video follows similar footage of what is said to be the genuine back of the same 4.7-inch phone. We’re expecting the iPhone 6 to be significantly thinner than current iPhones, and for the flat edges to be replaced with rounded ones.
While there has been considerable concern expressed about the highly-visible antenna cut-outs seen in many mockups, Japanese paper Nikkei has suggested that they will be far more subtle in the real thing, polished glass blending in with the metal back. A render from the Ukraine provided a sense of how this might look.
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Has there been any word on the material used for these leaked covers? Is it Gorilla glass or saphire?
No word as yet, but I’m guessing any samples floating around at present would be glass anyway – Apple isn’t going to want to give away anything on the sapphire front.
Remember, the sapphire they use isn’t the natural sapphire which is worth a fortune – it’s mass produced sapphire so I’m not to sure if Apple will be overly bothered to be honest?
‘Give away’ as in give away their plans
I’m surprised no one has done a simple scratch test. It would take less than a minute and confirm it one way or the other. Since sapphire is cut out of a giant block and then sanded, it would seem more likely that not that at least the idea for the curvature came from examining that process. Gorilla Glass is made in flat sheets is it not?
I still think it makes sense to use sapphire on the iWatch, as most watches are mineral or sapphire crystal. I think the iPhone 6 will be Gorilla Glass or a variant.
Apple is apparently making a whole lot of sapphire in Arizona and has already shipped samples to China per other articles on this site. According to those same articles, the amount of furnaces and output would make enough sapphire for both the iPhone and iWatch.
went to my local sam’s club and played with a droid with a 4.7 inch screen and a note 3 5.7 inch screen. I really wish they had went with a 5 inch for the smaller one. The 4.7 still feels a little small and based on the note 3 a 5.5 feels a little too big.
can i just order these online? i feel like every order of iphone now comes with a complimentary iphone 6 panel..
This makes me sad /: The ease of using one hand is a huge thing for me. Steve jobs would have incorporated a larger screen with little to no bezels, keeping the device slim but giving more work space. Especially when other companies can. I just hope things pan out differently come September.
No bezels increases accidental touches- for now, I can’t see removing them entirely, but they do appear to have slimmed.
Please avoid the trap of insisting what SJ would have done. It’s just you’re opinion of what you think the man MIGHT have done- which is folly. He was a hard man to guess when he was alive. Now, years after his death, it’s LITERALLY impossible.
No one knows what Steve would/wouldn’t have done. People just project what they want, what they think is right on to Steve.
Yeah I agree and everything was based on opinion, but I know Steve jobs would of waited on the technology before going back on his push for a one-handed use device. The screen can be edge to edge left and right without the size bezel the dummy models have. The Touch ID can stay while decreasing unused space.
Based on the video, it seems that one handed use is still possible side-to-side. It’s just that the top row will be out of reach. So you could argue that depending on where you grip it when you first pick it up, one handed use still survives.
I have large hands. LOL. It really depends on the size of your hand. I am an all Apple guy but I really like this size of the HTC 1. That size is perfect to me. Can’t wait to get my “hand” on the 6…
So you’re saying Steve Jobs would have gotten rid of the iconic home button? Where would he have put Touch ID? Are we really supposed to believe Apple spend all this time engineering Touch ID into the home button only to get rid of it the very next year?
I mentioned nothing about removing the Touch ID. On a side note your formulating assumptions on things not deeply enough covered on a simple article reply. That’s the same thing your accusing me of, which I said only things possible and things Jobs mentioned and strived for.
One handed use on a large phone can be made much easier through software. Primary elements can be arranged so that they are within easier reach, and lesser needed elements located further from your finger. I have read other articles here in which IOS has been seen as ‘dated’ because the control layout currently mimics more of a desktop environment (menus on the top) versus a handheld environment in which menus and other controls are right under your fingers. Kind of like the thinking behind the development of the QWERTY keyboard where keys used most often are right under your fingers, lesser used keys require a reach. Let’s hope Apple has something up their sleeves…
Actually, the QWERTY keyboard was developed in the early days of manual typewriters in the late 1800s and was designed to SLOW DOWN typing speed so that the typebars didn’t get jammed, which would happen if you pressed two keys in quick succession.
That render of the bottom back of the “subtle” iPhone 6 is the first image of the new phone that hasn’t seemed horrifically ugly to my eye. If the lines are large like that however, it would make the antenna lines the largest impact zone if one happened to drop the thing. It makes you wonder if they are using liquid metal for the breaks. they do have at least two patents that describe using liquid metal in exactly that way (surrounding glass inserts).
As someone with overly large hands and failing eyesight, I believe that the jumbo-sized iPhones can’t arrive soon enough.
How can a video show you how something will feel? It can’t.
It can show you how something will look.
Isn’t Steve Jobs dead?
LOL. I have often wondered the same thing. Most of the people on such sites as this are probably not old enough to need readers. With the aging population and the large size of that market, I’m surprised more has not been done already in terms of screen size. (the accessibility options in IOS can increase font size, but that only helps with part of the problem) I see my mother and coworkers holding the phone out far and squinting to read the screen on their iPhone. I wonder how much larger the elements will be on the screen of the iPhone 6, or will it just be more screen real estate with the same size icons, etc.?? From what I’ve witnessed, the iPhone is a challenge to see for a large portion of the gray-haired crowd.
I hope that the 4.7 will be packed with the same features as the 5.5. Ive heard rumours that image stabilization will only be featured on the 5.5 inch. Im not a phablet fan and I’m hoping that all high end features will be featured in both variants. I wear scrubs to work and concealing a 5.5 inch phone is not going to be easy.
9to5 Mac has done a good job in getting photos/videos of (supposedly) leaked parts.
Mockups can be very wrong about a new iPhone.
After seeing the actual parts, I’m looking forward to getting a new phone in September.
I think we are too “hung-up” on one handed use – from some observation of users it seems to me the preserve of kids and teenagers – I always use phones in my left hand and touch keys with one finger of my right hand, and many adults I see do the same. Thus thumb use is really only for quick texting, and above screen size of 5″ not all that possible anyway.
Like a good kung fun movie it needs English subtitles. thanks.