Apple and Microsoft are battling it out with their screen technology and design, with rumours on the iPhone 5 surfacing and Microsoft Patents revealing some of the company’s direction.
Despite the myriad of reports claiming Apple’s new iPhone 5 will be receiving a 4 inch screen, new reports have surfaced claiming the new iPhone will be getting one just a bit smaller.
According to DigiTimes, suppliers of the new iPhone 5 screen claim it will be sized between 3.5 inches to 3.7 inches. The screen will be characterised by a smaller bezel, appearing proportionally bigger than it actually is, while still keeping its slender figure.
So far all of Apple’s iPhone variants have used a 3.5 inch screen characterised by high resolution, making up in clarity what is lacks in size. The iPhone 4’s retina display was an industry leader upon its release, and is still seen as a contender more than a year on.
The next iPhone is also believed to be ditching the reinforced glass back on the current gen, opting for the more robust metal chassis worn by other Apple products.
Although Apple is working on incorporating slimmer bezel in their next phones, arch-rival Microsoft is working on bezel that responds to finger gestures.
In February last year Microsoft lodged several patents dealing with a device’s bezel recognising touch gestures, and have now been made public.
The most interesting one makes use of a device’s bezel as an extension of the touchscreen, giving users a bigger area to work with. According to the Washington Post, the bezel will respond to “single-touch gestures, multi-finger same-hand gestures and multi-finger different hand gestures,” transforming the once redundant bezel into a touch pad that doesn’t obscure the screen.
There are also additional patents that recognise gesture inputs and carries out commands, such as bookmarking an internet page.
The patents show that Microsoft is looking to create software that is more interactive than its old methodologies, hoping to gain ground it lost to Apple.
So far the patents have yet to be granted, but they give a good insight into the differing philosophies Microsoft and Apple are betting on.
