Mark Bridge writes:
I’m not a big fan of reporting on rumours - I’d rather wait until the real thing happens - but I thought these two stories were too big and too well-defined to ignore completely.
Firstly, it looks as though Amazon will be announcing an Android-powered tablet tomorrow. Called the Kindle Fire, it probably won’t be a direct replacement for the Kindle e-book reader but an alternative. Most commentators suggest we should expect a 7-inch colour screen, a focus on cloud-based services and a pretty heavily customised version of Android. It’ll be around half the price of an Apple iPad and should be on sale - in the USA, if not the UK - before Christmas.
Apple’s next big announcement is likely to be made on Tuesday 4th October. Expect more than one phone; a ‘tweaked’ iPhone 4 - probably called the iPhone 4S, 4+ or 4GS - along with an iPhone 5. Voice control will be a major feature of the iPhone 5, while a dual-core processor will provide extra power. There’ll also be upgrades to the camera.
As with the Amazon Kindle Fire, in-store availability is expected before Christmas… assuming the reported manufacturing problems don’t cause delays.
However, one thing that’s not expected on the iPhone 5 is a curved glass screen. Apparently that’s being saved for the iPhone 6. And a lack of Samsung components wouldn’t be a surprise, either.