Mac|Life - August 2010

FEED YOUR MIND. FEAST YOUR EYES.

>>>Star t

By the time Steve Jobs took the stage for his keynote address at WWDC 2010, the tech world had already seen dozens of leaked photos of iPhone 4 prototypes and might be forgiven for dismissing the announcement as old news. Of course Apple still had plenty of surprises in store: more details about the iPhone 4’s unique design and hardware, its dual-camera system, LED flash, Face Time feature, and iMovie app. Apple hadn’t started taking preorders as we went to press, but we were lucky enough to get hands-on time with the iPhone

4 immediately after the keynote—and walked out with our credit cards burning rectangular-shaped holes in our wallets.

The iPhone 4’s design is different enough from its predecessors that the early peeks couldn’t entirely spoil it. The all-white version reminded us of a reimagined first-gen iPod—all it needs is a glowing red Home button. Jobs compared it to a Leica camera, and its rounded metal buttons and flat edges do echo a Leica’s classic, understated aesthetic. The chemically strengthened glass front and back do pick up plenty of greasy fingerprints, but it’s still a joy to touch. And the shiny ring of stainless steel that encircles the iPhone 4 provides the phone’s main structure while functioning as an antenna—that, and the second mic for noise cancellation, should improve call quality, which is something iPhone users have clamored for since the first iteration.

Apple calls the new 3.5-inch touchscreen a Retina display because its 326 pixel-per-inch, 960x640 resolution with 800: 1 contrast ratio smooths text to the point where your eyes shouldn’t notice the pixels any longer in normal conditions. Our hands-on time proved this true—we saw no pixelation even when zoomed way in on text, making reading web pages and the new iBooks a pleasure. The iBooks app also reads PDFs now, providing a handy row of thumbnails at the bottom for skipping around. And with such true colors and the impressive viewing angle that comes with IPS (in-plane switching) technology, photos look amazing too.

Inside, Apple added its own A4 processor and beefed up the battery
size, promising 40 percent longer talk time (up to 7 hours when using
the 3G network). Because Apple designs the processor and battery
in house, it can optimize performance to maximize battery life—the
company’s been on a roll lately with its
long-lasting notebook and iPad batteries,
which have consistently outperformed
Apple’s stated specs in our testing. So
we’re reasonably confident the iPhone 4
will continue this trend. Opening apps and
test-driving the new iMovie for iPhone, we
noticed speedy, responsive performance,
but it wasn’t head and shoulders above the
already-zippy iPhone 3GS.

The new three-axis gyroscope joins the accelerometer and compass to provide developers with six-point motion sensing to build into their games, augmented reality apps, and whatever else they can dream up.

The front-facing VGA camera lets you shoot self portraits, and its focal length and focus are optimized for Apple’s new Face Time feature, which allows video calls between iPhone 4 units over Wi-Fi only.

Our Face Time hands-on felt a little
gimmicky, with mild graininess and lag
marring the Jetsons illusion a bit. Still,
initiating a Face Time call was a no-setup
snap, as was switching between cameras
on the fly so your chat buddy can see you
in the front camera or your surroundings
on the rear. Fortunately, Apple is making
Face Time’s protocols an open standard, so
other companies can use it in their own projects, opening the door for
integration into apps like Skype or Adium.

Our look at an unfinished iMovie for iPhone showed potential, too, with basic but effective controls that stay out of the way, letting users doll up their plain video footage with titles, transitions, and themes, then add photos and music. We suspect many competing video cameras like the Flip will be relegated to a junk drawer. All the videos and photos we saw on the demo units were shot with iPhone 4 prototypes, and the tap-to-focus video and stills, optional LED flash, and improved 5-megapixel camera produced some pretty slick-looking results.

FOURTH TIME’S A CHARM
Apple unveiled a redesigned iPhone 4 at WWDC 2010, and our hands-on
testing left us impressed—and ever-hungry for more. BY SUSIE OCHS