iPhone 4. Welcome to 2004.

Seems like the Gizmodo leak was no early-day prototype, if the photos from the major news sources are anything to go by.

Yes, world, we have a new iPhone, and the phone from the future phones home from the past. We have video calling. Sort of.

Video Calling: So Late

I don't understand why it took Apple Inc. 4 product life cycles to come up with a feature that we've had on our Nokia smartphones since the advent of 3G [WCDMA, not even HSDPA] technology. Apple just took that same idea, bumped up the resolution (and as a result, the bandwidth requirement), and locked out the option to call over 3G thanks to their uncomfortable marriage with AT&T in the USA. So much for the "Innovation happens because of the synergy between Cingular and Apple" mantra. Of course, that was Cingular, and nobody mentioned what would happen when Cingular merges with another Telco to form AT&T, the largest telco experiencing growing pains and diseconomies of scale. Face it, at that level of service, the network is sinking into oblivion - service-wise, that is.

I still don't get why Apple can't include video calling since iPhone 3G, and since they have included a front-facing camera, why not allow video calling via 3G outside the US? I mean, Apple managed to block visual voicemail and tethering just fine for certain users (me). Why not video calling?

The Screen & Steel

There were some features of the iPhone 4 (no G!) that I did like, though. the 960x640 screen will definitely look good, although, again, why IPS technology, I still don't understand (it drains the battery, remember?). And the fix to get better reception is just brilliant - use the steel bits on the side of the case as the antenna. Let's wait and see what the FCC thinks about the radiation level on that! (Oh wait, it's been approved?)

At this point, I'd also want to moan about the camera quality on the iPhone. But I'm glad Apple actually tried finding a way to improve the image quality - or so they claimed. I'll have to see to believe it.

The Second Mic?

Another thing I'd like to see, or should I say, hear more about is that second mic. Apparently, it's meant to help block ambient noise during voice calls. That's an interesting addition, because when I make a call in speakerphone mode on my iPhone 3GS, nobody can hear me on the other side, even if I'm speaking directly to the mic.

I'd say that overall, there's not enough to make me want to pre-order an iPhone directly from O2 or Orange. A lot of the things I want, I will get in iOS4 anyway - multi-tasking, creating playlists, bluetooth keyboard support. And I have accessories which are designed for the 3G/3GS's sculpted design - my JBL speakers, and the Mophie juicepack. And besides, I'm still thinking of switching to another carrier for my next phone - I first need to see the reception level at my Uni first.

Overall, A Lackluster Announcement for an otherwise decent phone.

I say I'm not pre-ordering on Day 1 of pre-orders, but I will probably buy one eventually because my 3GS has not long left in its life - the battery seems to be depleting more quickly, even though it's plugged in most of the day. I plug it in hours before I go to bed (8pm), unplug it before breakfast (8am-ish), and by the time I'm plugging it in again (another 12 hours), it goes from 100% to 40%, even though it's not doing much other than fetching my mail and push notifications from Facebook over 3G. In the past, heavy web-surfing for an hour + 12 hours standby = 50% drainage. So, obviously, the battery has aged a bit, and unlike wine, this ageing process is not graceful.

The 3GS will be unlocked, and it'll become my world phone - it has a standard SIM card slot, rather than one of those Micro-SIMs that only the new kids on the block have. Again, I want to rant on how stupid an idea I think the micro-sim is (at present, when not all countries have Microsim, post-paid and pre-paid). But hey, MicroSIm is a standard, and I'm sure it'll overtake the standard SIM one day, at least in the smartphone world.

One more thing: The next iPhone?

At this point, the next iPhone is probably still in the drawing boards. I have questions, though. What the heck is Apple going to call it? They've really messed up the naming conventions, haven't they? iPhone, then they jumped a number and called version 2 the iPhone 3G. Then, they realised their earlier mistake, and can't jump to the number 4, so it's iPhone 3G S [there's still debate on whether there is a spacing or not]. Now, Gen 4 is here, but it'll be morally and legally wrong to call it the iPhone 4G, since it doesn't have the 4G technology as implied by its name (4G = WiMax or LTE, the iPhone 4 only has HSPA, which is 3.5G). Now that Gen 4 is iPhone 4, what's iPhone 5 going to be called? iPhone 5 sounds more like an over-run movie than a 5th-gen product running on a 4th-gen network (I'm assuming 4G to be ready by next year, of course).

Also, if the keynote is supposed to indicate anything to me, it's that Apple may be running out of steam soon. Yeah, they can bump up to 1080p, 8 megapixels, better flash, better front-facing camera, a better processor, longer battery life, more RAM, smaller size, greater durability, etc. But how else can they innovate? The pressure is on this company to churn out new products every year, it seems. They may take a break for WWDC next year and say they're focusing on OS X. But can they afford to do that?