CultCast #280 - The iPhone 8 leaks begin! 🙌🏼

The CultCast - A podcast by America's favorite Apple Podcast - Fridays

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Technology

This week: we deconstruct the new iPhone 8 leaks! We’ll tell what we’ve learned.  
 
Plus: Apple starts testing the driverless car they’re totally not working on; and the best iOS apps for all you marijuana connoisseurs. 
 
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We also want to give Kevin MacLeod at incompetech.com a  thanks for the great music you hear on today's show.
 
On the show this week
 
 
This week’s Intro
 
 
Sources confirm some of iPhone 8’s biggest upgrades
  • In its report on the new iPhone 8, Bloomberg corroborates many previous rumors about the next-gen iPhone, but suggests that more “ambitious” features may be scaled back or ditched due to manufacturing problems.
  • According to the report, and as we’ve discussed on the show, Apple is preparing three iPhones for launch. Two will simply be updated versions of the current iPhone, while the high-end model will sport a totally revamped look.
  • Apple is testing a premium version with a screen that covers almost the entire front of the device.  That results in a display slightly larger than that of an iPhone y Pus but with an overall phone size closer to the iPhone 7.
  • The updated lower-end model iPhones will stick with LCD displays and get fewer hardware updates.
  • "One of the latest prototype designs includes symmetrical, slightly curved glass on the front and the back. The curves are similar in shape to those on the front of the iPhone 7. The new OLED screen itself is flat, while the cover glass curves into a steel frame. The design is similar conceptually to the iPhone 4 from 2010”
  • "Apple also tested a more ambitious prototype with the same slightly curved front and steel frame, but a glass back with more dramatic curves on the top and bottom like the original iPhone design from 2007, one of the people said. “
  • "Apple suppliers have so far struggled to reliably produce heavily curved glass in mass quantities, so the company is more likely to ship the version with more subdued curves”
  • "Significant camera changes are also in testing for Apple’s overhauled iPhone. For the back of the phone, Apple is testing versions of the phone with the dual-camera system positioned vertically, instead of horizontally like on the iPhone 7 Plus, which could result in improved photos,”
  • “Apple has … experimented with integrating the iPhone’s fingerprint scanner into the screen of the OLED version, which would be technically challenging, the people said”.  TouchID on the back?
 
‘Leaked’ iPhone 8 drawings reveal surprising design
  • A new photo from leaker Sonny Dickson of what is believed to be iPhone 8 schematics reveals a surprising new design direction.
  • Apple appears to have done away with the smooth curves we’ve come to expect from its smartphones in recent years, opting instead for sharper edges and flat sides. This image suggests the next iPhone will be much like the iPhone 5, only bigger.
  • The shell seen in the photo above carries the same flat sides as the iPhone 5, with what appear to be chamfered edges. Cutouts for two rear-facing cameras get stacked one on top of the other, near the trademark Apple logo and a rear-facing Touch ID button.
  • It looks like the frame shown in the leaked iPhone 8 schematics was designed to hold flat glass, not a curved display like those used by Samsung.
 
 
Apple gets green light to test autonomous cars in California
  • The California DMV updated its website today adding Apple to the list of 30 companies testing self-driving cars in California, including Tesla, Google, VW, Ford, Mercedes Benz and BMW.
  • Don’t get your hopes up on seeing a car made by Apple anytime soon though. A DMV spokesperson informed the Financial Times that Apple is licensed to test three 2015 Lexus RX450h cars with six drivers.
 
6 iPhone apps every stoner needs on 4/20