The 4.0 OS and the Leaked Next Generation Hardware Offer a Picture of What's to Come

The next generation iPhone was reportedly leaked after accidentally being abandoned in a Redwood City bar. The new iPhone appears to possess more than just a handful of minor improvements and upgrades that have been offered in the last updates by the company's popular smartphone. The new iPhone has features that have been long-requested by Apple's community of users.

On April, 19th, Gizmodo.com posted an article breaking down the features of this new device. There are a handful of notable changes and new features in the physical body of the device, and because the iPhone was remotely deactivated, details of its operating system aren't available beyond the information we have about the upcoming iPhone OS 4.0 upgrade coming this summer.

The Hardware

What is known about this updated iPhone is what has changed in its guts. The phone was dissected and its parts analyzed. There are some new features and changes to old features.

Camera

There is a noticeable difference between the camera features of the previous generations of the iPhone and the new iPhone. An improved back facing camera with larger lens and a new camera flash promise an improved experience with the traditionally limited iPhone camera. The camera on the iPhone has often been noted for lacking features and being of a lower quality than some other smartphone cameras. The lack of video capability until 2009's iPhone 3GS was seen as a negative for being behind on a common feature in phones with built in cameras.

The new iPhone has also added a front-facing camera. Since its arrival on the smartphone scene the iPhone's lack of a front-facing camera has been seen as a drawback. Users have commented that a front-facing camera would allow them to participate in video chat or video teleconferencing via the phone. The long-standing request for this feature appears to be addressed in this new generation.

The Display

Oddly the display for the new phone is smaller than that of the prior generation. It would seem odd that on a device with an already small screen that they would shrink it but it has been reported that the screen is of a higher resolution than its predecessors. A slightly smaller screen offering better image quality may do well to solidify the device as excellent not only for media consumption but also creation.

The improvements to the camera and display considered in tandem would suggest that the device may offer more to the user creating media with it. Better display quality while shooting a short video means more information for the shooter and that can mean a better final product. If using the camera for stills, better display resolution can mean better composition and better results.

The Battery

Its reported that the battery of the new device is 16% larger than that of the previous generation. Battery life has been a constant concern for the iPhone since the first generation. With the variety of activities available to users there are that many more ways to drain the battery. An improved battery will likely be handy when considering the expanded features in the iPhone OS 4.0 update arriving soon.

The Software

The iPhone OS 4.0 is coming this summer and it promises to feature on this new device. The software improvements, like some of the hardware improvements, appear to be designed to address long standing concerns from the user community.

Multitasking and Fast App Switching

One of the long desired features of the iPhone has been Multitasking. Since the first iPhone the inability to run more than one app at a time has been a frustration for many users. With the new Multitasking and Fast App Switching features being offered in the updated software this is addressed.

These features are particularly relevant to the leaked iPhone as its improved battery surely means a better handling of these features. The Multitasking only runs a few apps at a time and will only run certain feature of each app and inter-app even notifications while running multiple apps. Still, any app running is sure to use system resources, even if only it is only running one feature. Power-users are sure to run many apps, likely to the maximum permitted, and with all that running the battery life can't go untouched. With the expanded battery capacity shown in the found 4th generation iPhone that will surely be less of a problem than it may present in previous generations.

Digital Zoom

Returning to the camera the new iPhone OS also offers a 5x Digital Zoom option. With an improved camera and lens on the leaked iPhone this will ideally mean a Digital Zoom that provides something better than a hard to read pixelated blur, which is the best most Digital Zoom for the iPhone camera features have been able to offer in the past.

Digital Zoom is not a true zoom feature as all it really offers is scaling up of a particular area of the image. The results are often disappointing. In conjunction with improved camera hardware, however, this may prove a very useful new feature.

Conclusions

The intersection of the announced features in the iPhone 4.0 Operating System and the evidence available in the hardware of the leaked next generation iPhone show that what is coming from Apple may prove to be its most robust phone to date. The hardware and software address long standing concerns about the product from users. The new device may prove to be significantly more useful as a media consumption and production device than previous generations.

Sources:

Gizmodo: This Is Apple's Next iPhone
Gizmodo: iPhone OS 4.0: The Best New Features