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Apple Announces iPhone 4
In a keynote presentation today at WWDC, Steve Jobs officially unveiled the iPhone 4. It's powered by an A4 chip, has a glass front and back, and has stainless steel around the edges, which turns out to be part of the antenna system. The new iPhone uses what Jobs called a "Retina display," running at 960x640, or 326 ppi. The battery is also bigger, with a corresponding increase in battery life. The iPhone 4 supports 802.11n, has two mics for noise cancellation, and a three-axis gyroscope, which allows rotation and precision that accelerometers can't match. The iPhone 4's camera is using a 5-megapixel backside illuminated sensor, which Jobs said does better at low-light photography. It also records 720p video at 30 frames per second, with tap-to-focus. In addition to this, they've created an iMovie app, which allows users to easily edit videos on their phone. Several live blogs of the event, with pictures, are available. The device ships in the US on June 24. Apple's product page has been updated with specs and a video. Read on for more details.
Update: 06/07 18:34 GMT by S : Steve's "One More Thing" this time around: FaceTime, live video chat from one iPhone 4 to another. It is Wi-Fi only at the moment, but they're working with carriers to expand that in the future. Jobs says the iPhone 4 OS is being renamed "iOS4," since it isn't just focused on phones anymore. The release candidate will be made available to developers today. He demonstrated multitasking, a unified email inbox, and folders for apps. In the App Store, you can expect to see an iPhone version of Netflix soon, as well as Guitar Hero and FarmVille. Jobs also announced that iBooks, the ebook application for the iPad, would be getting a few upgrades. Users will soon be able to make notes, and a bookmark button is on the way. It will put bookmarked pages into the book's table of contents. iBooks is also gaining support for viewing PDF files. On top of that, it won't be just for the iPad anymore; it's coming to the iPhone and iPod Touch as well, and it will sync between devices.
Update: 06/07 18:34 GMT by S : Steve's "One More Thing" this time around: FaceTime, live video chat from one iPhone 4 to another. It is Wi-Fi only at the moment, but they're working with carriers to expand that in the future. Jobs says the iPhone 4 OS is being renamed "iOS4," since it isn't just focused on phones anymore. The release candidate will be made available to developers today. He demonstrated multitasking, a unified email inbox, and folders for apps. In the App Store, you can expect to see an iPhone version of Netflix soon, as well as Guitar Hero and FarmVille. Jobs also announced that iBooks, the ebook application for the iPad, would be getting a few upgrades. Users will soon be able to make notes, and a bookmark button is on the way. It will put bookmarked pages into the book's table of contents. iBooks is also gaining support for viewing PDF files. On top of that, it won't be just for the iPad anymore; it's coming to the iPhone and iPod Touch as well, and it will sync between devices.
Anything about this being the same as the Gizmodo prototype?
Never before have I wanted a product so much but will not buy do to Apple's draconian policies.
What would be interesting is Adblock Plus for the iPhone.
What would be interesting is Adblock Plus for the iPhone.
Heh! Odds of that being approved for the App Store are approximately 3,720 to 1.
Corporatism != Free Market
None of which would have happened had Android not shown up.
You're right! It's good for Android that Apple is around. :D
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
...when you can announce that your document viewer will support PDFs and everyone is in the awe :)
user@ubuntubox:~$ stfu This server is going down for shutdown NOW!
This is going to revolutionize the way we use iphones! Apple has done it again. All Hail Steve!
Kind of like how Cisco owned the trademark for iPhone as well?
Wow, those are conservative odds as well. I would have put it somewhere around G to 1...
If a man isn't willing to take some risk for his opinions, either his opinions are no good or he's no good
If they had any intention of trying to sue over something like that, Nintendo would've been in court already.
For those playing at home, IOS4 is a really old version of the Cisco router operating system and a version of the Wii kernel used to load the initial contents of a Wii console's flash chip. But then what abbreviation isn't taken nowadays?
It's an optional thing for a developer to include in his app. I can imagine that there will be free apps that use iAdd and pay versions that don't have ads. Just use the version without ads and you are good. If there's no version without ads then don't use the app!
That's basically how it works now except Apple is providing developers with an easy and good-looking way to include ads in their app without having to cut deals on the side. Pretty much win-win for Apple, app developers and iOS users.
Sapere aude!
So Apple is out, as well as Sony.
I agree with your sentiment, I really do want some of these products, but I'm fed up with the companies that present them.
I'm in the market for several new products:
1. Smartphone
I want to ditch AT&T and would like something that is as flexible as my older generation jailbroken iPhone. (VNC, Strong developer base, etc)
2. eReader
Though eInk displays are pretty much all the same, anyone have any luck with an eReader that isn't Sony but lets you have flexibility with the device?
3. A non-rented media recorder
ie: Non-Tivo and non-TV company owned. Is MythTV really the only option right now?
4. Unicorns.
I mean, as long as I'm asking I might as well get it all out there.
Out of modpoints but really liked a post? 1BDkF6TtmmeZ3yqXbz9yhdYVqRYnwFoXDj
One thing that the past has taught us, is that resolution != quality. Sure, it can shoot 720, but without a decent lens or good sensor, most of those pixels will be just noise anyway. I'm not saying that it's bad, I'm just saying that just because it's 5mp and 720 doesn't mean that it'll give better quality than a 1mp and 320 x 240... It's one of those things that we'll have to wait for the reviews to see...
If a man isn't willing to take some risk for his opinions, either his opinions are no good or he's no good
"Quad Band" means it supports 850/900/1800/1900 MHz frequencies, and all of those are GSM (voice) frequencies, not 3G (HSDPA/USM) frequencies. Unless it says 1700/2100 MHz for data access, T-Mo won't work. It's probably 850/2100MHz USM/CDMA which is what AT&T uses.
(Says the guy who owns a factory Nokia phone which only gets EDGE because of the above issue).
... And so it comes to this.
No teleportation. Less space than the Library of Congress. Lame.
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
The maximum storage capacity of the iphone maxes out at 32G, while the ipod touch goes up to 64G. I suppose that's comparable to the HTC's incredible maximum capacity of 40G (via 8 GB internal and 32 GB microsd card), but it's unfortunate that there isn't a larger option. The iphone really seems capable of replacing many mp3 players for reasonably sized collections, but with apps and music it's not hard to hit 32G.
And, of course, it would really kill Apple's profit margins to actually offer an SD slot...Oh well.
"The universe seems neither benign nor hostile, merely indifferent." --Carl Sagan
Indeed adverts are. Adblock Plus is a browser plugin so that adds are an optional thing a user can choose to accept. I'm unclear as to what way graphics heavy adverts will be 'win-win for ... iOS users' given that as of today it is no longer possible to start an unlimited data contract.
Will a user be winning when an ad for an ap that would have cost $1.99 for the ad-free version sends them over their monthly cap and results in a $10 bill from AT&T?
All ads have done is resulted in a proliferation of free apps with limited functionality and lots of adverts. It's cluttered the marketplace and made it difficult to distinguish between applications and value. It's not immediately obvious how much paid or versions of similar apps cost, making price comparisons more difficult for the user. Where's the 'win' in that?
Apple have distinct carrier contracts. What would have been innovative would have been to negotiate with carriers, make bandwidth to Apple's Ad servers not count as part of a user's allowance and have the advertiser pick up the cost of serving their Ad.
Would you watch network television if you were billed for each ad you see?
without a decent lens or good sensor, most of those pixels will be just noise anyway.
Apparently that's pretty close to what Jobs said in the keynote. He said the new camera not only shoots 720 but it does this with a larger sensor so the sensor elements still capture a decent amount of photons and don't lose quality. He also said they use better lenses. We'll see exactly how it pans out but the shots of pictures taken with the 3G model vs the new 4G model show that there's been a huge jump in quality.
Sapere aude!
The quality of the 720p video was actually extremely impressive.
I've been a proponent for 300+ DPI screens for quite a while. I never got to see the Neo Freerunner (282 DPI), but the Droid (265 DPI) looks good. Jobs is correct, from about about 10-12 inches viewing, this is what is needed to have the device seem like paper. My preference though is to take that high DPI to a bigger screen - say something like 1280x720 with 4.8" diagonal (308 DPI). New Snapdragons are supporting 1280x800 (not sure I like 16/10 better than 16/9 for phones - it is the standard for laptops these days), so hopefully we'll see some Android phones with these high DPI numbers soon.
Never tell me the odds!
6 to 1 that someone will.
This ain't rocket surgery.
Well that's the thing, isn't it?
It's not necessarily that Apple truly innovates, or even that it simply does things better (i.e. the iPhone).
It's the fact that Apple is one of those brands that a lot of industries follow.
So once -Apple- starts doing videoconferencing, even just the two-way that's been shown in TV commercials since the day phones with two cameras (or just the 'front' camera) were launched, you'll suddenly see a lot of (renewed) interest in supporting it; including carriers.
Personally, I yawn at these announcements in terms of what they announce. But I applaud the announcements themselves, as it'll light some fire under companies' behinds to kick back into gear.
The one announcement bit that has the opposite effect, is the FarmVille-as-an-app. Not that I care for FarmVille, but one major problem FarmVille players supposedly had was the lack of Flash support on the iPhone (and iPod touch, and iPad) - Flash being what FarmVille needed to run. But Apple made it clear that they would definitely not be supporting Flash, and instead were 'promoting' HTML5.
So will there be an HTML5 FarmVille? Perhaps - but it's clear that at least as far as the announcement goes, it will be an iPhone/Pod Touch/Pad-only app instead.
I believe this is far more the future that Apple envisions, than that developers use HTML5.
But their platform, their store, their firstborns and FarmVille folks' freedom to decide to make it a native app and all that; such are things :)
I'm one of those people. I'm an Apple whore and buy pretty much anything Apple puts out (with the exception of the iPad - I don't see the need for one - and Apple TV - no smartcard) but finally gave up my iPhone and switched to the Droid. There were two reasons: One, I hate AT&T service. It's terrible (so far, Verizon has been _much_ better) and two, I can't type worth crud on a touch screen. I find myself increasingly using my phone for email when I travel and the keyboard, even with chiclet keys, makes it much easier (and faster) for me to type. Toward the end, the iPhone pretty much became a portable gaming device and I didn't really need one of those. So while the new iPhone is sexy, it's just not something that would fit my needs.
Bark less. Wag more.
Apple - copy everyone else, claim it's revolutionary.
It's revolutionary when someone else fails to start a revolution with their idea and it just languishes until you take it up and start a revolution in the industry with it.
"Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
Wifi only because AT&T will never allow it. They say they are working with carriers which means outside the US it should be available in no time but inside, you can forget about it.
It is iPhone only, but it sounds like Apple is opening up the protocol for others to use. It would be nice if there was a standard for video calls on phones.
"In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women..." -H. Simpson
"a 5-megapixel backside illuminated sensor"
Does that mean the sun shines out its backside?
They licensed the name iOS to Apple. mentioned in the cnet live feed http://news.cnet.com/8301-31021_3-20006866-260.html?tag=newsLeadStoriesArea.1
The Wii "wiimote" Controller has three MEMS linear accelerometers. The Wii "Motion Plus" adapters plug into the wiimote, and add three MEMS angular accelerometers, which are also very commonly referred as gyroscopic sensors. If the phone has the gyro sensors, it can sense relative tilt motions, but can't sense its own position relative to gravity when held still or sitting on a dock. The linear accelerometers work best at slow gestures, like those found in marble games or augmented reality windows. If it has all six sensors, which I expect it does, then there are a lot of quick and slow motion gestures you can do very accurately.
[
You do realize that there's a difference between having a webcam sitting on top of your monitor and sending live video from your phone, right? Not to mention that Apple's version of it will probably be about as simple as making a phone call.
Like they said in the keynote, this isn't some new idea, this is a "vision of the future" that predates Apple, but finally starting to become a reality. It's about damn time, too.
One time I threw a brick at a duck.
Actually, it has something like this 4x4x0.9mm ITG-3200 Triple-Axis Digital-Output Gyroscope. Not one, but three real MEMS gyroscopes in a single surface-mount IC package.
Yes, they actually can make them that small these days. Amazing, isn't it?
"The state is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else." - Bastiat
Very true. It was hard to convince my mom that her $149 point and shoot digital at 12MP couldn't match my old (ancient, in technology terms) Canon Digital Rebel XT that was "only" 8MP. The reality though is that despite having only 2/3's of the pixel count, my camera takes pictures that look WORLDS better. Side by side shots finally convinced her.
Just like the Mhz myth for processors, cameras also can't simply be measuring in megapixels.
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
Speaking for myself as an iPhone developer, I will not be adding this to any of my apps. Since I freaking hate them as a consumer I'm not going to then turn right back around and add them when I'm trying to make money.
On their specification Page.
UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz)
GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
sonofabitch.
magically impressive
Very true. It was hard to convince my mom that her $149 point and shoot digital at 12MP couldn't match my old (ancient, in technology terms) Canon Digital Rebel XT that was "only" 8MP. The reality though is that despite having only 2/3's of the pixel count, my camera takes pictures that look WORLDS better. Side by side shots finally convinced her.
Just like the Mhz myth for processors, cameras also can't simply be measuring in megapixels.
Another huge factor is the quality of the glass. The lowest-noise, highest-contrast, most-linear, biggest Dmax sensor in the world isn't going to give you good results if it has a cheap-o plastic lens in front of it. (Unless you're looking for that effect, like you get with a Lens Baby.)
Futhermore, designing and manufacturing high-quality lenses is really quite difficult. Putting high-quality glass in a phone-sized device is, currently at least, impossible.
My brother purchased an iPhone when they first came out, and put his photos up on the social networking site Multiply. Downsampled, they looked pretty good. Then, I tried screwing around with them a little in Photoshop to understand more. Full resolution, they suck. Sure, they're not bad for a phone, but are worse than the contemporary point-and-shoot I was using, and far, far worse than my DSLR.
Put my fist through my alarm clock with its ding-dong death inside my ear. - The Blackjacks.
From http://www.macrumorslive.com/
10:39 am Doing a live demo now.
10:39 am Firing up both phones.
10:40 am Zoomed in difference looking at home screen is remarkable. Apple had to get special projectors to show just how good this screen is.
10:40 am Loading up NY Times next.
10:41 am Loading slowly, "networks in here always unpredictable."
10:41 am Steve asks everyone to get off WiFi to help him out, audience laughs.
10:41 am NY Times still not loading on iPhone 4.
10:41 am Switching to backups.
10:42 am iPhone 4 now on AT&T, all kinds of error messages about not being connected to the internet popping up on iPhone 4.
10:42 am Steve goes back to showing photos.
10:43 am Difference is fairly amazing.
10:43 am iPhone 4 slowly barely loads NY Times.
10:43 am Steve apologizing again.
10:43 am Asks Scott for any suggestions.
10:44 am Someone shouts, "Try Verizon."
10:44 am Steve concludes demo.
I think Bill Hicks summed advertising up quite accurately:
"There's no rationalisation for what you do and you are Satan's little helpers. Okay - kill yourself - seriously. You are the ruiner of all things good, seriously. No this is not a joke, you're going, "there's going to be a joke coming," there's no fucking joke coming. You are Satan's spawn filling the world with bile and garbage. You are fucked and you are fucking us. Kill yourself. It's the only way to save your fucking soul, kill yourself."
Some of my favourite people are from th US; Vonnegut, Chomsky, Bill Hicks.
Yeah, I mean, who wants the world's largest selection of quality apps, all vetted to be reasonably sure of being malware-free and of at least a minimum level of quality and stability!
Yeah, because fart apps are considered quality. Quantity != quality. Plenty of quality apps have been denied, while plenty of crap is available in the app store.
Even though, at present, the "walled garden" provides a superior all-around app experience for most people
New Kids on the Block had a number 1 hit. "Superior" is very subjective.
there are some for whom ideology trumps reality. And I'm the one that gets called "fanboy"?
You are defending the fact that your device is artificially limited. That, to me, is the very definition of a fanboy.
Nothing I can do or say will change the fact that Apple retains control over what you can and can't do with your device. The only thing I can do is vote with my wallet, so that's what I do. Forgive me for being a consumer who pays attention.
Living With a Nerd
At 10-12 inches. As Jobs said in the speech.
Towards the Singularity.
Same risk faced by every iOS dev, every XBox dev, every Wii Dev, every PS3 dev ... pretty much every dev of every relatively or completely closed system on the planet.
Somehow it still seems to bring new people in and make lots of money for the people that do it.
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
Come on Apple, how do you expect others to respect your trademarks if you don't respect other?
Ever think of checking your facts before commenting? From the FaceTime IM company web site:
"Our agreement with Apple to transfer the FaceTime trademark to them comes as we are rebranding our company to better reflect our capabilities. We will be announcing a new name in the coming months."
Quantity != quality
You know, nobody bought that argument when mac users were saying the same thing about PC applications.
"In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women..." -H. Simpson
I'd love to write a best-selling novel, but until Bedford St. Martin's gives me 100% assurance that they will publish and advertise my novel before I start writing it, I'm not going to write a word of it.
There is a fundamental risk in writing new books: "Will customers read this?" This risk can be calculated to a certain extent. My concern with writing a novel for Bedford St. Martin's is that an additional incalculable risk exists, and it is simply too much to bear.
It wasn't a bad decision. Having a fixed resolution means that apps can be designed to a pixel perfect degree. And given that 3 years later, they have been able to up the resolution in a way that means all those apps remain pixel perfect means that fixing the resolution in the first place wasn't a technological dead end.
For a desktop windowing OS, variable resolution combined with resolution independence is a good thing. Apps run in windows that can be of any size, and the generous screen space allows plenty of flexibility for apps to rearrange themselves to suit. For a screen as small as a smartphone that just doesn't work. Designers have to design very carefully to fit the app UI on the screen in a good way.
You won't get a significantly better picture without increasing the size of the lens, which it doesn't look like Apple is doing.
Actually, looking at pictures of the back of the 3GS and the iPhone 4 - that's exactly what they have been doing. Compare http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_iphone/family/iphone#iphone-compare to http://images.apple.com/iphone/gallery/images/gallery01-20100607.jpg
Lars T.
To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck
You do realize that UMTS videocalling is available for better part of the last decade, right? With hundreds millions of devices already out there by this point.
Oh, and it's as simple as making a phone call...because it is just a phonecall (you call somebody, and if videocall can be established, the option of switching to it during the call will be there)
One that hath name thou can not otter
Setting aside your disregard for the Star Wars reference (turn in your geek card as you leave)
Let's get this straight: referencing the solution to:
Consider an n-dimensional hypercube, and connect each pair of vertices to obtain a complete graph on 2n vertices. Then colour each of the edges of this graph using only the colours red and black. What is the smallest value of n for which every possible such colouring must necessarily contain a single-coloured complete sub-graph with 4 vertices which lie in a plane?
is not geeky, but awareness of a mainstream hollywood kids action movie is?
Someone must have changed the definition of geekiness while I wasn't looking.
Wow, that was a troll, but somehow you've been modded insightful, so I guesss I'll bite:
Only the most naive users and apple fanboi's would believe that apples smart-phone deign was truly innovative and first of it's kind. HTC had them beat for years: the MDA II, MDAII, MDA vairo, MDA Amino, vairo II, wing, kiaser, magician, touch diamond; and Palm pretty much defined the screen size for smart devices.
You are limited to the app store. ... ... ...
Again, you are still limited to the store.
It does, but once again, Android users aren't limited to the Marketplace.
However, I don't like being restricted to a single location as a means for finding applications for my phone, regardless of what that single location offers.
Exactly. You don't care about the reality of what's offered, but instead by your ideological aversion to having only one app store.
Bullshit. Apple doesn't control what I can do, they merely control what apps I can get from the App Store, nothing more. I can buy a key and compile and run any app I want. I don't even have to buy a key, someone else can and distribute an app to hundreds of people for free. I can jailbreak. I can use HTML5 apps, which are extremely capable (Google's Voice webapp is fantastic).
See bold section. Having to hack your phone to leap over the walled garden isn't necessarily something to use in an attempt to sway my opinion, when I can already download anything I want from wherever I want for my unmodified device.
No, you read the bold section. You don't have to hack the iPhone to run apps from outside the app store. You don't even have to pay to do so.
Once again, Android devices aren't limited to the Appstore. ...
I don't have an iPhone primarily because I don't want to be stuck with a single location for applications. I'm sorry that seems stupid to you
Not wanting to be stuck with a single app store is not stupid, but choosing an inferior product for the primary reason that it has the option for additional sources of apps tends towards the irrational. I.e., fanboyism.
Now, if you truly think that Android will end up with more apps because of this, or at the very least, more high quality apps, then your decision to avoid the iPhone is rational, but the basis behind it is still based on ideology. There's no reason whatsoever to believe that third party Android app stores is going to result in more apps than the iPhone. What will result in more apps is more users and a higher-quality user experience. Android lags significantly behind iPhone in both categories.
Or put differently, if there was a third-party app store for iOS, how many more quality apps would there be? There'd be a native Google Voice (like I already said, though, the existing web app is excellent), there'd be that Squeak interpreter app. There'd be a bunch of porn apps. And...? Flash?
Oh, what a long list of things I can't have!
You repeat the "there's only one app store" thing over and over, but you completely fail to demonstrate how that's a problem. It's just ideology. It's fanboyism.