Apple iPhone 4 officially announced

The Apple iPhone 4 has been officially announced putting an even to the rumored iPhone 4G and iPhone HD names. An iPhone 4 prototype has been lost, taken apart and found leaving the world knowing more of what's to come that Apple would have liked. However now that its official and finally here, We are wowed anyway with the features that have been presented.

The iPhone 4 has a flurry of new features, some of the more interesting features are reviewed below:

FaceTime

The iPhone 4 features a front camera, which will enable video calling in the iPhone for the first time. The feature will initially be restricted to WiFi and will eventually be made available over the carrier networks. FaceTime is not a separate application and can be initiated directly from your contact list of your iPhone 4.

You can even switch between the two cameras on your iPhone 4 during a FaceTime conversation. Remember that FaceTime is only available between iPhone 4 devices. Apple has promised to make the technology available to other companies who wish to implement the feature.



5MP Camera

Apple has always provided high quality photos, even with their 3MP camera on the 3GS, the photos exceeded that of its competition. Adding a front camera and LED flash for low light photography has brought Apple closer to their competition. The advanced illumination sensor coupled with the LED flash looks like it produces some decent pictures. The iPhone's tap-to-focus allows crisp clear macro level photos.

You can share the photos directly from the gallery if you have a MobileMe account to share with your family and friends.

Sample Photos taken using the iPhone 4 can be found here

Mail

The Mail Feature has seen some welcome updates. With multiple account support and cooperate level services iPhone's Email App is better than it ever was before. The iPhone 4's Crisp high resolution (retina) display allows a clear display however much you may want to zoom out.

The unified Mailbox allows you to move between email accounts with ease.Threaded Mail allows you to keep better track of all your emails. Spell checking, rich html support and comprehensive filtering are among the updates available for the iPhone 4.

Multitasking

Apple claims the only way to do multi tasking is the right (their) way. With the 3G not being supported due to hardware limitations Multi tasking will be made available to both the iPhone 4 and the 3GS. Double clicking on the iPhone home button will bring up the multitasking menu and you can scroll between your open apps and switch easily. The minimized app will remember where you left off and allow you to switch back to what you were doing exactly where you left it.

Compatible third party apps will allow you to listen to music while browsing or checking your email now. You can also switch between VoIP applications while you are doing other tasks and receive calls whenever you want. You can also listen to your favorite tunes while you drive running your GPS application at the same time.

Folders

With over 200,000 apps available on the Apple App Store, cluttering your home screens wont take long. Now with the folders functionality you can have it saved and sorted to your ease. Combining two apps creates a folder and you can add many apps together into a folder. Folders can be synchronized with iTunes from where you can also organize your folders. Folders are named automatically based on their content. You can also rename the folder to a name of your choosing.

Each Folder can hold 12 apps and you can have up to 180 folders on your iPhone, which means you can now have a total of 2160 apps on your iPhone at any time.  


HD Video

With the iPhone 4, you can now record video in HD. Now featuring an illumination sensor and LED light for brightening your video the iPhone 4 provides the best quality of video to date. You can edit the video right from your iPhone or use the iMovie app (available for $4.99) to make nice presentations of your vacation experiences. With tap-to-focus for video and portrait mode allowing you to make videos of yourself you have an all new exciting experience. The MobileMe service allows you to share your videos with you family and friends quickly and easily.