AbleGamers Looks at The iPhone 4

One of the best features for gamers is the new 3-Axis Gyroscope capable of detecting pitch, roll, and yaw. The new gyroscope tracks movement with very high precision, much higher than the built-in accelerometers in the previous iPhones.

Apple will be opening a centralized gaming service called Game Center, which is a multiplayer network like PSN or Xbox Live to help connect games to one another, by the end on the year.

The new multi-tasking feature is one of the most talked about additions to the iPhone in years. Multi-tasking is as simple as double clicking your home button and you get a list of running apps. Select, switch, done.

Although, multitasking is limited to such applications as audio streaming, VoIP and GPS apps, the feature helps lower the number of buttons you’ll need to push.

Another highly publicized feature is the new freezable application mode. The iPhone 4 allows most applications running in the background to be frozen, which means when you reopen them, they are restored to exactly the state they were in when they were closed.

According to Apple, “The iPhone OS 4 provides multitasking to third party apps while preserving battery life and foreground app performance, which has until now proved elusive on mobile devices.”

Now that we are on the subject of battery life, the iPhone 4 is up to 16% larger than previous versions of the iPhone. Here are the stats regarding battery life according to Gizmodo.

Talk time over 3G you get around 7 hours which is 40% better than older versions of the iPhone. When it comes to browsing over 3G: 6 hours and when it comes to Wi-Fi you get 10 hours. Now for your entertainment needs you should get about 10 hours of viewing time and when listening to music you can get 40 hours. Last but not least you will get about 300 hours of stand-by time.

The iPhone 4 will feature two cameras one front-facing camera for video conferencing and another on the back of the device for taking photos and videos. Apple has increased the camera size from 3 to 5 megapixels, giving you better quality in low light conditions and less grainy.

The front facing camera is a video conference camera to be used with third-party applications, as well as Apple's own video conference solution in standard VGA resolution.

You can record HD video in 720p at 30fps and use tap-to-focus video, built-in video editing or one-click sharing. The iMovie application will give you the chance to record, edit and render mobile HD video, and upload the finished product to the Web via e-mail, text, MobileMe or YouTube. In addition, while recording video, the LED flash will now stay on to illuminate scenes

The most important accessibility feature in iPhone is the new VoiceOver, the world’s first gesture-based screen reader. Instead of memorizing keyboard commands or pressing tiny arrow keys, you simply touch the screen to hear a description of the item under your finger, then double-tap, drag, or flick to control iPhone.

VoiceOver speaks 21 languages and works with all of the applications built into the iPhone 4. And new in iOS 4, a language rotor lets you select a spoken language temporarily without changing the system-wide settings.

Now, there is support for wireless Braille displays and international Braille tables, supporting more than 30 Bluetooth wireless Braille displays right out of the box. Just pair one and start using it to navigate your iPhone with VoiceOver. In addition, iPhone includes Braille tables for more than 25 international languages.

For the blind and visual impaired there is now touch typing, which allows you to run your finger across the keyboard, listening to VoiceOver speak each letter aloud. When you get to the letter you want, lift your finger to select it.

For people with motor skill impairments, there is an enhanced rotor with a voice over control within VoiceOver. You use it by rotating two fingers on the screen as if you were turning a dial changes the way VoiceOver moves through a web page based on a setting you choose.

For example, a flick up or down might let you move through a page by header, link, or image. In iOS 4, you can add settings to the web rotor such as lists, tables, text fields, and buttons. And the rotor is now visible to sighted users to make it easier for them to assist you or to use the rotor themselves.

For hearing impaired people there are features like Optional mono audio. If your hearing is limited in one ear, tap a checkbox to route both right- and left-channel audio into both earbuds, so you can hear both channels in either ear.

Also, the iPhone supports close captioning. Captions appear onscreen just like the closed captions you see on TV. You can buy, rent, or download captioned movies and video podcasts from the iTunes Store to watch on the go. Or you can create and watch your own closed-captioned videos.

There are old favorites like Zoom and magnify. In addition to Zoom, a new Large Font feature in iPhone 4 lets you further increase the font size of key elements in Mail, Contacts, Notes, and Messages. You can have white on black for higher contrast. If you prefer higher contrast, iPhone 4 lets you change the display to white on black. Use the White on Black feature in any application, as well as the Home, Lock, and Search screens, and with Zoom and VoiceOver.

Overall, the iPhone 4 is great but the price is quite steep.  The iPhone 4 upgrade is available in the US for $199 (16GB version) or $299 (32GB model). But if you do not qualify for an upgrade the phone will be 500 or 600 dollars.

Comments (0)

Write comment

Email Name		Comment smaller | bigger
		Subscribe via email (registered users only) Write the displayed characters Add Comment