iPhone Nano To Be Launched By Christmas?

the-s-dog writes writes to mention that while there have been many people wishing on a star for an iPhone nano, it seems that at least one UK news pub is confident that it will happen, and in time for this Christmas no less. Still completely unfounded rumor, but an interesting possibility. "Apple is about to launch a 'nano' version of the hugely successful iPhone. It is expected to be in the shops in time for Christmas. The product will be launched in the UK at up to £150 for pay-as-you-go customers by O2, the mobile phone group owned by Spain's Telefonica. 'This will be a big one,' said an industry source."

iPhone Slider

[e03179 (578506)]

When does the iPhone Slider with QWERTY keyboard launch?

iPhone Femto and iPhone Shuffle

[goombah99 (560566)]

iPhone Shuffle: Just drunk dials from your address list. Switch setting to dial in order or random.

iPhone Femto: So small no one but smart people can see it. And you don't have to speak. You just imagine the conversation.

iPhone one-button

[goombah99 (560566)]

iPhone one-button: just a button and 15 digit numeric display. You dial it by setting it like you would a digital alarm clock. Just hold the button down while the digits count up, stop when it gets to the number you want to dial. If you miss, you gotta go around again.

Re:iPhone Slider

[Fross (83754)]

As soon as you try the current iPhone keyboard for more than 10 minutes and see it actually is REALLY good.

As a long-time Treo 600/650 user I was really sceptical about not having a proper keyboard, but the fact is that I (and everyone I know who has tried it for a while) got used to it surprisingly quickly, 3 days at most I'd say, and now can type on it about as fast as I could my Treo. At first the predictive text (which I have to say is better than most) helped, but now I simply don't make that many mistakes.

Comments implying it's unusable without a physical keyboard just perpetuate the fallacy that there is no other alternative. There's just stubborn people, the same ones who last generation refused to adapt to touch-tone phones, broadband, automatic gearboxes, digital synths, electric shavers, you name it. Welcome to being a Grumpy Old Man ;)

Re:iPhone Slider

[Yahweh Doesn't Exist (906833)]

"Had an iPhone for a 8 months ... The problem with the keyboard is ... [it] leads me to pressing much harder than I need to, which leads to sore thumbs after more than just a few text messages."

let me get this straight, you claim the problem with the iPhone is that 8 months was insufficient time for you to learn to stop pressing so hard that it causes you physical pain!?

I don't think Apple is to blame for you having less capacity for learning than a pet.

reductio: I have the same problem with silent desktop keyboards. there's no sound to let me know when to stop pressing so by the end of the day I'm just pounding my bloody fists through the table just to hear the click of my shattered bones rattling about.

Re:iPhone Slider

[Yvan256 (722131)]

So it was you [photobucket.com] all along!

Move along, nothing to see here

[Sockatume (732728)]

It's the Daily Mail, FFS. They're as gullible as they are deranged.

Re:Move along, nothing to see here

[ATMD (986401)]

For those across the pond who haven't heard of the Daily Mail, they're pretty much our equivalent of Fox News. They'll publish any story if they think it'll sell papers, but they usually play on Joe Public's apparent dislike of immigrants, gays, people whose skin is too dark, etc.

Re:Move along, nothing to see here

[Tony Hoyle (11698)]

Fox news is quality journalism compared to the Daily Fail.

Think the National Enquirer with a racist agenda and you're getting somewhat close.

Au contraire, mon frere

[Red Flayer (890720)]

'This will be a big one,' said an industry source."

No. It will be a tiny, tiny, tiny one. One billionth the size of an iPhone. So small you will need a stylus the width of just a few carbon atoms in order to dial out.*

It is, after all, an iPhone nano.

*But that's ok, you can compensate for the tininess of your stylus by the smugness of owning the latest and greatest Apple offering.

So iPhone Shuffle is next?

[tjansen (2845)]

No display, and dials random numbers.

Re:So iPhone Shuffle is next?

[catwh0re (540371)]

My broken Nokia has had this feature for years, APPLE NEVER INNOVATES.

If it looks like it, and smells like it ...

[wpanderson (67273)]

Techcrunch reckons this is bullshit meant to drive traffic [techcrunch.com]. I'm inclined to agree.

In Other News

[Chris_Rank (762224)]

Apple is also coming out with the iUnicorn 6G and (Now with Horn!) it will be ridable, require no feeding, able to fly, and it will shoot rainbows out of it ass while it cures cancer and AIDS in the onlookers below. Look for the iUnicorn 6G in Apple Stables starting this Christmas for a starting price of 299, 399 with glitter.

The Daily Mail?!

[Peregr1n (904456)]

Oh for Christ's sake - when will Slashdotters learn, the Daily Mail is nothing more than a comic? I realise most contributors here are American and can't be expected to know the wide ranging differences between British news rags, but our tabloids like the Mail can be trusted as far as you can throw a UFO. If an 'inside source' really did leak this story, and nowhere else but the Daily Mail has reported it, it's because everyone else has laughed the source out of the door.

Viral advertising posing as news

[spleen_blender (949762)]

This "article" is advertising. Why the hell would you give apple free advertising on the front page. At least MS pays for a banner. Keep your guard up people, advertisers spend about as much money as the government on psychological studies of the public so they know how to get under the radar of most people.

Re:Oh, how user friendly!

[p0tat03 (985078)]

Not to self: Never let financial market speculators design a phone. Clearly they are retarded in this respect.

Re:Oh, how user friendly!

[piltdownman84 (853358)]

Maybe apple is bringing back rotary dialing. You spin the click wheel on the back and the dial spins on the screen on the front. Hopefully it will make all the clicking sounds that those old phones did.

Re:Oh, how user friendly!

[davidlowie (634713)]

How about a dial with numbers 0-9 on it, with small holes next to each number. To input a particular number you would place the included stylus into the corresponding hole, then turn the dial clockwise until it stops. Upon releasing the stylus, the dial will return to its resting position, and your chosen digit will appear on the screen.

Re:Oh, how user friendly!

[sexconker (1179573)]

You know, if you gave a rotary phone to an average teenager, they'd be unable to make calls.

Re:Oh, how user friendly!

[by Anonymous Coward]

If you give a Windows Mobile phone to the average 50 year old, they'd be unable to do much of anything. Just saying.
-Taylor

Yeah, but a hip 15 year old couldn't do anything with Windows Mobile, either.

Re:Skrew making it smaller

[dubbreak (623656)]

What it really needs is a bottle opener...

Isn't Zima in screw-top bottles?

Re:Screenless cellphones...

[ceoyoyo (59147)]

Now I feel old. Until I was in junior high almost no phone had a screen. Including the luggable car phones.

Now a screenless phone is a novelty, and Slashdotters don't think it will work.

Re:This might once have been possible

[p0tat03 (985078)]

The varying hardware feature set (camera, microphone, etc.) between the iPhone and iPod Touch are already diverse enough to make software marketing a bit dicey

If you poke around the API you will find that Apple has included ways to check the existence of various hardware capabilities (as well as network connectivity). Presumably they've already thought about devices that support different hardware profiles. For example, it is ill-advised to try and initialize the camera without first checking if it is available.

but I can't see Apple introducing a major new variation to the UI for smaller screens along with a whole new set of targeting constraints for developers.

Doubtful they will, but the same UI will work at different resolutions and screen sizes. I suspect the people who have hard-coded the screen width into their apps will be screwed at SOME point.

Re:This might once have been possible

[LWATCDR (28044)]

One has to ponder the idea that the next IPod Touch might come with a camera and maybe a GPS.
Why not make your touch your camera as well. A camera on a media player isn't any dumber than on a cell phone.