Looks like ther's more under the hood than first thought

AngelJO008

New Member
Bronze
Jun 20, 2007
140
0
0
Looks like there's more under the hood than first thought

" The Infineon chip used in the iPhone has more power under the hood that we first thought. According to a French analyst, Apple used the Infineon technological platform MP-E+ or MP-EU to built the iPhone. And both of them can manage Flash, Java and MMS. Even more interesting, the platform also has the GPS, FM tuner and 3G capabilities already built-in. But what is the good news here? All those features can be activated by a simple firmware update! This piece of information confirms that the iPhone hardware is really at the cutting edge of mobile device technologies. But this also means that Apple could come up rapidly with firmware updates that could seriously improve the features of the iPhone. That's good news, isn't it?
Excellent news also for iPhone 1.0 owners that are not buying a product that could be completely outdated in six month from now."




Looks like we may see some interesting surprises yet!



source:

http://www.iPhonefreak.com/2007/07/iphone-hardware.html
 

PhatKid

New Member
Bronze
Jul 25, 2007
128
1
0
Hot diggity. Thanks for the news. At any rate, I don't think we'd be outdated in six months, at least not by a non-Apple cell phone.
 

Alexander

Zealot
Gold
Jun 28, 2007
1,724
0
36
Atlanta
Good news. 3G? I thought we already came to the conclusion this was not on board.

Who is to believe these days...:eek:
 

AngelJO008

New Member
Bronze
Jun 20, 2007
140
0
0
Good news. 3G? I thought we already came to the conclusion this was not on board.

Who is to believe these days...:eek:
apparently, according to this particular analyst--It's part of this specific kind of chip set all built in. Only time will truly tell :D
 

Tinman

Evangelist
Gold
Jul 16, 2007
4,334
183
63
Aridzona
I am not sure I believe some French consultant on this, but here is a Babel Fish translation from the source Website:

"In same time, the other point worthy of interest relates to the functionalities of the embarked chips. Their analysis makes it possible to notice that a number of the ` functionalities absentes' according to the press in fact are integrated in the electronics used by APPLE for its telephone and only ask to be activated. The firm of Cupertino uses doubtless the technological platform of reference of Infineon MP-E+ or MP-EU. One and the other allow activation at will functions wished in the telephone, like flash, Java, the MMS, the function of video camera, the sound recording, the voice recognition, the GPS or radio operator FM... As much to say that there is so to speak no modern and recent technology goes away in the iPhone; those they only remain to be activated."

If that is true I would have expected to see this come from elsewhere too, like one of the people heavily involved in iPhone hacking.

Anyone know of another source for this information?


--
Mike
 

Marianne

Zealot
Moderator
Jul 16, 2007
2,326
28
48
Massachusetts
marianneschultz.com
that is definitely nice to hear. my guess is that there are a number of features that Apple simply was not able to get done in time for the 1st generation release, but the hardware capability is there to build on, as this article describes...
 

AngelJO008

New Member
Bronze
Jun 20, 2007
140
0
0
I am not sure I believe some French consultant on this, but here is a Babel Fish translation from the source Website:

"In same time, the other point worthy of interest relates to the functionalities of the embarked chips. Their analysis makes it possible to notice that a number of the ` functionalities absentes' according to the press in fact are integrated in the electronics used by APPLE for its telephone and only ask to be activated. The firm of Cupertino uses doubtless the technological platform of reference of Infineon MP-E+ or MP-EU. One and the other allow activation at will functions wished in the telephone, like flash, Java, the MMS, the function of video camera, the sound recording, the voice recognition, the GPS or radio operator FM... As much to say that there is so to speak no modern and recent technology goes away in the iPhone; those they only remain to be activated."

If that is true I would have expected to see this come from elsewhere too, like one of the people heavily involved in iPhone hacking.

Anyone know of another source for this information?


--
Mike
I haven't found one yet, still looking in order to substantiate this :)

Although, iPhone software hacking is far different from hardware and chip set hacking
 

gcvt

Zealot
Gold
Jun 21, 2007
1,029
1
38
San Francisco
Seems like the "analysts" are just coming out of the woodwork and saying just about anything to get their name in print.

I believe nothing until I see it....especially if I read it on the interweb.

What qualifies someone as an analyst anyway?
 

mobilehavoc

New Member
Bronze
Jul 12, 2007
156
0
0
I think what is being said is the Infineon chip supports 3G, GPS, etc. IF AND ONLY IF there were 3G and GPS chips along with it installed. Sort of like a controller. I refuse to believe a single chip contains everything we currently have on the iPhone AND 3G AND GPS.

Don't fall for this crap - analysts are trying to manipulate the AAPL stock price to their advantage
 

jbaraga

Member
Bronze
Jun 26, 2007
270
0
16
Pittsburgh, PA
www.baraga.me
It has been stated many times in many different interviews that a move to 3G will require a change in the iPhone form factor (read: it will need to be a bigger device).

IMO, just because there's a piece of hardware within the phone that has been proven compatible with other technologies doesn't mean that technology is automatically going to find its way into the iPhone.

Essentially, here's an analogy of the quantum leap people are attempting to make in their reasoning:

Someone owns a car with Z-rated tires. Z-rated tires are capable of speeds up to 130 MPH...thereforee their car is capable of going 130 MPH. Nevermind the fact that the car is a naturally aspirated 4-cylinder with 90 HP that couldn't go 130 MPH if it was shot out of a cannon. Since it has a particular piece of equipment on it that is capable of those speeds, then the car MUST be capable of that level of performance.

It's ridiculous logic, and I wish the so-called experts would stop polluting the airwaves with this junk. It gets people's hopes up without any basis in fact, and if people aren't tech-savvy enough to understand what they're reading, they're going to jump to some inaccurate conclusions.
 

Martlet

New Member
Bronze
Jul 11, 2007
145
0
0
The Infineon platform allows for the possibility of adding additional chips it can control for various features (3G, radio, etc).

From what I've read, it doesn't appear that Apple included these optional chips, only the core chip that handles GSM/EDGE.


It's like saying a computer can print. Sure, if you add a printer, but you can't print with only a firmware upgrade.
 

jbaraga

Member
Bronze
Jun 26, 2007
270
0
16
Pittsburgh, PA
www.baraga.me
Can't believe that 3G will be enabled with a firmware update.
In numerous articles about the iPhone's pending rollout in Europe, you'll see that various Apple execs have made mention of the fact that including 3G functionality would require a change in the form factor (read: the iPhone isn't physically big enough to properly handle 3G hardware in its current size). I don't know why they'd waste their breath saying this if it weren't true.