Your Last Chance to Read, Rate, and Spread Rumors About the Next iPhone

Twelve hours from now, someone–most likely new Apple CEO Tim Cook–will be standing on a stage in Cupertino, well into the company’s “Let’s Talk iPhone” event. Normally at this point, it feels like we have a pretty decent sense of what the company is about to announce. Not all the details–which is fine with me, since I like surprises–but two-thirds of the broad strokes.

This time? Things are surprisingly blurry. If there’s no Sprint iPhone of some sort, and no iPhone with ambitious voice commands based on the Siri technology Apple acquired, I’ll be startled. But we don’t really know whether there will be one iPhone or two. We don’t know if there will be a radically new iPhone 5 or one that’s a near-twin of the iPhone 4. We’re not sure if the screen size will change. Basically, most of scuttlebutt of the past few months is still in play.

So here’s a roundup of some of the major rumors. In each case, I’m linking to an article that spreads a rumor–and one which quashed it. If you need to refresh your memory, read any or all of ‘em. And then–assuming you’re reading this before 10am PT on Tuesday–vote in our silly little poll. (I’ll report on the results once the news is out.

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Did Sprint Sell Its Soul for the iPhone?

Sprint needs something, anything, to keep it relevant. It is staring two huge rivals — Verizon and AT&T — in the face, and will become the odd man out if the AT&T merger goes through. So what is it to do?

If you believe what the Wall Street Journal is saying Sprint has done, you all but sell your company’s soul for the iconic iPhone.

Sprint is likely to lose money on the iPhone deal through at least 2014, the paper reports, but it seems to think that the device could be key in keeping the carrier relevant. The gamble carries a lot of risk: Sprint could find itself straddled by a costly deal that could bring the entire company down if it fails.

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Live Coverage of Apple’s iPhone 5 Event

I’m not going to be at Apple’s iPhone event on Tuesday at 10am PT. (I’m in Tokyo attending CEATAC and participating in one of the keynote sessions.) But I will be tuning into Macword’s live coverage–and the Macworld folks were nice enough let me embed it on Technologizer at technologizer.com/iphone5.

Hipmunk’s Flight Search: Just as Hip on Android

Slowly but surely, many of the best iOS apps are coming to Android, and their quality once they get there is improving. Case in point: The excellent air travel search engine Hipmunk, which arrived in a version for Android phones this week. Its Android version is just as good as the iOS one–good looking, easy to use, and brilliantly useful. (It ranks flight options by a price/complexity formula it calls “Agony,” and, as you can see above, shows which flights have Wi-Fi.

Hipmunk does flight search better than competitors such as Kayak and Bing Travel, but it’s not the only airfare research tool you’ll ever need, mostly because it only shows prices available through Orbitz, and routes you there when you’re ready to buy. Still, even if you just use the app to look for flights you’ll buy elsewhere, it’s invaluable. And it’s nice to see it didn’t get watered down on its way to Android.