Apple Announces iPhone 4 1184
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.
Competition is a good thing (Score:3, Interesting)
None of which would have happened had Android not shown up.
Keynote not done yet! (Score:2, Interesting)
Wow. the keynote isn't even finished and the post went up. We have no idea about networks or prices or sizes. Ridiculous.
Re:Competition is a good thing (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:IOS (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:AT&T NEW 2GB data plan will kill this. (Score:1, Interesting)
So, do ads use up your data? That seems like a bad situations, but it's not clear how it could be avoided.
Re:Reinvented Video Calling (Score:2, Interesting)
Finally, some healthy DPI numbers (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Re:One more thing... (Score:5, Interesting)
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 :)
Re:Competition is a good thing (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Competition is a good thing (Score:2, Interesting)
Yeah, I'm excited. This means Motorola's and HTC's next high-end Android phones are going to have an even higher density display.
Re:iAds (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:One more thing... (Score:4, Interesting)
And used by who?
I have a workmate who makes Skype calls with N900. But definitely not often...
I don't see myself using video calls in everyday situations for now no matter what phone. But perhaps they do get more common if Apple manages to push them through.
Re:Gyroscope vs Accelerometer (Score:3, Interesting)
The Wii MotionPlus controllers use something similar.
From Wikipedia [wikipedia.org]:
The physical principle is very simple: a vibrating object tends to keep vibrating in the same plane as its support is rotated. It is therefore much simpler and cheaper than is a conventional rotating gyroscope of similar accuracy.
Re:iAds (Score:3, Interesting)
What would be interesting is Adblock Plus for the iPhone.
GlimmerBlocker (uses ABP's blacklist) does the trick (or your favorite ad-block daemon). More effective than browser plugins since it works across multiple apps (browser, email, feed reader, etc). Even more effective if you have your own web server w/ said daemon. I do this with all the wired/wireless clients at home. Setup up the iPhone to use your own server via proxy and you'll have all the ad blocking you want.
Re:iAds (Score:3, Interesting)
So it'll take what...a couple of weeks for them to port the existing iPhone Android ROM [cnet.com] over. Best of both worlds!
Re:This kinda tells about power of your brand... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Finally, some healthy DPI numbers (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:iAds (Score:1, Interesting)
Don't video game companies do this? (Score:3, Interesting)
I've been thinking the same thing, and I think that (though I don't know for sure as I'm not a video game developer), that Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft won't even let you write the game without putting through a proposal. I doubt it's much more than a general form that describes the overall gameplay, maybe a pic of some concept art or somesuch, and assuming the game isn't based on the characters from goatse.cx, they presumably give you the tentative go-ahead. Of course, when I say "won't let you develop" the game, I mean that they wouldn't consider approving it unless you submit the proposal ahead of time.
I suppose that would double the work on Apple; they'd need a staff to review the finished apps, as well as a group of people to sift through the proposals. Also, I could see the process being abused; even if the proposal site was limited to official developers, that's only $99 that would give some the idea that they could write an automated script to flood the system with boilerplate proposals.
Still, even if that were the case, I'd still want to do that. Like you said, it's hard to think you've spent time on something only to be rejected for some arbitrary reason. My ideas for apps are, I think, totally in the mainstream, but I can imagine being rejected simply because some faceless reviewer didn't like my choice of background wallpaper in the app.
Re:Want one so bad but won't buy (Score:4, Interesting)
You, as a regular schmuck (I'm presuming) are not really affected by the so-called "draconian policies" ... and furthermore, it's a bit of stretch to call a curated app store a draconian experience. I've not once felt excessively, harshly, nor severely treated while using my iPhone.
How are we not affected by the dictatorship of Steve Jobs? We're not allowed to use GPL'd software; we're not allowed to use applications that replicate included functionality; we're not allowed to modify the UI to our liking; we're not allowed to watch porn; we're not allowed to use the unlimited data connection we have to pay for all of our legitimate purposes; we're not allowed to develop software using tools that Steve Jobs does not approve of; we're not allowed to use some of the most popular technology on the internet because of the "benevolent" dictator's insecurities. Shall I continue?
This is different from shopping at Wal-Mart, Target, etc. because those companies might not sell what you're interested in, but they aren't going to stop you from buying the products you want from another source. Please, stop glossing over the fact that this "walled garden" blows; it's insulting to my intelligence. I suppose if I embraced the lack of freedom, I'd be happy. Not unlike the Patriot Act, I might add.
Re:This kinda tells about power of your brand... (Score:3, Interesting)
No color. Crap for textbooks. Also no web, music, gps... I should hope it's cheaper.
Re:One more thing... (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
I've got over 14,000 Wi-Fi hotspots to choose from to chat and discuss in video conferencing. The last thing I need is a bunch of morons driving on I-5 trying to chat and look at who they are chatting with, simultaneously. It's bad enough already with just voice.
Re:iAds (Score:3, Interesting)
At what distance?
Re:iAds (Score:3, Interesting)
The reason to choose 960x640 resolution is purely technical: to overcome their bad 3-year old decision to stick to a single resolution for application development. Quadrupling pixels is the only working solution for all the legacy apps out there.
However once they are at it, why not use this solution for PR? They now have the highest resolution on a cellphone ever, and 99% of potential buyers aren't aware of the real reason. The higher - the better, it's just like the megapixel wars in cameras.
I just hope the megapixel story won't be repeated with cellphone resolution, and we are not going to see stuff like 400-dpi 3" screens.
Re:One more thing... (Score:3, Interesting)
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.
We'll see. When 3G first launched in the UK, the carriers tried to sell the phones based around video calling. All the phones had front facing, or swivell, cameras, and threw in lots of minutes. They really didn't take off. If anyone can do it, apple can, but I'm not convinced.
Having said that, skype have since made video calls on computers easy and common, so perhaps the time is right. Gah.
Re:Competition is a good thing (Score:4, Interesting)
I'll be happy when I can have a 360 dpi 52" display for the AV setup at home. Whey are they still trumpeting 1080P HD?
Re:Who can I buy from (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm not sure why you want to hate on the Sony reader.
The reader platform is one of the few places where Sony consistently does the right thing (tm).
When they wanted to move from a proprietary format to ePub for their online bookstore, they offered a better-than-free firmware upgrade for my out-of-support PRS-500. (Better than free because they paid for overnight express mail to and from the Sony service center. It was out of my hands for 5 days). In addition to ePub, it added mass storage mode which in turn made the device accessible from x64 machines.
When the firmware update turned out to have some consequences for battery life, they again paid for overnight express mail to and from the service center. When I got it back, included in the box was a $10 credit for the Sony bookstore.
Sony has complied with the GPL from day one on the PRS series, offering up the code without any bullshit like you might see from other large name vendors. Not only that, but they created a fairly "hack" friendly device.
Finally, Sony uses ePub without any proprietary extensions, which means I can download DRM'ed ePubs from my local library and read them on my Sony reader. Or I can buy books from the Sony store and read them in ADE on my PC. And they're fairly lenient in allowing multiple devices to have access to the same account.
Re:One more thing... (Score:3, Interesting)
Except that it will be released as an open standard.
So, Apple ignores existing standards, puts together some protocol out of existing technologies, including the patented h.264, builds a proprietary product around it, and then promises to release what they call an "open standard" some time in the future. Pardon me for not getting excited.
But, hey, that way you can keep thinking anything Apple does is evil.
No, not everything Apple does is evil, just some of the things they do. And not everything they do is technically inferior, just some of the things they do.
Wouldn't want to have your preconceptions challenged, would you now?
No preconceptions, just business as usual for Apple.
Re:iAds (Score:3, Interesting)
If you deliberately decide to buy a phone where the manufacturer has disabled the most useful features - being able to install non-market apps or even access the app store at all - then it's just dumb to complain about that afterwards. The fact is, there *is* choice, so choose! Don't reward old school dinosaur carriers and phone manufacturers with your business. It's a new world now.
iAds, Registration (Score:3, Interesting)
Is there a way to tell if an app had iAds before buying/downloading it? I think it should be a requirement that iAd apps are flagged as such in the app store. It would really piss me off if I paid for an app only to find ads inside.
For that matter, there are so many apps that require you to register before using them. These should be flagged as well.
I find it astounding that we have so much crap to deal with in the mobile realm. We thought desktop apps were annoying. They were just the beginning.
Re:backside illuminated sensor (Score:2, Interesting)
For those interested: This was published 2 months ago http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2010PhRvL.104o8102L [harvard.edu]
It seems the human eye wasn't an 'evolutionary flaw' after all as some proclaimed. Quote: "The retina is revealed as an optimal structure designed for improving the sharpness of images."
Basically: The blood vessels can act as wave guides for the incoming light. Cool!
Re:FaceTime: The open industry standard (Score:3, Interesting)
You can download the official spec from ISO [iso.org], or from you national standards body.
Cartoon villains (Score:4, Interesting)
Sadly, even those who try to escape Steve's clutches ...
"Steve's clutches"? What is he some cartoon villain now? I'm sure he's cackling in his lair right now plotting the next way he can make your life worse by forcing yet another industry to make better and more useful products.
...are affected by the iPhone, as evidenced by the fact that nearly every mobile platform is copying the App Store model, some of them with exactly the same kind of draconian lock-in policies.
Draconian? Let's take the WABAC machine [wikipedia.org] back to the 1960s when AT&T was the only telecom company in town - LITERALLY. Back then you didn't even own the large and primitive phone in your house. It was leased to you by the phone company which was a government sanctioned monopoly and wired directly into the wall. If you didn't pay they came and took the phone from your house. Oh and you paid handsomely for the privilege of having this level of "service". The phone was robust but not remotely innovative and if you think Apple is being "draconian" you really have no idea what draconian is. You have more options now than you ever have had.
Really the enemy here isn't the phone manufacturers. The enemy is the telecom companies. The handset manufacturers main customers aren't you and me. Their customers are the telecom companies (AT&T etc) and the interests of the telecoms differ significantly from yours and mine. That's why most of them historically have paid little attention to the user experience. They didn't have to to sell products to their customers. Apple, despite their flaws, has forced the telecoms and handset manufacturers to pay more attention to the end users. Yes they are being restrictive but most of the worst restrictions come from the telecoms, not the handset makers.
I've met and spoken with Ed Whitacre when he was CEO of AT&T. I've never met a CEO who so bluntly held his customers in lower regard than he did and I've met quite a few Fortune 500 CEOs. My father and grandfather worked for AT&T and its successor companies for a combined 50 years between them. I know these companies well and they are not your friend.
So this is not something we can just sit by and watch, it is an industry wide phenomenon that we must fight on every front that opens up, or one day we will get out of bed and there will be no platforms left where we have the legal right to run our own software any more.
Excellent. Fight the good fight. I support you fighting for open platforms completely. But let's keep the hyperbole out of it shall we? Steve Jobs by all accounts can be a real ass but the phones we have today are better products because of his efforts. There are at least 3 other major phone platforms (Blackberry, Android and Nokia/Symbian) competing with Apple and the more they compete the better off you and I will be.
Re:iAds (Score:4, Interesting)
What's sad is, the most open OS on a smartphone you can buy from a carrier today (nobody buys unlocked GSM phones in the US, so the N900 is out,) from the user perspective, anyway, is WINDOWS FREAKING MOBILE 6.5.3.
Out of the box, you have root.
Re:One more thing... (Score:3, Interesting)
Wow. I think I will go to a dark room and off myself. Seriously dude, lighten up. The market can't be compared to the PC market of 20 years ago. The start up and material costs are waaay lower for hardware these days - especially in the mobile space. Unlike a PC, a user changes his/her cellphone frequently. The cost of smart phone software is minuscule compared to Windows software - people don't lose huge investments when they switch platforms.There are plenty of companies competing with Apple. If it turns out to be the death march you make it out to be, people will switch to HP's Pre or Android or Windows Mobile Genuine Phone Series 7 or whatever.
Re:I love this.... (Score:4, Interesting)
For the price that people pay to go to the conference ('ve been to one) It's interesting that that many people would be on their computers during something that one would assume is fairly important. Were there really ~570 reporters liveblogging the event?
I'm not Apple bashing, just pointing out what I noticed. Please don't mod me to hell.
Re:iAds (Score:3, Interesting)
I don't want it, it's human blood stained (Score:3, Interesting)
While it sounds damn sexy, I don't want it. It is stained with blood from Foxconn employees that make Apple products.
Did you know that the average Foxconn employee is paid 113 euros per month?
I am so shocked, I can't believe it. I read it today in the local newspaper.
I deeply apologize for the offtopic comment;I am going back to the high-tech /. nirvana. It's just that I am so shocked about this.
Whats up with the iPhone 4 WiFi (Score:2, Interesting)
Well from watching the keynote. The 3GS wifi worked and the 4 didnt work at all. Steve had to ask everyone to turn off there wifi devices several times just to demo the phone. Then at the end demoing the new video chat he constantly complained about people not turning off there wifi devices.
Considering the 3GS worked that is not a good sign for the new stainless steel antenna. I really dont wont to spend my days yelling turn off your wifi in the shopping center.