Meanwhile O2 announced that it will offer its subscribes an early upgrade if they go for the iPhone 4. You will be able to pay off the reminder of your contract and get an iPhone 4 on a new 18 or 24-month one (AT&T style).

O2 will charge you with 20 pounds for each of the remaining months of your contract, no matter how much you are really paying. That’s about 30% off the cheapest iPhone tariff. This way it will still be cheaper to pay off your contract and get a new one, instead of buying a SIM-free iPhone.

There is a catch of course – you will lose the change-of-mind period option. So once you’ve decided to go the iPhone 4 way, there is no turning back.

With five carriers throwing tempting iPhone 4 offers your way it has to feel good to be British these days.

Ever since Bell and Telus launched their HSPA networks at the end of last year, there haven’t been any especially tiresome exclusives, particularly with the iPhone. As far as service goes, we’ve got three spunky little underdogs, Wind, Public, and Mobilicity who are willing to get aggressive, though they’re unlikely to offer the iPhone for awhile.

If you haven’t had a chance to check it out, Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s latest smartphone was announced yesterday, and included a 5 megapixel camera with flash, forward-facing VGA video camera, 3.5″  960 x 640 touchscreen, Wi-Fi, GPS, 3G, Bluetooth, and iOS 4. Video calling will be a hard sell, especially if it’s only Wi-Fi to start, but if anyone can build demand high enough to push through the obvious strain it would be on cellular networks, it’s Apple.

You can sign up iPhone 4 availability notifications at Rogers, but it doesn’t seem like the other carriers have pages up just yet. At the tail end of the key note, Steve Jobs said we would see the iPhone 4 in Canada come July, so stay tuned!

One immediately obvious feature is the new design with a flat glass front and back and a stainless steel band around the outside of the phone which doubles as a pair of antennae to give improved reception for GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth and also GSM and UMTS signals. The iPhone 4 is also much thinner than previous models at just 9.3mm thick, and Apple say that this is the thinnest smartphone available today. The iPhone 4 will be available in two colour schemes as before, black and white.

One side effect of the different size of the iPhone 4 is that the accessories will be different, especially when it comes to docking stations. Perhaps some enterprising company will make an adapter to ensure that the iPhone 4 can fit in older docks.
Another widely rumoured feature was a high density display, and the Apple iPhone 4 has a pixel density of 326 pixels per inch, which is actually better than many printers. In order to maintain compatibility with old models, Apple have simple doubled the number of pixels along each axis giving four times the pixel count overall. This gives the iPhone 4 a resolution of 960 x 640 pixels which is much higher than anything else comparable on the market, although the display size remains the same as the previous versions at 3.5″. The resolution is still less than the iPad though, but Apple’s choice seems to be a logical one.

One the back is a 5 megapixel camera, which was pretty much the minimum upgrade you would expect from the 3 megapixels on the 3GS. Although this doesn’t sound particularly impressive, Apple have done a lot of work on the optics and electronics to offer high quality results. In fact, the previous iPhone also managed to produce excellent photographs from quite a limited resolution, so Apple fans will probably be looking forward to the results.

Not only are stills photos better, but the iPhone 4 can also record HD 720p video at 30 frames per second. Users can edit videos on the iPhone 4 itself using an optional version of iMovie (priced at less than $5 in the US). Video capture can use the LED flash as a camera light, something that some other phones rather annoyingly omit.
The Apple iPhone 4 is the first iPhone to have a front facing camera allowing video calling, using Apple’s own “FaceTime” technology which is restricted to the iPhone 4 only at the moment, but it is based on open standards that Apple seem to be keen to promote and allow on other devices. Apple say that more work needs to be done with cellular carriers to make it work over 3G networks. Unusually, video calling can be made with the rear camera too. Incidentally, the FaceTime name is already in use by another technology company who may not appreciate Apple’s use of it.
We have known for a while that the new version of the iPhone OS allows multitasking and a number of other improvements, and of course this is included in the iPhone 4. The interface has had to be reworked a lot for the higher resolution display though, but overall the look and feel of the new iPhone will be very familiar to existing users. Apple have renamed this version of the operating system iOS 4, which makes sense as it will also be used on the iPad as well as future iPhones. There are a number of other improvements with iOS 4 when it comes to usability and enterprise integration. Additionally, iOS 4 will be available as a free upgrade for owners of the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3, although not all features will be available.

Inside is the Apple A4 processor, as found on the iPad, which should mean that the iPhone 4 has a similar performance to its larger sibling. One other improvement is a larger battery which of course means a longer talktime, and in combination Apple say that this gives a 40% improvement which means that users can expect an impressive 7 hours of talktime and 12 days standby time. And while we’re talking of talking.. the iPhone 4 also has dual microphones for improved sound quality.

Internal memory is either 16GB or 32GB, without the 64GB option we were expecting to see. As with the iPad, the new iPhone 4 uses micro SIM cards, presumably to allow more space for internal components.
As you probably would expect, the iPhone 4 supports 3.5G data with a maximum download speed of up to 7.2Mps, and uploads of up to 5.8Mbps where supported. As before, the iPhone 4 supports WiFi, but this is now one of only a very small number of devices to support the improved 802.11n standard which promises more reliable and faster connections where WLANs allow it.
One novel feature is the inclusion of a gyroscope which can accurately detect 3D movements. Quite how something like that fits in such a small case is a complete mystery to us. Apple indicate that this can be used in games and possibly many other applications too.
Apple have also improved their iBooks offering, and their new iAd advertising platform will allow applications to display advertisements, so some apps will be ad supported rather than paid for. Apple say that many large advertisers have already signed up to this platform.

In the US, the 16GB iPhone 4 will cost $199 with a 2 year contract, the 32GB version will be $299 on the AT&T network. The US, UK, France, Germany and Japan will have the iPhone 4 available from June 24th onwards, with 18 more countries in July and a grand total of 88 countries having availability by the end of September.

The folks over at Tinhte.com managed to put their prototype device through some rigorous situations. They plugged it into their computer, hoping that iTunes would launch and tell them all sorts of interesting stuff. Unfortunately, the program didn’t open automatically. When they pulled it up on their own (we hate clicking as much as they do, apparently), iTunes did recognize the prototype as an iPhone in recovery mode, so that’s good news. The bad news comes in the fact that they couldn’t do anything unless they updated iTunes, and obviously there’s nothing to officially update to, so their luck ran out.

They also tried to recognize it in OS X, and it managed to pull up a serial number: 002608C89DCA. Unfortunately, Apple’s support page doesn’t recognize the serial number (shocker, right?). And, finally, they tried to run the Spirit jailbreak, but that didn’t work, either. So, all roads lead to nowhere when it comes to this prototype. But, hey, at least we get a few more screenshots of the unofficial device. There’s also talk that the processor inside the iPhone HD is going to be the same as the iPad’s: the A4 processor. Which, if that’s the case, then the next iPhone is going to be incredibly fast. So, buckle up.

Speaking to online technology evangelists TechRadar, Google Maps for mobile ptoduct manager Steve Lee mentioned that the company is ‘evaluating other platforms’. “We’re always evaluating other platforms for Google Maps Navigation. Google Maps is the application that has the most breadth on other platforms – Windows Mobile, iPhone, J2ME phones, but Google Maps Navigation requires higher capabilities. We can’t say any more today other than we are always evaluating other platforms.”

So, nothing concrete but interesting to note that Windows Mobile (Windows Phone 7?) and iPhone were both name checked. When asked directly about whether Google Maps Navigation could make it over to the iPhone, Lee said: “We’re close partners with Apple, but we can’t comment on the ifs and whens. But it’s hard to say we’d never license our services to anyone, because at the end of the day we’re a search and ads company.”

What about the likes of Symbian (Google Maps is a downloadable app for Symbian) and WebOS (the Palm Pre comes pre-installed with GoogleMaps)? Do they meet the ‘higher capabilities’? Well, whether these are the other platforms currently being evaluated is unsure but with Nokia already offering ‘Free SatNav Forever’ on selected Symbian phones and the Palm Pre’s market share dwindling, we wouldn’t count on it but the possibility of Google Maps Navigation for iPhone definitely looks promising.

It is called the Apple iPhone Slider and it’s basically an iPhone with an added Click-wheel D-Pad and QWERTY keyboard. The design looks pretty nice and I would definitely love to see this design being used in the future.

The design could have been a little better if the Click-wheel D-Pad was made a bit smaller and more space was allowed to the QWERTY keyboard. Nevertheless, it is a very nice piece of work by Oliver Demangel of Angel Art 3D from the United Kingdom. He has also made several other concept illustrations including the Nintendo 3DS concept.

Apple announced the iPhone 3G in 2008 and the iPhone 3GS in 2009 during its annual Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco and it is expected that Apple may announce the next generation of iPhone around the same time in June. However, Apple’s hasn’t officially confirmed the launch date.

According to Modmyi, “No confirmations have yet come from Apple, but there is speculation that the big reveal could take place on June 22nd. For this particular occasion, Apple has once again reserved the very conference center where the company announced the three previous versions of the iPhone. So all signs, indeed, point to June 22nd proving the 4th gen iPhone’s big day.”

Apple iPhone 4G is expected to come with an amazing 5 megapixel camera, a front facing camera for video calling, screen resolution of 960 x 640 pixels, more powerful processor, increase in RAM and internal storage, etc.

We’ve been covering this story for some time, ever since we first caught glimpses of the Opera browser playing nicely with Apple’s iPhone back in February at the Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona. The browser, just like it’s various other incarnations for the various operating systems and Java enabled feature phones, compresses web pages by up to 90% offering lightening quick load times for web pages.

This compression not only drastically improves loading times but also lowers data costs as well, something that will come in handy for those who have switched their contracts to pay as you go in the run up to the inevitable launch of the iPhone 4G/ HD.

Whilst it would have seemed a no brainer for you or i, the fact remained that Apple had yet to approve a single third party web browser in the app store up until this point. But, the guys behind Opera for iPhone were adamant that they’d gone through the terms for apps with a fine tooth comb and it would appear they were right! Opera Mini for iPhone is available free in the App store now, check it out on your iPhone today.

According to Neowin, Apple’s tablet device may hit some international markets in less than three weeks time. This device is expected to launch in the UK, Canada and some European markets on April 24. An Apple employee in Canada and UK have even confirmed the launch date.

Earlier, Apple have already announced that iPad will be launched during late April at Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK. It is also rumored that the 3G models of iPad will be launched at the same time in the US.

The Opera Mini web browser is unique as it boasts the ability to load pages faster by compressing web pages by up to 90% for even faster load times whilst this compression occurs on a remote server saving your phone from any unnecessary processing. Initial tests carried out by Opera themselves proved the Opera Mini browser was up to 6 times faster than the iPhone’s built in Safari browser. And not only does this improve speed but also reduces data usage, not something your average iPhone user will worry about in the UK thanks to inclusive data but definitely something to consider when using your phone abroad.

From the above, it seems it should be a no-brainer for Apple to approve Opera Mini for iPhone but the problem is, Apple has yet to approve a single third party web browser app for the iPhone. Opera are adamant they’ve followed all the submission guidelines to the finest detail but whether this will be enough for the sometimes overbearing Apple remains to be seen. Keep an eye on the Blog and we’ll let you know as soon as the Opera Mini for iPhone app is green lit or rebuffed.