The VAR Guy’s ears always perk up at iPhone 5 rumors — including iPhone Nano speculation — but now the rumors are getting more interesting. A larger iPhone, perhaps? A slide-out keyboard? The VAR Guy is licking his chops at the prospect of what Apple has up its sleeve …

A tip of The VAR Guy’s fedora goes to MacRumors for pulling together information on possible new iPhone plans. First off — the rumor that there actually are a few iPhone 5 prototypes being tested out, including one with a slide-out keyboard. According to the source (Apple.pro translated via Google), the prototype is likely not for production, but rather for internal testing only. The picture here, however, is real: it’s the Keyboard Buddy by Boxwave. The VAR Guy thinks Apple most likely will leave keyboard solutions to third parties, but the idea of Apple adding a separate keyboard to the iPhone is certainly intriguing.

Another iPhone 5 prototype is said to be nearly identical to the iPhone 4, but contains a larger-megapixel camera and a higher-capacity battery. That seems reasonable — The VAR Guy thinks the iPhone 5 likely will be a version .5 upgrade much like the iPhone 3G-to-3GS upgrade was. “iPhone 4S” doesn’t exactly roll off The VAR Guy’s tongue, however …

Another rumor, this one from Digitimes, claims Apple is using a new, 4-inch screen for the new iPhone. That shift seems odd, since The VAR Guy thinks the current 3.5-inch form factor isn’t too big or too small. It would make more sense to our resident blogger if the engineering went into creating a higher-resolution screen instead of a bigger one.

Again, like the iPhone Nano, it’s possible — even probable — that these are simply prototype runs that were never built to see the light of day. But still, The VAR Guy thinks its fun to think about.

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