Concept imagines dark mode + split screen features for iPhone 7 & iOS 10 | 9to5Mac

Apple already has a dark mode on Mac and a split-screen feature for iPads, but this latest concept from iHelpBR imagines what it might look like if the company brought those two features over to iPhone users in iOS 10.

It’s not the first concept to suggest Apple should bring a dark theme to iOS to give the UI a color palette that’s a little easier on the eyes than the current, mostly bright white design. Apple already has a Dark Mode for Mac OS X that offers a darker color palette for the menu bar and other UI elements, not to be confused with the new Night Shift features introduced in iOS 9.3 that automatically adjust the colors in your display for an ideal viewing experience at night. 

Earlier this week Apple updated its WWDC app with a new dark theme on iOS in addition to a companion app for Apple TV users. The concept above used that as inspiration, creating a design that utilizes some of Apple’s own darker color choices from the updated WWDC app.

And the theme also explores what split-screen and picture in picture features from iPad might look like on an iPhone, two features that we noted need a bit of attention in our WWDC Feature Request earlier today. 

 

Fullscreen iPhone 7 concept runs iOS 10

We’re around seven months away from the first glimpse of iOS 10 and almost one year from the launch of the iPhone 7, but since when has that been enough to stop forward-looking Apple fans?

With that in mind, designers at DeepMind (not the AI company Google acquired last year) have put together a nifty concept video showing a next-gen Apple handset, running a future version of iOS, optimized for a bezel-less iPhone.

Check it out below.

Personally, I think it’s pretty darn sweet — although I’d like to see Apple get rid of the home button, too.

Can I see the company going quite this extreme with the iPhone 7? Despite the fact that the patents are all there, I’m not sure we’re necessarily going to get a fullscreen iPhone just yet, but we know that it’s something Apple’s definitely shown some interest in working on.

 

If Apple made a flip phone, it’d look something like this.

Apple started a smartphone revolution with the introduction of the original iPhone in 2007, but despite the rise of high-powered phones, people in Japan are still clinging to their flip phones.

The closest Apple ever got to making a flip phone was the disastrous Rokr the company developed in partnership with Motorola, so concept designer Martin Hajek decided to reimagine what it would look like if Apple made a flip phone just for the Japanese market. The concept Apple flip phone comes with two screens — one for typing and another for content — as well as an obligatory lanyard and three color options.

Take a closer look:

I see just one major flaw with this design, which is that the homebutton is at the top of the iPhone instead of the bottom, where you hand will be holding it. The top screen is also impossibly thin, but the overall form factor is so small, it’d be a joy to carry this thing around in your pocket instead of the fatty iPhone 6 Plus.

This iPhone 7 concept comes with a special wireless dock.

It’s iPhone rumor season which means concept artists are busting out their best guesses as to what Jony Ive’s next smartphone design changes might entail. We’ve already seen some super thin iPhone redesigns, but concept designers Ivo Marić and Tomislav have taken a different approach.

Instead of changing the iPhone’s form factor, the designers’ iPhone 7 concept looks just like an iPhone 6. It comes with all the features we’d expect to see — sapphire glass, an A10 processor, 16 Megapixel camera sensor, QHD Retina display — but the duo have dreamed up a super special wireless dock that does a lot more than just wireless charging.

Check it out:

7th heaven: iPhone 7 concept is everything you’re wishing for.

Four months down the line, the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus still feel like new devices, but that’s not stopping enthusiastic, design-minded techies from creating concept showing how they hope Apple’s next generation iPhone will look.

This concept, created by Netherlands-based graphic designer Yasser Farahi, shows a sleeker iPhone with thinner bezel and profile, and a few of the less popular design features of the iPhone 6 taken out. Most enticing of all is Farahi’s dream of wireless charging: a technology which has been often rumored over the years, but not as of yet implemented by Apple.

Given that Farahi has chosen to name it the iPhone 7, this particular model would likely arrive in 2016, since this year will probably see the iPhone 6s, with the majority of changes being under the hood. Personally, I’m not mad keen on some of Farahi’s subdued color choices, but it’s still a tantalizing glimpse at what we could have to look forward to next year.

Check out more pictures, and a video, after the jump.

 

“I designed an iPhone that I would love to hold in my own hand,” Farahi tells Cult of Mac. “It’s a phone which keeps the iPhone 6’s rounded, shiny edges, but without the chunky and all-too-visible antenna lines. I also hate the camera protrusion on the iPhone 6, and as a concept designer — not an engineer — think there must be some way of extruding the lens only when the camera app starts.”

Yasser Farahi also moved the volume buttons to the right side of the phone, since “I hate when I press the power button and the volume buttons at the same time.”

As a final innovation, Farahi imagines improved sound quality for the iPhone 7.

“Stereo sound is one of the things I’ve been missing since the first iPhone,” he says. “In my opinion, stereo sound on the iPad Air, mini and later, sounds still mono. I came up with up with my own solution which doesn’t look and work like any other phone out there. Like the camera lens, stereo sound on my iPhone 7 would automatically activate only when needed. When holding the iPhone in landscape mode, iOS9 and the iPhone would calculate the position of the iPhone in X,Y,Z space and output the sound from the correct channel.”

Yes, at the end of the day it’s no more than another Apple fan postulating about what they’d like to see — but they’re intriguing ideas nonetheless.

Would you be happy with Yasser Farahi’s iPhone 7?

Working prototype explores new Apple TV interface with touchscreen gestures via remote.

Product designer Radu Dutzan posted the video above showing off a working prototype that explores touchscreen style gestures via a conceptual remote for Apple TV alongside an updated interface. 

Wouldn’t it be great if instead of trying to imitate clicks, Remote allowed you to scroll lists on the screen, directly responding to the position of your finger on the tracking surface? Wouldn’t selection in a complex button layout — such as the keyboard — be much more usable if you could make the cursor move in any direction instantly? Wouldn’t it be awesome if the Apple TV remote control was a smooth clickable trackpad, like the one on the MacBook, that allowed for these behaviors without having to look at a second screen?

The prototype utilizes an iPhone and AirPlay, and would essentially be a next-generation version of Apple’s Remote app for Apple TV, but the designer also designed it with a new remote in mind, as pictured below on the right next to the current Apple TV remote:

The video above shows an interaction demo giving a feel for how an interface on Apple TV might work with the touchscreen style gestures, but the designer imagines a finished interface could look something closer to this:

While Dutzan warns it’s “just an interaction demo” at this point, you can get it up and running yourself: “If you want to try it out for yourself, you need to be a registered Apple developer in order to compile apps to your devices, an iPhone to run the app, and an Apple TV to AirPlay to. You can grab the code on Github. (Don’t judge it, it’s just a prototype.) Before you run it, make sure you enable AirPlay Mirroring from your device to your Apple TV.”

Concept app shows how Apple Watch would let you skip Starbucks line.

We’re months away from being able to shackle our wrists to the Apple Watch, but the UI designers at Impekable have been busy dreaming up new app experiences that will delight wearers once the timepiece is finally available.

“Our concept was to re-envision how Apple Watch could enhance the Starbucks customer experience by providing an even better way to order rather than standing in a long line,” Impekable’s founder Pek Pongpaet told Cult of Mac. “Wouldn’t it be cool if I could just go grab a table, order one of my usual drinks, pay for it using Apple Pay or my Starbucks card and get notified when my drink is ready – all from my phone without leaving the comfort of my seat?”

Check out the slick concept below:

Pek says his team’s has been curious about how to make intimate experiences on the Apple Watch, so to help other designers get off the ground with their ideas, they’ve also launched a free WatchKit design template that’s become one of the most popular Apple Watch resources on Dribbble.

“Phones are very intimate, but watches and wearables can be even more intimate requiring less interaction because you don’t have to have it out – it’s on your wrist,” says Pek, whose team created the Starbucks Apple Watch app concept for CapitolOne’s recent WatchKit hackathon.

However, there is one glaring flaw with the app concept: Starbucks doesn’t support Apple Pay.

In fact, the Apple Watch SDK doesn’t even support fully featured apps yet like this concept. Pek says that’s not stopping his team from dreaming big. Completely native apps are expected to come later next year to Apple Watch, but developers are already imagining the possibilities.

Starbucks has been pretty adamant that it won’t ditch its own loyalty card and mobile payments platform just to support Apple Pay on the Apple Watch, but after seeing how much easier it’d be to get java-addicts their morning joe, maybe Howard Schultz will realize it’s time to bend to the will of Cupertino.

iPhone 8 concept fast-forwards fanboys to 2018.

Pre-orders for the iPhone 6 began just over two months ago, but I’m already looking forward to shelling out cash for the iPhone 8 now that Steel Drake published this glass unibody iPhone concept.

The design keeps its familiar form factor but wraps the bottom and top edges with a glass display. Given Apple’s success rate with Sapphire glass, making this thing might not be conceivable until 2018, but there’s still plenty of time for Jony to make it happen. The designer decided to swap out the rear aluminum shell with a stiffening plate on the sides. The finished look is simple, a little curvy, and drop dead gorgeous.

Check it out:

Steel Drake’s concept looks like something Apple could possibly make, but there are a few things I’d change if I could.

Likes: Curved glass edges that drape over the top and bottom of the phone. Keeps the same iconic iPhone form factor. Camera lens could use an upgrade by now, but at least it’s not protruding. No more ugly antenna lines.

No Like: Glass doesn’t transition as seamlessly to the metal as the iPhone 6. Put the power button in the middle. 3.5mm headphone jack? Rumor is Jony wants to go with 2.5mm. Make the bezels slimmer so I can hold it easier.

It’d look great in white too:

iOS developer makes our iOS Apple Watch home screen concept a reality.

Last week, we saw a concept of what the iPhone’s home screen could look like if influenced by the Apple Watch’s design ideas. Inspired by that concept, iOS developer Lucas Menge has made the concept a reality (above), creating a functional app that simulates the Apple Watch UI adapted for the iPhone. Very neat.

Now available on Github.

New Apple patent brings insane concept videos one tiny step closer to reality.

Back in 2012, a local Fox affiliate ran a news story showing off what they thought was the iPhone 5. In reality, it was a concept video with non-existent features like holographic images and a projection keyboard. The internet laughed and we all went on with our lives. Now, Apple has filed a patent that brings one of those mythical features a small bit closer to reality.

The patent, titled “iPhone Frequency Sensor/Magnifier Application” describes a system that, with an iPhone laying on a flat surface, uses various acoustic signals and vibration readings to effectively turn that surface into a functional touch panel. The surface in question can then be split into various regions that, when touched, could be used for various input.

The patent specifically calls out the possibility of such technology being used for keyboard input, game control, or for navigating and playing music from the iPhone. There’s even a mention of being able to print out a paper keyboard that could be used in conjunction with the iPhone’s sensing capabilities, as well as the idea that the iPhone itself could project the keyboard or other input grid onto a surface.

It’s a wild idea, and while we’ve seen virtual keyboards in the past, they’re typically clunky and usually not accurate enough to rely on for long periods of time. The technology described in Apple’s patent seems much more advanced, so on the small chance that we ever see an iPhone that actually utilizes it, that futuristic concept video might not have been so crazy after all.