iPhone 4.0: Full facts

Well here's what it looks like, though this isn't an official press photo. It's a commissioned artwork entitled 'A saviour is born'. Rather eerie.



THE FACTS:
• It's called iPhone 4, not iPhone HD.

• It's slimmer; 24% thinner than the 3GS at 9.3mm.

• Improved display. Though the screen is slightly smaller, quality is four times better. Analyst Michael Gartenberg explains: "At 326 pixels per inch, Apple has now hit the magic threshold above 300 where the retina simply can't see the individual pixels anymore. This is now the new benchmark for all devices to follow."

• Faster A4 processor.

• Improved battery life. Goddam they needed to improve that.

• A gyroscope has been added to the accelerometer in the phone, which will be great for games developers.

• Improved camera with 5 megapixel camera, LED flash and 5x zoom. Video has been updated and an official iMovie app allows editing, transitions and themes. Plus a front-facing camera is designed for video chat.

• iBooks now runs on iPhone.

• The iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad operating system is now called iOS and is approaching 100m downloads.

Watch the full presentation if you missed it.

THE VERDICT
Gartenberg could hardly contain himself: "Apple has raised the bar for the phone market once again. With a combination of new hardware and software features, iPhone sets the standard for what the state of the art smartphone experience is."

John Paczkowski on AllThingsD pointed out iPhone 4 could be a problem for Flip: "it was hard to watch Apple's demo of the device's HD video camera working in concert with iMovie Monday and not think that it's going to eat the Flip Video camcorder and Kodak's Zi8 alive as soon as it arrives at market. And things don't look much better for Google's Android 'superphones', though obviously, there's a much bigger battle to be fought there. Certainly, the company and its hardware partners have some serious work to do in the months ahead."

Fast Company said it feels like a winner, "It's eye-catchingly thin, stylish and modern, and hardware upgrades like the screen and processor give the makeover some heft. You'll want one. Everyone will want one."

Wired said it will have you drooling, but then published a comparison of iPhone 4 and the HTC Evo 4G, which has a better camera and a larger screen.

For ZDNet, the sleek design of iPhone 4 still isn't enough to better the Evo, which also has unlimited multitasking, support for Google Voice, and free navigation. And JC News Network reminds us that this isn't a 4G phone: "This new iPhone 4 doesn't mean it is a 4G phone. The only 4G phone as of the moment is the HTC EVO 4G. It is being powered by Sprint mobile that uses WiMax, the only network provider that offers 4G."