By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla
Apple CEO Steve Jobs took to the stage today to start off the yearly WWDC (World Wide Developers Conference) and warmed things up by announcing iPhone 4. The latest Apple smartphone, has a new glass and aluminum enclosure, a highly improved 3.5 inch screen witha new 960x640 resolution, 326 pixels per inch (wow!), the same Apple A4 processor that ships on iPads and a front facing camera for FaceTime video calls over WiFi and eventually 3G.
Shipping in the US on June 24 new iPhone is expected to be sold in Canada on July since this has been historically the case with last year's iPhone 3GS and with the iPad. Once US demand is initially met, Apple follows up with a global launch. At 9.3mm thick and is 24% thinner than the iPhone 3GS. It also uses the new Micro SIM standard that was first seen with the iPad.
These changes mean that we can forget using all the old cases and many of the accessories that were designed around older iPhones' bigger, rounded bodies. Jobs explained that video calling using the FaceTime feature is WiFi only for 2010 with the possibility of 3G implementation later on or depending on mobile carriers' bandwidth.
A new camera system, now at 5 Megapixels up from the 3 Megapixel camera of the previous model also comes with an LED flash and can record HD video with 720p resolution at 30fps (frames per second). Jobs also announced iMovie for the iPhone which will be sold for $4.99 as the video editing component of the new camera system. iMovie for iPhone integrates transitions, titles, geolocation and five themes.
The iPhone 4 looks very similar to the leaked prototype photos it seems the glass enclosure is Apple's own design and is reportedly 30 times stronger than plastic. This is likely the same multi-touch glass that's being used on Apple's notebook trackpads. Apple improved greatly on this years iPhone's screen size and resolution. iPhone 4 comes a larger battery offering 40% more capacity that translates to 7 hours of 3G talk time and 10 hours of Wi-Fi browsing, 40 hours of music and 10 hours of video.
Apple has also beefed up the accelerometers. "We're adding a 3 axis gyro, and we tied the gyro and accelerometer, compass, and gyro together for six axis. It's perfect for gaming," explained jobs as he demoed the sensors by playing a virtual game of Jenga.
The iPhone 4 will run on iPhone OS 4, which will feature multitasking and the ability to group apps within folders. iOS4 will be available for free to all iPhones and iPod touches on June 21st although not all the nifty features are expected to work on older models. Still, this breathes new life into ageing idevices.
Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla