So, the lucky guys at Gizmodo were able to get their hands on an iPhone 4. There’s a bit of a story behind their acquisition. Apparently, Apple has been testing the new iPhone in the wild already, and one of Apple’s employees have, well, misplaced one. A lucky soul found the iPhone in a bar in Redwood City, and was sent to Gizmodo. Wow.
Now, we really can’t be 100% sure that this is indeed the new iPhone. But there are lots of clues that point to it being real. There really is an Apple employee who reported that he lost a prototype iPhone. It was covered in a rubberized casing so it can be disguised as an iPhone 3GS. Right now, it looks like it’s a major departure from previous iterations of the iPhone. Let’s start with the design of the phone itself. Gone is the curved back that defined the first three iPhones. It’s now flat at the back, and if you don’t see the front of the iPhone, you’d think it was made by Nokia or something. I won’t go as far sa to call it ugly, but I’m not exactly a fan of the new look.
Features-wise, this is also a totally different monster. Here’s Gizmodo’s roundup of the new features:
What’s new
• Front-facing video chat camera
• Improved regular back-camera (the lens is quite noticeably larger than the iPhone 3GS)
• Camera flash
• Micro-SIM instead of standard SIM (like the iPad)
• Improved display. It’s unclear if it’s the 960×460 display thrown around before—it certainly looks like it, with the “Connect to iTunes” screen displaying much higher resolution than on a 3GS.
• What looks to be a secondary mic for noise cancellation, at the top, next to the headphone jack
• Split buttons for volume
• Power, mute, and volume buttons are all metallicWhat’s changed
• The back is entirely flat, made of either glass (more likely) or ceramic or shiny plastic in order for the cell signal to poke through. Tapping on the back makes a more hollow and higher pitched sound compared to tapping on the glass on the front/screen, but that could just be the orientation of components inside making for a different sound
• An aluminum border going completely around the outside
• Slightly smaller screen than the 3GS (but seemingly higher resolution)
• Everything is more squared off
• 3 grams heavier
• 16% Larger battery
• Internals components are shrunken, miniaturized and reduced to make room for the larger battery
What do you think? Is this the real deal or a really elaborate hoax that Gizmodo fell for hook line and sinker? If this is the real thing, what do you think of the changes?