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Friday fakes: The best of the bogus

by Steven Sande Aug 21st 2009 at 9:00AM

TUAW presents to you the best of the obviously fake device shots we've seen in the last couple of weeks. On occasion they're beautiful renderings that are worth a second glance, other times they're out of focus shots that tipsters swear were taken quickly at a meeting on the Apple campus. In any case, they're a lot of fun.

Let's begin with this gem from the French blog Le Journal du Geek. In a post titled "Encore un peu de MacBook Touch?" ("Again a little MacBook Touch?"), we see what looks like a page from an Apple website:

This fake is fabulous! It shows the device being about the size of what everyone would like to see, with about a 10" diagonal display. They give it a plausible name instead of the lame "iPad" moniker, the power button is located away from the middle of the device, and the faux photos show it being used with a dock, as a music keyboard in GarageBand, and flipping from landscape to portrait. Very cool, and they even endow the MacBook touch with drool-worthy specs on the website.

Next, AppleTell provides us with a teaser shot of some sort of über-iPhone:

MagSafe charging port? Check. USB port? Ditto. Audio line in/out ports? Affirmative. Reflections below the mockups? You betcha! I don't see an iSight on the front for doing those 4G / Wi-Fi video calls on the Verizon network, but you can't win 'em all.

The next entry has actually been around for months (posted in February on Flickr, then appeared on WiReD.com) but it's so cheesy I just can't keep myself from posting it:

Somehow, I just don't see Steve Jobs letting a device with room for 86 or more icons out the door... The guy who put this together has a knack for photoshopping bizarre photos, and this is one of the best joke "iTablets" I've seen simply because it is so absurd.

Another French tech website, Nowhereelse.fr, featured a post with an amazingly good looking fake:

There's only one big issue here -- they seem to be mixing their metaphors. The device looks like a big iPhone, has a button in the middle of the bottom bezel like an iPhone, but it's running what appears to be a stock version of Mac OS X 10.5? Nahhhh. We've got to give this one a "magnifique" for the effort put into it, but a "merde" when it comes to reality.

As our closer for this week, here's a full frontal shot! Uh, not that kind of full frontal shot. We received an email with not just one photo of an alleged iPod touch with two cameras -- the regular rear camera and a "frontal cam" -- but a whopping three photos. I love the shiny case on this iPod touch, complete with scratches, since it adds a genuine touch to the photo.

If you happen to come across any good faux photos of iTablets / iPads, iPod touches, AppleTV replacements, a levitating iMac, or anything else you can think of, send it our way. In fact, if you send us a good obvious fake, we may end up posting it here. Let us know about your favorite photo here, and we'll contact you to tell you how to send us your picture.


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TUAW presents to you the best of the obviously fake device shots we've seen in the last couple of weeks. On occasion they're beautiful...
 

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Phoenix

How the hell are you meant to use the keyboard on that giant iPhone...

August 22 2009 at 12:55 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
sockatume

This was the winner of a Gizmodo photoshop contest a year or two ago. They're using it for illustrative purposes in an article about a rumour they received, it's not the subject of the article. It actually states as much underneath the picture.

August 21 2009 at 5:50 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Duncan

PLEASE GOD, let the tablet run full OS X, I would gladly shell out $800 for it just as long as you dont cripple it with iPhone OS.

August 21 2009 at 1:05 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Duncan's comment
Duncan

If they do decide to cripple it with the iPhone OS, Im going to buy a PS3 slim and save the rest of my summer work money

August 21 2009 at 1:09 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
pyrophil542

I see you probably used an online translator to translate 'Encore un peu de MacBook Touch?'

In context of the article, it just reads 'A little more Macbook Touch?" as if to ask the reader "want more info?" or "looking for more?".

I hate to get on your case, but really, try reading the article (or getting someone else to) instead of looking at the pretty pictures - fake or not.

August 21 2009 at 11:52 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Andy

This is not a fake :)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/superfrunny/3840218783/

August 21 2009 at 11:44 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
A. Davis

You totally missed this one:

http://www.touchuserguide.com/apple/tablet/2009/08/19/leaked-shot-of-apples-website-showing-macbook-touch/

which almost, sort of validates the one from Nowhereelse.fr. The main problem being the supposed Apple mess up shows one with a metal trim (like the iPhone), while the one on nowhereelse.fr is all black. Of course, there's rumors about prototypes. touchuserguide.com also has supposed leaks of "cocktail" (http://www.touchuserguide.com/apple/tablet/2009/08/20/first-shots-of-cocktail-style-os) and a new dock (http://www.touchuserguide.com/apple/tablet/2009/08/20/new-style-dock-on-the-apple-macbook-touch-tablet). What's interesting is that they seem to show a stock OS X background, yet support app stores apps. It would be quite interesting if the pic on nowhereelse.fr is a prototype of what Apple accidentally posted to their website. Of course, any schmo can set up a local web server and a local hosts file to make www.apple.com resolve to their own system to grab the supposed pictures that touchuserguide.com have... only time will tell

August 21 2009 at 11:41 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to A. Davis's comment
feDe

Or, they can load their home-made fake web page, and then re-write the url, it's so easy...

August 21 2009 at 11:59 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
quandmeme

The concept via get two things right IMO, the unibody aluminum vs the ipod resin and the SL instead of iPhone OS.

My vote, like others is for the 'chins' on on the portrait like the iPhone instead of on a long edge. I think typing while holding the devise is going to happen in portrait, not landscape.

Bravo. I can't say I'm saving for it, but I am clearing space on credit card. That's my generations version of saving.

August 21 2009 at 11:33 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
rawrawrawr

The one from "Nowhereelse.fr" can be dismissed as a photoshop, in my opinion, since the welcome image on the screen is the exact same screen shot as the first image when doing a google image of leopard welcome screen (http://images.google.com.au/images?hl=en&um=1&ei=qK2OSs-wAsOCkQWEk-S7Cg&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=leopard+welcome+screen&spell=1&start=0)

August 21 2009 at 10:24 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
3 replies to rawrawrawr's comment
feDe

I hope Apple makes something so much better than these

August 21 2009 at 10:22 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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