iPhone 4 by Tim Gao

Last weekend, Apple announced their next big innovation: with the iPhone 4, to be set for release on June 24th at $199 with their new feature called “Face Time Video Chat.” The iPhone 4 has been redesigned to with a smaller frame, 2 cameras, and better display screen. If you look closely around the phone you’ll notice a stainless steel band wrapped around it, which is the antenna for the iPhone 4. The new product will now support 2 cameras; the front one and a rear one with built-in LED flash. The upgraded camera is now 5 megapixels, with 5x digital zoom with a “backside illustrated sensor,” which supports video recording in HD at 720p and 30 fps. The new high resolution display supports double the amount of pixels in each direction for a whopping total of 4 times the pixels compared to previous models. The iPhone 4 is powered by the same processer that powers the iPad, the A4 processer. Despite being a much smaller (25% smaller) counterpart to the iPhone 3G, the battery life of the phone has been increased. According to Apple, 3G talk time is rated at 7 hours, 6 hours of Wi-Fi (802.11n) browsing, 10 hours of video, 10 hours of 3G browsing, and 40 hours of music.

The new iPhone 4 sports a brand new operating system, the iOS 4. The new OS will enable the iPhone 4 to have motion control compatibility. Gamers all over will rejoice over this feature, as there are many games that can be imported with motion control. iOS 4 will automatically have high resolution text and button support. Current software developers for the iPhone can easily manipulate their software to be compatible with the new display. Last but not least, the introduction of the latest application called “Face Time.” This application is used exclusively for iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 users, and is currently only available via Wi-Fi. This feature does not require any setup and the camera view can be altered between front and rear.

The iPhone 4 will retail at $199 for the 16GB model and $299 for the 32GB model. AT&T will be the sole provider and will allow up to 6 months for grace upgrade timing. Pre-order starts in a week! Personally I won’t be getting it, simply because I do not like Apple products in general and their business model.