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New iPhone announced, let the ooh-aah-ing begin

By Rain Noe - June 7, 2010

in Object Culture

iPhone 4 was announced today.

Hyperbole aside, it's hard for us not to get excited about a product whose launch video kicks off with footage of the lead industrial designer on the project and fills it out with plenty of manufacturing-porn shots.

Jonathan Ive references the fact that Apple has engineered a new strain of stainless steel, the edges of which do double duty as both the housing and the antenna. New "aluminosilicate glass" reportedly 30 times harder than plastic makes up both the front and the back surfaces. And we're digging the chunky metal buttons that Dieter Rams would've hastened to press.

Other than that, there's a bunch of new stuff on the inside that we'll leave up to the tech blogs to break down, as we're primarily interested in the industrial design of the thing, not the geeky guts. From a user standpoint, the resolution has been increased four-fold to present a hyper-sharp display. An LED flash has been added for the camera, and it can be turned on continuously for recording HD video, which now comes in at 720p. There's also a new videoconferencing feature that I hope my parents don't find out about, or else I'll be defending my wardrobe on a weekly basis. And they've incorporated some type of switching feature between the dual cameras (front and back) so you can switch the visuals from your mug to whatever's in front of you.

The device will hit store shelves on June 24th.

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dc

14 years ago

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@rob podell : I hear you Rob and it makes sense what you are saying. Unfortunately most of people out there are more prone (or victim, if you will) to keep up with the latest models.
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Saikat

14 years ago

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Does anyone know how is it handling the radiation if the metal frame itself is the antenna?
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wl

14 years ago

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Apple has seen its death bed, HTC EVO for the Win!
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Rob Podell

14 years ago

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@ DC: I have had my first gen iPhone for 2 years now. I see no reason to upgrade to the newer one, because I'm totally satisfied with my current one. No plans on replacing it until this one dies.
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fsdfs

14 years ago

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what's the diffrence how it looks? It's only a "needle" sold by the "dealer", now with iAd to put even more ads everywhere in the phone. Same with 90% useless apps... Design is only a marketing action here. Even now with this comment , I'm helping them to sell more of this new junk... . And no, I have iphone - got it as a gift - wouldn't buy it myself... Don't get me wrong - same goes to all the new smartphones.
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dc

14 years ago

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the design is definitely amazing, as per the research in terms of materials and durability, I personally find it kind of pointless.. The longest I have kept a phone is 2 years I guess.. Maybe it's just me though.. : ) Unless apple is trying to convince it's consumers to keep their phone for at least 10 years....LOL
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maishado

14 years ago

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evolution of 3G to 4 is interesting - going from a very emotional form focused on styling to a very practical form, instead focusing on responding customer complaints (bad signal, hard to use in the flat position, glass breaks to easily, battery life, etc)

I think they did a wonderful job, curious if they have set out on a difficult path considering future models.
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Horatio Berglioni

14 years ago

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The design looks like something a Chinese manufacturer would have whipped up for an imitation iphone 3 yrs ago.
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Eric

14 years ago

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It's boring, nothing to see here. Same old same old. Just like the rest of Apples design work. Another chicklet phone. I can only imaging how horrible it must be to actually work at the apple design studio? Not much creativity unless your into materials.
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