iPhone 4
Sure, I watched CNET staffers blog live from today’s event at WWDC 2010. In addition to the replay and other articles, CNET presents an FAQ on upgrading to iPhone 4.
I also admit that I have not had time to digest all of the information. Fortunately, there are people who are PAID to do just that!
Both CNN and CNET have great summaries of today’s presentation by Steve Jobs, which covered apps, iPad, and the new iPhone 4.
OK, then, what “caught my eye?” In no particular order:
- 570 WiFi connections in the room interfered with Steve Jobs doing his demo. He asked them to get off WiFi (in a nice way). Then, he was unable to get a cellular connection! (Note added June 9, 2010: At least it “sounded” to ME like that was what happened.)
- iPhone 4 goes on sale June 24th. Fortunately, this is unimportant to me for the reason I discuss below.
- iPhone 4 is glass on both sides with a wrap-around stainless steel edge that houses an integral antenna. (Note added June 11, 2010: And look what happens when you DROP it from waist height…!) (Note added June 25, 2010: Apple has finally acknowledged that the way you HOLD the iPhone 4 alters the device’s cellular reception. “Gripping any phone will result in some attenuation of its antenna performance with certain places being worse than others depending on the placement of the antennas. This is a fact of life for every wireless phone. If you ever experience this on your Phone 4, avoid gripping it in the lower left corner in a way that covers both sides of the black strip in the metal band, or simply use one of many available cases.”)
- The iPhone 4 is 9.3 mm thin. I still do not understand the fascination with thinness.
- The iPhone 4 features a “Retina Display” with four times the resolution of earlier models and has an 800:1 contrast ratio. (This should NOT be confused with retinal display.)
- The battery has a longer life.
- You can shoot HD movies (720p high-definition video at a constant 30 frames per second) and use a special version of iMovie for the iPhone 4.
- There is a three-axis gyroscope, with pitch, roll, and yaw, separate from the iPhone 4’s accelerometer, together giving developers six-axis motion control for their apps.
- iPhone 4 has a new FaceTime feature that brings two-way videoconferencing, SIGNIFICANTLY only over WiFi currently. Back in January, I speculated that the omission of a camera from iPad was probably deliberate, because the AT&T cellular network was not ready for a bunch of you to hop on and go videoconferencing. Looks like it still isn’t….
- FaceTime will work anywhere there is a WiFi connection… like high schools… this could take “sexting” to “a whole new level.” đ
- The camera on the back is rated at 5 megapixels and has an LED flash, and 5x digital zoom.
- The OS for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch is now called iOS, a term (no technology) licensed from Cisco.
- Google Search is still the default, but Bing is an option on iPhone, as well as on Safari for Mac and PC. I will never forget the time I mentioned Bing to a fifth grader with whom I was working. The fifth grader told me, “Bing sucks!” Kids…. Are you smarter than a fifth grader?
- iBooks is now available for the iPhone, as well as support for PDF files.
- iPhone 4 comes in black or white, for you Yins and Yangs.
- iPhone 4 will cost $199 for 16GB of storage and $299 for 32GB.
- So… just to be clear…there are two cameras, one front (for video conferencing) and one back (with the LED flash). There are also two microphones and noise cancellation.
- Farmville will be on iPhone. I don’t play.
- (Note added June 9, 2010: I forgot “multitasking done right.” I am still investigating, at a technical level, what “done right” means.)
- Blackberry, made by Research In Motion (RIM) is still the number 1 smartphone on the market. I cited stats in an earlier blog that Blackberry is favored by Republicans in California (not a particularly imaginative lot), and iPhone is favored by Democrats (oftentimes entirely TOO imaginative, in the State Legislature at least).
- Steve Jobs gave credit to a number of the product/project teams that were in attendance. Always the right thing to do….
Google’s Android OS edged out iPhone’s OS (now called iOS) during the first quarter of 2010, which brings me to the biggest unannounced fact of the day, the elephant in the room, that iPhone 4 runs only on AT&T’s cellular network.
It looks like many of us will be waiting awhile longer.
(Note added June 15, 2010: CNET covered some of the preorder madness. Someday, I’ll get to play this game.)
-Bill at
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