Apple iPhone 4

We’ve seen what Steve Job’s keynote address at WWDC 2010 was all about; now let’s focus a bit more on today’s main attractive, the newly announced iPhone 4 smartphone.

First off, here are the new key features of the iPhone 4

•All-new design making the iPhone 4 the thinnest smartphone ever
•“Retina display” – the highest resolution display ever built into a mobile phone
•“FaceTime” – video calling finally comes to iPhone albeit it only works with Wi-Fi connections right now
•Upgraded camera to 5 megapixels complete with LED flash
•720p HD video recording
•The iPad’s A4 processor
•The latest iPhone OS 4 – now known as “iOS 4”
•Built-in 3-axis gyro
Let’s first dig into the physical details of the new smartphone. The iPhone 4 measures 4.5 x 2.31 x 0.37 inches and weighs a mere 4.8oz – making it the thinnest smartphone yet.

The front and back are made of aluminosilcate glass, chemically strengthened to be 30 times harder than plastic, more scratch-resistant and more durable than ever before. In addition, the front and back glass feature an oil-resistant, fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating
Encircling the iPhone 4 along the sides is a highly-finished stainless steel band made of a custom allow five times stronger than standard steel.

Button wise, the iPhone 4 features:

•Single button on top for on/off and sleep/wake functionality
•Three buttons on the left side – one for ring/silent, one for volume up, and one for volume down
•Single familiar home button at the bottom of the front of the display
You’ll find a 3.5 mm stereo headphone minijack on top and a microphone/built-in speaker on the bottom, along with the familiar dock connector interface.

The new Retina display measures 3.5 inches diagonally and features an awesome resolution of 960 x 640, a contrast ratio of 800:1 and a crazy pixel density of 326 pixels per inch (ppi). At this ppi, it’s more than the human eye can discern when the phone is held at a normal distance.

You’ll find two cameras on the iPhone 4 – a front-facing VGA camera and a 5 megapixel autofocus camera with 5x digital zoom, backside illuminated sensor, and built-in LED flash. You’ll also be able to record video at 720p resolutions at 30 frames per second and yes you’ll be able to use the built-in LED light with video recording. Apple is also introducing the iMovie app for the iPhone allowing you to perform video editing right on the iPhone itself for a mere $4.99.

On the connectivity front, iPhone 4 supports the following:

•UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz)
•GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
•802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi (802.11n 2.4GHz only)
•Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR wireless technology
On the sensor front, iPhone 4 features a built-in accelerometer, proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, and a new three-axis gyro. The three axis gyro when combined with the accelerometer provides 6 axis motion sensing such as up/down, side to side, forward and back, and pitch/roll. Expect some awesome gaming apps to utilize this new sensor.

Power-wise, iPhone 4 still has a built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery but battery life has been improved to:

•7 hours of talk time on 3G
•14 hours of talk time on 2G
•300 hours of standby time
•6 hours of Internet usage on 3G
•10 hours of Internet usage on Wi-Fi
•Up to 10 hours of video playback
•Up to 40 hours of audio playback
On the software front, iPhone 4 comes with the new iOS 4 (formerly known as iPhone OS 4) operating system featuring over 100 new features including multi-tasking, folders, enhanced email, enhanced Enterprise support, and Apple’s new iAd mobile advertising platform.

Features of audio playback include:

•Frequency response of 20Hz to 20,000Hz
•Audio file format support for AAC (8 to 320 Kbps), Protected AAC (from iTunes Store), HE-AAC, MP3 (8 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3, 4, Audible Enhanced Audio, AAX, and AAX+), Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV
•User-configurable maximum volume limit
Features of video playback include:

•Video file format support for H.264 video up to 720p, 30 frames per second, Main Profile level 3.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps, 1280 by 720 pixels, 30 frames per second, audio in ulaw, PCM stereo audio in .avi file format
•Support for 1024 by 768 pixels with Dock Connector to VGA Adapter; 576p and 480p with Apple Component AV Cable; 576i and 480i with Apple Composite AV Cable (cables sold separately)
On the storage capacity front, iPhone 4 comes in only two capacities – 16GB and 32GB. Disappointingly, there’s no 64GB version of the iPhone 4.

AND finally, prices for the new iPhone 4 are as follows – $199 for the 16GB model and $299 for the 32GB model (both of which are upgrade prices mind you