WWDC Predictions?

[Rene Ritchie]

Just kidding!

We'll probably have an iPhone SDK event February, and maybe something in April before then anyway...

It's not like we can't wait to argue about:

3G iPhone 16gb
3G MacBook Air 120gb
2TB Time Capsule
iPhone/Air dock
iTablet
And, of course, OS X 10.6 (Cougar/Lynx/Sabertooth/Lion)

 

[cmaier]

I actually think that when the 3G iPhone comes it will be 32gb.

I wouldn't touch time capsule with a 10 foot pole - all of my centralized storage has to be RAID.

iTablet is a dumb idea

MacBook air 3G is a good idea. Don't think bumping drive to 120GB matters much.

There, did I start any controversy? ;-)

 

[Dieter Bohn]

I'll trade you a time capsule for turning back on airport extreme USB drive backup. Once that happens, I'm getting me a DROBO.

3G macbook would please me, although I did just buy an express card for Sprint...

3G iPhone, the only questions I have are whether 32gb is too optimistic.

Here's the REAL iPhone question: will they change the form factor?

 

[cmaier]

so, why a drobo? I have 2 infrant nas's, and as far as I can tell, other than the cool black enclosure, they beat drobo in every meaningful way (including price, when you factor in the cost of drobo's new ethernet doohicky). (And i've been doing time machine backups onto one of them ever since I got my mbp).

I don't think we'll see 3G iphone until pretty late this year, hence the 32GB option, probably for a $100 premium over the current top of line.

 

[Rene Ritchie]

Good read on why Airport is disabled:

http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/macworldexpo/index.html#d23jan2008

 

[Rene Ritchie]

@cmaier:

Which Infrant's do you use/recommend?

@Septimus:

Apple seems pretty consistent on form factors across their lines (Mini looks basically like Airport, Apple TV, Time Capsule, etc.; iPods are all basically slabs). Unless there's an iPhone mini, I think the only other form factor would be an ultra-ultra thin iPhone Air (Paper??)

 

[cmaier]

I have the four-drive readynas (I actually have an X6 and the newer NV+). Has a built-in itunes server, built-in support for AFS, cifs/samba, and pretty much anything else you can name.

Plus, to upgrade disk space all I have to do is pull out a disk (can even do it while powered), replace it with a bigger disk, wait for an automatic re-synch, then repeat for the other disks. I guess drobo can do a similar trick but with heterogeneous disks, which is nice. Personally, though, I prefer ethernet to usb. The nv+ also has usb ports to serve a printer, support for UPS's, etc.

I am thinking iphone will get thinner at the edges, and curvier. Easier to hold.

 

[Dieter Bohn]

@cmaier: You've convinced me. infrant 'tis.

rener - yeah, basically I think they would stay the same, but if they could miniaturize it I think they would.

Plus, if they want to throw real GPS in there, they would need more surface devoted to antenna, which would mean more plastic on the back.

 

[mikec#IM]

Glad to see why I'm ot the only one who couldn't understand all the hype around the Drobo...

As for 3G iPhone, they have to tame the battery beast. Being contrarian, I think it might be 2009 before we see a 3G iPhone.I hope I am wrong.

An iPhone SDK will likely be there, although I bet there will be some issues of contention around licensing (Apple's got to make their $$$)

 

[cmaier]

I think the battery life will get there; process shrinks help a lot. A little smart logic (like kicking in 3G for web but not for email scans, etc.) might help.

 

[Rene Ritchie]

what about 802.11n wifi, is that possible for iPhone/Touch near-term?

(and 802.11x for all those university students?)

 

[marcol]

I think the battery life will get there; process shrinks help a lot. A little smart logic (like kicking in 3G for web but not for email scans, etc.) might help.

Do you chaps reckon they'll go with the Broadcom '3G phone on a chip' thing? Those were available in October so I guess we should be seeing them in phones relatively soon:

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/10-15-2007/0004681492&EDATE=

It struck me as odd that there was so little from MW about the SDK and was wondering if there mightn't be an iPhone specific event in Feb when it's released. Too much to hope for accompanying new (3G?) hardware then?

 

[Rene Ritchie]

Maybe the next-gen Intel mobile platform, with everything on the chip?

What about 720p on iPhone

 

[cmaier]

As a guy who designed microprocessors for AMD for 9 years, I'm not big on the intel stuff

I suspect when 3G comes it will be using a 3G broadcom chip, but not one that we currently know about.

 

[Rene Ritchie]

Yeah, that must annoy a little.

When are the 4G iPhone rumors scheduled to start again? (And is that the rev with the Holo-Emersion chipset?)

 

[cmaier]

With the 700MHz auction coming up, I'm not sure it's safe to assume that anyone knows what 4G will really look like.

 

[Rene Ritchie]

Quad-core MacBook Pro?

What I would also like, iPhone-wise, is first-party support for using iPhone to remote-control a Mac (Front Row) and/or Apple TV via WiFi.

 

[Rene Ritchie]

Looks like it may well be intel Silverthorne:

http://www.appleinsider.com/article...details_on_apple_bound_silverthorne_chip.html