Report: iPhone 5 Display To Be Smaller Than 4″ In Size, Feature Metal Back.

As the weeks until the iPhone 5 acknowledgement/announcement/launch count down, the rumors continue growing in number and frequency. Today it is Taiwan’s DigiTimes tech site with the latest iPhone 5 rumor. According to cited “upstream panel suppliers”, DigiTimes claims that the iPhone 5′s display will be smaller than the previously rumored 4″ size, and that total size will be only 2.5″-3.7″ diagonally measured.

In other news: DigiTimes also goes on the record claiming that Apple has dropped the glass backing on the iPhone 5 and instead replaced it with metal.

Gadgetsteria’s take: Apple really can’t go too big on the display without increasing resolution as it would lessen clarity and sharpness too much. Still, we think 4″ is the perfect meet-in-the-middle of the two. As for the back casing — we always hated it. It was pure design genius. Real world practicality, however, was sorely lacking. Here’s to hoping we get the sweet looks of the original EDGE-only iPhone but without the horrible signal attenuation.

Samsung’s Galaxy Tab Australian Re-Launch Delayed Until September 30th.

After a previous injunction ruling was issued that would have eventually allowed Samsung’s Galaxy Tab to resume sales in Australia come September 12th comes a second delay compliments of judge Annabelle Bennett. Bennet stated that “it only made sense to wait until a hearing due in the last week of September that would determine whether a preliminary injunction would be upheld”. Result: No Australian Galaxy Tabs until September 30th at the earliest.

Hopefully Samsung’s Galaxy S II and Galaxy Tab follow-ups are unique and powerful, because at this rate the Galaxy S II and Tab hardware is going to be caught up in courtrooms for weeks to months — essentially missing out on the current generation of hardware.

Devote Apple Follower Runs 13-Mile Apple Shaped Route Through Tokyo In Honor Of Steve Jobs.

You may claim to love Apple but do you really mean it? One appreciative digital media producer by the name of Joseph Tame took to the streets of downtown Tokyo with his running shoes and two iPhones to map out a 13-mile, Apple-shaped route. The trip took Tame just shy of 2 hours and cost ~ 1,724 calories.

In his blog post, Joseph goes on to say how much Steve’s visionary creation (in this case the iPhone) has helped him get through life over the last few years, and that he wishes Steve (and Apple) the best in the years to come.

It’s for this that I’d like to personally show my appreciation to Steve for his vision and leadership, which has made a direct positive impact upon my life. His work has also served to revolutionise the mobile phone industry, something that was desperately needed here more than anywhere. I’d like to wish Steve all the best, and hope that his health improves fast now he’s able to focus more on getting well again.

How do you top that?

Sprint Just Confirmed iPhone 5 For Fall.

Most of the time, tech companies at large won’t acknowledge rumors of new products. They simply ignore them. But when one company breaks the norm and plays defense by ordering employees to specifically respond “no comment”, well, the rumors in question begin to carry a bit more weight. And that’s exactly what Sprint did today.

An internal memo that ironically found its way onto the web tells Sprint employees to respond to requests for information about an iPhone 5 fall launch with “no comment” and to refrain from speculating on the aforementioned device. Hiding something, Sprint?

Confirmed: Motorola DROID Bionic Coming September 8th.

And just like that, the DROID Bionic release date is official thanks to a loose-lipped @DroidBionic Twitter account. Mark your calendars for September 8th. The 1 GHz dual-core packin’, qHD slingin’ Android phone of the year — Is it still? — has officially received a launch date. With quad-core phones potentially dropping late this year, however, has the long-delayed Bionic lost some of its luster?

Follow The Leaders: Sprint To Raise ETF Fee To $350 On September 9th.

Another one of Sprint’s unique “features” will soon be gone on September 9th if a miscellaneous forum post by an alleged “Sprint insider” is to be believed. Specifically, Sprint will raise device ETFs from their current $200 price point to the now (sadly) standard $350 on all devices activated after September 9th.

From a business standpoint, it makes sense for Sprint given the raising prices of phones, tablets, etc. as it costs Sprint more money in losses when someone cancels their contract. On the flip-side, if ETFs were truly “just for recapturing device subsidization costs” as the carriers claim, the ETF should be $0 by the end of your contract. Unfortunately that’s not how it works. But the ways in which carriers screw customers over is best reserved for another day.

For the record: AT&T’s current ETF is $325 while Verizon’s is the same at $350.

Also interesting to note: Sprint requires a 2-year lock on already purchased phones that you either completely paid for with a previous 2-year plan or “unlocked” phones not sold by Sprint, yet the same $350 ETF will be required — for what?

Alleged White iPod Touch Parts Hit The Web.

Since the iPod Touch’s debut, it’s been a black-only affair unlike it’s dual-hued iPhone sibling. But that could very well (finally) change with the upcoming iPod/iPhone refresh slated to occur sometime in September/October. iFixit scored a few pics of iPhone 5 parts like many other tech sites. However, they also got a few iPod Touch shots as well, the most interesting of which you can see above. Never before has Apple released a white iPod Touch.

With the whole white iPhone color matching/fading fiasco behind them, Apple could certainly push the color choices to their only non-cellular iOS device. Question is, which would you choose?