SAN FRANCISCO—Apple CEO Steve Jobs took to the stage Monday at the highly-anticipated Worldwide Developers Conference, where he unveiled the nitty-gritty of the hugely-anticipated iPhone 4. Yes, that phone … the same one Apple software engineer Gray Powell left in a bar in March.
Gizmodo as everyone knows was the recipient of the prototype device, having acquired it for $5,000 cash from the person who picked it up at the Haus Staudt. The phone had been bricked by MobileMe, but it was the real thing nonetheless and Gizmodo had it in its possession, at least for a few days.
Monday, the guts of the thing were revealed for the world to gasp at, and gasp it did during Jobs’ presentation. Building on the many strengths of the current model, the new version, as expected, adds a bevy of new features designed to solidify the iPhone’s place not just in history, but in hearts, minds and pockets of every person in the world.
Most significantly, the new phone is a warrior, the Darth Vader of mobile devices, 34 percent thinner than the iPhone 3GS, but three grams heavier and encased in a stainless steel shell with a glass screen.
The iPhone 4 has a new brain powered by the A4 chip also used in the iPad, is capable of HSDPA/HSUPA speeds of 7.2Mbps down and 5.8Mbs up, maintains storage capacity at the current 32GB, and thankfully comes with a larger battery that provides 40 percent more talk time than the previous model. Estimated battery usage is:
• Talk over 3G: 7 hours.
• Browsing over 3G: 6 hours.
• Browsing over Wi-Fi: 10 hours.
• Video: 10 hours.
• Music: 40 hours.
• Stand-by: 300 hours.
The operating system is now called iOS 4, the most significant new feature of which is selective multi-tasking. According to Gizmodo, "The new iOS 4 supports Apple's Retina display using resolution independence. This means that applications will automatically get scaled for the new resolution, but looking sharper, not pixelated. That includes typography, 2D vector graphics, and 3D graphics."
The display also is new, with a new name—‘retina display’—featuring 326 pixels per inch (four times as many as the iPhone 3GS) and an 800:1 contrast ratio (also four times greater than the iPhone 3GS). According to Jobs, it offers users “78 percent of the pixels on an iPad right in the palm of your hand.” It’s also more scratch-resistant than the current model, said Apple.
There are other very cool additions to the phone, including a built-in gyroscope, which should make the device a must-have for peripatetic gamers. According to Gizmodo, "This means that it can track movement with a very high precision, much higher than the built-in accelerometers in the previous iPhones. It's 3-axis, so it's capable of detecting pitch, roll, and yaw. Couple with the accelerometer, you have 6-axis motion sensing."
It also comes equipped with an additional microphone on the top, for noise cancellation, and has an additional video conferencing camera in front in addition to the main 5 megapixel camera, which now has a LED-based flash that works both for photographs and video.
But the most exciting new features now available with the iPhone 4 are the same ones that will make the device that much more relevant to the adult entertainment industry, oddly enough; namely, the ability to use iMovie that works in high definition 720p.
Gizmodo notes, “You can use it to cut the video clips, add automatic Ken Burns effects for still images and a music soundtrack taken from your iPhone's tunes. After you are done with your movie, you can export it to 360p, 520p, and 720p.”
There is also a ground-breaking new feature called FaceTime—basically, live chat in real time on the iPhone. Auguring a revolution in face-to-face communication, “it works iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 over Wi-Fi—at least for 2010. Apple claims that in the future it will be available over 3G,” reported Gizmodo.
While the new iPhone 4 will provide a viewing experience superior even to the current model, it will take immediate content creation, editing and uploading to a whole new level. User-generated content delivered in high quality to social networks or directly to friends should see unmatched growth as a direct result of the iPhone 4. What that means for the porn industry is anyone’s guess—and frankly, none of Steve Jobs business—but it is hard to see how the porn-hater’s newest baby won’t have its say, as well.
And of course, professional pornography will still be available on the iPhone, but now even more brilliantly than ever due to the new 'retina display' and iOS 4. Thanks, Steve!
The iPhone 4 will go on sale in the U.S., Japan, UK, France and Germany June 24. It will cost $199 for the 16GB version and $299 for 32GB, with a subscription.
