By the time Steve Jobs took the stage for his keynote address at WWDC 2010, the tech world had already seen dozens of leaked photos of iPhone 4 prototypes, and might be forgiven for dismissing the announcement as old news. Of course Apple still had plenty of surprises in store: more details about the iPhone 4's unique design and hardware, its dual-camera system, and the flash FaceTime feature and iMovie app. Apple hadn't started taking preorders as we went to press, but we were lucky enough to get hands-on time with iPhone 4 immediately after the keynote--and walked out with our credit cards burning rectangular-shaped holes in our wallets.
iPhone 4's design is different enough from its predecessors that the early peeks couldn't entirely spoil it. The all-white version reminded us of a reimagined first-gen iPod--all it needs is a glowing red Home button. Jobs compared it to a Leica camera, and its rounded metal buttons and flat edges do echo a Leica's classic, understated aesthetic. The chemically strengthened glass front and back do pick up plenty of greasy fingerprints, but it's still a joy to touch. And the shiny ring of stainless steel that encircles iPhone 4 provides the phone's main structure plus functions as an antenna--that, and the second mic for noise cancellation, should improve call quality, something iPhone users have clamored for since the first iteration.
Apple calls the new 3.5-inch touchscreen a Retina display because its 326 pixel-per-inch, 960x640 resolution with 800:1 contrast ratio smooths text to the point where your eyes shouldn't notice the pixels any longer in normal conditions. Our hands-on time proved this true--we saw no pixelation even zoomed way in on text, making reading webpages and the new iBooks a pleasure. The iBooks app also reads PDFs now, with a handy row of thumbnails at the bottom for skipping around. Photos look amazing too, with true colors and an impressive viewing angle thanks to the IPS (in-plane switching) technology.
Inside, Apple added its own A4 processor and beefed up the battery size, promising 40 percent longer talk time, up to 7 hours using the 3G network. Because Apple designs the processor and battery in house, they can optimize performance to maximize battery life--the company's been on a roll lately with its long-lasting notebook and iPad batteries, which have consistently outperformed Apple's stated specs in our testing. So we have great hope iPhone 4 will continue this trend. Opening apps and and test-driving the new iMovie for iPhone, we noticed speedy, responsive performance, but not head and shoulders above the already-zippy iPhone 3GS.
The new 3-axis gyroscope joins the accelerometer and compass to provide developers with 6-point motion sensing to build into their games, augmented reality apps, and whatever else they can dream up. The front-facing VGA camera lets you shoot self-portraits, and its focal length and focus are optimized for Apple's new FaceTime feature, which allows video calls between iPhone 4 units using Wi-Fi.
Our FaceTime hands-on felt a little gimmicky, with mild graininess and lag marring the Jetsons illusion a bit. Still, initiating a FaceTime call was a no-setup snap, as was switching between cameras on the fly, so your chat buddy can see you in the front camera, or your surroundings on the rear. Fortunately, Apple is making FaceTime's protocols an open standard, so other companies can use it in their own projects, opening the door for possible integration into applications like Skype or Adium.
Our look at an unfinished iMovie for iPhone showed potential, too, with basic but effective controls that stay out of the way, letting users doll up their plain video footage with titles, transitions, and themes, plus add photos and music. We suspect many competing video cameras like the Flip will be relegated to a junk drawer. All the videos and photos we saw on the demo units were shot with iPhone 4 prototypes, and the tap-to-focus video and stills, optional LED flash, and improved 5-megapixel camera produced some pretty slick-looking results.
The iPhone 4 demo units all ran the new iOS 4, still a couple weeks shy of its June 21 release date as we went to press. We'd already gotten a look at the new OS at Apple's preview event in March (see Jun/10, p10), but the good news at WWDC was that it'd be a free update. First-gen iPhone and iPod touch units can't run it, and second-gen iPod touch and iPhone 3G won't be able to use all the features, specifically the intuitive multitasking. The rich-media iAds, coming July 1, sure look polished and ready for prime time, but at the end of the day they're still ads that users have the option of clicking or ignoring, their novelty notwithstanding.
As always, we left the event with plenty of questions. Why no 64GB storage option, especially if we're meant to record and edit high-def video right on the iPhone? This could be a supply issue, or (likelier) Apple's desire to keep iPhone 4's price points--$199 for 16GB and $299 for 32GB--the same as its predecessor. No additional carriers were announced (that iPhone-on-Verizon perma-rumor feels more like wishful thinking every day), and we heard no official word from Apple about AT&T's decision to discontinue unlimited data plans for new customers--a bit surprising considering that data-hungry apps like Netflix for iPhone were highlighted in the keynote, as well as iOS 4's ability to stream music from Pandora in the background. AT&T says its new 2GB and 200MB monthly data caps should be sufficient for just about everyone, but that's at today's usage patterns--what about tomorrow's? Apple seems committed to pushing its handheld computing platform further and further with each iteration, and we think iPhone 4 will help the company keep its perch on top of the smartphone heap...that is, if its sole U.S. carrier doesn't hold it back.
