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The iPhone 4 and iPad we know today are gadgetry in the extreme — digital pieces of paper, if you will. Nothing garish, nothing in excess. And that’s mostly true in their prototypes! But some of these leaked early iPhone and iPad prototypes? They’re bonkers.
One early iPhone 4 prototype shows edges and angles galore, with diagonal corners, and one of the iPad prototypes even has a kickstand. Yes. A kickstand. You’ve got to see these.
The pictures of these iPhone and iPad prototypes were found in court documents by BuzzFeed and the Verge. Not all the prototypes were strange though. Some prototypes actually look like they’d be real products.
Above, there’s an iPod Nano-inspired iPhone 4 prototype made with brushed aluminium and complete with rounded corners. Another iPhone prototype labeled n90 actually looks amazing — impossibly thin (though thicker in the middle) and skinny, it looks very much like a delightful candybar. Other prototypes look like knockoffs of Apple products you’d see other companies make — inelegant designs that feel forced to be quasi-futuristic.
The most fun prototypes, however, are the ones you’d never think Apple would even consider making. The iPhone with the diagonal corner looks like a Vertu phone with its eight different sides (including corners). The kickstand iPad? That had to have been a joke to rankle Steve Jobs, right? Right?
Look at these, then look at the devices you have in your pocket or on your desk, then think about how close you came to owning some pretty absurd hardware. [BuzzFeed, The Verge]
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Small error in the article, it should read “iPhone 4 and 4S looks ridiculous today.” Too small and thick compared to the modern phones out there.
I wouldn’t call the iPhone thick. Sure Siri is a dumb as cheese, but other than that it’s a pretty clever device.
I have some mouldy cheese in my fridge that I think has become sentient that may disagree with you on that..
Yeah, but it’s the mould that’s doing all the thinking.I agree that the mould is probably smarter than Siri, but still stick to my earlier comments regarding cheese.
That aluminium iPhone from the title pic is gorgeous, I wish they’d made that one.
I like it, looks a lot like the Nokia Lumia 800/N9. It does look a little dated now though, whereas I still think the 4/4s looks great.
I agree it looks nice but someone, somewhere on the internet will have already said “OMG look Nokia copied Apple!”
ahem…
http://mrsec.wisc.edu/Edetc/nanotech/images/ipodnano1.jpg
or
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-GODJrplLa54/TXAdLd00kgI/AAAAAAAAAB4/PmyQyx4lvE8/Apple+Remote+Control+Infrared.jpg
Yeah, I know, my first thought when I saw the picture up top was that it looked like a larger ipod nano. When the lumias came out I wondered if Apple might flag the similarity to the nano too.
Just imagine the scratches on it within 3.6 seconds of owning it…!
Well you’d get a cover for it, naturally
The one on the left in the title pick, to me looks a lot Like the Samsung galaxy.
I really hope this was said as a joke..
Ah yes, to make that clearer I suppose I should have added
or perhaps lol.
I thought some of the prototypes were made to look different so they wouldn’d be recognised on the street, but the software worked as you would expect for testing.
Not that this helped when they lost one in a bar.
Could you imagine still having that old OS on the phone? Looks horrid.
I can’t imagine that horror nor understand why others except that curse.
I’d still tap it.