AT&T and T-Mobile Test the iPhone 5

Cell Phone Carriers Are Testing the iPhone 5

Although the launch of the iPhone 5 is rumored to take place in September, it seems that AT&T and T-Mobile have already started testing the new smartphone from Apple. Beginning July 6th, a few iPhones were delivered to the two carriers’ testers, who have the mission to verify that the fifth generation iPhone is working properly and, if not, to report any issues back to Apple.

It is perfectly normal for Apple to have its mobile phones tested by carriers, but the beta testing usually happens shortly before the official release. For example, Verizon was able to test the CDMA iPhone 4 only two weeks before the smartphone’s official arrival on the network . Could this point to an earlier launch of the iPhone 5?

A job offering posted on a British website indicates to a sooner than September release as well. The offer specifies that Apple is looking to hire people for the iPhone sales team. The job will spread over two months (August 16th-October 29th), during which employees will have to work full-time on an interesting project that Apple is preparing to launch. This Ad started the rumors that the iPhone 5 will make its debut on August 16th, but most of the people believe that Apple will not launch the new iPhone next month, before the arrival of the iOS 5, which is scheduled for release in September.

iPhone 5 without Home Button?

One thing we know for sure when it comes to iPhone 5 is that it will run on Apple’s latest operating system, iOS 5. The third beta version of iOS 5 was recently released to developers, and besides bringing new security functions, personalized ringtones and the new notification center, it brings the “Assistive Touch” feature that seems to take the place of iPad and iPhone’s buttons.

This new touch panel allows users to control, directly from the gadget’s display, a series of functions that normally required the assistance of hardware buttons. Thus, the Home button, Mute button and the volume buttons become useless if “Assistive Touch” is enabled.

The options “Gestures”, “Device”, “Home” and “Favorites” are found in the Assistive Touch menu. The “Gestures” option will allow you to perform gestures using up to 5 fingers, tapping “Device” will open a menu that offers the following commands: Rotate Screen, Lock Screen, Volume Up, Volume Down and Shake, “Home” works just like the physical button “Home”, and “Favorites” will allow the users to save any customized gestures. The “Favorites” option will also allow access to the gestures “Swipe” and “Pinch”.

The implementation of “Assistive Touch” led users to believe that the future mobile devices, such as iPhone 5and iPad 3, will no longer have the “Home” or the volume buttons. Even though the new touch panel may seem more practical, and some might even consider that an iPhone, for example, will look more attractive without a “Home” button, many of the Apple’s customers don’t believe that the company will give up on any hardware buttons any time soon.