*See iPhone 4 pictures below*
SAN FRANCISCO β The next iPhone comes out June 24 and will have a higher-resolution screen, longer battery life and thinner design.
CEO Steve Jobs opened Apple Inc.'s annual conference for software developers Monday by revealing the iPhone 4, which will cost $199 (16 GB version) or $299 (32 GB version) in the U.S. with a two-year AT&T contract, depending on the capacity. The iPhone 3GS, which debuted last year, will still be available, for $99.
The iPhone 4 is about three-eighths of an inch thick; the previous iPhone was nearly half an inch. Steve Jobs said the new iPhone would be "thinnest smartphone on the planet," nearly a quarter thinner than the previous model.
The display on the new iPhone remains 3.5 inches diagonally, but Jobs said it can show four times as many pixels β the individual colored dots that make up an image β as the previous screen. He emphasized its "Retina Display" technology, which will enhance the iPhone's screen resolution. "We think this is going to set the standard for displays for years to come," Jobs said at WWDC. "It may be the most important single component of the hardware, and we've got something here now that's like the best window on the planet. So that's the Retina Display." (quote via gdgt)
It is getting a camera on the front that could be used for videoconferencing, in addition to a five-megapixel camera and LED flash on the back. It can shoot high-definition video, catching up to some other smart phones, and includes a gyroscope that will unite the phone's accelerometer, compass, proximity, and light sensors, according to a MacRumors tweet. Jobs explained Apple's iPhones are "getting more and more intelligent about the world around them."
The new phone will run the latest version of Apple's mobile software, now called iOS4, which Apple unveiled in April to offer such new features as the ability to operate more than one program at a time. Older iPhones will be able to get iOS4 as a download June 21.
New applications for the device will include the popular game Farmville and one from Netflix that lets people watch streaming video where they left off on a PC.