iChat Mobile: is it the iPhone (part forty bajillion)?
By Ryan Block 
posted Aug 2nd 2006 7:53PM
posted Aug 2nd 2006 7:53PM
[Thanks, Harlan]
posted Aug 2nd 2006 7:53PM
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
iChat Mobile? The "iSight" would be in the front, not the back... iSight in the back = no iChat...
It looks very convincing...right down to the camera lens which looks just like the one on the MacBook. The only thing that doesn't add up is the playback buttons. I thought Apple filed a patent to have a touch-sensitive wheel (like the ones on iPods) to be used on a cell phone? Otherwise this looks very Apple-ish.
At this point, with all the rumor/innuendo about the Macphone, unless Steve Jobs personally shows up at my door with the phone and a check with many 0s in the dollar amount I'm not interested.
The Macphone = the Phantom of the cell phone industry.
The more I look at this picture, the more the form-factor is all wrong for a mobile phone. It looks more like a cordless phone. Could it be a VOIP handset?
Why would apple throw the name "iChat Mobile" on the side of the phone that's visible when someone's using the phone? Plus I second the "if it's for chat why is the camera lens on the other side of the screen?" comment.
Fake.
Next?
As a shareholder, techno freak adn general apple-a-holic, I SURE AS SHIT HOPE NOT! What a fugly POS. It's reminicent of a 3-4 year old design with strapped on player controls. Great. Woopie Doo.
GUARRENTY this is just a WiFi phone to be used with Apples new "skype" type of software.
Not a true cellular phone. :)
Suck It Down. ™
Uh..I hate to bust everyone's bubble, but it's clear that someone Photoshopped an image of the Apple remote and created a phone mockup. But the image is clearly based on the Apple remote promo images from Apple.
Will the iRadiation be more or less than the average amount that can be expected from cell phones?
Even if this one is fake, I really think Apple will release a VoIP "iPhone" rather than a traditional cell phone. In a traditional cellphone the network technology they decide on will all but define what markets see it and what markets don't. Apple has rarely played things like that, and I don't see them doing it now, particularly since WiFi hotspots are becoming common enough to use for some outta-the-house communications.
Personally, if they do release a WiFi / VoIP device, I'd rather see it come with a nice display, and a mobile version of the Safari and Mail apps. I guess we'll see in a few days.
Horrible fake.
for all the hype and mystery around apple making a cellphone, i swear if they do do it, it better freakin rock. Somehow i think it wont though.
That thing is fuuuuugly no way apple would put something that grotesque out.
I rather like it, very sleek. I hate new cellphones... you have to hold them in your fingers.. I want something the size of a good size portable phone that i can grip... i feel like a giant holding these new phones.
IF it was real...where the hell would the battery go?
this looks absolutely NOTHING like something apple would come up with. those youtube iphone fakes looked more convincing.
Fact or crap. I say the latter. This is an ok mockup, but Apple would not call it iChat Mobile. Hey, did you get the new Apple iChat Mobile. It doesn't exactly roll off the tounge.
iChat Mobile doesn't roll off the tounge and you're telling me MacBook Pro does??
"It doesn't exactly roll off the tounge."
. . . and "mac book pro" does?
Why would Engadget even post something so stupid? It's like a photoshopped shuffle, microwave, and Sony Ericsson white T637. I have seen much bette iPhone mock-ups. Engadget could at least tell us the source.
godmode, i have trouble believing you when you cant spell guarantee. i think thats what you're trying to spell. I hope it is a wifi phone, makes me feel better about just buying my treo.
duh, of course it's a fake. when has apple ever let their marketing materials slip? i don't think the author designed it to convince ppl it's authentic, but it's still a decent design of what apple is capable of putting out there in the near future.
Too white to be real. Imagine how dirty this phone would get if used daily? Just look at your Apple keyboard and you'll understand. As a marketing POV it would sell, but have troubles in use. This is fake to me.
Another hint: the space between the title and the description is too short...Apple typographic rules are always perfect. Steve loves Paul Rand too much. ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYF3BpbFI9c
Fake? The video gives a lot of evidence to that assessment.
If this is a fake, it's a pretty convincing one. I don't know a whole lot about photoshopping or how pre-WWDC rumors have gone in the past. I've only been using a Mac for about 9 months now and I love it. As a layman, I hope you will indulge me.
Why would Apple have a mobile phone with an iSight in front? That makes no sense, even if it was heavily based on iChat. So people can see your face while you're walking around or driving? What use would it have as a mobile device if it were just an arm of iChat? Any camera phone has the camera in the back. When it comes to things away from the computer systems and OS's, Apple has tried to cater their product to the entire market. Restricting it to only Apple users would be the opposite of what Apple has done with all their hit accessories like iPod and iTunes. That and I hardly use iChat because I can't find anyone else who uses it too. I just wonder, why would they create a product with such potential, and limit the market? I suppose that could be a reason why this is a fake. If it isn't, it would seem that you guys are taking the iChat capability on a Mac system and applying it to a phone concept that will have far less power to run all the big features of iChat. Just because I don't have an iSight doesn't mean I don't have iChat AV, right?
Other than that, the phone does look a little lanky. You would think it'd be on par with other one-piece Smartphones. In the upper left hand corner there is an obvious signal strength bar, which means this could be for a cell phone network. It seems like making a device that only used WiFi hotspots is a waste. There are a lot of them, well maybe in the Bay Area, but everywhere else there isn't. Most places you have to pay for them. It doesn’t seem like there is a broad enough range to benefit a mobile device relying totally on WiFi networks. You’d be hitting blackout zones like crazy and most people would be in them anytime they left their house. It kills the point of the mobile device. I just don’t see the use or innovation in a product that would be so restricted.
I hope this is real and I hope it is Apple's version of a Smartphone. If it isn’t I hope we see an Apple Smartphone. I think this one looks a heck of a lot more appealing then that massive looking iPod/Blackberry thing, though.
FAKE
Apple is anal-retentive-fanatic about design. They would probably rather collectively jump off the Golden Gate bridge than plaster an ugly logo on the back like iChat Mobile.
Unlike an iPod, the back of a phone is just as likely to be visible and just as important as the front. All phone manufacturers design the backs of their phones and Apple will do so even more obsessively.
So: No. Nooooooo. No way.
That is one large and not very put-in-the-pocketable phone might I say. I do hope they can come up with something a little better than that (looks wise).
Specs wise, I'm sure we can expect plenty of iTunes integration with different capacity flash based drives available (2G, 4G, 8G), seamless syncing to Addy Book/iPhoto/iChat/Mail blah blah blah. The no camera lens on the front was a nice touch by whoever mocked up this guy though. Anyone remember a recent Apple patent in regards to a monitor with integrated "video pixels"? Wouldn't that be sweeter that your mama's apple pie. That would be some nice video chat right there boy.
Screen size just HAST to be bigger for a nice phone tho.
What options would we like to see here? Google Maps, AirPort streaming, WiFi (but that aint gonna happen), large touch screen, bluetooth earpiece/headphones, 3rd party VOIP availability (I guess that would have to be over USB though, so … hmm), free In-N-Out milkshake with every purchase?
Let's hope for AAPL's sake this thing doesn't take too long to come out!
definitly fake..check digg for the video, the guys turns it to show the top and it is just a piece of glossy paper bent into a cylindrical shape