iPhone 5 shell photographed


The iPhone 5 is not coming out for months, but one site thinks it has already found its shell.

What afternoon would be complete without a new Apple rumor? Earlier today, supposed leaked shots of the new maps application for iOS 6 hit the web, and now we may have our first glimpse of the next iPhone. You don’t have to guess where this image comes from since the logos are plastered on it, but 9to5 Mac and the folks at iFixyouri believe they have discovered the iPhone 5. Or it’s shell, at least.

This part supposedly entered iFixyouri’s catalog. They believe it might be a back plate (shell) for the upcoming iPhone, though we are somewhat doubtful. To us, the design doesn’t look sleak enough to be an Apple phone and it lacks the normal pin connector that connects all iOS devices. Of course, there have been rumors that Apple is going to shrink the connector, so this may fall in line with that. The extra space on the bottom appears to be used by speakers. The black sections also come in white, but whoever sent this also said that black and white wouldn’t be the only colors. Again, according to iFixyouri.

The design of this phone appears somewhat Apple-like, but also a bit, well, ugly. What do you think? Is this the next iPhone?


Sony’s new Xperia Go and Xperia Acro S add water resistance to strong spec lists


Sony Mobile has announced two new Xperia phones, the Xperia Go and the Xperia Acro S. Both are water and dust resistant, and will be released later this year.

Sony has announced two new smartphones, the Xperia Acro S and the Xperia Go, both of which fall into the same tough-phone category as devices like the Motorola Defy and Sony’s own Xperia Active.
The Xperia Go (pictured on the right above) is the more basic of the two, as it comes with Google Android 2.3 Gingerbread installed, but is listed as being a candidate for an Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade. However, this being Sony Mobile, when such an update will arrive is anyone’s guess.

The scratch-resistant 3.5-inch Reality Display screen uses the same wet-finger tracking system as the Xperia Active, and the whole device has an IP67 rating for water and dust resistance.

Inside is a 1Ghz dual-core processor, which although isn’t stated, we’d expect to be the ST-Ericsson NovaThor U8500, and on the rear is a 5-megapixel camera. The chassis is 9.8mm thick, and it’ll be available in black, white or yellow.

The Acro S is a very high-spec phone for one with water and dust resistance, in this case an improved IP55 and IP57 rating, as it has a 1.5Ghz dual-core processor (possibly a Snapdragon S4 like its close cousin, the Japan-only Xperia Acro HD) and a 4.3-inch, 720p Reality Display screen. The 12-megapixel camera will also shoot 1080p video, while the forward-facing video-call lens shoots in 720p.
Unlike the Xperia Go, the Acro S will have Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich installed at the start, and instead of a yellow color scheme, it’ll add pink to the standard black or white models.
In case you’re not familiar with the intricacies of the IP rating system, the Xperia Go’s IP67 rating will see it survive a dunking for up to 30 minutes, provided the depth is no more than 1 meter, while IP55 and IP57 adds protection against streams of water and  resistance to dust particles too.
Both phones are set to be released between July and September, with the Xperia Go being renamed the Xperia Advance for the US market.


Microsoft Wireless Desktop 5000 Review


Microsoft’s Wireless Desktop 5000 is a firmly middle-of-the-road keyboard and mouse combo with some ergonomic perks.

Currently celebrating its 30th anniversary, Microsoft’s hardware division has a wealth of experience to draw from when it comes to designing keyboards, mice, and other peripherals. There’s ample evidence of that design experience in the Wireless Comfort Desktop 5000.
This isn’t the fanciest mouse-and-keyboard combo on the market, but it has well-placed buttons for most of the common tasks you’ll use your PC for, the primary keys provide very good tactile feedback, it’s easily programmed, and most importantly, it felt good under our hands. A large wrist rest, covered in diamond-patterned rubber, accounts for about 25 percent of the lower horizontal surface area, but our typing style kept our wrists elevated above it. Had we wanted to, we could have inserted a pair of rubber plugs into the bottom of the keyboard beneath the wrist rest to elevate it, but we elected to use these under the top of the keyboard because we prefer to type with the keyboard angled up, not down. Although the plugs provide only one height choice, they’re vastly superior to the flimsy plastic legs that flip out from the bottom of most keyboards.
Ergonomic keyboards — with their wavy designs — seem to have fallen out of favor these days, perhaps because gamers demand straight planks. The letter keys on this model follow a gentle curve, with the home row from A through F curving down toward the wrist rest, and the home row from J to the Enter key curving up and away from it. The layout felt very natural to us, and we were able to type rapidly with accuracy, although we had to stretch just a bit to reach the T and Y keys. The other home row keys that your fingers don’t sit on at rest — the G, H, B, and N keys — are slightly oversized, rendering them easier to find with your index finger.
The primary letter keys have just the right amount of travel: not too deep, not too shallow, and with just enough resistance that you can rest your fingertips on them without pushing them down unintentionally. This isn’t a gaming keyboard, so there are no buttons dedicated to game functions, but we had no problem playing games on it, including The Walking Dead. Some of us tend to pound the keys when we’re writing, and even though this keyboard is outfitted with membrane switches, such aggressive typing produced a surprisingly loud click, followed by a dull thud when the key bottomed out; some people found it a bit annoying.

The Escape and Function keys are exceptionally small — perhaps a quarter of typical height — and each Function key plays second fiddle to commands such as undo, redo, open new document, open file, and save file. Touch typists would most likely ignore most of them in favor of key combinations such as Ctrl-Z, Ctrl-V, Ctrl-O, and Ctrl-S, because these shortcuts can perform many of the same actions without taking your hands off home row. If you use software that makes frequent use of the Function keys, meanwhile, you won’t like this keyboard at all.

Programmable keys and buttons


You can program any of these keys, as well as a larger set of buttons above the Function keys, to perform almost any function you like using Microsoft’s IntelliType Pro software. As you might expect, many of these buttons are programmed at the factory to work with Microsoft programs, such as Word, Excel, and Outlook, but it’s easy to reassign them to work with alternative programs.
The keyboard doesn’t have any LEDs to indicate that Caps Lock and Num Lock are engaged, probably to preserve battery power (the mouse and keyboard operate on two AA batteries each). The USB dongle for controlling the two peripherals is absolutely huge compared to the tiny dongle that Logitech supplies with its wireless keyboards and mice these days. Use it with a laptop and you’ll need to unplug for travel, lest it break off and damage your laptop’s USB port as you shove it in your bag. Fortunately, the dongle can be attached to the bottom of the mouse for transport, so it doesn’t get lost. Snap it in place and it will conveniently depress a button to turn the mouse off. The keyboard, however, doesn’t have a power button.


The mouse


The Wireless Mouse 5000 is a straightforward, ambidextrous design with the usual left and right buttons on top, a scroll wheel with a third button and left-right tilt, and two additional buttons on the left and right sides. The rubber-coated wheel rolls freely, without providing the option of precision indexing. The sides where you grip the mouse with your thumb and ringer are indented and covered with a dimpled rubber surface. The top of the mouse, including the buttons, are a glossy black plastic.

The mouse is outfitted with Microsoft’s BlueTrack LED, which Microsoft claims is capable of tracking on nearly any surface. True to Microsoft’s claim, the mouse had no problem tracking a wooden desktop, a granite countertop, a glass tabletop, and a variety of mouse pads. The only surface on which the mouse failed to track was a mirror. The mouse tracked quickly and accurately, without exhibiting significant amounts of lag. The only feature we really missed was an indexed scroll wheel – the kind with detents as you roll it.


Conclusion


The Wireless Comfort 5000 Desktop largely lives up to its promise. The keyboard and mouse are very comfortable to use, and the keyboard provides plenty of one-touch functions for managing your applications. It’s not equipped with informative LEDs, nor does it have convenient features such as audio jacks or a USB hub; but you’re just not going to find such things on a wireless setup. There’s no excusing the too-small F keys, however, and the too-large USB dongle is a genuine pain. The mouse is unremarkable aside from its ability to track on almost any surface, which is great when you’re traveling and don’t always have the ideal workspace.

Highs

  • Very good tactile feedback
  • Comfortable
  • Lots of programmable buttons

Lows

  • Oversized USB dongle
  • Too-small Function keys
  • No index option for mouse scroll wheel

Meet the Orange San Diego, the UK’s first Intel Medfield-powered Android phone


UK network Orange has launched the San Diego, an Android phone powered by Intel's Medfield Atom processor.
Hot on the heels of the Lava Xolo X900 going on sale in India, another smartphone powered by Intel’s Medfield processor is about to hit the shelves, this time in the UK.
Initially revealed as an exclusive device for the UK network Orange, with the codename Santa Clara, it has now been officially announced with the name San Diego. Orange loves naming its own branded devices after cities, with the ZTE Blade/Orange San Francisco being one of the best known.
Like Lava’s Xolo, the San Diego is based on Intel’s reference design hardware, with which it demonstrated the capabilities of the Medfield chip last year.
The San Diego uses Intel’s Atom Z2460 processor, with a clock speed of 1.6Ghz, making it unique amongst a sea of phones all using ARM processor architecture. The Medfield Atom chip represents Intel’s most effective attempt to break ARM’s hold on the mobile industry yet.
A 4.03-inch touchscreen sits on the front of the 9.9mm thick, 117 gram chassis, and has a 1024 x 600 pixel resolution. On the rear is an 8-megapixel camera with the ability to record 1080p video, and other features include 16GB of internal memory, Bluetooth 2.1, GPS and an HDMI-out port.
Perhaps the only disappointing aspect of the San Diego is that it runs Google Android 2.3 Gingerbread, but as Lava has stated an Android 4.0 update will be coming for the X900, there’s a chance Orange may offer one too.
So how much will the San Diego cost? If you select a Pay As You Go tariff, it’s a reasonable £199 (about $300), or alternatively an offer of a 24-month contract at £15.50 per-month, with the phone for free, will be provided for the first month of release. The Orange San Diego will go on sale on June 6.