While Apple has not done much to the existing guts or user experience of the iPhone in this new version, there are over 100 new features on the iPhone 4. Yet many of these simply bring the iPhone in line with advances made by the likes of HTC and Samsung.
The camera has been bought up to 5 megapixels, from the puny 3 megapixels of the 3GS. However, this is poor in comparison to Sony Ericsson and Samsung’s 12 megapixels, or the increasingly standard 8 meg used by other manufacturers.
iPhone 4 has an impressive high resolution display, at 326 pixels per inch with an 800:1 contrast ratio. This gives the device four times more pixels that the 3GS. Jobs claimed the new display is superior to existing AMOLED screens, used by many of the manufacturers’ rivals.
The device also has a stainless steel band around the outside of the device, which is part of the antenna and also makes it stronger; with a glass front and back, it will need something to keep it in one piece.
A three-axis gyroscope is one of the more innovative additions, tying together the gyro, accelerometer and GPS to provide six-way motion sensing, aimed at gamers.
Yet this handset is set to hit a key hurdle, of mobile broadband access. US operator, AT&T, has announced it is curbing data usage, which the likes of iPhone 4 and iPad are set to chew into. More operators are expected to also stamp out ‘all you can eat’ mobile data tariffs, which will increase the instances of bill shock for surf-happy Apple fans, as well as those using other smartphone devices.
Stay tuned to find out what the UK operators plan to do with tarfiff plans for the new device as they announce prices.
Vodafone, Orange and O2are now taking registrations of interest for the iPhone 4.