Just this afternoon, Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the much-rumored newest generation Apple smartphone, now officially-named iPhone 4, during his keynote speech at WWDC 2010. He began by stating, “There are over 100 new features, but I’m going to cover 8. The first one? An all new design.” I’m sure there will be more detail revealed about all of this over the next several weeks, but here’s a rundown.
- 9.3 mm thick – 22% thinner than iPhone 3GS
- Glass front and back
- Stainless steel case perimeter which acts as part of the antenna system
- Micro SIM card tray
- Front-facing camera
- LED flash on rear camera
- “Retina Display” – same 3.5 inch size, but 960 x 640, 4x the pixel density of iPhone 3GS and 78% of the pixels on the iPad
- Apple-designed A4 processor chip
- Larger battery than iPhone 3GS for increased usage time
- Quad band HSDPA, 7.2Mbps
- Dual microphones
- 802.11n WiFi
- New gyroscope linked to compass and accelerometer for “six-axis” input control
- 5 megapixel camera with backside illuminated sensor
- Records 720p HD video at 30fps
- iMovie for iPhone (in App Store for $4.99) to edit video right on the phone
- iPhone OS 4 operating system–now re-named iOS 4–including previously unveiled features like app multi-tasking, folders for apps, unified email inbox with message threading
- Micrsoft’s Bing added alongside Yahoo! and Google search engines
- iBooks for iPhone – wireless download, syncs to iPad or iPod Touch
- iAd – “emotion + interactive” ads
- FaceTime video calling – no setup, WiFi only, iPhone 4 to iPhone 4
- Available in black and white
- $199 for 16Gb, $299 for 32Gb
- AT&T upgrade offer – if your contract expires anytime in 2010, you can upgrade to iPhone 4
- On sale June 24 (pre-orders start June 15)
- Accessories – a dock; a “bunker” case in various colors for $29.99
Also announced, iOS 4 free upgrade for iPhone 3GS and latest-gen iPod Touch available “soon” (possibly June 21).
And, only a few minutes ago, Apple updated its website to feature iPhone 4.
[Info above from engadget LiveBlog.]
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Me want. Now 🙂 I just wonder how much extra I’ll have to pay since I upgraded to the 3GS last June/July-ish… I think the deal is that you can upgrade if you’re within 6 months of your 2yr contract ending. I’m not even 1yr in. :/
Glad I “bypassed” the 3GS NOW . . . . can’t wait to get mine!!
I did check w/AT&T (since we are still chained to that carrier, Apple) and was told that when I buy the phone, I can still retain the unlimited data plan from before, still for $30 dollars a month.
Will probably order mine this weekend, and wait the 10 days til release date.
It’s bumper not bunker…
No, *me* want, now!
Dial *639# on your phone and hit send, like a call, to find out your upgrade status.
I found out I’m not eligible for the LOWEST upgrade price, but the “discounted” one… better than a no-contract, though.
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/06/07/how_to_tell_if_youre_eligible_for_atts_iphone_4_upgrade_pricing.html
Loving the new, flatter form factor. Should make applying skins or decals a breeze, without the curved back.
Face Time video chat looks fun! If it works!
@Andy It’s telling me a full discount isn’t available until 3/14/2011, but that they can offer me a discounted iPhone at a higher price plus the $18 upgrade fee. Not sure what the ‘higher price’ will be, but I doubt it will stop me from getting one.
Oh yeah! the wife and I are upgrading our first gen iPhones asap. This is what we have been waiting for. Really the first one to excite me since the first one.
Quad band HSDPA? Does that mean they support T-Mobile’s HSDPA frequencies?
Replying to myself: Nope.
Sorry, should have added this to the previous commnt
Apple added UMTS band VIII, e.g. 900 Mhz, the primary standard GSM band, which I’m guessing is being upgraded to UMTS in many places, as an addition to UMTS band I (2100 MHz).
Apparently, they moved my upgrade date to Nov; at that point, I think I can wait until iPhone 5 next June.
I know we’ve all seen the hardware already, but it’s still killer. Form factor is outstanding, and the comparison to a vintage camera is striking, almost artistic. Nothing else out there in the sea of “brick” smartphones even comes close. But some of the features that we didn’t even know about are crazy. Gyroscope? FaceTime? And that display, I can’t wait to see it in person.
However, for all the fantastic hardware, I do have to say that I was getting pretty pumped by all the rumors about MobileMe becoming free, but obviously it didn’t happen. I think Apple is missing the boat on this. Google owns the “cloud” space with all of their free online services, virtually all of them linked to or directly accessible from Android-based phones, and even the iPhone 4 is still umbilical-corded to a desktop-based iTunes, which is a a pretty cumbersome and last-decade way to sync and update your _mobile_ phone. Oh well.
And bummer…I’ve only had my iPhone 3GS since 15 Oct 2009, so I am a looooong way off from upgrading. 🙁
@Andy Is it weird that I’m mainly excited about the upgraded camera with LED flash and video features? Oh an the display… let’s not forget that 🙂
Works in Japan I’m sure. mine (3G) connects to NTT-DoCoMo and Soft bank carriers. checked in person on 4/2010. never worked in summer of 2009 though. looks like since it carries 40%+ of the market over there, popularity and compliance were to follow shortly.
i mean the smart phone market btw
@Julie – Andy Jacobs or Andy Chen? ;-D
I don’t think that’s weird at all. iPhone 4 has enough gee-whiz features for all of to find a favorite or two!
@Andy Jacobs my first comment was to Andy Chen, the 2nd one to you 🙂 I have too many Andys! 😉
I never “upgraded” before. Do we have to give them the old iphone to upgrade to the new one? Or do we get to keep the old iphone?
@Jackie . . the old ones (yours to keep) make great iPod touches following deactivation (or download Skype and a “land line” can be used as well off WiFi)
It’s actually got a PENTA band radio (that’s right, five bands). Read the FCC document.
Too bad the biggest one still only carries 32Gb. I would’ve loved a 64Gb version (or more) as it would replace my current phone and iPod at the same time.
Interesting Tom. Obviously Apple must have Japanese frequency band support since they’re selling previous generation(s) in Japan as well–do they have a single 3GS hardware for all countries or do they have a Japanese only version?
Hi Guys! Looks nice, but my brain is looking at the down-sides: GLASS back 🙁 (sounds like an “ouch”-factor when dropped), no memory card possibility (SIM is just the cell phone card), iAds may turn into an “i-pain” (in the you know what) if it can’t be turned off and: last but not least – first generation problems are sure to be around the corner – especially the jail-breaking with the new IOS 4, will take long I would guess. I think I will wait this one out. Love my pimped up 3GS 🙂
Never owned an Iphone due to the high monthly contract fees. I have however been considering one for the last year, trying to come to terms that i’ll need to pay to have one. I guess i’ll wait a little longer here in Canada (coming out in July), but at least here it isn’t AT&T. We have 3 carriers to choose!