iPhone Reviews

Apple iPhone 4 Review

Midnight campers, miles long queues and stores with all the stock wrung out of them; what else sounds like all of that? It can only be a new iPhone. Apple’s launch of the iPhone 4 has witnessed the greatest excitement for a new iPhone ever and this is just a reflection on how successful and exciting its predecessors were. Despite some hitches down the line, Apple’s iPhone 4 has proved to be a fairly successful launch. The proof being servers of Apple and AT&T gasping for breath on the launch date with overwhelming pre-orders with the next consignment for shipping being postponed – thanks to the incredible demand.

In the three years since the first iPhone went on sale, the mobile landscape had changed irrevocably. Most phones in the market now offer apps, internet browsing, social networking widgets and email, while the higher end phones continue to innovate around speed, features and built quality. All this just means that Apple has an increasingly difficult job in its hands; responding to the innovations of the chasing pack while turning out a new handset every year. As you can see, it is really a lot to live up to and Apple’s iPhone 4 is doing its best with the inclusion of features like the super fast A4 CPU, a completely new industrial design, an outrageous retina display, front facing camera and a five mp shooter on the back and with all this, no one will dare to argue that Apple has been sleeping at the wheel. So, now the million dollar (or pound in this case) question is that, whether or not the iPhone 4 can live up to the intense hype. We have answers for every question of yours regarding the iPhone; read on to find out.

Design:

We cannot overstate how high end the design of iPhone 4 is. The 3GS now feels cheap and chubby by comparison, and even a phone like the HTC Driod Incredible, which came out just now, looks like last generation.

An iPhone Makeover:
Perhaps, the most notable change with the new iPhone 4 is the drastic industrial design overhaul.  The design engineers have completely rethought its strategy on how the iPhone should look and feel, and the end result is nothing if not striking. Although the 3GS and 3G versions of the iPhone just made minor changes to the design of the original handset, the iPhone 4 turns out to be an intelligent exit from those earlier models. As you might be aware by now, we were very fond of the look and feel of all the three previous handsets, and we have to only say that the design of the iPhone has got only better. In short, the facia and rear are glass; back and front are level and steel edging that circle the whole phone. Though some of you picky ones might say that it looks a bit box-like, it even has a spotless, svelte and the all important look of Apple. The design aspect that we liked the most, is its flat back, because this way, the phone does not quiver while resting on the table. As you might be aware by now, the iPhone 4 can be got in white and black; here again, the former one is much more preferable.

Glassy:
With so much of glass involved, the iPhone 4 is certainly very shiny and beautiful; but Glass means, there are some concerns too. Though Apple has thoughtfully offered some oleo phobic veneer on front and rear, the glass draws smearing by a ton. And, even though Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs assures us that the glass does a much better job in resisting scrapes and breaks than plastic, we will have to watch for its longer toughness. The iPhone 4 has a very sturdy and solid feel and it does survive some falling on to a carpet. But, we do speculate how it can endure travelling inside a pocket with all your coins and keys. Only time has to say how it withstands everyday heavy usage.

Dimensions:
With the dimensions of (H x W x D) 4.5 x 2.3 x 0.37 inches, the Apple iPhone 4 has just about the same height as the 3GS, however, it is slightly thinner at 25% to be precise and is also narrower when calculated across the face. It certainly does feel less significant when compared to its ancestors, but that is not an awful thing. Apple boasts that this is the slimmest smartphone in the market, but since this race changes rapidly everyday, it might not cling on to the label for longer. When weighed, it is at 4.8 ounces, that is exactly what we had in the first generation iPhone, as both the iPhone 3GS and 3G were a bit light. The additional breadth is attributed to the larger battery and so, we will not be complaining about it; and the difference is barely noticeable.

Retina Display:
At times, the greatest gift is something that you did not know you actually wanted and that is absolutely the case with the screen of the iPhone 4. It has what is called as a Retina Display, with a resolution of 960 x 640 pixels, which is 4x the resolution of the earlier iPhones. The new "Retina display"; so named because it surpasses the number of pixels the human retina can process. In addition to this, it makes use of the identical IPS display that is used on the iPad, with a massive contrast ratio of 800:1. Though we have always loved and praised the displays of the current iPhone, Apple needs to give a finishing touch to it with the mind blowing TFT and AMOLED displays that we have on a lot of Android phones such as HTC Evo 4G; that is exactly what it has done.

Though “Dazzling”, “Gorgeous” and “Stunning” are the words we gadget reviewers typically use to explain the high quality and well performing smartphone displays, we are not quite sure if these words will do justice to iPhone 4’s display. Trust us, the whole display is simply fantastic; bold colours, exotic graphics to the brightly clear text. The display can be seen sensibly well in direct sunlight and the details on the photos, applications, web pages and videos are as sharp as they can ever be. The best thing about the display is that, you cannot see any pixels on the display. This is quite remarkable, especially apparent when you hold it up next to the iPhone 3GS. All this praise does not mean that we believed Apple’s claim that the display exceeds what is perceivable by the human eye, but we must also admit that there is no denying to the fact that it looks amazing. The iPhone 4 too has the same accelerometer, proximity sensor and ambient light sensor with no changes in functionality.

Buttons and Ports:
Most of the residual outside elements of the iPhone remain largely unchanged. You will find the Home button at its usual place, below the display and the 3.5mm headset jack and power key sit up top next to the afore mentioned noise cancellation microphone. The other ports, the 30 pin connector, microphone, and speaker are placed on the bottom end of the iPhone 4. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, you will still not be able to remove the battery.

Other changes:
As we had mentioned earlier, some of the other design changes include the latest front VGA camera, LED flash with main camera lens and the inclusion of the microphone on the top side of the phone. Not to mention, they are all welcome additions as they symbolize novel functionality. We liked the split volume buttons as they are easier to get a grasp on than the prior volume rocker. Just on top of the volume is the mute button that has also got a little makeover from Apple. Moving on to the major changes, Apple has placed the SIM card slot to the right and has also switched to the MicroSIM format, similar to the iPad; this kind of the Micro-SIM set-up allows for some extra area for the generously proportioned battery. So, all we have to say is, just note that you cannot use a pattern SIM in the iPhone 4.

Antenna:
Most of you might be thinking that the stainless steel border is just a design feature, but it is actually more than just decorative. This is really the antenna that encircles that phone, except for 3 tiny notches. Just about now we got the feeling that Apple’s designers are some extra terrestrial people. The 1st antenna towards the left is for WiFi and Bluetooth and the second one is for 3G and EDGE. Though Apple does not specifically say that these new antennas will be enhancing the call quality or WiFi reception by any means, by the renovation itself proves that they admit that it required some changes. Even though most of the other iPhone consumers have blamed their network providers for their connectivity issues. However, we are still not sure if the new antennas have improvised reception. In fact, have they made it even worse? Read on to find out the answer.

Features:

Apple iPhone 4 is the dream phone that everybody wishes to have, by being some kind of a revolution it is way ahead in any type of competition. In fact, it has made it look as if the previous iPhones are nothing. With scores of new features, it looks more like the iPhone 4 running in circles round the predecessor 3GS ending up with some unique features and the rest of them with just an update of the iOS 4.

Connectivity:
Apple iOS 4 has added persistent WiFi, which allows the iPhone 4 to stay connected to the hot spot even when it is in the stand-by mode. But, this could result in adverse negative effect on battery, so, we will be watching. With the availability of wake on wireless, the handset promises to wake from standby when it comes in range of a cellular network. This is not something that we were asking for, but having included, we are happy to take it. Now, there is also support for using a Bluetooth keyboard. We were able to successfully pair and used an Apple Bluetooth keyboard without any issues.

Processor and Speed of iPhone 4:
The processor ticking beneath the iPhone4 is pretty much the same as the iPad - 1GHz ARM Cortex A8 chip. Additionally, it boasts of a 512MB RAM, though is not specified by Apple. Just within few minutes of usage, we realised that the phone is quite a bit faster than the 3GS and certainly than the iPhone 3G. Menus, applications, and other features opened in a flash. And as we mentioned earlier, the app switching in the multitasking menu and the camera shutter did not leave us waiting.

Home Screen Folders:
We love apps as much as you do, but we are also tired of scrolling through heaps of pages on the home screens. The good news is, that has changed with the inclusion of home screen folders. Though it is a feature that others had for a long time, we are still glad to find it on the iPhone 4. To start with, give a long press on the home screen so the icons "jiggle”, just the way it did in the iPhone 3 and 3GS. You can then drag an app and place it on top of another. The folder then appears as a square with tiny icons of the included app inside. It is good news that you are presented with a fair amount of flexibility for folder organisation. You can add any number of folders, change their name and add any related or unrelated apps. But, you can have just 12 apps in each folder. Not only is this applicable to the third party apps, you will also be able to group the legacy features. Though the overall experience is quite good, we will not go to the extent of saying that it provides any revolutionary experience when compared to the other android phones.

Home screen customisation:
Home screen customisation was not a feature that we expected Apple to include in this model and it was in the bottom part of our longing list. Surprisingly, the company has done a very decent job in rolling out the feature out there. It is true that you have always been able to alter the usual black backdrop by the third party apps, the iOS4 does add the native ability to the iPhone and iPod Touch. In the iPhone 4, you can find the “wallpaper” option in the Settings Menu and then choose either the wallpaper that is already available or even a picture on your camera. After a selection is made, you get the choice to set it as the wallpaper for your home screen or the lock screen. Though all of this sounds to be straight forward, there are some black spots too. First of all, remember that once you manage to ditch the standard black background, there is no way to get it back. You can only take a photo of the black wall, the night sky or a dark room, but it is hardly the same thing. As time has passed by, Apple has replaced some of the native wallpapers with new options.

Multitasking:
Though you have the capability to multitask with the native features on iPhone like the music player, the feature id available for 3rd party apps too. The main entrée point is a multitasking menu that can be accessed by double tapping on the home button. As soon as you get to the menu, you will view a list of applications that are running at that moment on the base of the the screen that you will be able to scroll on finger swiping. Apple has made the multitasking menu so easy. To open a running app, just scroll through the menu and tap over its icon once. And, when you are set to end the app, first do an elongated press on the particular icon and tap over the small delete button on the top left. Switch between the applications is a relatively simple task as well; when you go forward and backwards, you will get back to the precise point that you left. There is also an obvious wisdom of organisation, with the freshly used apps on the left. The aweinspiring Apple experience!

As you can imagine, the multitasking on the iPhone is way different to the ones on former smart phones. The iOS does not allow the device to use all the resources to be there for all the apps running, instead it allows just 7 apps to run on the background. This will have much less draining effect on the battery and memory. In addition to this, the background apps just stop; it will let alone the device from juggling resources and destroy the stalled applications. The seven of the approved apps include the VOIP services, GPS apps, music, local and push notifications, quick app switch and task completion. The local notification apps are those that cannot pass via the server and hence quick app switching is possible. With this task completion feature, the app will complete what it is doing though in background and also will send an alert as soon as it is done. The quick app switching is a process of app hibernation that will help toggling forward and backwards. Incomplete is the best word to explain the restrictions of the iOS4. You will not be able to play a lot in you background, for instance, your tweet will pause, but the OS still allows you to play a few stuff from a lot of apps at the same time. Now, that sure is multitasking.

Even though multi-tasking came in after a long wait, we were really satisfied with the whole experience. Because, everything needs to have a way of doing and Apple has offered this feature in an efficient and easy to handle way. Its performance was simply inspiring and it did so without ever failing the phone at any point. It did not affect the battery life in a negative way and it totally finishes what it is supposed to be doing. Though it has all these strong points, we would not conclude that it is the finest way to multitasking. Though Apple’s Multitouch is efficient and easy, but there are these other approaches that are quite impressive. A biggest advantage though will be the fact that limited multitasking results in much competent power management.

Mailing:
It is a well known fact that iPhone has always been a very functional email machine, if not as efficient as the Blackberry, it came very close. Here comes the good news, the iOS 4 has a new single inbox that can be accessed on the Mail choice on the homescreen. A new choice called “All Inboxes” has been listed above your individual in-boxes, and you will still be able to move and delete messages. Few other changes made to email includes ability to add numerous exchange accounts, go directly to separate in boxes, organise emails by thread, unwrap attachments with a ideal app and resize images before they are sent.

Auto Correct Feature:
The iPhone has always had an autocorrect feature, that changes the words as you type; and thought they were useful to some extent, there was something incomplete about it. That is exactly why we have become fans of the latest spell check feature that notifies you of unrecognised or misspelled words with a red underline. The Spell Check feature works well when you are composing both emails and text messages, and you will also get a list of some suggested corrections. You would certainly like to have more selections, but that is quite a small issue.

Game Center:
Game Center is a feature that comes later this year, which will include features like a social gaming network, the ability to invite friends to games, leaderboards and achievements, and the opportunity for "matchmaking" which sets up two people to play.

Search Options:
The iOS 4 are offering few search options across various features. When you are typing a URL in the Safari browser, you will not only be getting the URL titles of the sites that you have visited recently, but also the complete web addresses. This is a very nice touch, as it will allow you to find the exact website that you want. In the Universal Search option, you will be getting Web and Wikipedia results, along with the content stored on the phone. It just takes a couple of clicks to get them going and is very convenient too. Finally, there is also a search bar for your text messages which works just like the search option for e-mails.

Miscellaneous changes:
As in the case of previous updates, iOS 4 also brings a selection of smaller features and interface tweaks. And these updates include enhanced iPod-out capability, a redesigned calculator icon with the same feature, the ability to send apps as gifts, bigger font sizes for accessibility, alphanumeric pass codes, and a redesigned location icon in the Google Maps application. You are also getting a new Birthday Calendar that is accessible under the main calendar app; but, we are still looking for a specific birthday event field.

Multimedia:
With the iPhone 4 too, Apple just reinforces the fact that it is the king of mobile music and video and this is one area the company beats its competitors hands down. Most parts of the new iPhone’s iPod Player remains unchanged, but we are really glad to see a few new offerings. The phone is now equipped with convenient option for creating playlists on the go. You will be able to do so in just a couple of steps and add a selection of tunes. What is more? Consumers will always welcome features when it allows you to do something without going through iTunes. Back in the multitasking menu, you will find new music player controls and a shortcut for locking the display rotation.

Face Time:
Apple boasts Face Time as one of the iPhone 4's most interesting features and it positively looked good at the demo, so we are quite keen to try it. The quality of the feature is very pleasing and it is good that it is an incorporated option that does not necessitate an app. While the arriving video mostly depends on its quality on the senders side, and it will be pixelated and jerky, particularly when your friend is using the front camera, but you cannot do much about it.  And that is actually expected when using a VGA camera. The video from your phone will show in the top left corner and it looks immense from any camera. Additionally, you can use it in both landscape and portrait modes. Obviously, the Face Time features works only with another iPhone 4. The feature can be activated by placing a call on a Wi-Fi network and once the call connects, you will see an option for FaceTime instead of the normal "Hold" control; we have no idea where that option went. Note that both you and your friend must press the control to establish a video chat; you then can mute the call or end it directly from the FaceTime screen. After a FaceTime call is placed for the first time, you will see the phone number listed twice in your recent calls list. While one entry activates FaceTime directly, the other will place a normal cellular call.

This is not to say that the FaceTime was not without any issues. Establishing a connection with 2 iPhone4’s looks kind of dicey on Wi-Fi with one of the handsets lacking the FaceTime option where it originally should have been present. The switch between normal and FaceTime calls can take a few seconds, during which reception is faulty. For 2010, the FaceTime feature. There has been a lot of grumbling about this restriction, but we do not think that is a bad thing. Video chat uses a ton of data so we are sure the experience would be better on Wi-Fi than on any other network. What is also great is that because you are on Wi-Fi, FaceTime calls will not deduct from your cellular minutes. As long as Apple kills the Wi-Fi limit in the next year, we will be happy.

As fun as it sounds, the iPhone 4’s FaceTime feature is not that of an essential one. After all, video chat technology has been around since 2004 and the technology has not been a huge hit.

Apple iPhone 4 Camera:
Though Apple’s iPhone’s camera has always been decent, it lacked features found on many basic phones. And hence, the new camera with 5-megapixel resolution, the new LED flash, and the 5x digital zoom needs to be applauded. This phone also sports an illuminated sensor on the rear, which actually deserves a detailed description. The biggest advantage of this feature however is its ability to record 720p high-definition video at a constant 30 frames per second. Though iPhone 4 is not the first handset to offer this capability, it delivers better on quality. Of course, we would love more options like a brightness control and colour tones, but we doubt that we will get them anytime soon. The interface of the primary camera is quite similar to that of the 3GS, having the shutter control, the camcorder or camera switch along with the photo gallery shortcut on the other side.

The camera has also incorporated the changes that came from iOS 4. One of our favourite features is a 5x zoom for the still camera. While taking the photo, just tap over the display to view the zoom bar. You can make use of your finger to pan in and out, but remember that since this is digital zoom, picture quality will degrade as you zoom in. Now you also get to use the tap-to-focus feature in the still and video cameras. Though, we have never found that this feature makes that much of a difference, but it certainly does not hurt to have it.

In our tests for camera quality, we found that the camera quality has improved noticeably. Starting with the still photos, it will not be exaggeration if we said that the iPhone 4 takes some beautiful photos. The colours are bright and natural and there is no visible image noise; the shots were in focus. The bright flash has also made a positive change. As in the case of most LEDs it can make dark images look a tad overblown, but we are just glad that we can now take images in a dark room. We were also surprised to find no shutter lag like there was with previous iPhones. The camera takes the shot the instant you press the shutter. The video quality is also very impressive. All that you have to do is, keep the phone steady and you will find that you clips are just smooth and free of any pixels or hiccups. The camera also handles motion quite well, and audio is in sync with the video. You are also offered with an option to cut your videos using the nifty video-editing feature that originated on the iPhone 3GS.

In the photo gallery, you will be able to organise all the pictures from an occasion or those that feature a mate. However, for both of these features, you should have previously utilised the face-recognition feature of the iPhoto/Aperture and synced the same with iTunes. One option that seems to have disappeared is the one found in the initial beta version of iOS 4 – the option to rotate phones while in the gallery that seems to be missing in the latest version.

Gyroscope:
While in the iPhone 3GS you got the compass, Apple has raised its bar by providing a three axis gyroscope. This is a fun app for the game developers and you will enjoy it too.

Tethering:
The iPhone has always been capable of tethering, but there had been some network issues about it. A few networks now offer the ability to use your iPhone as a modem for your PC. However, you will have to pay some extra to get it, but at east it is there.

iMovie and iBookstore:
The iMovie feature brings movie-editing abilities to the iPhone. You have to pay a couple of pounds for the app, but it is a pleasant touch. Given just how much processing power is required to edit video, iMovie’s performance was impressive. It felt very smooth.

E-book reader of Apple has joined hands with Amazon's Kindle app as a gift for the bookworms. On the iBook store of Apple, you will be able to buy new content. iBooks on the iPhone 4 takes great advantage of the new phone’s high-resolution screen. With the text being incredibly crisp, try flipping to a PDF view, and you might notice some lag while zooming in to fit into a relatively larger PDF. But once the zoomed-in portions of the PDF appeared, they were immaculately rendered. iBooks also gains a few new features previously unavailable on the iPad. You can now create notes and bookmarks, and see those notes, bookmarks, and highlights in the table of contents. We suspect that the notes remain trapped in line - for example, there's no way to create cheat sheets, summaries, or other such personalized shortcuts that you could then utilize on your computer or elsewhere - but these new functions are a step in the right direction.

Call Quality:

Call quality has always been an issue with the iPhone, and unfortunately, Apple has done it again with the iPhone 4. We recommend that you keep your fingers off the antenna so that, you will get the best reception and Apple is not the first person to provide such advise. These are quite common with devices with bottom facing antennas. There is even a chance that the antenna could be doing harm. So, as you can sense, we are not happy with the reception. But, on the other end, callers reported that the call quality is excellent and they did not know we were on a cell phone. On active calls, our voices seemed to be clear and had much less background noise.

The speaker phone calls are quite good and the voice is good, though the volume is a little bad at the highest levels. However, we would say that the Bluetooth headset performance seemed to be quite mixed.

Battery:

Since the phone has a bigger battery it gives more power for your day. You get 7 hours of 3G talk time, 14 hours of EDGE talk time, 40 hours of audio playback and 10 hours of video playback. These rates are quite respectable.

iPhone 4 Package contents:

Inside the box, Apple has included the usual accessories, like the small wall plug, a USB 30 pin connector cable, and the standard white Apple earbuds. And oddly, god alone knows why, you do not get the SIM removal tool that was available with the previous models. So, you have to look for a paper clip to do the job for you, and we were truly miffed that we did not get it. Apple has not given any explanation for this.

Verdict:

The iPhone4 appears to be a must-have for anyone with an original iPhone or iPhone 3G; while the former will not get the iOS 4 upgrade at all, while the 3G will not support some features. And people who have an iPhone 3GS will find this a worthy upgrade, too. Contradictory to the iPhone 3G which leapt to a 3GS  with only a few tweaks to the performance features here and there, the Apple iPhone4 boasts of major tweaks like the Display and digital imaging skills, making it a comprehensively measurable upgrade in comparison to its predecessor.

Apple iPhone 4 Technical Specification Details

Manufacturer	Apple
Model Name	iPhone 4
Dimensions (H x W x D)	115.5 x 58.6 x 9.3 mm
Weight	137 grams
Memory capacity	16GB or 32GB flash drive
Colour	Black or white
Display technology	Retina Widescreen Multi-Touch display
Display size	3.5-inch
Resolution	960-by-640-pixel resolution at 326 ppi
Contrast ratio	800:1 contrast ratio (typical)
Brightness	500 cd/m2 max brightness (typical)
Display features	Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating Support for display of multiple languages and characters simultaneously
Mobile and wireless	UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz) GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz) 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi (802.11n 2.4GHz only) Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR wireless technology
Phone features
Audio formats supported	AAC, Protected AAC, MP3, MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3 and 4), Apple Lossless, AIFF and WAV
Operating system	Apple iOS 4
Software included	iTunes 9.2 or later
Mail attachment support	Yes
Camera features	Video recording, HD (720p) up to 30 frames per second with audio 5-megapixel still camera VGA-quality photos and video at up to 30 frames per second with the front camera Tap to focus video or still images LED flash Photo and video geo tagging
Sensors	Three-axis gyro Accelerometer Proximity sensor Ambient light sensor
Head phone features	Apple Earphones with Remote and Mic Volume control
Package contents	iPhone 4 Apple Earphones with Remote and Mic Dock Connector to USB Cable USB Power Adapter Documentation
Battery	Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery
Battery life	14 hours of EDGE talk time 7 hours of 3G talk time 40 hours of audio playback 10 hours of video playback 6 hours of 3G browsing 10 hours of Wi-Fi browsing 300 hours of standby
Warranty	One year

Apple Unveils iPhone OS 4.0

At one of the most anticipated events of this summer, Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone OS 4.0 which created a whole deal of buzz in the past couple of weeks. You might have come across a lot of rumours on what will and what won’t make it to the latest version OS of the most happening phone on earth. Now the cat is out of the bag and here is a sneak peak of the real deal. The iPhone OS 4.0 will have over 100 new user features, out of which seven features; Apple calls as “Tentpole” features are of particular importance.

The event:

The introduction of the iPhone OS 4.0 was held on 8th of April 2010, 10AM. As soon as Jobs was up on the stage, he said that Apple was excited about iPhone 4 and thanked the reviewers for their positive support on the new iPad.

This was followed by a few choice quotes from some of the early reviews. The revolutionary iPad sold 300,000 on the first day and in the next couple of days, the numbers reached a peak of 450,000. This was followed by some more stats on the iBooks and iPad Apps.

Finally, when Steve moved on to iPhone, he was happy about the fact that Apple has won the 2010 JD Power award and are proud to hold his achievement for 3 consecutive years. This was followed by a very interesting graph on the US mobile users and Apple’s Market share on that. iPhone seems to possess a massive 64% of mobile browser user share, and everything else added together just makes half of iPhone (Android: 19%, Blackberry: 9% and Other Phones: 8%). Apple has sold 50million iPhones to date and if we consider Touch too, the sales shoots up to 85million iPhones and iPod Touches.

iPhone OS 4.0 Preview:

The unveiling of the most anticipated iPhone 4.0 OS began with Steve Jobs saying “So Today we are giving a dev preview of the iPhone OS 4. We have been working on this for a while and it is pretty great. We will be shipping it this summer with and release a developer preview today”.

Apple has included over 1500 new APIs in the OS4.0 and the developers get to access calendar, In-App SMS, Photo Library, Quick Look, Full access to still and video camera data, full map overlays and heaps more. The OS includes a framework known as “Accelerate” which handles math functions that is hardware-accelerated. Also as mentioned earlier, the OS also sports 100 novel user features namely: Create Playlists, Sync IMAP notes, 5x Digital Zoom, Nested Playlists, Card Dav, Tap-to-focus video, Places in photos, iPod Out, Home Screen Wall paper, rummage around SMS/MMS messages, file/delete search results from mails, suggestions from web search, Bluetooth Keyboards, CalDav Invitations, Spell Check, Persistent Wi-Fi and lots more.

iPhone OS 4.0 Highlight Features:

Multitasking:

Multitasking is now available in iPhone and it is done in such a way that it does not hinder either performance or battery life. Apparently, these two vital issues is something that almost every other mobile platform has failed to handle, and we guess Apple has managed to tame both these issues like a pro via their multitasking feature. Apple has offered seven multitasking services and so you will be able to make Voice over IP call while playing games or checking mail and just find a restaurant while listening to Pandora and more. Background location is a new part of the OS and it will work with the social apps with turn-by-turn applications.

Folders:
With this feature you will be able to organise your apps better grouping them into folders with a simple drap-and-drop. With this application, you get faster access to your favourites and will also be able to browse and manage up to 2160 apps at once, which is much more than the current limit of 180 apps.

Better Mails:
Better mails means you can see all the messages from all your mails in a unified inbox which allows you to switch between inboxes more swiftly, organise messages by threads and also open attachments in third party apps.

iBooks:
iBooks have proved to be the best way to browse, buy and read books on a mobile device. Esay flips through the pages and you can browse over tens and thousands of them, out of which, most of them are free. This app even allows you to check out the reviews and read sample pages before you purchase them.

Developers:
With a whopping set of over 1500 novel APIs, the iPhone SDK4 endows developers a whole host of technology to play with the functionality of the iPod/iPhone’s touch applications. Developers can use these new APIs to make their apps more powerful, more feature rich, and more amazing than before.

Game Center:
The iPhone gaming platform looks to beat the current day’s Nintendo hands down as it looks to be a gaming powerhouse and Apple intends exceeding expectations with the addition of social gaming network to the same. How about having Live Xbox for on your iPad or iPhone?

iAD:
Apple’s iAd is an innovative mobile advertising platform though which media-rich apps bring about a blend of TV’s emotion together with the web’s interactivity.

Enterprise:
iPhone OS 4 offers more useful features for businesses. With enhancements to security, scalability, and compatibility, IT managers have even more reasons to deploy iPhone throughout their enterprises.

Well the above seven features happen to be JUST a start to the kind of features that the iPhone 4.0 OS sports. You cannot wait for its release? Can you? So cant we!

Harry Potter iPhone Game released

With the “Twilight Moonlight” due to be released this Friday, all the magical and beyond the world feelings of the world have seemed to be shifted towards Twilight for a while. Since Apple thought that the world needs yet another reason to gain back the enthrallment of Harry Potter of Warner Bros, today launched the first official Harry Potter App for Apple iPhone and iPod Touch users. The Harry Potter fanatics will be able to practice to their heart’s content all possible magic wand gimmicks on their iPhones and iPods with this new “Magic Wars” application.

This is really an exciting news for the harry potter fans as this game is “Official” from WarnerBros and allows you to explore official content from its latest hit movie “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince”. Get ready to transform your iPhone into a magic wand and just get ready to get into a duel.

Likewise be ready to get officially invited to be admitted to Hogwarts School for Wizardry and Witchcraft. Once you get enrolled, you get your own wand that is destined for you and then assigned with one of the four houses available by the sorting hat. Then, the game lets you learn fourteen different spells of the Harry Potter universe. The accelerometer turns your iPhone into a magic wand with the spells that go on to include favourites like Expelleamus, Stupefy and Lumos.

Though there is a single player mode included, you can have real fun with the game only when you opt for multiplayer mode. You can get the real Hogwarts style duel by playing against the other digital wizards. Each player’s wand skills gets a percentage score once a spell is cast. Again, there is also the possibility to cast a spell away from the classroom with the iPhone’s GPS locating any nearby wizards and challenges him for a duel. It gets all the more exciting when players take turns to recite incantations simultaneously waving their wrists in various patterns or semicircles casting spells on one another. At the end of the duel, each players score gets calculated, which helps in deciding who managed to cast the best of spells. Since the game connects to facebook, you also get a chance to boast about your wins.

Some of the key features of the game include exploring the official movie content, unlocking new content in the memory vial navigation system, interaction with the Pensieve’s 3D water effects, inserting moving footage into The Daily Prophet or Wanted poster with the option to even save movie images/posters and utilise the same as your wallpaper.

The fun does not end just with Harry Potter as the iPhone gamers will also be able to enjoy Apollo 11 of Decode Entertainment. By playing this game, you would get a feeling as if you are controlling the whole of astronomy under your nose. The Apollo 11 game is basically designed to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the moon landings. The game’s goal is that, you will control the mission vehicles and also drive the rocket from lift off to oceanic splashdown.

Having all these features aside, the best news for all the gamers is that this game can be downloaded for free.

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