The live coverage has started! Here's some links for anyone interested in watching the live blogs. I still don't understand why they refuse to let people do streaming video of this, or just put out their own live stream, but at least there are good sources doing coverage. My favorites are:

Engadget
GDGT

Both sites will let you do auto refresh, so that's nice.

So, what does everyone think of the announcements?

iPhone 4, quad band HSDPA/HSUPA, interesting... no mention of what frequencies, but maybe this means T-Mobile coming soon.

The screen sounds interesting. 960x640, IPS, 326 dpi, same 3.5 inch screen size.

Most interesting is that AT&T is giving something of a grace period to let existing iPhone users upgrade even if their contract doesn't expire for another six months. Would you like a tasty new phone? Sure, it's still stuck to AT&T, but isn't it nice?

I just want to know what the next round of Android phones will be about. Certainly somebody's got something extra cool in works to compete with the iPhone 4. Right? Please?

Video chat, but WiFi only for now, and also only iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 for now. Really surprised it didn't also work with iChat on the desktop out of the gate. Thats the biggest disappointment for an old coworker.

PDF support added to iBooks is nice. I bought GoodReader for my iPad for PDF viewing, and it's ok at best.

I'll have to digest the rest of the news later.

It is nice, and I can't possibly complain that they're doing that. I would, on the other hand, question what the purpose of the two year contract would be in that case. Why not make it 18 months for all phones?


This will be the most interesting question to me. The way I see it is that Apple has clearly grabbed victory. But I can't help but thinking it was almost from the jaws of defeat.

I do think that the rest of the industry is still behind Apple's hardware, but seeing the improvements they've made over the last year, I tend to think they're closing ground.

That said, the iPhone 4 is clearly the best specced phone on the market. I still have to have my Android phone, but I won't deny that the 4 is the best phone [hardware] out there.

*edit*
I just read my post over again, and I don't mean to come off so negative on the new iPhone. I honestly think it's extremely impressive. That screen resolution will be incredible, and it's great that they have HD video recording now. As usual, the build quality is astounding, and as they always do, the new industrial design somehow makes the old design look like poo. So no, I'm not sour on the new phone at all.

One thing I'm a tiny bit sour on is FaceTime. I think it's very neat, and I have no doubt it will work well, but to disagree with Steve, I don't think it will be revolutionary until its usable over cell networks. Also, did they mention if the front facing camera would be usable by other applications? Limiting video chat to only iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 blows.

*edit 2*
Interesting, "We're going to make FaceTime an open industry standard." That surprises me. That's certainly better than it could have been. I wonder how soon that would be able to spread to Windows, Android, and other platforms. If you could get a FaceTime app for the EVO, that would be pretty cool...

That's really the only other possibility, isn't it? I've listened to several podcasts in the last week, and was astonished by what sounded like an assumption that Jobs would announce a partnership with another carrier today. What amazed me even more was that T-Mobile, which is at least another GSM carrier, wasn't even mentioned as a possibility. Personally, I don't think Apple will EVER release a CDMA iPhone in the US. Like others have said here, they'll wait to see how 4G shakes out.

I tend to think it's a little unlikely that the iPhone will show up on T-Mobile either. Aren't there any other countries that use T-Mobile's 3G frequencies, though? Perhaps that's why they're adding those to the radio.


ps-oh, and I totally called it that it wouldn't be the iPhone 4G. There was no way Apple would release a 4G phone, so calling it that would have been a disaster. Frankly, looking at the pace of 4G rollout in the US, and the power issues it causes, I'd be surprised if the iPhone 5 was a 4G phone.

Looks like T-Mobile is still out. From the iPhone 4 spec page : UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz)

Heres the common 3G bands and where they are used:


Maybe iPhone 5 will go with penta-band.

How many times have we seen video calls being pimped out as the next big thing? I just don't get it, I really don't see this as a big selling point at all. It's going to be a feature that very few people actually use I would guess. A few years ago I was given a video phone to trial for BT (fixed line over ADSL) and was given unlimited calls and a whole bunch of people I knew also had them to try it out, almost every time we ended up turning the video off as it was just pointless, who the hell wants to see my ugly mug while having a chat? If I wanted to do that I go around and sit on your sofa.

Other than that it looks great, I'm getting one just so I don't have to put up with that stupid silence switch on the 3G, I have missed so many calls because of that daft switch!

I also hope it fits my TomTom car kit that I have just hard wired to my car.

Cheers

Cris.

Nothing too shocking regarding the iPhone 4. Most of Apple's thunder was taken by the leaks not that its a massive number of changes. Still, nice phone and the thin aspect is quite nice.

What Cris said about video calls. I tried video calls when I first got a 3G phone with video call capability. Picture quality was pretty bad but that wasn't what put me off. I don't really need or want to see the other person and the same for them regarding me.

Everybody I know with a phone that is capable of video calls just uses it once where they call somebody go wow video call! wave a few times and then never again.

That said, I do know a few people who do the whole webcam thing with Skype so maybe there is a market for this particular feature. The current limitation of only iPhone to iPhone and no integration with iChat is a bit strange though but that'll eventually change.

What is a little puzzling is the usage of the metal band as the antenna. Does it have some sort of tough but transparent insulating layer on it? I wouldn't want to be grasping the actual antenna with my hand and putting it up against my head.

The added gyro is a sign that Apple are taking the idea of the iPhone (and next iPod I assume) as a gaming platform seriously.

It does seem a little late in the day to add a front facing camera. Nevertheless, I was quite surprised to find my new all singing all dancing work phone (HTC Touch HD2) didn't have one.

While I've found the iPhone easy to resist up 'till now, partly due to only being available on o2. By the time it came to Orange I knew I wanted one but decided to wait for the next revision since the 3GS was such a damp squib. I'm going to pre order one with Orange as soon as the page on their website goes live.

Video chat is a big thing for me, since I live away from my family now. Currently we tend to only do it on special events like someones birthday. Removing the laptop as a requirement would be really nice.

It's interesting that for now it's WiFi only, but in time that will change with 4G for sure. Over 3G, it's only going to work on AT&T and T-Mobile here in the US, since it's still routing voice over the normal cellular network. Makes me wonder if this is another big reason the iPhone isn't on Verizon and Sprint. I'm sure Apple had this in development for a while.

So do you think it will over a year before it'll be possible to use FaceTime from the next iPhone off of WiFi? I wonder if there's any possibility that AT&T will allow it over their 3G network, possibly at lower quality.

By the way, was there any talk about tethering today?

It will likely be enabled over 3G before formal 4G rollouts occur. Even though 4G isn't here yet, I'm betting AT&T and others are already trying to increase the bandwidth to each tower in preparation for LTE, and that will have the effect of allowing more 3G traffic as well, assuming limited wireless spectrum isn't also a problem in the area.

And no talk about tethering today. As pointed out elsewhere, it's been built into the OS since 3.0. It's up to AT&T now.

Where's the 64GB iPhone? Every year they've doubled the capacity until now. Thanks Apple!

Stu

Yeah, no 64GB was the only disappointment for me.

From looking at the pictures of the innards I think they've used every available bit of space for the battery. As a result the motherboard is tiny. ISTR someone (maybe Hugo) saying that reason why the iPod touch always had twice the capacity was because it had space for 2 NAND chips as it lacked the all the phone related innards whereas the iPhone only had space for 1 NAND chip. Maybe the affordable chips aren't dense enough yet.

For me, extra battery life is probably going to be more important than storage space. While 32GB isn't cavernous it's going to be just enough since I still have a couple of GB left on my 32GB touch.

But the fifth band supported by the chipset isn't the 1700MHz required by AWS, it's 800MHz. It's also unfortunate for Canadians, because the two newest mobile operators up here, like T-Mobile, also use AWS.

Bell, Rogers and Telus have been involved in price fixing in the Canadian market for years, There may as well be only a single provider in Canada. The Canadian ruling body for telecom, the CRTC, has always been happy to help these companies crush Canadian consumers.

Good news for people in New Zealand though. The new iPhone does 900MHz too.

My wife talks to friends in Florida on Skype quite a bit. It is amusing to me to watch them. In a 25 minute phone call, at least 15 minutes of it will be spent fiddling with Skype ("OK, now do you see the picture?", "Move over to your right a bit. No, your other right.", "What happens if you click on the [whatever] button, does that help?" and so forth.

The really funny part is, we have an Ooma box, and can talk to them on regular telephone absolutely for free.

tanstaafl.

I actually want the new iPhone, but I also don't care about the second camera - I've yet to use the built-in camera on my MBP in over a year of ownership. The thing holding me back, more than anything else, is the inability to go to an Apple store, drop $500 and pick up a fully unlocked device.

I simply won't sign a service contract with any of the three companies operating in Canada to get an iPhone. And even lawfully and ethically getting around the contracts (it's easy to do), you're still left with a locked device (even after having paid full price for it courtesy of an ETF or similar). I don't think one should have to jailbreak and unlock a phone via a hack after buying it outright.

It's about time we had legislation in place to prevent network lock-in for devices that have lapsed contracts or have been bought out.

Buying one in another country isn't a solution either, because unlike every other product Apple currently produces and sells, iPhone warranties are only valid in the country of sale. Ugh.

You sure? I'm pretty sure the ones you can buy in Hong Kong are warrantied worldwide (the generic warranty doc says "apple may restrict coverage to country of purchase", not "does restrict").

Hugo

Interesting. Buying one from Hong Kong is still a sketchy process, but interesting nonetheless. Any tips on how one might get this point clarified? The ambiguity in the statement is still an issue - I'm not one to gamble when someone else holds all the cards.

Maybe you can pass along the info that some customers are very much interested in an unlocked iPhone sold by Apple directly, like al their other products, at their standard markup.

Unless you're going to Hong Kong, in which case it's easy (you don't even need to leave the airport). You could try calling Apple HK at 800-908-988 (sales support number on the website) to ask.

Selling unlocked phones in HK is pretty much intending them for a worldwide market. Lots of people travel through there.

I'm sure apple are aware that buying unlocked iPhones direct is something that people are interested in but I'm guessing that carrier contracts prohibit that in many countries... hence the countries where this actually happens are few and far between (Italy and HK are the only two off the top of my head, though Australia might be one too)

I did a little bit of reading, and Hong Kong does seem like the cheapest place to buy a full-price iPhone, with the bonus being it's unlocked. Prices in the US and Canada are higher and the phones locked. The prices for legitimately unlocked phones elsewhere (New Zealand, Australia and UK) are also considerably higher.

I'm surprised Deal Extreme isn't reselling them with a $100 markup and free shipping.

Yep, unlocked phones can be bought in Australia. A coworker here bought his 3GS when he was down there on vacation specifically to get an unlocked unit.

In case not everyone here reads The Oatmeal...

In case you missed the update to the other thread, unlocked phones are now also being sold by Apple in the UK, France and Canada. The prices are insanely high. For Canada, I've only yet seen the 8GB 3GS price.

Unlocked phones with no contract attached to them are generally always extremely expensive here in the UK so the prices published by Apple aren't particularly unusual IMO.

They're always extremely expensive everywhere. Hardware parts cost breakdowns on the iPhone 3GS came to about $175. Obviously there's also cost in included accessories, packaging, shipping, and development time. You gotta figure that at least doubles that cost. Call it $400 of expense on Apple's part. So you're probably talking about 55% markup. Bad, but not as bad as some other consumer items.