Straight from Apple's WWDC - the iPhone 4!
Straight from the stage at Apple's World Wide Developer Conference, here are the highlights of Steve Job's keynote speech and the latest on the newest must have gadget - the iPhone 4!
This article was also contributed by Wilfred Phua.
WWDC and the Launch of the iPhone 4
It's been a chilly morning over at Moscone Center, as we've been queuing here since 3.30am to be one of the firsts to enter the building for the Apple World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC). We've got the gear, and the equipment ready, so it's time to get rocking. Now, you may have already seen leaked pictures of the latest iPhone, but nothing beats an official launch to make it, well, official. But first, here's a look around the the Moscone Center and the insides that will make you wish you were there.
The line around the Moscone Center building started as early as 8.30pm the night before!
The calm before the storm. The registration lines at the Moscone West center were empty right before the hordes descended.
That's a heck load of apps.
No Apple event is complete without a shot of Steve Jobs, so, here's....Steve!
The iPhone 4
By now, the keynote's already over, and if you haven't yet slept the past night, then you'll probably know what's in this article and may want to skip to the pretty pictures. To our fresh readers, here's what you missed. The latest iPhone will be called the iPhone 4, will feature a higher pixel density and higher resolution screen that Apple calls the Retina Display (which seems like marketing talk to us), be slightly thinner than the iPhone 3GS, have a slightly longer battery life and will be using the Apple A4 processor that's found in the iPad. it will also be the first iPhone to have a camera on the front and rear.
The iPhone 4, sleek and pretty. Glass on the front and back, while surrounded in stainless steel at the sides.
The iPhone 4 will be available come 24th June for a few countries like the US, UK France, Germany, and Japan while countries like Singapore will be getting the phone by the end of July. It's good news for those who have been holding out for this version of the iPhone, so let's take a look at what are the other features of the new iPhone before we jump back over to the the rest of the stuff mentioned by Steve Jobs in WWDC.
The gyroscope is one of the newer features in the iPhone 4, and will allow you to play games as you move.
So now you have to worry about the iPhone flying out of your hands as you attempt to spin it in a circular motion while dancing up and down to get a perfect score... We jest, but this is going to shake things up (pun intended) for the newer games that will appear in the App Store.
Heck, it's about time. The iPhone's camera gets a megapixel bump to 5-megapixels and will feature LED flash, 5x digital zoom and HD video recording (720p) at long last. You can also edit the clips with a new iMovie app for US$4.99.
The improved battery life is also one of the touted new features, but compared to the iPhone 3GS, it's only slightly better, and we all know how long the iPhone 3GS can last in actual usage. We'll see when the actual unit arrives, so hopefully, it will be much, much better.
iOS 4
The fourth generation of the iPhone OS has now been renamed to the iOS 4, and those in the tech scene worried about the trademark infringements with Cisco can rest assured that this time around, Apple will be licensing it from Cisco, instead of announcing the name first before scrambling to acquire the trademark. There are plenty of new features (over 100 according to Apple) for iOS 4, including multi-tasking, folders, threaded mails, enterprise support etc. Also, this upgrade will be free for iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and surprisingly, the 2nd and 3rd generation iPod Touch. Multi tasking however, will not be available on the iPhone 3G.
Plenty of features coming in iOS 4, the new iPhone OS which will be available June 21.
Microsoft's Bing will also be a search partner together with Yahoo and Google.
iBook will also be made available for iPhones and iPod Touch, and you can now sync iBook's notes, highlights and bookmark features across all three iOS devices (iPad, iPod Touch and iPhone). Also, any book purchased on one device will be made available to all other devices.
Apple's iAd will help their developers earn money, though hopefully this won't be intrusive and annoying.
One More Thing...
What's an Apple event without one more thing? Well, here it is - FaceTime video calling. It's nothing new, so leaving this to the last seems like Job's ending on a whimper, but maybe the magic of Apple will popularize it. While many mobile phones already have this feature and have it work over 3G, Apple's FaceTime will only work via WiFi, due to carrier issues, which probably means AT&T in the US and its trouble plagued network is the main reason for this restriction. We may see a different situation overseas and here in Singapore.
FaceTime video calls.
iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 only, as the iPhone 4 is the only iPhone with a front facing camera at the moment.
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