iPack3d.com

iPhone 6

2013-02-27T08:12:00.001-05:00

Design exploration what a future iPhone 6 might look like.

Peter Zigich

iPhone 5 is still the best looking phone today.
Competition is not standing still. Some nice "premium" phones are coming out from other companies.

It makes me wonder what will Apple do to stay on top, and beat out the competition.

This is how I imagine next iPhone 6

3 key areas next iPhone has to address:

improve its already spectacular design of iPhone 5
compete with cheap smartphones
compete with large screen smartphones (phablets).

Home Button

It has been there since the first iPhone.

The physical Home Button is one of the best design features of the iPhone, but it takes up a lot of space at the front.

How about moving Home button to the side?
We could end up with bigger screen or a smaller phone.

Two Home Buttons, one on each side.

With Home button on the side there's room to add another row of icons, while physical dimensions remain the same as iPhone 5.

Closeup of the side Home button

Feature two Home Buttons, one on each side, instead of one.

More possible functions combining left & right Home buttons with single, double, triple click. (Example: double click left Home button then single click right Home button; or press left & right at the same time, etc).

iPhone 6 same dimensions as iPhone5
H x W x D - 124mm x 59mm x 7.6mm

I estimate it would cost the same as iPhone 5 $650 without a contract ($200 with two year contract).

Side view

Is one iPhone enough?

Apple has 4 iPods (Touch, Nano, Classic & Shuffle), and 2 iPads (iPad & iPad mini).

Why Not 3 different iPhones?

Size comparison from left to right
iPhone 5, iPhone 6 Mini, iPhone 6, & iPhone 6 XL

iPhone 6 Mini

Cheaper, smaller iPhone to compete with cheap Android phones, aimed at developing and prepaid markets.

Same premium materials as "flagship" iPhone, but with a smaller screen.
Screen is the same size as iPhone 4.

I estimate it would cost $350 - $450 without a contract ($0 - $100 with two year contract).
More expensive than some hope for, but the same happened with iPad mini.

iPhone 6 Mini - screen is same size as iPhone 4
H x W x D - 96.5mm x 59mm x 7.6mm

iPhone XL - Large screen iPhone

There is a significant demand for a larger screen iPhone.
Bigger Screen would allow for 1 extra row & 1 extra column of icons.

Same premium materials as "flagship" iPhone, but a larger screen.
Perfect for one handed use unlike ridiculously oversized Samsung Galaxy Note.

I estimate it would cost $750 - $900 without a contract ($300 - $400 with two year contract).

iPhone 6 XL - larger screen, perfect for one handed use
H x W x D - 137mm x 70mm x 7.6mm

Size comparison, from left to right
iPhone 6 Mini, iPhone 6 & iPhone 6 XL

Side view, size comparison,
iPhone 6 Mini, iPhone 6 & iPhone 6 XL

3 very different iPhones

Multiple screen size options for different segments of the market.
More choices for customers.

iPhone 6 Mini, iPhone 6 & iPhone 6 XL

What about iOS?

There are some things about iOS that drive me crazy. Finding Apps on the phone is getting more complicated.

The average iPhone user has 100 - 150 Apps on their device.

Users are just overwhelmed with the amount of Apps installed and they end up hidden away and forgotten.

It's necessary to rethink core UI — from a user experience perspective.
iOS has not fundamentally changed since it was introduced in 2007, and its starting to show its age.

There must be an easier way to find Apps on the iPhone

I came up with a cool concept of how to find, organize, search and choose App in easy and intuitive way. In a few easy clicks users can, narrow the search for the right app on ther phone (even if you have 1000 applications installed). I call this process "Distill" - purify, extract essential elements.

This is still work in progress. I will post more info on it in the near future.

iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Mini & iPhone 6 XL

Size comparison
iPhone 5, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Mini & iPhone 6 XL

This is my vision of the next iPhone.

Let me know what you think.

Next project: One thing Apple TV is missing to become more than a hobby.

Peter Zigich

You can follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/PeterZ3

Future MacPro, Part II

2013-01-22T07:37:00.000-05:00

Design exploration what a future MacPro might look like. Part II

Some of you have seen my Modular Mac Pro design Concept post.
Now, let's take a look how power-efficient CPU's will change design of a MacPro.

There's been a lot of talk of Apple ditching Intel for ARM.
I think Apple will switch, and many others will follow.

ARM Advantages:

optimized for performance/watt

power-efficient

cooler

fully scalable

smaller

cheaper

custom CPU design

What does it mean?

significantly smaller enclosure

increase computing power by adding more CPUs

increase & tweak important performance (custom Chip design)

cheaper CPUs - higher profit

smaller, lighter, quieter, cooler (less heat), "Greener" (Environment)

Size comparison with current MacPro
W x D x H - 230mm x 280mm x 220mm

Aluminum enclosure with removable side panel

3/4 View Perspective

Front View

Slide up/down front door to access USB3 & Thunderbolt ports

Back View

USB3, Thunderbolt, Ethernet, Optical In & Out, Mic, Speaker, Power ports + 3 PCI slots

Folding Snap & Lock Handle

Additional disk storage - external Thunderbolt enclosures

Removable side panel & Slide out Tray
4 HDD, 6 RAM slots, 3 PCI slots

Version 1a

Custom Apple designed ARM CPU  A10

2 CPUs on a Daughterboard Card.
Each Processor has 4 cores for a total 8 cores per Card.
4 Cards for a maximum of 8 CPUs (32 Cores).

CPU Daughterboard Card

2 Processors on Card 4 Cores each. Total of 8 Cores per Card

Heat Sink Cross Section

Up to 4 Cards - total of 8 CPUs (32 Cores)

MacPro ARM CPU Workstation with Tray Out
Total of 8 CPUs (32 Cores) + 6 Memory Slots

Version 1b

How about Intel Inside?

Maybe Intel can come up with super efficient Haswell Xeon CPU

2 Xenon CPUs can fit in the Heat Sink

It's impossible to ignore Intel. They are working on energy efficient CPUs.
Is it possible to put Haswell or Broadwell Xeons in such a small enclosure?
Liquid cooling, maybe.
Intel will do their best to keep Apple happy.

Version 2

Custom Apple designed ARM CPU  A10

Combined CPU & RAM Module.

CPU Daughterboard Card comes with 2 CPUs and integrated 16GB RAM.
6 Cards for a maximum of 12 CPUs (48 Cores) and 96GB RAM

Second Version of CPU Daughterboard Card
2 CPUs on Card (4 Cores each) with 16GB embedded RAM. Total of 8 Cores per Card

MacPro Workstation with 6 Daughterboard Card Slots
Total of 12 CPUs (48 Cores) + 96 GB RAM

Alternative aluminium enclosure

Darker aluminum enclosure

Anodized Aluminium Color (same as iPhone 5)

MacPro Cube

If Apple creates custom GPU (shorter, less heat), enclosure

dimensions could shrink even more.

MacPro Cube with a footprint of a Mac Mini. 200mm x 200mm x 200mm Cube.

This will be ideal "Made in USA" Apple Computer.

Apple Mac Pro Cube
with custom (smaller) GPU, 200mm Cube

Competition

I'm sure there are dozen other companies interested in creating their own ARM based PCs.

Just to name few:

Microsoft - Windows 8

Amazon - Linux

NVIDIA - Linux

AMD - Linux / Windows 8

Google - Chrome OS (Linux) if they are serious about Chrome OS

Samsung - Linux / Windows 8 / desktop Tizen OS???

Oracle / Sun - Solaris

Intel - Linux / Windows, certainly not using ARM CPUs

+ all the other PC makers: Dell, HP, Acer, Lenovo, Sony, Toshiba, etc.

This is my vision of the next MacPro. Tell me what you think.

Next project: iPhone 6 & cheap iPhone.
You can follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/PeterZ3

Peter Zigich

High end workstation running on ARM processors???

2012-12-26T01:35:00.000-05:00

It's not very difficult to imagine PCs running on ARM processors in a near future.

Every major OS supports ARM Processors today:
Microsoft Windows 8
Apple iOS (OS X)
Linux
Google Chrome

How about high end workstations?

This is probably few years away, but it's still fun to imagine what workstation would look like.

More to come…..

iPhone 5 Belt Clip Concept

2012-11-01T19:40:00.000-04:00

I've been using Belt Clips for years.

I was looking for a Belt Clip for iPhone 5 with specific requirements:

well engineered product
minimalistic design
functional & elegant
good safety features
easy to take apart
sturdy construction

After a long search, very disappointed results.
None of the existing products fit my criteria.

It shouldn't be difficult to make something much better.

This is what I want!
Hope you like it.

Peter Zigich
twitter.com/PeterZ3

iPhone5 3d model

2012-10-16T20:22:00.002-04:00

3d modeling & rendering

iPhone5 3d model

Click to enlarge:

Peter Zigich

peter@ipack3d.com

twitter.com/PeterZ3

60mm Consumer CPU, HDD, Top & Bottom Sections

2012-10-03T21:37:00.002-04:00

Front

Back

Side

Front

Back

Side

Front

Side

Front

Back

Side

Power, Optical & PCI sections

2012-09-29T21:48:00.000-04:00

Front

Side

Back

Front

Side

Back

200mm Pro CPU section

2012-09-26T22:17:00.000-04:00

More Hi-Res renderings 200mm Pro CPU section:

Front

Back

Side

panel comes off

Tray out

Snap on Power & Thunderbolt

Cables

Modular MacPro design Concept

2012-09-25T23:08:00.004-04:00

New design for a MacPro.

It is radical departure from current workstations.
It could be a MacPro for the next 10 years.

Key Design features:

1. Modular Design

Like a Lego Blocks. Computer built from different interlocking sections, highly customizable.
Sections seamlessly connect, and share power & data (Thunderbolt).
Different sections: CPU, Optical, Power Supply, PCI, HDD etc.

One user needs are very different from others, so should be a MacPro.

2. Pro & Consumer CPU Options

Pro:
Server class dual CPUs (Xenon E5), 8 DIMM ECC memory slots.

Consumer:
Consumer CPU i3, i5, i7, 4 DIMM slots.

3. Entering new markets

Various configurations:

Small home/ iTunes Server - Competes with NAS makers (QNAP, Synology)

Pro Servers (again)

Consumers Workstations (Headless iMac)

Base Consumer (little better than Mac Mini)

Pro Workstations

Peter Zigich
peter@ipack3d.com

twitter.com/PeterZ3

Nvidia Video cards

2012-09-07T22:44:00.000-04:00

Can we please get GeForce GTX 680 for Mac.
90% performance for 25% price of Quadro K5000

September 07, 2012 04:00 ET
Mac Pro Users Gain Unprecedented Performance With NVIDIA Quadro K5000

Cinema 4K display support (4096x2160 resolution),⁽¹⁾ which enables content creators to process and view high resolution cinema content

A new display engine that can drive up to four displays simultaneously⁽²⁾

4 GB graphics memory that provides faster interactivity when using design and content creation applications

Based on NVIDIA Kepler architecture, which enables the Quadro K5000 GPU for Mac to run key content creation applications up to 2x faster at lower power than the Fermi-based Quadro 4000 for Mac⁽³⁾

Support for up to two Quadro K5000 GPUs for Mac in a single Mac Pro

Support for OpenGL, OpenCL and NVIDIA CUDA™

http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/mac-pro-users-gain-unprecedented-performance-with-nvidia-quadro-k5000-nasdaq-nvda-1698601.htm

Most Powerful Professional GPU Ever for the Mac Dramatically Accelerates Design and Content Creation Workflows
AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS--(Marketwire - Sep 7, 2012) - IBC 2012 -- Mac professionals will benefit from dramatically improved graphics performance and productivity with today's announcement of the NVIDIA® Quadro® K5000 for Mac Pro systems.
Based on NVIDIA Kepler™ architecture -- the world's fastest, most efficient GPU design -- the Quadro K5000 for Mac is the most powerful professional-class GPU ever for the Macintosh, delivering unprecedented visualization and computation capabilities for designers and digital content creators.
Key features of the NVIDIA Quadro K5000 GPU for Mac include:

Is it time to move on....

2012-08-29T23:32:00.000-04:00

Should Apple make iPhone & iPad and leave MacPro to someone else?

Why Apple should let HP build its workstations

by Ronald Lindeboom on Mar 7, 2012 at 10:08:09 pm

Please note: I wrote this as a reply to a post below but it's been retweeted and pointed to, so I wanted to give it its own thread.

I had to smile reading the people on the original thread below speculating about the possibility of officially licensed Mac OS on an HP Workstation.
For years, Tim Wilson and I have talked about the idea of HP providing workstations that run the Mac OS. (Not every PC manufacturer, just HP.)
Why HP?
It is why we actively focused on getting them involved at the COW. We believe that when the smoke clears, the most rabid Mac professionals on the planet -- the ones running über-powerful systems that need slots, cards, etc. -- will find themselves dancing with Apple and HP. Either as dual platform shops, or if it goes as we suspect, Apple will license a sole PC vendor to work with. We think that will be HP.
Over the years as Tim Wilson and I have hammered on where the growing "i-focusing" at Apple would take things, Tim said to me one day that "There is now just one true workstation left: HP's Z series, that's it."
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Very interesting discussion .....

Sad State of Mac Pro

2012-08-10T23:26:00.000-04:00

HP Z820 is perfect Workstations.

Only thing missing is Apple logo

As Mac Pro stagnates, PC workstations muscle ahead
A creative pro reviews two PC beasts: the HP Z820 and Dell Precision T5600.
by Dave Girard - Aug 8 2012, 9:00pm EDT

HARDWARE

264

Out of gas, for now.
Aurich Lawson / Thinkstock
Like many Mac-based creative professionals, I followed this year's WWDC keynote anxiously, awaiting the "one more thing" that never came: an E5 Xeon refresh of the Mac Pro line. Its absence was brutally disappointing; thankfully, Tim Cook broke his vow of secrecy to reassure us that a new Mac Pro will arrive in 2013. But for filmmakers
compressing hours of 4K footage or school labs in need of new Maya machines, that’s a long time to wait—perhaps too long. Since I was also in the market for a machine to help out with my V-Ray renders, I decided that the time had come to evaluate my alternatives. The current Westmere-based Mac Pro line is definitely out of sync with what’s available elsewhere, and it is no longer competitive from a price-to-power standpoint.
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