Jobs said about the iPhone 4: “Beyond a doubt this is one of the most beautiful and precise things we’ve ever made.”
Today at Apple’s annual World Wide Developers Conference keynote, CEO Steve Jobs announced the new iPhone 4, the sequel to the iPhone 3GS. Jobs said the new iPhone is 24 percent thinner than its predecessor, and features a front-facing and rear camera, a micro SIM tray and “glass on front and back for optical quality and scratch resistance,” Jobs said. The 3.5-inch display is 326 pixels per inch (960×640 pixels) “so everything will look like continuous curves to the eye,” he noted.
Apple’s Retina display boasts four times as many pixels as the iPhone 3GS and 78 percent of the pixels on an iPad.
The smartphone, available in black and white, also has a stainless steel band running around the perimeter of the unit. “That stainless steel band that runs around is the primary structure of the phone. it turns out this is part of some brilliant engineering. which actually uses the stainless steel band as part of the antenna system,” he added.
Jobs said iPhone is only available as a Wi-Fi device, so far. Apple is working with cellular providers to bring 3G connectivity to the new phone.
It features up to 32GB of storage and the battery life is impressive — seven hours of 3G browsing, 10 hours of Wi-Fi browsing, 10 hours of video, and 40 hours of music. It can last 300 hours on standby. Jobs also mentioned iPhone 4 includes a gyroscope and six-axis motion sensing, meaning it can work as a gaming unit. When you tilt your phone in any direction, the games or app can respond accordingly.
Jobs also detailed the camera system on the iPhone 4. The five-megapixel camera 5x digital zoom, a backside illuminated sensor, and records high-def video (720p at 30fps). You can also edit video directly on the iPhone.
Randy Ubillos, chief architect for Apple’s video apps, took the stage to say: ” If you tap the screen you are in the editing environment, and can record directly into the timeline or choose from clips on the device.”
The iMovie app isn’t free, costing $4.99 to take advantage of iPhone 4’s video capabilities.
Also attracting oohs and ahhs from the crowd was Jobs’ announcement of FaceTime: this tool lets you make video calls from iPhone 4, as long as there is a Wi-Fi connection nearby. “I grew up with Star Trek communicators just dreaming about video calling…and it’s real now,” he said. FaceTime can be used with either the front-facing or rear camera, and will only work between iPhone 4 units.
Apple’s iPhone 4 website describes how the two cameras can be used for FaceTime:
Imagine your sister is away at school and can’t make it to your son’s birthday. So you’re cheering her up with a FaceTime call. As the cupcakes come out, your son’s eyes light up, and you just have to share it. Tap a button, and before you can say, ‘Make a wish,’ iPhone 4 switches to the back camera, and to the birthday boy’s big moment. Another tap switches back to the front camera and to you.
iPhone 4 will cost $200 for the 16GB version, and $300 for the 32GB model. It will be available June 24 in U.S., France, Germany, UK and Japan. iPhone 4 will be available by the end of July in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
If your iPhone contract expires any time in 2010 you are immediately eligible for the upgrade, Jobs added. Customer can pre-order their iPhone 4 beginning June 15 from the Apple Online Store.
Jobs then discussed the new OS for iPhone users, dubbed iOS 4. Users can multitask with this OS, and Jobs demonstrated this feature by pausing the Pandora music player to check email. More options are available too, since the iPhone 4 makes available Yahoo or Bing search engines.
The Folders tool lets you “organize apps into collections by simply dragging one app on top of another,” the press releases states.
Apple predicts 100 millionth iOS devices will be sold this month. Not all the new OS features are supported on 3G or iPod touch, but iOS 4 will come out free June 21.
Jobs took some time to praise the iAds service, available July 1 through iOS 4. . Jobs said, “We’re doing it for one simple reason: to help our developers earn money so they can continue to create free and low-cost apps.” The ads are embedded in the operation system, and Apple sells and hosts the ads. Developers receive 60 percent of the revenue.
Jobs predicts Apple’s iAds will command 48 percent of U.S. mobile display ad market in the second half of 2010.
Before the major announcement, Jobs mentioned how popular the iPad has become across the world. He said an iPad is sold every three seconds, and two millions iPads have been sold in 10 countries. The tablet PC will be available in 19 countries by the end of July.
Jobs also discussed the App Store. “We get about 50,000 apps submitted every week, both new apps and updates,” he said, adding that 97 percent of apps are approved within a week. The other five percent? The apps don’t work as advertised or they crash, or the developer uses private APIs, causing the app to “break.”
Apple’s press release further emphasizes the popularity of the App Store: More than five billion apps have been downloaded from the revolutionary App Store and more than 225,000 apps are available to consumers in 90 countries. Almost 100 million iPhone and iPod touch users around the world can choose from an incredible range of apps in 20 categories, including games, business, news, sports, health, reference and travel.
Netflix announced it would offer its app free to movie fans. Also, Zynga said it will launch its Farmville app for iPhone users (popular on Facebook, Farmville is an online game where you manage your own farm). And Activision said its Guitar Hero app will be available for $2.99 — you tap the screen when the right notes coming down the “highway”, similar to the console version of the video game.
The iBooks app, well-received on the iPad, will also be available for iPhone iOS 4 users, so ebooks can be read on the smartphone. PDFs will be opened in iBooks automatically.
