The iPhone 4 was announced last night at the Apple WWDC by non other than Steve Jobs himself. There’s been a lot of stuff added to the new iPhone. Apple says “this changes everything. Again”. Let’s take a quick look.

Good Looking

The body of the iPhone 4 isn’t really different from the one that Gizmodo got their hands on a while ago. It uses a tough glass material, and has a stainless steel rim which is used as part of the antenna – giving it great signal reception. Being 34% thinner than the 3GS, Apple claims it is the thinnest smartphone ever.

Powerful Processing

Looking inside the pretty shell of the iPhone 4 reveals the powerful Apple A4 chip, which can also be found inside the iPad. Apple claims that this chip enables the phone to process data more quickly and consume less battery life. Touching on battery life, the battery is 16% bigger than the 3GS. Preliminary figures tell us standby time is 300 hours, and talk time over 3G is 7 hours. Not too shabby.

The Retina Display

One of the big things touted at the WWDC last night was Apple’s “Retina Display”. It kicks out an impressive resolution of 960 x 640, and displays 326 pixels per inch. While this might not mean much to the non-technical, it simply means that the text and images will look a lot sharper, and makes way for more graphically impressive apps. This should make up-and-coming applications worth the wait.

The Cameras and Video Calling

The camera has always been one of the biggest downfalls of the iPhone. The iPhone 4 comes fitted with a 5 megapixel camera and an LED flash. Whilst this is an improvement on the previous iPhone cameras, it really isn’t too impressive compared to the 12 and 14 megapixel cameraphones. It does do HD video recording however, and you can also use the LED flash with this mode. An editing application called iMovie will also become available in the app store, which allows you to edit your movies straight from the phone.

There is also a front-facing camera of an unimpressive resolution on the iPhone 4, this will enable video calling using software called Face Time. This currently only supports iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 calling, and over Wi-Fi only. Apple seem to have dropped the ball on this, as the technology seems a little out-dated and restricted.

iOS4

The iPhone 4 comes with new software by the name of iOS4. You can expect much of the same fluid and intuitive user interface, but it will look a whole lot better on that high-res display. Whilst promising to look stunning, the biggest feature added is selective multi-tasking. Apple say you will be able to multi-task some app features without consuming too much battery life.

UK Availability

The iPhone 4 will become available on O2, Vodafone and Orange on June 24th. It’s not too far away, and offers plenty of network choice. We’ll see how long the stocks last after the initial buzz, or will it be another story of insufficient stock levels like with the popularity of the HTC Desire? Prices haven’t been confirmed yet, so keep your eyes peeled!

Apple iPhone 4 Spec Summary

So what we know at the moment is:

• Powered by the Apple A4 Chip
• “Retina” display, 960 x 640 pixels, 3.5 inch multi-touch
• Industrial design with the steel rim used as the antenna
• Improved battery life
• 5 Megapixel camera
• Front facing camera
• Video calling, restrictive to iPhone 4, over Wi-Fi only
• HD video recording, with on-board video editing coming soon
• Runs iOS4, which enables selective multi-tasking

Just Catching Up & Is It Enough?

Yes, the iPhone is the iPhone. It looks pretty, it’s easy to use, is something familiar and definitely something of a fashion statement. However, many of the features mentioned are already available on different devices, with almost all bases covered by Google and their Android platform. 1.5 GHz Snapdragon processors will be on their way soon, multi-tasking is available on many devices, HD video recording has started to take off on numerous devices, and video calling is pretty open to anyone on other handsets. Yes, the screen on the iPhone 4 is beautiful and it will really show off the apps and the new OS, but is that REALLY enough to stay ahead of the smartphone pack?