iFixit has run their typical new teardown of a new iDevice, in this case, the iPhone 4. The dissection shows hardware specifications of the device, aside from those publicly already known.

For example, public specs tell us that the iPhone has a 5-megapixel camera (which can shoot 720p HD video), a "retina" display with 960x640 resolution, a gyroscope, front-facing camera, and claimed better battery life. iFixit's teardown showed a bunch of additional information.

For one thing, it was believed the iPhone 4 would have more RAM than the iPhone 3GS and iPad, and it does. The iPhone 3GS and iPad both come with 256MB or RAM, while the iPhone 4 has 512MB, as expected.

In terms of internal storage, while it advertises 32GB of storage, such an iPhone 4 actually has 28.77GB of storage remaining, after you subtract reserved storage for the iOS platform.

Additionally, the device comes with a 1GHz ARM Cortex A8 CPU. Apple can't tout the exclusivity of that CPU at all, at least according to iFixit. It's manufactured by Samsung and is reportedly the same CPU used in the Samsung Wave S8500.

Meanwhile, the iPhone 4 sports a 1420mAh Li-Polymer battery. To compare, the Nexus One has a 1400mAh battery, while the Droid Incredible has a 1300mAh battery. However, you can buy extended batteries that are the exact same size from Seidio (meaning no battery cover change) ... 1600mAh for Nexus One and 1750mAh for Incredible. None of that is easily possible for the iPhone unless, of course, you tear it down.

iFixit did note that the battery is surprisingly easy to remove, if you do decide to open up the iPhone 4.

The front panel is made of Gorilla Glass, which is famously hard to damage, but if you do manage to damage it, iFixit notes that it is glued tightly to the glass and digitizer. This means you'd have to replace the Gorilla Glass, the digitizer, and the LCD as a single piece.

The iPhone 4 gets its wi-fi, GPS, and Bluetooth connectivity via Broadcom, who supplies both the BCM4750IUB8 single-chip GPS receiver and BCM4329FKUBG receiver. The latter provides the iPhone 4 802.11n wi-fi, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, and an FM radio.

While iFixit calls the way that Apple designed the iPhone 4's integrated UMTS, GSM, GPS, wi-fi and Bluetooth antennas into the stainless steel inner frame a "work of genius," it's unclear that it will truly help all that much with AT&T's overstressed network. In fact, the WSJ's Walt Mossberg said that calling was marginally better in some areas, and worse in others.

Mossberg added the following, as well:

Just as with its predecessors, I can’t recommend this new iPhone for voice calling for people who experience poor AT&T reception, unless they are willing to carry a second phone on a network that works better for them.

Take a look at both Mossberg's full review, and iFixit's full teardown. Both will prove interesting.

Tags: 3gs, Battery Life, Bcm, Broadcom, Cortex, Dissection, Exclusivity, Gorilla, Hardware Specifications, Ifixit, Internal Storage, iPad, iPhone, Iphone 4, Iphone 5, Megapixel Camera, Nexus, Polymer Battery, Retina, Wi Fi

As expected, Apple updated its MacBook Pro line on Tuesday. Among other things, the revised laptops will get Intel Core i5 and i7 CPUs, new graphics, and yes, a claim of still longer battery life.

The new models come in the same sizes as the previous-generation MacBook Pros: 13-, 15-, and 17-inch. It's inside where the big changes take place.

13-inch:

The earlier 13-inch MacBook Pro came in two models.

• Low-end: 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, 2GB RAM, a 160GB had drive, an SD card slot, and NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics.
• High-end: the same integrated graphics, a 2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, 4GB RAM, a 250GB hard drive, and the same SD card slot.

The new 13-inch MacBook Pro has faster Intel Core 2 Duo processors, more memory, a newer GPU, and larger hard drives.

• Low-end: a 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, 250GB hard drive, along with the new NVIDIA GeForce 320M, priced at $1,199. 
• High-end: the same GPU, and a 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, 320GB hard drive, priced at $1,499.

Apple claims 10 hours of battery life for the new 13-inch model (your mileage may vary).

15-inch:

The earlier 15-inch model had three different configurations.

• Low-end:  2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB RAM, a 250GB hard drive, an SD slot, and Nvidia GeForce 9400M integrated graphics
• Midrange: 2.66 GHz CPU, 4GB RAM, 320GB hard drive, an SD slot, and an NVIDIA GeForce 9400M + a 9600M GT discrete GPU with 256MB memory.
• High-end: midrange with a 2.8GHz processor and a 500GB hard drive instead.

For the new 15-inch model, we see Apple move to the more powerful Intel CPUs.  The 15-inch MacBook Pro has the Intel Core i5 or Core i7 CPU.  All of the new models include integrated Intel HD graphics as well as a discrete NVIDIA GPU.

• Low-end: 2.4 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU, NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M and 320GB hard drive at $1,799.
• Midrange: 2.53 GHz Intel Core i5, NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M and 500GB hard drive at $1,999.
• High-end: 2.66 GHz Intel Core i7, NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M and 500GB hard drive at $2,199.

Apple claims 8-9 hours of battery life for the new 15-inch model.

17-inch:

One configuration. Prior to Tuesday's revamp, it came with a 2.8 GHz CPU, 4GB memory, a 500GB hard drive, NVIDIA's GeForce 9400M + 9600M GT with 512 MB.

The new 17-inch MacBook Pro features a 2.53 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU, NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M and integrated Intel HD graphics, and a 500GB hard drive for $2,299.

Apple claims 8-9 hours of battery life for the new 17-inch model.

Tags: 250gb Hard Drive, 500gb Hard Drive, Battery Life, Ghz Intel, Hard Drives, Hd, Inch Model, Integrated Graphics, Intel, Intel Core 2, Intel Core 2 Duo, Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, Intel Cpus, Laptops, Mileage, New Graphics, Nvidia, Nvidia Geforce, Nvidia Gpu, Sd Card Slot

Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple (with Steve Jobs), can afford anything. Thus, he's not afraid to be an early adopter, and not afraid to buy multiples of anything. Thus, as he said, he's getting the iPad, and two of them.

He's getting two: one of the wi-fi only models, which ship this Saturday, and one of the 3G models, which ship later in April (exact date still unannounced). And as he said, he already has a use case for the iPad:

I'm out here on the road with four cell phones and two GPS devices, trying to look at maps, and I wish I had an iPad with me now.

Wozniak's four phones are two iPhones, a Nexus One (Android), a Droid (Android), plus a Garmin and TomTom (both GPS). He also has his Prius' navigation system.

Wozniak has previously said he loves the Nexus One, so the fact that he's carrying that device is no surprise.

As far as why he has two iPhones, it's because of the battery life issues on the iPhone, as well as the lack of multitasking. It's a rather expensive way to correct those issues, but with a multimillionaire, it's not an issue. There is another way to fix the background processing issue: jailbreak.

Additionally, Wozniak said he would wait in line for his iPad, starting Friday night. It's unclear why he didn't simply have it shipped. It's also not clear if he would attempt to "cut," as he did when the original iPhone came out. After all, who will stop the Woz?

Tags: Background processing, Battery Life, Co Founder, Early Adopter, Garmin, Gps Devices, Gps Maps, iPad, iPhone, Iphones, Multimillionaire, Multitasking, Navigation System, Nexus, Prius, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Use Case, Wi Fi, Woz

iPad pre-orders began on Friday, March 12th, as Apple promised. Pre-orders began being accepted at 5:30 AM PST.

Apple is limiting pre-orders to two per customer. Shipping is free, and as the device will arrive on April 3rd in stores, those who have Saturday delivery in their area will receive it that day. There is also an option for in-store pickup. Those who opt for pickup can do so between 9 AM and 3 PM that day.

The iPad also comes with 90 days of complimentary phone technical support. The hardware, including the rechargeable battery and all accessories, carries a one year warranty. You can assume he screen is not, if damaged accidentally. Coverage can be extended to two years with a $99 AppleCare protection plan.

The iPad is the long-rumored Apple tablet PC. Announced in January, it uses a version of the iPhone OS, which means it also has its limitations. For one, while Apple CEO Steve Jobs contends the iPad is superior to a netbook, it will be unable to multi-task, at least at launch.

Specification-wise, the iPad is 0.5 inches thick and weighs 1.5 pounds, with reported battery life of "up to" 10 hours. It has a 9.7-inch display and a 1GHz custom Apple-built A4 chip with the CPU and graphics combined. The device is targeted as a device that fits between an iPhone and a MacBook, and is positioned as an e-book (iBook) reader, as well as a web browser. It will also be able to run many of the 140,000 App Store applications written for the iPhone and iPod touch.

Should you buy n iPad right now? Early adopters usually end up with the short end of the stick. The first iPhone buyers were not all that happy with the device's limitations, and certainly were not happy when Apple sharply cut the price a few months later. In fact, a lawsuit was even generated.

Thus, if you are not someone who obsessively needs to be the first with a new device, you should wait. Allow someone else to "kick the tires" before you charge in with your credit card.

Tags: Apple Ceo, Apple Tablet, Applecare Protection Plan, April 3rd, Battery Life, Customer Shipping, E Book, iPad, iPhone, Launch, Macbook, Netbook, Rechargeable Battery, Rush, Short End Of The Stick, Steve Jobs, Store Applications, Tablet Pc, Tires, Web Browser

Now that we have cut, copy and paste in the iPhone OS, the current most desired missing feature (at least among developers) is background processing (multi-tasking). While Apple has said push notifications was fine instead of multi-tasking, in reality there are so many things that can only be done with multi-tasking.

For example, using a very common user complaint, it might be nice to be able to listen to Pandora and be able to get a phone call, without dropping Pandora's feed, that is.

Apple, on the other hand, has always used battery life as the reason for no multitasking. The company has said that the current state of battery technology and battery life is such that background processing (multitasking) on the iPhone was a non-starter. This puts severe constraints on what can and cannot be done on an iPhone.

The iPhone 3.x software is a fully preemptive multitasking operating system. So, it is possible, on a jailbroken iPhone with Backgroundr, to work outside the limitations artificially placed on it by Apple, and multi-task. Aside from that, only the apps bundled with the system by Apple can run in the background.

AppleInsider claims that "people with a proven track record" have told them that multi-tasking is coming in iPhone OS 4.0. Of course, if they do that, besides the obvious questions on battery life, Apple also has to figure out a slick way to switch and kill apps.

For that, Apple might have taken a look at some other apps for jailbroken iPhones. ProSwitcher is one such example. It allows you to switch and kill apps running in the background, even allowing you to flick them off the screen like in Palm's webOS.

At any rate, this isn't the first time the addition of background processing to the iPhone OS has been rumored. To this point, users have always been disappointed. This time, who knows?

Tags: Apps, Background Html, Background processing, Battery Life, Battery Technology, Constraints, Copy And Paste, Current State, Flick, iPhone, Multi Tasking, Multitasking, Os 4, Pandora, Phone Call, Point Users, Preemptive Multitasking Operating System, Proven Track Record, Webos, X Software