4G iPhone will have 'magic' touch sensitive shell?

Touching the back while showing virtual finger tips on the front would keep fingers from blocking the user's vision, and thus reduce unintended results.

un-intuitive surely!

i really hope apple don't put any touch controls on the back of this (or the tablet). It sounds nuts to me! A bunch a great new gestures will do! I hope the iPhone gets a editable summary page - I always miss iCal events because I don't think to open it up.

Chen probably has a short position on Apple stock.  That way, when all these gee-whiz features don't materialize, people will be more likely to dump their AAPL, the value drops, Chen profits.  (And why would you want to put a touch volume control on the back of the case when it's already in the earbud wire?  Unless there are new wireless earbuds?)

It would be great for gaming, since a lot of the games that are out right use inscreen controls, having them on the back would give a munch better experience.

Yes, if it is used for the Home button, volume control, dedicated camera button, etc, this makes perfect sense and will be in line with Steve Jobs' (and my) hate of buttons. And if the can design a unibody iPhone in doing this, all the better!

No mention of the Palm Pre?

Anyone got earlier examples than the Pre of using off screen areas for touch sensitive gestures/buttons?

Pressure sensitivity - sounds like the "me too" posting on this patent and post seem to have missed this.

It would make a lot of sense for the tablet to have touch sensativity on the back of the case.  Perhaps then the Iphone 4g would get the capability as well in order to unify the interface.

Think about the latest generation shuffle as a proof that Apple can make a device that is almost free of hardware buttons on the actual device. Or if nothing else, I think they'll bring flush button controls similar to the power & battery indicator buttons on the MacBook Pros. Not only will it make the devices look clean and stream-lined (like Steve & Johnathan always try to do), but they might even reduce internal component space as mentioned by a previous poster.

I doubt the iPhone will see significant reductions in size, or changes in shape that are too drastic. These would change the feel of the device in your hand too much. But making a tad bit thinner might be alright. And freeing some internal space allows Apple to add more technological goodness inside (improved camera components, bigger battery). 

I'm glad I've waited to buy my iPhone. I expect the next generation to be nothing short of spectacular.

For the tablet it would be cool if it could tell if I was holding it with my left or right hand (or both). A common complaint about WinXP tablets was that they were set up for righties, so when a lefty used the stylus their hand would hide the popup menus and things.

@Seth

'It is difficult to imagine why you'd need the casing of the iPhone to be touch sensitive if the screen already is,....'

I guess this is why you couldn't even make it as Ive's assistant.

When you are dealing with a small device, under a strict 'avoid buttons' imperative, it all comes down to surface area and how you can use it. There is no reason not to use the side or rear surfaces as secondary, complementary, touch surfaces. The added functionality would depend on context. For example, on a Mac with a multi-touch pad or Magic Mouse, you can do a forward or backward 2 finger slide on its own. When augmented by holding down the Control key, you get to zoom in or out of your screen view. On any keyboard PC or Mac, you can type a key and get the lower case character, or add the Shift key to get the Caps version. With a Mac you can take this functional augmentation even further with the Option key (with or without the Shift key) to get layers upon layers of added functionality from a single keypress. 

So, munchkins, adding this basic BASIC insight to actions on the main screen touch surface, imagine the permutations that might be gained by adding rear surface actions to add multiple augmentations. Not really any harder than learning that Command P = Print and Command S = Save on a Mac. Why complain about anticipated complexity when the added UI richness and flexibility should bring a schmile to your face? We would be able to configure the gesture 'vocabulary' to suit our individual levels of incompetence. Much simpler than learning to drive a manual car, or play the guitar well, after all. The saxophone is a good example too, with controls above and below. And so it goes and goes .....

I am not saying that this is what Apple have in mind for the 4G phone, but it is a real possiblity in terms of adding multiple new gesture combinations. It is even possible to do away with a traditional keyboard layout altogether, albeit with a steep re-learning period. But then Apple has already helped people transition from button based keyboards to typing on-screen. That wasn't too painful was it. 

And I'm not even Ive's assistant.

Chandra C