WWDC 2010 Roundup

Yes, it is that time of the year, when geeks unite in anticipation for WWDC. This year WWDC had many surprises, so here is the recap of all the announcements.

iPhone 4

Yes, it's finally here, the long awaited successor to the iPhone 3GS, the iPhone 4. The new iPhone was described as “the biggest leap since the first iPhone.” The new iPhone comes with a new design that has the back seen on the first iPhone, which makes it much thinner at 9.3mm. The side volume rocker is now replaced by two separate volume up and down buttons. The top of the handset has also changed, having the sleep/wake button and the headphones jack, yet adding a second microphone for noise cancellation, as seen on the Nexus One. Taking ques from the iPad 3G, the SIM card has been replaced by a Micro SIM card that is accessible on the right side. There are also mysterious seams that were seen on both the leaked model and the final model shown today, and are shown to be part of the integrated antenna system, that was engineered to get better reception.

The camera saw a major overhaul, with a new 5MP camera on the back and an LED flash, a long awaited feature. The video quality was massively improved, with the iPhone 4 now recording in 720p HD video, a massive feat for a mobile phone camera. Quite possibly one of the biggest improvements is the display, with a 960 by 640 display, which Apple calls the “Retina display.” The display also has 326ppi that is made of the same glass that is in helicopters, according to Apple. The new iPhone also includes a gyroscope, which is used for better rotations and better control in games, and also gives six-axis controls.

The new iPhone 4 will come in both a black and a new white colour with the front being white also. iPhone 4 will be available on June 24th in Japan, France, Germany, UK, and the US. Pre-orders start on June 15th, but no word if it is only limited to the 8 countries that will receive the iPhone on the 24th.Here in the US the 16GB model will be $199 and the 32GB model will be available for $299, both on 2 year contracts with AT&T. The iPhone 3G will end its 2 year run and instead will be replaced by an 8GB 3GS, and will be $99 on a new contract

FaceTime

Possibly the biggest announcement today, video calling will be on iPhone 4. Though this will be iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 and will only work on WiFi. How this works is that when you are calling someone, a FaceTime icon will appear in the call menu, then if they have an iPhone 4 on WiFi, you will be in the video call. You can switch between the front facing camera and the rear camera using the menu on the bottom. The feature also works in both landscape or portrait orientation. There is no word if this will be available at launch or a later date.a

iOS 4

Today, Apple announced that iPhone OS would be renamed iOS, since the OS is not limited to the iPhone any more, and includes such devices like the iPad and iPod touch. A feature that was not announced at the preview event earlier this year is that there is now an option to set Bing as the default search engine. Apple also added some additions to iBooks, adding PDF support for both iPad and iPhone/iPod touch. PDFs will now appear on a different shelf, holding all the PDFs you have downloaded and viewed. Of course, iBooks was also meant for books, and Apple added new features such as notes for when reading, which will appear as a sticky note on the page you had left it on. Another new feature is bookmarking, which will keep a page and you can have multiple bookmarks, and also appears in the book's table of contents. As mentioned before, iBooks will be coming to iPhone and iPod touch in the iOS 4 update. A release candidate will be released today, though it is still in beta. Also, instead of paying $10, iPod touch owners can receive the update free of charge. The official release date for the OS upgrade is dated for June 21, though there is still no date for an iPad release.