The problem is that the antenna is external and when it makes contact with your skin it’ll be short-circuiting, causing the call to drop. That’s what Consumer Report says, but Apple doesn’t admit this problem. They say every phone has this issue. Whoever you want to believe, Apple posted their findings on the official Apple website.

The press conference offered a presentation from CEO Steve Jobs, explaining that all phones have antenna issues and not only the iPhone 4. He also showed that only a very small portion of iPhone 4 users are reporting problems with the device. As a solution (read: work-around) Apple will be offering free cases to all customers who bought the iPhone 4.

The end of the presentation was followed by a Q&A session held with Steve Jobs, Tim Cook and Bob Mansfield, but is not included in the video posted by Apple. To watch the video, go to Apple/PressConference.

iOS 4 Features

First of all, and probably the most important feature; Multitasking. It’s one of the most asked features for the iPhone and people are now finally able to do multiple tasks at once. Just double tap the home button and an extra bar will show up at the bottom of the screen showing your currently active apps.

The second most important feature (at least in my opinion) is the Folders feature. Keep your finger on an application till it starts wiggling, then drag it on top of another app and let go. The two apps immediately form a folder and the software names the folder accordingly. So placing two games in one folder will result in a ‘Games’ folder. You can also rename the folders to your own liking.

Another great feature is the  Unified Inbox. Have multiple gmail-accounts, hotmail-accounts or other email-accounts? You can now organize them to look like it’s one inbox. If you get a mail in your gmail-account and later a mail in your hotmail-account, both mails will be shown in one inbox. So you don’t have to open one account first, then go back to the main menu and select the next account. It’s all organized together.

I must admit, I don’t read a lot. But the e-book reader of the iPad is wonderful. It’s only a logical step to introduce iBooks for the iPhone. The cool thing about this feature is that you can read a book on your iPad, sync it to your iPhone and continue reading on the iPhone where you left off on your iPad. There’s no need to buy the e-book twice and it also doesn’t matter if you buy it from your iPhone or from your iPad, the e-books are interchangeable.

There are a lot more features, but smaller in significancy. The Wallpaper feature for instance. It’s already available on the iPad, but with iOS 4 you will be able to set a wallpaper for the Home screen on your iPhone as well. You will also be able to Gift apps, use Faces and Places on your iPhone and pair a wireless keyboard via Bluetooth. A very small new feature, but a very welcome one, is the fact that text messages now show how many characters you’ve used so far, telling you how many messages you’re sending. I’m sure there are a lot more very welcome changes, but I think I’ve discussed the most important features here.

Is a jailbreak still needed?

To answer that question, you will have to ask yourself why you want to jailbreak your iPhone in the first place. My reason to jailbreak my iPhone was to be able do multiple tasks at once. Another thing I do like is the fact that you can make folders. But with the iOS 4 you get Multitasking and Folders, so two very big issues have been solved. The display of how many characters you’ve typed in a text message is also one of those things that is no solved with iOS 4.

If the above reasons are the only reasons to jailbreak your iPhone than I would recommend using the iOS 4 software from now on and don’t use the jailbreak anymore. The result is a more secure iPhone and one that has all the features you want it to have via the official way.

However, there are more reasons to jailbreak. To name one: SBSettings. This application is used to change your phone’s settings. But instead of closing a currently running app and tapping the Settings icon to change your phone’s settings, you can swipe at the top of the screen (over the displayed time and battery percentage) to activate SBSettings without closing any app. You can then turn on/off options like Wi-Fi, 3G and Push. With the same app it was also possible to lock the screen from rotating (the rotation lock will now be available in iOS 4).

Another reason to still jailbreak your iPhone is the fact that you can install themes with an app called Winterboard. You can also change to theme of the lockscreen and the icon dock. And one other big reason to jailbreak the iPhone is that you will be able to install Mobile Theater and download movies with it…for free.

To get back to the question: Is a jailbreak still needed? For me personally I’ll go back to the official software to at least try out if I miss anything of the jailbreak. If I do miss things like SBSettings and themes, I can always jailbreak my iPhone again and start using the wonderful apps in the Cydia store. I must admit Apple did a great job at implementing some frequently asked features and convince me to go back to the original Apple software.

Last pieces of info

• The release of iPhone OS 3 took place after 1PM Eastern/10AM Pacific. The same is expected this time
• You can update your OS by syncing your iPhone/iPod touch with iTunes
• The first generation iPod touch and iPhone will not receive an update
• The iPad will be updated to iOS 4 this fall
• You can check if the new firmware version is available via this link: http://ios.e-lite.org/

You can watch the keynote video via the Apple website

The other video shows FaceTime. The new way of making video calls. With the 5 megapixel camera and the front-facing VGA camera it is now possible to make a call and switch to a video call with a simple tap. Another tap and you switch from the front camera to the 5 megapixel camera on the back. A beautiful way of showing yourself to your friends and family.

You can watch the FaceTime video via the Apple website
Or via their own YouTube channel

We see several Apple employees talking about the new features of the iPhone. We also get to see how the stainless steel band of iPhone 4 was manufactured. And to proof how strong the Retina Display of the iPhone is, the video shows a test where the glass actually bends.

You can also watch the video on the Apple website.

iPhone 4 Design

The iPhone 4 has a completely new design. It comes in black or white, just the usual. But it has a stainless steel band, which functions not only as the phone’s antennas, the band also provides structural rigidity. The volume buttons are now separate plus and minus buttons. And there is the microphone, headphone jack, speakers, 30-pin connector.

The new feature is that iPhone 4 has dual-mic instead of only one. One mic is at the bottom and the other is right next to the headphone jack. This secondary mic is used to cancel background noise so you can have a clear and silent conversation.

iPhone 4 also has a new processor chip. The iPad offers an A4 processor chip and the iPhone uses the same A4 processor technology but pushed on an even smaller chip. This makes the iPhone 4 a fast mobile phone capable of smoothly executing tasks like multitasking, video editing, and placing FaceTime calls.

The battery is the largest component of the iPhone. It is designed to provide 40% more power. The talk time will go up to 7 hours on 3G and 14 hours on 2G. The Internet use will go up to 6 hours on 3G and up to 10 hours on Wi-Fi. The battery will last up to 10 hours while playing video and up to 40 hours when playing music. In other words: an impressive improvement.

New Camera System

The iPhone 4 has two camera’s and both of them are impressive. The normal camera on the back is now a 5 megapixel camera which produces sharp and crysp pictures. The exciting part is the fact it offers LED flash. So even in the dark, making pictures is fun. When you look on the front you’ll notice another camera. The front-facing camera is used for video calls. This features is called FaceTime and can be utilized in many ways. Click “FaceTime” to see FaceTime in action.

Just call someone and tap the FaceTime button to start video-chatting with each other. And with a simple tap you can switch between both the front camera and the one on the back. The FaceTime feature only seems to work on Wi-Fi. Apple will have to make deals with providers to offer 3G video calls.

The Retina Display

This technology allows for better and much sharper display of pictures, video and text. The pixel density is so high, your eyes  won’t even be able to distinguish individual pixels. This is what they call a Retina Display. The new 3.5-inch display has 4 times the number of pixels per inch. The ppi is now at a stunning 326. The contrast ratio is also 4 times higher, meaning every single color is just much brighter then you’re used to with previous iPhone models.

The iPhone 4 also offers IPS, the same technology used in the Apple LED Cinema Display and iPad. To top it all off, the glass of the screen is made of the same material used in trains and helicopters. It’s harder, more durable, more scratch resistant and even more flexible.

Video Recording And iMovie

The 5 megapixel camera has become something you’ll use more often then a normal digital camera. Since a phone (in this the iPhone) will be with all the time, it’s a perfect device to use for making pictures. But what’s even cooler is the fact it can now shoot video in high definition. Even in dark environments you can still make perfectly smooth videos.

After making a video you may want to edit it a little. Making the clip shorter for instance. But with iPhone 4 comes a brilliant new piece of software: iMovie for iPhone. The application will soon be available for just $4,99 and offers features like adding themes and transitions. It’s designed for multi-touch and offers you the possibility to also add photos and music.

As far as the information on Apple’s pages goes, it seems the iMovie app is only available for iPhone 4. No word on iMovie for 3GS or previous models.

Gyroscope

According to Apple the iPhone 4 is the first phone with a built-in three-axis gyroscope. This new sensor is capable of sensing advanced motions. It can now ‘feel’ when you’re moving forward or backwards, or up or down. This allows for a better gaming experience and people will probably come up with some interesting new applications.

A Vietnamese forum Taoviet.vn has posted some photos of the leaked 4th generation iPhone. They clearly have one of the units in their possession and were able to post some new information. This iPhone has the same design as the previously leaked version but it now shows this is a 16GB model. The previous leak simple showed “XXGB” written on the back, indicating that it was a prototype.

The following set of photos shows that the iPhone has been turned on, there are no screws on the bottom, some teardown photos, and what appears to be the processor:

While waiting for his iPad, Jon Manning from Secret Lab, saw Scott Forstall and decided to ask Scott about the time displays on the iPad and iPhone. It turns out there’s a very logic reason behind it.

Jon: “Why’s the time changed? Heck, why does the iPhone show 9:42 in the first place?”

Scott look around and said: “You want to know the real reason for that time?”

“We design the keynotes so that the big reveal of the product happens around 40 minutes into the presentation. When the big image of the product appears on screen, we want the time shown to be close to the actual time on the audience’s watches. But we know we won’t hit 40 minutes exactly.”

Jon: “So you add a couple of minutes.”

Scott: “Yeah! And for the iPhone, we made it 42 minutes. It turned out we were pretty accurate with that estimate, so for the iPad, we made it 41 minutes. And there you are – the secret of the magic time.”

Jon: “So what you’re saying is that you picked a number close enough to suit your needs, and used it in the keynote and all promotional images.”

Scott: “Yep! It’s as simple as that.”

And that’s all there’s to it. Not much iPad news, but interesting to know.

Source: Secret Lab

1. Multitasking
2. Folders
3. Unified Mail
4. iBooks
5. Enterprise
6. Game Center
7. iAd

The new firmware is available today for developers only. The consumers will have to wait till this summer. The official launch of the iPhone OS 4.0 will probably go alongside the introduction of a new iPhone. The new version for the iPad will unfortunately be launched this fall. Apparently iPad users will have to wait a little longer before they can use these new cool features.

Let’s give a little explanation of the 7 so called “tentpoles” (as Steve called them):

1. Multitaksing

Apple says they will do multitasking better then any other company ever did. They admit they’re not the first to offer multitasking, but they will make it better so the battery will last longer. The performance will also be unaffected. So, how does it work?

To use multitasking you just double tap the home-button to activate it. You then see the currently active applications and you can tap either one of those apps to go into that app. The nice thing is, is the fact that the app will continue where you finished last time you opened the app. So the apps will not restart or anything, just the way multitasking was meant to work.

You cannot use multitasking for every single app on your device. Apple has chosen the most important services to run in the background. Those services will be available for developers in the form of API’s. The seven API’s demoed in the keynote are: background audio, voice over IP, background location, push notifications, local notifications, task completion, and fast app switching.

2. Folders

It took Apple a couple of years, but they must have finally realized that we need folders. And so Folder is the second great new feature many of us have been waiting for. You can make as many folders as you’d like and you can even put a folder in the dock. By dragging apps on top of each other they will merge into a folder. The name of the folder will automatically generated but you’ll also be able to change the folder-name yourself. It will be possible to have a total of 2160 apps on the iPhone.

It will also be possible to change the wallpaper of the iPhone homescreen. Unfortunately there can only be one wallpaper. Just like on the iPad you will be able to have two background: one for the lockscreen and one as a wallpaper in the homesreen.

3. Unified Mail

Unfied Mail will enable you to have multiple accounts connected to one Inbox. There’s no need to switch from one account to another, all your incoming emails will be shown in one Inbox. You can also have more than one Exchange account with iPhone OS 4.0. If you’d rather have separate Inboxes there’s an option called Fast Inbox Switching. You can show emails in a threaded mode like in Gmail. And it will be possible to open attachments within messages via an app from the App Store.

4. iBooks on iPhone

This is nothing new for those who own an iPad: the iBooks app will be available for the iPhone. I thought this feature would be a ‘iPad-only’-thing, but apparently it will be universal option. The bookshelf is a lot smaller obviously displaying a maximum of 9 books at the same time. You can synchronize the same book on different devices. The app will remember and sync the bookmarks and the page you were last time as well.

5. Enterprise

The business-user will see a couple of enhancements as well. Things like better email-encryption, mobile device management and wireless app distribution will all be included. There will also be API’s to enable developers to encrypt data within an application.  The wireless app distribution will allow users to to sync their iPhone wirelessly with iTunes. SSL and VPN will be supported.

6. Game Center

The Game Center offers a social game-network. It automatically sorts higher leveled gamers with each other and could potentially be a big threat to other social game-networks like Plus+ and OpenFeint. It is likely Apple will also implement a system for achievement-points.

7. iAd

The seventh ‘tentpole’ was iAd. It’s an advertisements system for free apps so developers can still make money. This is Apple’s way to help those developers. Apple says the current advertisement system doesn’t work good enough. They don’t like it.

The average user spends 30 minutes a day using iPhone applications. If Apple displays an ad every 3 minutes, that means there will be 10 ads a day. The ads will appear in the running apps. There’s no need to quit the app in order to see the ad, it will run inside the app. Apple goes pretty far with this system. It’s not just a simple banner display, it can be videos, screenshots and even games all running inside the running application. It’s very interactive. You can even download apps via the ad.

Apple no longer uses the 70/30 system like with the App Store, they will use a 60/40 system for ads. So 60% will go to the developers of the app the ad appears in and 40% will go to Apple. All ads will be made in HTML5 but can be made with any tools you want, as long as it’s HTML5.

iPhone OS 4.0

Steve Jobs said showed us a sneak preview, demoing 7 new key features of iPhone OS 4.0. He said there are a total of 100 new features and more than 1500 new API’s in the new firmware. The firmware will be available this summer for the iPhone and iPod touch. The complete version of OS 4.0 will only be available for the iPhone 3GS and 3rd generation iPod touch. Multitasking will not be available for the 2nd generation iPod touch and iPhone 3G. Apple didn’t say anything about the first iPhone. OS 4.0 will be available on the iPad this fall.

More information: Apple iPhone OS 4.0
Start downloading the SDK 4 Beta

We won’t know for sure ofcourse, until we see it so no need to start speculating again. Steve Jobs said it’s time for an A+ update so obviously I’m expecting a lot. But at the same time I know I shouldn’t have too high hopes. Steve will likely start talking about iPad sales as well.

And could there finally be a…one more thing?

Mobile app analytics company Flurry, keeps track of mobile applications used by people. They found 50 devices being used by people from Cupertino with characteristics of an Apple Tablet. Most of the applications running on the devices are games, which comes as no surprise. Apple has been focussing on the gaming industry since the launch of the iPod touch and admitted it last year. Other applications used by the Apple’s employees belong to the entertainment, news, lifestyle, and utilities categories.

The thing that catches my eyes is that the devices are using iPhone applications that are available in iTunes already. This seems to prove that the tablet can run iPhone games and other applications as well. Another thing that catches my attention is the fact the devices seem to run iPhone OS 3.2. That firmware version has not been launched yet, but a tablet running iPhone OS is not exactly what I hoped for.

The next subject I want to discuss is the fact that this Wednesday, AT&T’s iPhone exclusivity might end. This opens the possibilities for other mobile carriers to start selling the iPhone as well.

“According to an inside source close to the going-ons involved in all of this, a new tablet of some sort may not be the only thing on deck for next Wednesday though. We have been led to believe by an inside source that AT&T will lose their iPhone exclusivity on the same day, though it’s not yet clear what other carrier (or carriers) will be stepping in to also carry the phone”

Another piece of information regarding mobile carriers explains the colors on the invitations for Apple’s media event. Each color seems to be a hint to a mobile carrier. Pink means T-Mobile, blue means AT&T, green means Clear etc. Take a look at the picture below.

This is what an analyst says about a possible interpretation of the colors:

“T-Mobile USA Inc. will get the phone this summer, followed by Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp. in the fall, and Clearwire Corp. in 2011, Horan wrote in a note yesterday. AT&T Inc. has been the exclusive carrier since the iPhone debuted in June 2007.”

Back to the Flurry statistic. The New York Times seems to confirm the fact that 50 tablet devices were running iPhone games:

“It will run all the applications of the iPhone and iPod Touch, have a persistent wireless connection over 3G cellphone networks and Wi-Fi, and will be built with a 10-inch color display, allowing newspapers, magazines and book publishers to deliver their products with an eye to the design that had grabbed readers in print.”

And last but not least the financial results Apple announced yesterday. Last quarter of Apple’s fiscal year of 2010 that started in October 2009, has been the most successful quarter ever. The first quarter ended on December 26, 2009 and has been the most profitable so far.

The company posted revenue of $15,68 billion with a net quarterly profit of $3,38 billion. The same quarter last year brought a net quarterly profit of $2,26 billion to Apple’s bank account. Apple sold 3,36 million Macs. That’s 33% more than last year. They also sold 21 million iPods and 8,7 million iPhones. Steve Jobs said the following:

“If you annualize our quarterly revenue, it’s surprising that Apple is now a $50+ billion company,” said Steve Jobs. “The new products we are planning to release this year are very strong, starting this week with a major new product that we’re really excited about.”

Source: Flurry (tablet statistics) / AT&T iPhone exclusivity / Invitations explained / Financial results