Michal Ždanský Yesterday, photos of the alleged iPhone 5S packaging appeared on the Internet, published by a Chinese server C Technology. The image of the device shows what has been expected for a long time, that is, an unchanged design compared to the previous generation of the phone. However, a small difference can be noticed, namely the gray circle around the Home button. We were able to learn about the silver ring for the first time a month ago from the mouth of a journalist from Fox News.
The first speculations led to the belief that it is a signaling ring, i.e. a kind of replacement for the notification diode, which some communicators had, for example, back in the days of Windows Mobile. We could see a similar method of lighting around the circular button on the HTC Touch Diamond, but it was not a button to return to the home screen, but a directional controller. Apparently, however, it will not be any kind of backlighting, as graphic artist Martin Hajek hopes on your renders.
In fact, that silver ring should be related to the fingerprint sensor that is supposed to be part of the iPhone 5S. This is indicated by information from a newly discovered Apple patent, which the company registered in Europe. The ring should be made of metal, which will be able to sense the electric charge between the finger and the component, i.e. just like a capacitive display. This technology makes sense given the connection of the fingerprint reader to the Home button.
The button is mainly used to close applications, but when you want to use the button to verify your identity, for example during payment, you need to eliminate unwanted presses and return from the application back to the home screen. Thanks to the capacitive ring, the phone will know that the user is holding a finger on the button to verify identification and temporarily disable the main function of the button.
Interestingly, the patent also includes other sensors built into the button. Namely, NFC and an optical sensor for data transmission. NFC has been talked about on the iPhone for a long time, but so far there is no indication that Apple really wants to use this technology, on the contrary, iOS 7 will include the function iBeacons, which presents similar capabilities using Bluetooth and GPS. The patent also describes a special docking system that does not connect the iPhone with a connector, but with a combination of NFC and an optical sensor. NFC is used here for activation and pairing, optical sensors are then supposed to take care of data transfer. The dock should have a special shape so that the sensors are in one line and the transfer can take place.
Even though the mentioned patent has a wider use, Apple is far from having to use all the mentioned technologies. If the above photo is indeed showing the true packaging of the iPhone 5S, we can safely say that the new phone will have a fingerprint reader. However, given the recent news about the NSA and surveillance, this may not inspire much confidence in people…
Do you really expect an "esque" version to come with similar changes? If Apple is really inventing something like this, it's better to keep it for the 6th..
We'll find out tomorrow ;)
of course, we expect such changes from the "esque" version. Or do you think Apple will get away with a new iPhone with just a new processor? I'm sorry :D It's just the opposite. In order for the esque versions to even be called purchasable, they must contain such changes, see siri in 4S... Otherwise, the esque versions would not have to be published at all
So that the six doesn't come in the end. :)
3GS speed
4S iri
5S of security
5C hina
anyway the fingerprint reader is "massacre". A big distance from the competition, and Apple was the only one to prove that even today it is still possible to significantly innovate in terms of hardware and offer something completely new. And above all, it is a significant difference from the iPhone 5C :)
Another sheep. A fingerprint reader on a mobile phone is nothing so unusual, see China.
Somehow I didn't notice that we were in China.
Not only Chinese phones have a fingerprint reader. It was offered, for example, by Motorola Atrix, etc. And it's a nice time back in terms of mobile phones. However, if the reader will be located in the Home Button, then we have to acknowledge the "sheep-no-sheep" that Apple will move it a bit and offer the reader in pleasant places, unlike the times when the reader was located on the back of the phone, etc.
11 years ago I had a fingerprint reader on an HP Ipaq (PocketPC), although it was not integrated directly into the button, but it was just above it
Apple keeps coming up with something new that already is. Because other companies figured it out before and patented it like Intel and AMD (which is why amd is a step behind) Apple has to come up with other ways of "how to do it". Just like the new Mac Pro, they took two bloated PCs and put it in the trash, the only nice thing - the cooling. Innovation only in America…