Well, well, the moment pretty much the whole world (not only Apple fans, but normal people as well) has been waiting for is finally upon us. So, at WWDC, Apple, through the voice of its iconic CEO, Steve Jobs, finally unveiled the next iteration of the smartphone that changed the game (and the market) forever: the iPhone.

First and foremost, the name. There have been many speculations about what the next-gen iPhone was going to be called, with the iPhone HD emerging as the favorite. However, it seems that the rumors were not exactly true, since Apple decided to go with a much more simple moniker, iPhone 4.

Due to the whole lost iPhone scandal, we pretty much knew way ahead of the launch just how the handheld was going to look like, and sure enough, it looks like the “lost” or “stolen” device was the real deal. So, as you can see for yourselves, the thing has a much more “square” design, with more straight lines and an industrial look, featuring glass on the front side and steel on the rear. Furthermore, the new iPhone 4 is also considered the thinnest iPhone ever, since, at 9.3mm, it's 24 percent slimmer than the iPhone 3GS.

Anyway, leaving the design aside, let's move on to another very important topic, namely that of the hardware configuration. The new iPhone 4.0 will provide plenty of cool stuff, starting right from the display. This new screen is called Retina Display and delivers a very impressive pixel density, namely 326 pixels per inch, which is above what the human retina can perceive (just 300 pixels per inch).

The display has a 3.5-inch diagonal and uses IPS technology, while the resolution is an impressive 960 x 640 pixels. Contrast ratio is also quite impressive for a handheld, namely around 800:1. 

Other important features worth mentioning include the enhanced support for UMTS, GPS, GSM, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technologies, plus a redesigned control system.

At the core of the iPhone 4 is the same A4 chip that powers the iPad. But the similarities don't end here, since the device also packs a microSIM slot, instead of the normal SIM found on previous models. Naturally, there's also some flash memory packed in there (up to 32GB), plus a pretty serious battery, which is touted as being capable of delivering, according to Steve Jobs, "7 hours of 3G talk, 6 hours of 3G browsing, 10 hours of WiFi browsing, 10 hours of video, 40 hours of music. And up to 300 hours in stand-by". 

The new iPhone packs even more surprises, however. And we're not talking here about the dual-mic noise suppression system or the Quad-Band system, but about a six-axis gyroscope, which enables a whole new set of movements. Absolutely great for gaming. 

The camera system on the iPhone 4 has also been seriously upgraded, compared to its predecessors. The camera has been updated to 5 megapixels, and now sports a backlit sensor for enhanced performance in low-light conditions. Also, it features tap to focus, sports a 5x zoom and is accompanied by an LED flash (which will further improve photos in low-light conditions).

Moreover, it's capable of recording HD video (720p at 30 fps), which is something iPhone owners have been waiting for ever since... well, forever. Normally, videos can be edited and further manipulated in all sorts of ways, including adding photos and extras based on the geographical coordinates where the video clip has been shot.

Next in line comes the operating system used by the new iPhone 4. And no, we're not talking about iPhone 0S 4.0, as we believed up until now, but about the brand-new iOS 4, whose arguably most important feature is the support for multi-tasking. And another cool feature is the addition of Bing to the search of available search engines. Nice jab at Google with some help from Microsoft right here. 

And the last detail is also absolutely spectacular. So, the iPhone 4 sports a front-facing camera, which can be used for... yeah, you've guessed it, video calls. Another feature iPhone users have been dreaming about for a very long period of time. It's called FaceTime and it's only working between two iPhone 4 handhelds.

Finally, a word about the pricing. So, the new Apple iPhone will be available in white or black and will sell for $199 for the 16GB model and $299 for 32GB. The first models will be sold starting with June 24.

These are some of the most important and interesting details worth mentioning about the iPhone 4, at least for the time being. However, stay tuned, because we'll be talking a whole lot more about the next-gen Apple handheld over the next couple of days. 


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