Apple is looking to increase the iPhone’s screen size from 3.5 inches to at least 4 inches, according to a Wall Street Journal report, a move that’s presumably being made because of stiff Android competition.

This is not the first suggestion Apple will put a bigger screen on the iPhone this year. In fact, such speculation has been rumored for some time, yet Apple has consistently kept the iPhone display at 3.5 inches for every iteration of the device since its launch in 2007.

As the Apple hype machine is put in motion with just a few weeks until the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference in June, talk about what the new iPhone will bring is intensifying. Since Apple didn’t do any radical changes to the iPhone design last year, a revamped look is expected to come this year.

The Wall Street Journal report does not give any specifics on how big the screen of the new iPhone would be, saying it would measure “at least 4 inches diagonally,” which indeed would be bigger than the current 3.5-inch display. But if it’s any indication, an earlier report from Reuters put forward the more precise diagonal measurement of 4.6 inches.

Perhaps what fuels the interest in a larger-screen iPhone is that in the past couple of years Android manufactures have been pushing the size of their phone displays close to 5 inches, in a bid to differentiate themselves. With a bigger-is-better mentality, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus has a 4.65-inch screen, all the way up to 4.8 inches on the Galaxy S III or 4.7 inches on the HTC One X.

As my colleague Jared Newman explains, many snub the idea of a bigger iPhone display because easy one-handed operation is a big part of the iPhone’s design, and that’s just not possible with a display of around 4.6 inches. In defense of a larger-screen devices, Android manufacturers have found that that allows them to create thinner designs on phones. by making the screen bigger, Apple also would be able to deliver a more radical redesign of the iPhone. The question is, will Apple manage to maintain the highest pixel density phone display on the market if it decides to go big?

Follow Daniel Ionescu and Today @ PCWorld on Twitter

iPhone screen size may increase to at least 4 inches

iOS 6 is making waves across the world. Apple fans are excited about it. Meanwhile its release date is not very far away

It has been barely one year when we got the iOS 5. Apple launched the current version of iOS at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June, 2011. the new iPhone 4S and the new iPad run on that version. Now the world is looking forward to the next major update of iOS, possibly named iOS 6, which may come out at the WWDC 2012. as usual, Apple hasn’t yet revealed anything about the new iOS 6. But as per the Cupertino firm’s tradition, it may introduce the new version during its forthcoming developer conference. the highly anticipated iPhone 5 will be the first device to get the possible iOS 6. what new features and improvements the iOS 6 will have? here is a look into a few features that Apple fans wish to see in iOS 6.

Advanced multitasking capability: Apple first added multitasking capability to its iOS platform with the iOS 4 in 2010. It has been a great option for iDevice users to keep open several apps and switch between them at a time. Anyway, with iOS 5 and its slight updates, multitasking hasn’t been perfect so far. That is why Apple fans have been looking towards more advanced multitasking capabilities on the new iOS version.

Facial recognitionApple’s recent patent applications simply suggest that the company is working towards adding facial recognition feature to its iOS devices. apart from regular face unlock feature that you can see on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and others, iOS’ particular feature will make use of more intricate algorithms. It will be more intuitive that it can verify the level of attentiveness before unlocking a device. as whole, the facial recognition feature will boost the security of iDevices.

Increased Facebook and Twitter functionalityThe iOS 5 made iDevices highly rich to use social networking sites, especially Twitter. Using iOS 5, you can share images that are on the iOS gallery instantly to Twitter. Apple fans expect that the new iOS 6 will extend the particular feature to Facebook as well. furthermore, there is chance that the iOS 6 will enable you to share tweets and update Facebook through the Siri voice recognition feature.

Revamped SiriSiri, iPhone 4S’ intelligent personal assistant app, may certainly get a revamped version on iOS 6. Though announced along with iOS 5, Siri voice recognition app runs only on iPhone 4S. maybe, with the iOS 6, the hugely acclaimed voice feature may appear on iPad and iPod touch also. But there is no confirmed report on its likelihood. And more, Siri’s integration with the new iDevices is also related with their hardware.

“Unfortunately, the popular voice-activated personal assistant was available only for iPhone 4S users. Other users had to jailbreak the iPhone 4 to run Siri. Therefore considering the popularity of the feature, we would expect that iOS 6 would integrate Siri even more into the operating system, and make it available on more devices,” comments International Business Times.

Turn-by-Turn navigationThe new iOS version may also come with a map that will allow location-finding through the Global Positioning system (GPS). the feature will help users easily get directions for multiple routes at a time. It has been one of the much awaited features by Apple fans. as per rumors, for the feature Apple may work with either Google or MapQuest. “To introduce an accurate and user-friendly turn-by-turn map in iOS 6, it is possible that Apple will be working with either Google or MapQuest,” says Delaon of Planet Insane.

Streaming through iTunesThe new iOS 6 is rumored to allow streaming music through iTunes. Apple launched iTunes Match on iOS 5. It is an exclusive feature for users to back up their music files on iCloud. Currently there is no option for streaming music from iTunes. as per reports, Apple may launch a facility called the iCloud Music, which will let users stream music from iCloud.

These are only a few largely expected features expected to come on the new iOS 6 update. Apple fans wish to enjoy many more features and capabilities on iOS 6, which may come to market on the new iPhone 5. however, since it is all about Apple, we can’t really tell what the company will introduce to the new platform.

iOS 6 release date: features expected for iOS 6

We can focus on the  iPhone 5 release date, now that the iPad 3 release date is firming up. the best iPhone 5 rumors right now suggest that the release is due for June 2012, and guesses around the iPhone 5 price.

The iPhone 5 release date theory came about as Digitimes posted a news story saying "Apple is expected to unveil its iPhone 5 smartphone at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) to be held in June 2012, the Chinese-language Commercial Times quoted Daiwa Securities as indicating." This is very much a story-of-a-story kind of thing, so it’s largely unverifiable. That also means we can’t prove it’s false, so we’ll have to wait. Summer is a fairly standard time to release a new iPhone, with the exception of the iPhone 4s release which was done in October of last year. another iPhone5 release date could happen independent of that, as the iPhone 4s release in Cupertino did last year in October. It could mark a change from Apple away from industry events like CES as WWDC and into their own sponsoring of an event. In that case, Apple could announce the release of an iPhone 5 on their own schedule, independent of deadlines set by industry event schedules.

Visit the Spacelab Guide to Streaming Music Sites

Posted in Gadgets & TechnologyComments (0)