APPLE iPHONE 4G. Price: To be announced (From The Northern Echo)

APPLE iPHONE 4G. Price: To be announced

12:37pm Saturday 12th June 2010 in

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GET ready to ditch your iPhone, Apple is about to up the ante once more when the fourth generation is launched in the UK later this month.

Evolutionary rather than revolutionary, according to Apple boss Steve Jobs the sleek new smartphone has more than 100 new features.

It’s also the slimmest smartphone on the market at 9.3mm (24 per cent slimmer than the already svelte iPhone 3GS) and just oozes that Apple style.

Like the out-going model, it has a 3.5in display, but that’s where the similarity ends. The panel has 960 x 640 pixels – four times as many as the 3GS and nearly 80 per cent of the pixels you will find on an iPad.

What that means is sharper video, better-looking photos and the ability to watch your high definition videos on the move.

Other improvements include a better battery life, HD video recording (720p and 30fps), a five megapixel autofocus camera with a 5x digital zoom and built-in LED flash (still not cutting edge but about par for the smartphone course).

There’s also a low resolution front-mounted camera for video conferencing. Sadly, you won’t be able to pipe your HD vids into a decent TV because the iPhone doesn’t have an HDMI interface (like the Motorola XT720, for instance).

Buried within the brushed metal casing is a gyroscope that Jobs reckons makes this iPhone “perfect for gaming”.

Combined with the pre-existing 6-axis motion sensing, Apple says developers are hard at work making games that will really test a player’s manual dexterity. Expect lots of driving games and copies of motionsensitive software, such as Super Monkey Ball.

Unsurprisingly, given the recent spat between Apple and Adobe, there’s still no Flash – so some websites can lack a bit of pizzaz when viewed on an iPhone – and you’ll struggle with online video (75 per cent of which is Flash-based).

When is it available? By June 24 and you will probably have to pay about £200 to get one with a contract. In the UK, T-Mobile, Orange and Vodafone will be first off the blocks.

But do you really need one, especially if you have just bought an iPad? I suspect lots of fans will be happy with a 3GS and an iPad.

Music fans will be wondering what these changes mean for the iPod Touch. So fa,r the Touch has followed the iPhone’s development and it seems reasonable to assume we will soon be seeing a slimmer version of the music player – but will it get the cameras?