back to article Steve Jobs unveils iPhone 4

Steve Jobs has introduced the next-generation iPhone, prosaically known as the iPhone 4. This wasn't unexpected, but the Apple chief did reveal a number of features not mentioned in pre-release leaks. Jobs unveiled the handset at the company's Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco, and since the man won't actually …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.

Page:

  1. smeddy
    Troll

    iPad Mini

    "Jobs noted that the iPhone 4 has 78 per cent on the iPad's pixels "in the palm of your hand.""

    Say what you like about the product, but you have to admit Jobs is a pure hype-machine/salesman/charlatan (delete as appropriate)

  2. screaminfakah

    So another phone

    Who cares??

    1. Barry Lane 1
      Happy

      @screaminfakah

      Who cares? Worldwide? Couple of dozen million people, at a guess.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Jobs Halo

    iCame

    Can't wait for June 24th

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Jobs Horns

      Is that so?

      you 'came' in your pants?

      Dear lord, fanbois these days..

      I jest of course.

      1. Pavlovs well trained dog
        Joke

        icame vs icummed

        teehee

  4. Giles Jones Gold badge

    Looks like a winner

    While 720p HD is pretty common now, the fact you can edit it on the phone, add transitions and then upload it somewhere is pretty impressive.

    Those who might moan about the video calls working only on Wifi might actually think about why this is. Firstly this isn't your usual 3G video calling, that was designed when screens were quite low resolution and video compression wasn't hardware assisted. Apple have come up with a much better quality video call system, they're making it a standard and it will be available for others to implement.

    Secondly, Wifi is more available than the reception required for 3G video calls. You can do it at home or at a hotspot. I for one haven't a chance in hell of ever using 3G video calling where I am, yet I have a nice fast cable connection to the internet.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Up

      someone down-voted this

      LOL I wonder why - seems knowledgeable and cogent to me.

      So who is the down-voter? come out little Apple hater, whoever you are, if your knee-jerks will let you...

    2. Charlie Clark Silver badge
      Terminator

      Huh?

      Nice kit but still a disappointment and you're right about video-conferencing needing bandwidth - I reckon quite a few access points would struggle with it as wel. But a new system?

      Lots of people know all about video-conferencing system but Cisco's TelePresence has already set the standard and someone who knows network infrastructure would have to be involved in any roll-out. But who really uses video-conferencing? It was fun to play with 15 years ago on NetPhone and stuff but the novelty soon wore off and hasn't returned.

      Now for the disappointment - why isn't it 3D? As noted in the piece on the new Motorola phone - adding a flash and second camera and microphone doesn't really count as innovative any more. Apple has definitely passed the baton to HTC and others on this but will still make a lot of money from this. Thing is, what's next? And will Apple be the company to show us?

    3. Al Jones

      "Apple have come up with a much better quality video call system,"

      That's the nice thing about standards - there are so many to choose from.

      Will you be able to make these "much better quality video calls" to anyone who doesn't have an iPhone 4?

    4. Alan_
      FAIL

      Not everyones city is backward...

      Ah, you're missing one critical point here. You may live in an area with non-existant 3G, but I live in more high-tech city where we actually have working 3G with few deadzones. Can you walk from your apartment/flat/house to your local shop, buy a bottle of milk and walk back without losing your wifi signal? No? So then how is wifi more readily available than 3G?

      When comparing old solutions with new solutions the biggest factor is "Does it work". If the old solution works over 3G but the new solution doesn't, who cares about quality. It just doesn't work. I want video chat over 3G just like I want voip over 3G. If it doesn't work I don't care about it.

      1. Danny 14
        WTF?

        wut?

        you plan on walking to the shop to buy milk whilst video calling?

        1. TeeCee Gold badge
          Happy

          Re: wut?

          Just ignore him and do what the rest of us do. Polish the blood and hair off the bumpers and carry on.

          If you were looking where you were going it's reasonable to expect the same courtesy from others IMHO.

      2. Giles Jones Gold badge

        Video calling

        Video calls cost more than 3G calls. Who wants to 3G video call with it's low resolution? I don't know the specs for video calling (I can't find them) but I would imagine it is 320x240 to 640x480 at best.

        Since this system is sent over the data connection it would be a little unfair of Jobs to allow that without letting the networks prepare for it.

        As for the question about "can you make calls to other phones", not yet, but Apple will publish it as a standard and then anyone can use it. Which is a damn sight more than Microsoft ever did (MSN Messenger webcam standard has never been released, it had to be reverse engineered).

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    And....

    cue diatribe!

  6. JHo
    Thumb Up

    Sign me up

    Can I be the first fanboi to say that I'll be getting one - now, who wants to buy my iPhone 3G?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Up

      Have you seen what O2 will give you for it>

      £198 for a 16GB 3G - thats how I'm funding mine...

      http://www.o2recycle.co.uk/

      1. Annihilator

        re: price

        Wait till the launch date creeps closer and watch that O2 price for buying your 3G iPhone creep downwards...

    2. Dazzz
      Alert

      Price for a 3G?

      Well its a bit less capable than my Nokia but I guess I could offer you a tenner for it.

    3. alwarming
      Paris Hilton

      misread one as some.

      > Can I be the first fanboi to say that I'll be getting one

      ah..I misread "one" in your post as "some"

      And I wondering if this is a google fanboi posting in an apple story.

      Paris, coz she definitely is.

  7. windywoo
    Jobs Horns

    I think it's magical, it's going to change the world

    Provided the world is on wifi.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Jobs Halo

      Which if you live or work in a city like...

      Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester or Nottingham for instance and have BT Openzone and The Cloud access with your contract, isn't a problem at all :)

  8. Si 1

    Still only 32GB?

    I'm disappointed by the lack of a storage upgrade, I can fill my 160GB iPod Classic, so 32GB will be full in no time at all. I suppose they didn't want to make the iPad look bad by releasing a phone with the same amount of storage as the top-end model.

    Still, looking forward to upgrading from my aged iPhone 3G, it's still a great phone but browsing seems to be getting very slow these days...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Grenade

      How much storage does one person NEED?

      "I can fill my 160GB iPod Classic, so 32GB will be full in no time at all"

      Title says it all. How much of the 'missing' 128GB would you really miss? Sounds to me like a case of "mine's bigger than yours"...

      1. Rattus Rattus

        "How much storage?"

        As much as they can give me. Manage to squeeze a terabyte into a phone? Thanks, I'll fill that too. 32 gig is really not that much.

        1. tony
          Happy

          Last time i checked,

          My media library was a couple of terabytes last time I checked, manage perfectly well on my 16gb phone. Have a core music selection and then a random playlist which shuffles music in or out.

          Doubt a 3 or 4tb portable device would be cost effective and fit in the pocket as easily

        2. Gizzit101
          Terminator

          but...

          with both Apple and Google working on "cloud-based" streaming solutions, there will be no need to carry copies of your media files around with you.

          Google have hinted that their solution will be launched with the next release of Android, and from the demos, it will be like everybody having their own private Spotify. I think some people expected Steve Jobs to unveil the Apple version last night - maybe it isn't quite ready for primetime just yet.

          Maybe it isn't music and video that eat your mobile storage...but they accounted for the bulk of mine until recently.

          Besides, how long ago was it that 32GB on a phone or SIM card seemed unattainable? Rest assured there are fine minds at work on either giving you 1TB on your phone, or developing technology to make huge local storage unnecessary.

          1. This post has been deleted by its author

  9. Xee Thot
    Jobs Horns

    It only took them 3 years

    Finally the iPhone that should have been launched in 2007 is announced... With the hardware that an N95 (launched in 2007) has...

    Wee another maimed product at launch from Apple...

    Hopefully in 2013 they'll launch the iPhone with a 10Mp camera with xenon flash, have unlimited multi-task, Adobe Flash and everything all the other announced phones of today have...

    1. Chris Procter
      Stop

      Nokia N95?? Don't make me laugh!

      Whilst I agree this should have been the spec of the phone 3 years ago, the N95 was a dogs dinner of pooh! The most evangelical iphone converts I know are all ex N95 owners!

      I've been waiting for the phone to have this spec since I came very close to owning a Motorola A1000 back in 2005. Only 3's rubbish garden wall internet and the pain of owning another Motorola handset put me off.

      Even that had a video calling that "You can switch to the front camera". Poor show apple!

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    re Magical & Wifi

    Fortunately, the world is on WiFi...

  11. justkyle
    Troll

    Glass?

    Come on, now, why not transparent aluminum?

    St. Jobs, make it so!

  12. Da Weezil
    Thumb Down

    No Sale!

    The resident Apple fan here is deeply disappointed - hoping for a 64gig model. Oh well... as the ipod cant be replaced with an iphone of sufficient capacity it also means the N86 wont be replaced. I have to admit as a disinterested bystander - more media capacity would have seemed to be a bigger seller than a three-axis gyroscope or even a forward facing camera that can only be used for calls in very limited circumstances.

    I feel that this launch is diminished by a lack of focus on everyday practicality in favour of toys that very few users will actually benefit from. Im sure the more dedicated fans will disagree but then here Apple fan has spent much time extolling the usability and function of Apple products, only to see those arguments torn down by the bewildering inclusion of toy of limited usefulness.

    1. jai
      Jobs Halo

      not so

      a 64gb iphone would eat into the sales of the 64gb ipad

  13. Sooty

    glass 30 times harder than plastic

    technically this is correct, this is exactly why when you drop glass it tends to break, and when you drop plastic it doesn't

    Not exactly the sort of thing I'd want the majority of the case made out of? What's wrong with the macbook approach of machining the thing out of a block of aluminium, with suitable adaptations for getting signals in and out.

    1. Nexox Enigma

      Signals...

      """What's wrong with the macbook approach of machining the thing out of a block of aluminium, with suitable adaptations for getting signals in and out."""

      The MacBook is a pretty poor example of something that signals can get in and out of. Wifi reception is pretty poor compared to most laptops I've used, and it's noticeably directional, based on how much of that lovely Aluminum is between the antennas and the access point.

  14. Gavin 8
    Thumb Down

    i notice the distinct omission of cpu speed

    probably because for marketing reasons they don't want the cpu to be faster than the ipad cpu, so it's probably slower than the neus one which they don't want to admit.

    1. uhuznaa

      Glass and glass...

      I can tell you that there is glass you can throw at a concrete floor without breaking it. You can even buy cups and plates made from it. It must be about 20 years ago that someone demonstrated this for me and I was very much impressed by it. Imagine a plate of glass just wiped off the table jumping and tumbling over the floor right against the other wall without breaking.

      No, you can have glass you can hardly shatter even if you try hard, really.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Erm...

      That'd be 1 GHz. I thought this was fairly common knowledge, it's been on't'interwebs for quite sometime and I can't see a reason for Apple to clock'em...

  15. Nev

    As with all iPhones...

    ... too damn big and clumsy to be a good mobile phone.

    But as an iPad Nano/Mini iPod Touch replacement: It might just work!!!

    1. jai

      wtf

      how _small_ are your hands and head ffs?

      the strength of the iPhone 4 is the size and resolution of the screen - and you'd rather chop it in half?

    2. tony
      Happy

      Welcome...

      Derek Zoolander

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Jobs Horns

    Ca ching!

    Apple could sell turds if they polished them up, made a funky ad.

    iTurd - has a little bit of a 'ring' to it!

    Apple cashing in again on what is no doubt no real improvement - the only way they could improve the iPhone is if Apple were a little bit more open and stopped being so anal about the apps and code they approve, and, like. Sooner or later, Android on well designed pretty handsets will be the death of the iPhone.

    Just look at the craze over the HTC Desire..

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Happy

      I do love that people voted this up

      It's wit and balanced analysis like this - and all the people who scurry to approve of it - that make me feel that I am actually pretty awesome compared to most people out there after all.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    Not a pretty image

    "The camera also has a backside-illuminated sensor to help with low-light imagining"

    Why would anyone want to imagine an illuminated backside?

    1. frank ly

      re. Not a pretty image

      This is just a fancy way of saying that the sun shines out of the iPhone's backside?

    2. Far Canals
      Paris Hilton

      Well that depends

      On whose backside it is.

      <<

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      What light at yonder window shines?

      It is the East and Steve's Arse is the Sun

  18. Anthony Shortland
    FAIL

    what no...

    still no fm transmitter built in? seems ridiculous that the nokia n95 had so many features that are still missing from the latest iphones/blackberries/android phones.

    1. Danny 14

      not really a mass need

      havent used an FM transmitter in years. Bluetooth streaming is more common these days.

Page:

This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like