Those iPhone images Gizmodo released earlier this week are likely those of a near-final design, one report suggested Thursday. The proof is a barcode indicating the handset “lost” in a California bar was a late pre-production version of a next generation phone widely expected to be released in June or July.
The barcode attached to the prototype handset is “N90_DVT-GE4X_0493.” Daring Fireball blogger John Gruber tapped his Apple sources, who helped decrypt the code.
“‘N90’ is Apple’s codename for the fourth-generation GSM iPhone slated for release this June or July,” Gruber wrote. The ‘DVT’ portion signifies the handset was a ‘design verification test.’
“The DVT milestone is very late in the game; based on this, I now believe that this unit very closely, if not exactly, resembles what Apple plans to release,” he added.
Although very cautious about the information it releases on upcoming products, Apple reportedly lets dozens of units off its Cupertino, Calif. campus for real-world tests. These tests are even more important for the iPhone, which much determine how a finished product will behave with existing cellular networks.
The same testing was done with every version of the iPhone, down to the original, which went into the field in January, six months prior to being publicly released, Gruber wrote.
This latest late-version prototype also provided clues to the features of any fourth-generation iPhone. A flat back is used to increase reception, and avolume rocker was replaced with two individual buttons.
Changes in the iPhone’s outer shell, including a smaller overall size, made it easier for Apple to disguise the new handset for a currently-available iPhone 3GS. Because of the smaller footprint, the Cupertino, Calif. company could “hide” the new iPhone in a larger outer casing, reports said.
[via AppleInsider and Daring Fireball]
