New iPhone has video calling and longer battery life
June 07, 2010 Emily Mathieu
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
It is thinner, sleeker, makes video calls, has a higher resolution screen and a better camera. It also has iMovie for iPhone. Not to mention a gyroscope. Apple revealed the details of the latest iPhone to wild, thunderous applause at its annual technology conference on Monday.
“It is the thinnest smartphone on the planet,” said Chief Executive Steve Jobs, to a packed crowd at the Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday.
The phone, which is 24 per cent thinner than the previous model has a screen resolution of 960×640 pixels, longer battery life, a bigger flash for the camera, higher resolution photos and videos.
While the phone is physically smaller, the weighs 3 grams less than previous models, according to a breakdown of features by gadget blog Gizmodo.
It goes on sale June 24 in the U.S., though it is unclear if it will be available in Canada on the same date. It will cost $199 (U.S.) for the 16 GB model and $299 for the 35 GB.
The unveiling was not streamed live, which is not uncommon for iPhone releases. Gizmodo editor Jason Chen was one of many technology enthusiasts blogging live from the event.
The details of the iMovie app earned the most attention.
“Showing edits, transitions, bringing in music from iTunes. Geolocation information can be imported to titles,” typed Chen. “This is all looking pretty amazing. There’s nothing out today that is remotely comparable to this in terms of mobile video editing.” The only time the applause briefly died out for the iMovie app was when Jobs said it would cost (US) $4.99.
From the floor of the conference Chen reported that the phone’s bigger battery means 40 per cent more talk time, up to 6 hours of 3G browsing, up to 10 hours of Wi-Fi browsing, 10 hours of video, 40 hours of music and 300 hours of standby.
Chen also reported on A4 chip, “Up to 32GB of storage, Quad-band HSDPA/HSUPA for 7.2Mbps down, 4.8 Mbps up.”
Close to the end of the presentation Jobs asked many people on the floor to turn off their laptops and put the equipment on the floor, claiming the signals were what caused the demo to crash earlier on.
“The iron fist of Jobs has smacked down,” said Chen.
Jobs started the presentation with a review of sales for the newly released iPad, which has sold 2 million units, one every three seconds, in 10 countries, said Jobs. The 8,500 apps have been downloaded more than 35 million times, or about 17 downloads per device.
The iPhone unveiling follows a tidal wave of publicity that came after a prototype of the phone was supposedly left by accident at a Silicon Valley bar by an Apple engineer in April.
Gadget blog Gizmodo.com bought the prototype for (US) $5,000 and analyzed its various components to the delight of the blog’s devotees. The phone was returned to Apple by Gizmodo staff following the analysis.
Police later showed up at Chen’s home, seizing several computers and several electronic devices from his home.
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