Apple's 4th-generation iPhone revealed

[HighestOfHigh]

Well, we told you so. The fourth-generation iPhone prototype that leaked its way out into the world over the weekend has found its way to Gizmodo, and they've examined it exhaustively, removing any doubt that it's real. Not only does it show up in iTunes, Xcode, and System Profiler, but it has different product identifiers than the 3G or 3GS, and it's packed with Apple-labeled components inside. Unfortunately, they couldn't get it to boot out of recovery mode, but a number of new features and changes are evident just by holding it. Obviously, it's thinner than the 3GS, with smaller internal components and a larger battery inside the metal frame. There's also a front-facing camera, a larger and better camera with a flash on the back, a higher-res display that's slightly smaller than the current models, a second mic for noise cancellation, and that new back, which Giz seems a bit confused about but we're fairly sure is glass or ceramic. It's also three grams heavier than a 3GS, with a 16 percent larger battery and the same new MicroSIM slot used in the iPad.

We're also told the phone was found running iPhone OS 4.0 but that it was remotely killed before Giz could actually see it, and that they can't get it to boot because it requires a bespoke build of the OS. We're assuming Apple's hot on the trail of this thing, so hit the source link while you can and check a couple more pics after the break.

- Apple's 4th-generation iPhone revealed -- Engadget

 

[bmwownage]

xxxx!!! i just got a 3gs a few weeks ago!!!
- 16% larger battery
- flash light camera
FAAAAAR!!! SCREW APPLE!!

 

[hoffmeister_fan]

Guess who's 2 year contract with his blackberry is up in Sept. and getting this?




This guy!

 

[south]

Guess who's 2 year contract with his blackberry is up in Sept. and getting this?




This guy!

LOL, guess who's paying a premium to resign his current service plan.


Best regards,
south

 

[bmwownage]

LOL, guess who's paying a premium to resign his current service plan.


Best regards,
south

No, actually, i think the 4th gen doesn't look as "apple" as the 3gs come on it doesn't even have shiny material that's iconic
who use the front camera anyway? i only used it once during my last 4 years or so of using a 3g phone - useless so, i'm happy with 3gs


sigh

but honestly it looks a little Sony Ericsson. honest.

 

[Sayyaaf]

^ true, but it is more in line with the iPad and Mac Book Pro, which both are impressive in terms of build quality.

I will be definitly getting this.

This year is definitly a good year for gizmo lovers, iPad, iPhone, HTCs, ... etc.

 

[LaArtist]

Im gettin that bitch

 

[Sayyaaf]

I hope apple has plans to send us early prototypes for pre-launch evaluation like they did with the 3GS (but no iPad though).

 

[Osnabrueck]

My contract is up in about two months - WOOT!

The casing on this is probably a "mule" - You wouldn't expect large "panel gaps" like that on an iPhone.

 

[klier]

Damn, that came out of nowhere. A new iPhone, finally.

 

[Centurion]

I'm on my third iTouch 64GB unit and I hope that it fails once more in August and then I can claim my money back, lean back, await the refresh and get this beast in iPod form.

 

[HighestOfHigh]

Only 10 seconds, but it's something.

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[south]

Here's a better video:

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No, actually, i think the 4th gen doesn't look as "apple" as the 3gs come on it doesn't even have shiny material that's iconic
who use the front camera anyway? i only used it once during my last 4 years or so of using a 3g phone - useless so, i'm happy with 3gs


sigh

but honestly it looks a little Sony Ericsson. honest.

I know you were joking, but seriously, this one is more in line with the original iPhone, especially the lovely aluminum backside it had. Why, oh why did Apple not bring this one last Fall.


Best regards,
south

 

[siko]

Looks nice, but frankly I'm more interested to see the improvements in iPhoneOS 4 then minor hardware improvements.

 

[hoffmeister_fan]

What's a bit odd, though, are the philip-head screws on the bottom. I haven't seen that on any smart-phone, let alone an iPhone. Probably because it's still a prototype.

On a side note, i feel bad for the careless human being who had misplaced this prototype. As we speak, I have a feeling that (s)he is locked up in Steve Jobs' private office/lair and this sad individual will probably be seen again.

 

[Tarek]

Was never a fan of iphone and i seriously doubt that i'll ever gonna be.

I'm really interested in some hi-end SE or SAMSUNG running WinMo 7 or Android 2.1x later this year..

 

[HighestOfHigh]

Apple to Gizmodo: Yep, that's our phone, and we want it back

Well, I guess this settles it as far as the authenticity of Gizmodo's iPhone 4G scoop Monday. The definitive piece of evidence: a letter from Apple's top lawyer, formally requesting the safe return of the wayward next-generation iPhone — the one left on a Redwood City barstool last month by a young (and surely red-faced) Apple software engineer.

Gizmodo posted the letter late Monday, and the missive — while firm in tone, and signed by Apple General Counsel and Senior VP Bruce Sewell — stops short of making any legal threats, at least for the time being:


It has come to our attention that GIZMODO is currently in possession of a device that belongs to Apple. This letter constitutes a formal request that you return the device to Apple. Please let me know where to pick up the unit.

Gizmodo Editorial Director Brian Lam replied cheekily that the lost, radically redesigned iPhone was "burning a hole in our pockets" and that he was "happy to see it returned to its rightful owner" now that "we definitely know it's not some knockoff."

The news came just hours after the bloggers Gizmodo described how a 27-year-old software engineer at Apple (who is named and pictured in the post, by the way) managed to leave the precious iPhone 4G prototype — disguised to look like an iPhone 3GS — on a barstool at the Gourmet Haus Straut, a "nice German beer garden" in Redwood City, about 20 miles northwest of Apple HQ in Cupertino. (Engadget had blogged over the weekend that the phone was lost in a San Jose watering hole, leading to some initial confusion.)

Having downed a few brews, the hapless Apple engineer eventually rolled out of the bar, according to Gizmodo, absentmindedly leaving behind the next-generation iPhone (which he'd been field testing, the post said). Hey, it happens. (If I had a nickel for every time I left a credit card at a bar ... ) Another man in the bar ended up taking the phone home, peeled off the protective jacket the next day, and realized he had a windfall on his hands.

And as we all now know, "weeks later, Gizmodo got it," says Gawker Media Inc.'s Gizmodo — leaving out a key detail that Nick Denton, founder of Gawker Media, filled in later for the Associated Press: The company paid $5,000 for it.

What followed, I'm sure, was a scene similar to the wonderful sequence in the BBC version of "State of Play": The editors huddled with their lawyers, the crucial evidence (a suitcase of documents in "State of Play," an iPhone in the case of Gizmodo) on a table before them, trying to suss out whether they should write a story or call the police.

So, is Gizmodo in trouble? Hard to say, but the L.A. Times tech blog checked in with UC Irvine law professor Henry Weinstein, who says Gizmodo is probably in the clear: "Journalists generally do not get prosecuted for being in receipt of stolen documents, as opposed to the person who received the documents and turned them over." (It's worth noting that Gizmodo claims the iPhone in question wasn't stolen — merely "lost.")

Now, Apple may find some other way to punish the Gizmodo guys (who are fast becoming the Merry Pranksters of tech bloggerdom) — perhaps a different legal route, or it may freeze out Gizmodo in terms of access to Apple reps and review samples. Then again, Apple reportedly had already snubbed Gizmodo by refusing to give it an advance review iPad, so ... sounds like Gizmodo's iPhone scoop may have been sweet revenge for the spurned blog.

And c'mon: Here's Apple, perhaps the most infamously paranoid company of all time, complete with triple-secret security zones, blackout curtains hung over conference room windows, flashing red warning lights, prototype devices chained to tables, and all that — only to suffer the (arguably) worst security breach in its history because some poor guy left the next iPhone on a barstool. The irony is just too rich.

Of course, this is all inside baseball (albeit a fascinating game of inside baseball); in the end, we're left with what appears to be an enticing new iPhone, with a revamped design (flat and shiny on the front and back, trim aluminum sides, thinner but a bit heavier), dual cameras (with a front-facing lens for video chat), a bigger battery, and what appears to be a higher-resolution display. The design may change between now and the final shipping date — after all, the phone Gizmodo snagged may only have been a prototype — but still, there's little question that the iPhone as we know it is poised for some big changes.

- Apple to Gizmodo: Yep, that's our phone, and we want it back - Yahoo! News

 

[adeel2010]

Here's a better video:

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I know you were joking, but seriously, this one is more in line with the original iPhone, especially the lovely aluminum backside it had. Why, oh why did Apple not bring this one last Fall.


Best regards,
south

what's a microSIM? can it still be unlocked and used with another carrier?

 

[Osnabrueck]

Will really be something if the iPhone "HD" debuts with none of these features. The whole interwebz will explode with disappointment.

 

[///K]

blackberry all the way, well for me that is