After months of rumours and speculation, apple has released their latest mobile device, iphone 4. The new device is the fourth-generation of iphone and comes with a new slimmer design and front-facing camera capable of video calling. apple also updated the display with a high-resolution screen that measures 960 x 640 pixels. the phone also features a 5 megapixel camera with an LED flash and HD video recording.
The front facing camera uses an application called facetime to make video calls over wifi. The design of the device itself is made from a chemically strengthened aluminosilcate glass on the back and front with a stainless steel band all the way around. the iphone 4 will come out in the us later this month and internationally later this year.
New Features: Multitasking, App Folders and More
- Multitasking:
It's handled with a simple task switcher: double click your home button, and you get a list of running apps. Select, switch, done. Multitasking is limited to audio streaming, VoIP and GPS apps, as well as a few other allowances: they can finish specific, important tasks in the background, for example. As far as non-music/nav/VoIP apps, those can be suspended in the background, but not left running.
- Fast app switching:
With iPhone 4's multitasking, most apps aren't actually running in the background—just certain functions of the app, like an audio stream or a GPS lock. But! All apps can now be frozen, in full, so that when you reopen them, they're restored to exactly the state they were in when they were closed.
- Local notifications:
Notifications can be sent between apps on the phone, not just from remote servers. In other words, if something important happens in an app you've opened and moved away from, a notification will pop up in whatever app you're using at the time, effectively saying "switch back to me!" It's a fairly clever way to keep track of multiple apps without the need for a start bar or dock-type interface.
- A new Mail app:
Unified inboxes, multiple Exchange accounts, fast inbox switching, threaded messages, These new features are actually a huge deal, since the iPhone's mail client has barely changed since 2007, and Apple doesn't allow alternative mail apps. Apple's pitch:
- iBooks:
Its ebook reader app and accompanying ebook store we first met on the iPad has ambled on down to the iPhone. Nice, since you can now take your books with you wherever you go, as oppose to wherever you go with your iPad.
- Custom backgrounds:
Now you can choose a persistent background for your iPhone—and not just for the lockscreen.
- Game Center:
Apple's going to roll out a centralized gaming service—a multiplayer network like PSN or Xbox Live—to help connect games to one another, by the end on the year.
- iAd advertising:
It looks like Apple's finally making use of Quattro, that mobile ad company it gobbled up a few months ago, by rolling out its own advertising platform, a turnkey ad plugin for app developers called iAd. The theory here is that instead of relying on links to external websites, which pull users out of apps whenever they tap on an ad, developers can use Apple's new tools to keep people in the app while still showing them advertising—sort of like popover browser windows. You can watch videos, play games, and even buy apps from within these ads. This is in the iPhone OS 4 developer tools, but it's not explicitly a part of OS 4, so you won't see apps with iAds until later this year.
- 5x digital zoom:
Could this hint at a higher quality camera in the next hardware? 3.2 megapixels seems a bit low for 5x digital zoom.
- Bluetooth keyboards:
Another carryover from the iPad, Bluetooth keyboard support will finally come to iPhone 4.