Apple Announces New iPhone 4

Jun 07 2010

The highly anticipated iPhone 4 was unveiled today. Apple’s newest smartphone is packed with new features, over 100 of them, according to Steve Jobs at this year’s WWDC. When I look at my first generation 2G iPhone and compare it to the features found on the iPhone 4, there really is no comparison. My iPhone feels sluggish. But enough about me, let’s dig into what the iPhone 4 has to offer.

I compiled a list of some of the new important features:

- Forward-facing camera (in addition to the camera on back of phone).

- LED flash on back & front cameras

- Gyroscope (It’ll be interesting to see how app developers take advantage of this nifty new feature).

- iBooks coming to iPhone & ability to read PDF files

- FaceTime video calling that utilizes either camera on iPhone

- The much-asked for multitasking feature (something offered on most other smartphones).

- HD video recording

- Organize apps into different folders.

There are a lot more features, most of them being under-the-hood type of stuff. My biggest interest, of course, is the availability of iBooks for iPhone. Apple is quickly becoming a major player in the ebook market since the introduction of their iPad earlier this year. I have a sinking feeling that iBooks won’t be compatible with my 2G iPhone. I guess that’s my punishment for clinging to old, out-of-date technology.

Apple will start taking pre-orders for the iPhone 4 on June 15 and they will ship June 24. You can buy the 16GB for $199 or opt for the 32GB for $299. Both prices are a little high for me right now, and I’m loving not being tethered to an AT&T contract (mine expired last December). But the temptation for Apple’s latest and greatest might be a little too much.

Will you upgrade to the iPhone 4?

2 Responses

The iPhone 4 seems to be a big leap forward over the previous generations, although I don’t think Apple had much choice due to the advances with the Android operating system and new handsets from companies like HTC. It really is a great looking device though, much slicker looking than the iPhone 3GS. It’s just a shame that they are so expensive, even on a contract with a high monthly cost. I wouldn’t expect networks to give them away for free but the lifetime costs for an iPhone 4 are pretty high. It’s also difficult for those that took the 3GS on a two-year contract at launch to upgrade without suffering huge penalties.
Chris Padsworth´s last blog ..Free iPhone 4

Chris Padsworth 6/14/2010 6:05 pm
I hope they get this antenna problem sorted out somehow.

das-iphone4spiel 7/20/2010 3:28 am