Not interested in waiting until the 23rd for Verizon's big announcement? Don't worry, we've got you covered right now! The Motorola Droid X has probably been one of the worst kept smartphone secrets in recent memory, but after spending two hours with the phone we sort of see why. In short, it's pretty awesome. Call it a superphone or a mega-smartphone, but the 4.4-inch handset is absolutely Verizon / Motorola's answer to the HTC EVO 4G, and makes the Droid Incredible look like a bench warmer. What do we mean? We'll let you see for yourself just after the break in a breakdown of exactly what this phone is all about.

So here are our main takeaways:

• Hardware: From afar, the Droid X looks like the EVO 4G, but up close the differences are obvious. Its slightly longer and wider, and it has four physical buttons along the bottom of the screen rather than touch-sensitive ones like those on the EVO. In hand, the phone feels really solid and we were surprised at how light it felt, though we could really do without the hump on the back. And yes, the large thing fits in a jean pocket, but not without slightly bulging.

• Screen: Apparently the Droid X has a 4.4-inch, FWVGA 854 x 480-resolution screen, though we couldn't confirm that on the device itself. Regardless, it was super crisp and the capacitive screen was mighty responsive to taps and multitouch gestures. Our one concern is the mirrored trim around the screen -- it makes the whole face of the phone extra glossy.

• Motorola Blur / Android: We confirmed that the Droid X was running Android 2.1 with some new sort of Motoblur (perhaps Ninjablur) skin. We didn't get to configure Blur with our social networks and contacts, but it didn't seem as "in your face" as the original. There's also a new navigation bar along the bottom that lets you easily jump to different Android panes. We can't really make a call on how we feel about this new Moto skin, but it does feel like a major improvement and it absolutely didn't slow down performance. We should also mention that preloaded on the phone was a Blockbuster application and a DLNA type app. Those two pieces combined with the fact that there will be a separate HDMI dock available has us thinking multimedia is the focus here.

Camera / Camcorder: The Droid X has a 8-megapixel camera, and records 720p video. But here's the thing about the camera: you have to tap to focus and it doesn't refocus until you actually snap the picture. In addition, the camera button on the phone was super stiff, so when we went to shoot a pic the entire thing shook and blurred the image. You can see what we are talking about in the gallery below. As for video recording, it was a bit laggy while we were shooting at 720p, but the video plays back smoothly, and in our opinion, crisper than the EVO 4G. Nevertheless, as you can see in the clip below, the white balance keeps on changing and the exposure fluctuates.

• Keyboard: Just like with the CLIQ XT, Motorola preloads Swype. However, we also noticed a "multitouch keyboard" option. Oh yes, you heard us. When we held down two letters simultaneously it recognized both. We could really go on and on about how excited we are about this, but just check the video below of it in action.
• Performance: Snappy! That's exactly what the Droid X is. The entire phone and transitions were super fast and responsive, keyboards popped up with virtually no lag and it tracks finger swiping more accurately than most Android phones we've seen -- it undoubtedly has its 1GHz ARMv7 processor (presumably an OMAP3630) to thank for that. If the specs on the model we saw are correct, the phone will come with 8GB of storage space. Obviously, we didn't have enough time to test battery life, but there was some sort of special battery management software on the phone.

If you own an iPhone 3Gs/3G or are thinking about purchasing the iPhone 4 when it comes out you have probably heard about unlocking the iPhone 4G/3Gs/3G. Unlocking sounds like something that could be of benefit to you but you are just not sure if it is a safe or reliable thing to do. Here is what you can expect with an unlocked phone.

First it is best to purchase an unlock solution. Free options are just too risky for your investment in your iPhone 4G/3Gs/3G device. It is not very expensive to purchase an unlock solution and you will receive free updates, support and a money back guarantee.

You don’t have to worry about your iPhone 4G/3Gs/3G freezing or losing any native applications or features of the iPhone 4G/3Gs/3G. Unlocking your iPhone 4G/3Gs/3G with reliable software only enhances your iPhone 4G/3Gs/3G abilities and features.

Unlock iPhone 4G/3Gs/3G, if you choose a reliable method, will cause absolutely no harm to your device. You will just be able to install features that allow you to use Flash or use your iPhone 4G/3Gs/3G as a modem once you unlock the iPhone 4G/3Gs/3G.

You can enjoy the full feature and benefits from your phone if you choose to jailbreak iPhone 4G/3Gs/3G even if you choose not to unlock the iPhone 4G/3Gs/3G. Jailbreaking will not void your iPhone 4G/3Gs/3G warranties nor will unlock iPhone 3G /3Gs/4. At any time you can restore your device to the original factory settings.

iPad security reveals AT&T glitch exposing email addresses. Gawker Media LLC said the FBI asked it to retain documents as part of a security probe involving the Apple iPad. The blog publisher wrote a news story exposing an AT&T Internet security glitch that revealed email addresses belonging to Apple iPad owners.

"There's always blowback when you break a big story," Remy Stern, the editor-in-chief of Gawker.com, said in a statement. It's the second time the New York-based media company has been contacted by the FBI about a news story. It was asked to preserve information, but Gawker Media doesn't believe it is a target of the government investigation.

Gawker's Valleywag section wrote Wednesday about a glitch in AT&T's website that exposed the email addresses of iPad owners, including politicians, military officials and media executives. The company said the AT&T story has become one of the most popular ever. The post from Wednesday has been clicked on 850,000 times so far, and about 2.8 million page views as of Friday.

Security breaches of this magnitude are serious, but many people wonder if Gawker ever contacted AT&T or Apple about the glitch before publishing the article. Gawker has verified that the information posted were partial email addresses, not personal information such as credit cards or social security numbers. The company also said the information contained unique iPad ID numbers used by Apple owners.

Here’s a data point that puts a lot of Apple’s recent behavior into perspective: by next year, Apple's revenues from the iPhone and iPad will be more than double its revenues from the entire Macintosh product line.

That is the projection from investment bank RBC Capital Markets, which says in fiscal year 2011 Apple will generate nearly $36 billion from the iPhone and iPad, versus just under $17 billion from all of its Macintosh computers. (The iPhone will be $27.5 billion, with the iPad contributing $8.2 billion.)

In fact, mobile devices will be by far Apple's biggest business, generating half of Apple’s total revenues in 2011, which RBC estimates will be about $72 billion.

No wonder Apple CEO Steve Jobs had nothing to say about the Macintosh at this week’s World Wide Developers Conference. And no wonder Apple has pivoted so quickly away from old-fashioned computers and onto the Next Big Thing.

Right after the keynote, I wrote a tongue-in-cheek piece in the form of an open letter to the Macintosh claiming that Jobs had “broken up” with Macintosh in favor of a younger, sexier technology. We headlined it “R.I.P., Macintosh.”

Who knew it would strike such a nerve? So far we’ve had 452 comments, and apparently the piece has been rocketing around on Twitter, sparking quite the debate among Mac lovers.

Now here’s the iPhone. In 2007 sales were $630 million. In 2008, $6.7 billion. In 2009, $13 billion. This year sales will hit $21.5 billion and in 2011 they will be $27.5 billion. On top of that, the iPad will contribute $3.1 billion in 2010, $8.2 billion in 2011.

Now put those businesses next to one another. One is 26 years old and has gone flat at about $17 billion. The other is brand-new and will go from zero to $35 billion in five years.

In the old business you’ve got 5 percent market share, but in the other one you’re the market leader. And you sell all of the apps, most of the ads, and a lot of the content, keeping a slice of everything.


.prWrap,.prWrap DIV,.prWrap TABLE,.prWrap TABLE TBODY,.prWrap TABLE TR,.prWrap TABLE TD,.prWrap IMG{margin:0px 0px 0px 0px;padding:0px 0px 0px 0px;border:0px 0px 0px 0px;overflow:visible;direction:ltr;background:none;background-color:transparent;} ','300','250','1','1',1335771,686024,'0','324');" onmouseout="if(typeof(prRoll)=='function')prBExit(event);">Does Apple really intend to abandon the Macintosh in order to pursue the iPhone, iPad, iOS, and iAds? Well, now things have ratcheted up again, because some fanboy sent the article to Steve Jobs, and Jobs has responded: “Completely wrong. Just wait.”

Jobs has a history of saying one thing and doing the exact opposite. It’s not lying. It’s his “reality distortion field.” But maybe he means it. None of us on the outside have any idea what Apple ever intends to do about anything.

I would, however, suggest people take a look at revenue figures for Macintosh over the past few years, and compare those numbers to the iPhone. In Apple’s fiscal 2007 year, Mac sales were $10.3 billion. They grew to $14.3 billion in 2008, dropped to $13.9 billion in 2009. This year, according to RBC, Mac revenues will be $16.5 billion and next year they’ll be $16.7 billion. It’s a great business, but one that has essentially flatlined.

Forget the Nexus One, Google's failed attempt at marketing its own "iPhone killer" via the web - the next big "Google Phone" is definitely going to be HTC's EVO, the first 4G Android smartphone hit the U.S. June 4th on Sprint, the EVO comes with a loaded spec sheet that includes everything you could possibly want in a smartphone and then some: 4G, a built-in mobile hotspot, dual cameras, HDMI output, FM tuner and more.

But is the EVO being over-hyped or is it worth the price? We examine the pros and cons.

When we first heard about the upcoming HTC EVO 4G, announced at the CTIA conference earlier this year, it sounded like the perfect Android device. Not only does is it a 4G phone (via Sprint's WiMAX, a next-generation cellular network), but it includes so many incredible specs, it was downright impossible for gadget junkies not to drool over the device.

But the reality is here, and by reality, we mean pricing plans. And the EVO is not cheap.

Hot: Those Who've Tried It Love It

There's no lack of enthusiasm for the HTC Evo 4G in the early hands-on impressions I've read around the Web. Phandroid said it's "awesome." Engadget said it's "frankly breathtaking." Boy Genius Report summed up its experience with one word: "wow." All of this bodes well for high-scoring reviews.

Not: Android 2.1

Android 2.1 is fine, but Android 2.2, with support for Flash, would've been the icing on the cake. I've read some rumors that Evo 4G will be second-in-line for Android 2.2, after Google's (GOOG) Nexus One, possibly in June. So this "Not" could turn "Hot" if there aren't any Droid-like snafus.

Hot: An unbelievable price

The HTC Evo 4G's $199 asking price should give pause to anyone who's been thinking about getting a Droid Incredible (or an iPhone, for that matter). Both phones cost the same, but the Evo 4G has a bigger screen, HD video capture, a front-facing camera and -- maybe I'm the only person who absolutely love this -- a kickstand. And of course, it's 4G-friendly, which brings me to ...

Not: Mandatory 4G

If you don't live in one of the 27 cities with WiMax, or the additional 15 coming on line this year, you'll still have to pay $10 extra for 4G coverage, bringing the total monthly cost to $80. The silver lining? Sprint's plan includes unlimited text, data, and calls to any U.S. mobile phone, and it's only $5 more than the most basic smartphone plan with Verizon (VZ) or AT&T.

Hot: Totally reasonable off-contract price

As nice as the HTC Evo 4G looks, it won't be long before better Android phones arrive, at least that's what history teaches us. For smartphone junkies, the Evo 4G is $450 off-contract -- not bad considering the Nexus One costs $529, the Droid costs $560, and the 16 GB iPhone (which also sells for $200 on-contract) costs $599 unsubsidized.

Not: No 4G? No Battery

Phandroid notes that if you wander out of 4G coverage, the HTC Evo 4G's battery will drain in a hurry, so you'll have to switch off 4G manually whenever you roam. Also, battery life in general remains a mystery, as Sprint has been reluctant to provide hard numbers. Pray that battery life isn't the Evo 4G's Achilles heel.

The newest iPhone comes out in two weeks; the Android OS continues to deploy on better and better hardware; and both operating systems roll out exciting new features and innovations with each release. So which deserves your hard-earned cash? A Starting Point You can evaluate iPhone and Android devices from countless angles,[1] so rather than pretend that we've got the One True Comparison, it only seems appropriate to highlight that we're not necessarily your average user. For more specifics on how we judge these devices, read this footnote.

For our purposes, we're measuring each phone OS against 20 features we care about most, declaring a winner (or a tie) for each category, and adding it all up. The extent to which our measurements match up with what you most care about may vary, but we suspect that many of you share similar values when it comes to your smartphone.

Ease of Use; Winner: iPhone Android has come a long way in a short time, but from an ease-of-use perspective, the iPhone wins out. You can pick up any iPhone and quickly, easily understand what's going on. It's got one main button on the front of the device, and everything you do consists of tapping app icons from the home screen. Android devices have several buttons on the front of the device that perform a variety of functions, and once you unlock the screen (and depending on which Android device you have), you're confronted with many different possible home screens and ways of doing things from those home screens.

Openness; Winner: Android We really like that the Android operating system open source, but what's more important to most end users is openness in terms of what you can run on these devices. The operating systems themselves are clearly important, but one thing's abundantly clear: the applications make the phone. And while Google has yet to get in hot water for rejecting apps based on anti-competitive fear or censorship, Apple's has. A lot.

Battery Life; Winner: iPhone Apple has taken battery life extremely seriously in their careful development of the iPhone, and it's shown. While Android devices get a kitchen-sink's worth of features that you may consider to be a fair tradeoff for battery life, there's little question that the iPhone's battery life outlasts that of most Android devices. Battery performance definitely varies from Android handset to Android handset (the recently released EVO is taking big hits for its poor battery performance), but the iPhone's battery performance—particularly the new iPhone's performance—generally outlasts Android's.

Multitasking; Tie It's a big deal that the iPhone is finally getting some multitasking support in iOS4, and while it's still not as true of multitasking as Android users enjoy, the tradeoff in terms off battery life improvements is important enough that, overall, we'd consider multitasking to be a wash.

Software Keyboard; Winner: iPhone If you talk to anyone who's used both the iPhone and Android with some frequency, the general consensus is that the iPhone's software keyboard is a good deal better than Android's default keyboard. That's unfortunate for Android users, but the consolation is that you can install any custom keyboard as your default keyboard on Android, and we've seen some solid keyboard alternatives. Still, the advantage, if only by virtue of being better out of the box, goes to the iPhone.

System-Wide Search; Tie Apple's implementation of Spotlight on the iPhone searches contacts, media, email, applications, notes, and calendar. Android searches most of that (but notably not email), but also integrates with auto-suggest web searches; it also lets other applications plug into it, so the more supported apps you install, the more robust the universal search becomes.

Notification system; Winner: Android This may seem like a silly thing to care too much about, but the iPhone's modal notification system is particularly user un-friendly, especially for a device as friendly as the iPhone. You have to act on a notification, and you can only see one notification at a time before the next one dismisses the previous one entirely. Android's brilliant pull-down window shade notification tray, on the other hand, is a beautiful thing that could make any iPhone owner jealous.

Voice-to-Text; Winner: Android Nearly every text field on an Android device can be filled with a few words from your mouth, and it works surprisingly well. You can respond to emails by voice, send long text messages by voice while you're walking around Target, respond to your editor's IMs while you're at a graduation ceremony, and so on, as long as you're comfortable talking to your phone (it is a phone, so you should be). Apart from voice-to-text in third party apps, iOS doesn't support voice-to-text at all.

Syncing; Winner: Android iPhones can be incredible standalone devices, but they're surprisingly old-fashioned when it comes to syncing, requiring users to plug into their computers and connect to iTunes to do all sorts of syncing and activating that could be more conveniently done wirelessly. Android phones support pretty great over-the-air syncing with your Google account, so much so that if you were to lose your previous Android phone, simply entering your Google account into a new one can get you up and running with a usable phone in a jiffy.

Non-Google Sync; Winner: iPhone Android's great at syncing seamlessly with Google's servers, but it's not so keen on syncing with other popular sources of data—like, say, Outlook, Address Book, or iTunes. If you're a heavy user of any of those applications, the iPhone is the easiest option.

Tethering; Winner: Android The cost of tethering on Android devices varies depending on the provider, but so far the Android tethering situation is better off than what AT&T is offering on the iPhone. In the States, AT&T will charge you $20/month just for the privilege of tethering your iPhone's data connection to a computer—despite the fact that you're already paying for a metered data plan. The situation isn't necessarily much better across the Android-sphere (Sprint is also planning to charge for tethering on the EVO, for example), but currently most Android carriers are sticking with "unlimited" plans, versus AT&T/iPhone's 2GB limit. It's still a close race on this point, but Android edges ahead with the ability to turn your handset into a Wi-Fi hotspot that can deliver wireless to you and seven of your closest friends.

Release and Update Consistency; Winner: iPhone These days, your mobile OS is just as important (if not more) than mobile hardware, and Apple has set the consumer expectation to expect that their device will receive new feature updates even if it isn't the latest phone. To that end, it's extremely easy to keep track of what's going on in the iPhone ecosystem. Apple releases one new phone a year, and one major update each year. When an update rolls out, every phone receives the update at the same time (unless it's particularly old; the original iPhone won't upgrade to iOS4, for example). In contrast, Android runs on a lot of different devices, and when Google pushes out a new update, there's no telling when or if it's going to make its way to your phone. In the future Google is planning to change to yearly Android updates similar to iPhone OS updates, which will likely help this situation, but in the meantime, it's a source of frustration for Android users.

Apps; Tie A lot of people may disagree on this assessment, given that Apple's App Store has around four times the number of applications the Android Market does, but there's also a lot of crap in the App Store, and at this point, most popular, mission-critical applications have been developed for both the iPhone and Android. What's more, some potentially very popular applications end up locked out of the App Store for, if we're being generous, arbitrary reasons. At the end of the day, it may be a big deal that your must-have application X is missing from the Android Market/App Store, and those may end up to be dealbreakers for you, but overall we'd call them pretty even.

Web browsing; Tie The iPhone's Mobile Safari browser, while not without its faults, is a very nice, very usable mobile browser. Android's browser, while not as smooth an operator as Safari, supports (or can support) Flash. The extent to which that matters to you may vary, but it's big enough that we're considering it a tie.

Gaming; Winner: iPhone We're frugal productivity nerds at Lifehacker, so we don't really care all that much about gaming. And while the number of solid gaming options available in the Android Market continue to grow, it's still not on par with what's available for the iPhone.

Music Player; Winner: iPhone Android may do a lot of things well, but one arena where its users regularly voice complaint is with its default media player. Where the iPhone comes with a very solid iPod app, most Android users quickly go looking for alternative players. Google is hyping over-the-internet streaming of all your music from your desktop computer eventually, but until we see something great there, the iPhone still wins out.

Free Turn-by-Turn Navigation; Winner: Android After the Google Voice debacle from last year, it's looking less and less likely that Google will ever develop another new app for the iPhone. Unfortunately, that means that extremely cool applications like Google Maps Navigation, Google's free turn-by-turn GPS application, will never make it to the iPhone, and so far there isn't anything as good for the iPhone that's also free. The iPhone does have its share of solid for-a-price GPS utilities in the App Store (and some decent inexpensive-to-free options), but Maps Navigation is built into Android and outshines the iPhone's free alternatives.

Integration with Google Apps; Winner: Android If you rely on Google tools like Gmail, Google Contacts, Google Calendar, and the like, Android just does it better. The iPhone's still no slouch, and can sync over-the-air with Contacts, Calendar, and even does Gmail push for instant new message notifications, but if you're a serious Google or even just Gmail user, the iPhone doesn't stack up to Android.

Google Voice; Winner: Android It may seem absurd to make this a separate point of comparison from Google Apps, but Voice is a very phone-centric app with potentially huge influence over how you use your phone. Apple had the option to approve a Google Voice app for the iPhone and completely blew it. And since we really love Google Voice, it only makes Android look that much more attractive.

Customizable; Winner: Android You may be able to add a wallpaper to your iPhone desktop when iOS4 rolls out, but beyond that, there's not much you can do to tweak your iPhone to exactly how you like it—without jailbreaking, that is. In comparison, Android devices are Mr. Potato Heads of customizability.

Overall Score: Android: 13; iPhone: 11 Clearly our scorecard is extremely subjective, so take this evaluation with a grain of salt, and consider how important the features we listed (and maybe those we didn't list) are to you and come up with your own assessment. If your priorities are similar to ours, you're likely looking at an Android for your next purchase. Frankly, it feels a little like a draw overall. (My ideal would be Android running on the iPhone 4, which is actually possible, eventually.)

In fact, in our recent poll on the subject, 66 percent of Lifehacker readers said they prefer Android; 30 percent prefer the iPhone, and 4 percent preferred neither. Whichever end of the spectrum you fall on, we'd love to hear more about what's driving your decision in the comments.

So: if you have just awoken from a coma and/or discovered the Internet, Apple rolled out their tablet today. It’s called the iPad. After the wave of iTampon/Max-iPad/other feminine hygiene product-related jokes died down, folks came to this realization: there are some good things about the iPad, and some bad things about it.

It’s fair to say that the reaction to the iPad has been mixed. This can be explained away, in part, by the absurd buildup to the thing. But what substantive features define it? The good and the bad:

Pro

• Third-party support: the iPad will be able to run third-party apps without modifications. Kind of like the iPhone! Yes, Apple will profit off of an even more hyped-up app store, but users will benefit from the flexibility and creativity brought in by (mostly profit-seeking) developers. Also key: the iBooks e-reader app. It may not instantly rescue all of journalism, but it’s a start, and this may make the iPad an attractive choice for consumers who don’t want to buy black-and-white, restricted Internet e-readers. More broadly, in the words of David Carr, “the iPad is creating and killing categories at the same time;” the free market says that third-party devs will best be able to figure out what to do with all of that potential.

Con

• It’s running on the iPhone operating system (currently, version 3.2); no OS X. Among other things, this means no multitasking: as in, you can’t run two applications at the same time. Also: no Flash (see below). Engadget: “There’s no multitasking at all. It’s a real disappointment. All this power and very little you can do with it at once. No multitasking means no streaming Pandora when you’re working in Pages… you can figure it out. It’s a real setback for this device.”

Pro

• HTML5, the still-developing next generation of HTML, has been thoroughly embraced by the iPhone’s OS, and, by extension, the iPad’s. HTML5 isn’t yet fully there, but it’s promising: Ask a bunch of web geeks about HTML5 and you’ll hear a lot of answers to the effect that it’s the future of the Internet, both because it patches up much of HTML4’s clutter and because it’s seen as a freer, more open development platform. (Counterpoint: see H.264 codec)

Con

• The flipside of that: no Flash. This isn’t totally a minus — see above —  but the Web is a long way to go from being all HTML5, with the result that big chunks of it will be shut off to early iPad users. The top comment on a critical thread on Reddit:  ”[N]o Flash support. It literally is just a big iPod Touch with some free apps included.”

Pro

• The cheapest iPad, which has the minimum 16 gigabytes of storage, costs $500; this is well below the $1000 pricetag predicted by some.

Con

• The cheapest iPad doesn’t come with 3G coverage; for that, you’ll need to bump it up to $629, which doesn’t factor in the $30/month you’ll be paying for unlimited data. (because you will be paying for unlimited data and not 250 MB a month, right?)

Pro

• 10 hours of battery life while watching video, with up to a month of standby! At least according to Steve Jobs. Given that it’s so thin and weighs only 1.5 pounds, this is pretty remarkable.

Con

• The battery is built in, which means you’re screwed if it conks out. This was one of the things that people most disliked about the MacBook Air.

Pro

• The iPad has a digital compass, 3G-assisted GPS, accelerometer, ambient light sensor, Apple’s custom 1 GHz Apple A4 chip, and is multitouch-compatible.

Con

• For all of that, no camera, at all. No Skype, no augmented reality, no photos on the go. Seriously: the accelerometer over that?

Again: the iPad is a mixed bag, and it is not the mythical unicorn-like creature that the hype cycle inevitably built it up to be. But there’s a lot to like about it, and, like it or not, when it hits shelves two months down the road, there are going to be some long, long lines outside the Apple Store.

Pros:

• Multitasking – The big one, and what users have been clamouring for since the beginning, Apple has devised a way to allow programs to run as background processes in a way that doesn’t harm the CPU and battery. Really, their solution comes just short of true multitasking, allowing key processes for certain apps to run in the background while resources can be directed to apps in the foreground. So now you can finally run Pandora while checking your mail, or take calls from Skype while browsing while your phone’s performance won’t take a hit. Other implementations include backgrounded location for GPS and social media programs, Push notifications, and local notifications.
• Folders – A common niggling complaint among iPhone and iPod Touch users is that their devices just don’t have a great way to organize apps on the homescreen. In iPhone OS 4.0, Apple has created Folders as a way to organize apps that correspond to their respective App Store categories, or whatever the user wants them to be. Just drag an icon and hover it over another to make a folder on the fly.
• Wallpapers - Took them long enough.
• Enhanced Mail – In OS 4.0’s Mail app, you’ll now have a unified inbox that can handle multiple accounts, as well as threaded messages and attachments for third-party apps. Combined with multitasking, you can open an attachment in Mail that opens another app in what will hopefully be a seamless experience. Very cool.
• Enterprise – Deploying multiple iPhones over a business network is made easier and with security as a focus. Also, company-developed apps can be downloaded right from the jump, bypassing the App Store.

In just those five points, Apple has covered its bases pretty well: Again, multitasking is the biggie, but these address some of the biggest and most widespread user complaints about iPhone OS 3. However, not all is as rosy as seen through Steve Jobs’ glasses.

Cons:

• Support – OS 4.0 will be available in all it’s proposed glory for the iPhone 3GS and 3rd Generation iPod Touches. 3G and 2nd gen models of the respective devices will only have “many” features, with multitasking conspicuously absent from them. Jobs explained that the decision was a non-issue as older models simply don’t support these new features, but was vague as to what exactly might be missing. And if you’re an iPhone 2G or 1st gen iPod Touch user, you’re pretty much out of luck. This also begs the question of how OS 3.2 will be handled after this release. So, if you can’t pony up the dough for the new tech, you may have to keep on jailbreaking keep on dutifully abiding by Apple’s TOS.
• Unsigned Apps – During the Q&A session after the event, one audience member asked if users can expect a future app store that didn’t hinge on Apple’s approval, citing Android and WebOS’s offerings. Jobs’ response was a flat and unsurprising no. Apple’s control over the App Store hinges on their not wanting porn apps that might be downloaded by children, although it should be noted Mobile Safari already accesses plenty of porn sites optimized for the iPhone. Not a blemish on the OS itself, but yet more fuel to the App Store management fire.
• No Flash. Period. – Apple has made it clear that it will not budge on the HTML5 vs. Flash debate. How this will turn out is anyone’s guess, but what can be considered a con now might be a pro in coming years as sites slowlly embrace the new standard.

Other points of interest:

• No clear release date or pricing, though we might be safe to guess at a similar scheme to previous iterations: Free for the iPhone, $10 for the iPod Touch. The developer copy, however, went live today.
• OS 4.0 for the iPad will be released this fall. Presumably to work out the kinks?
• iBooks – Jobs made a big deal about the iBookstore when the iPad was unveiled, and, with over 600k iBooks downloaded to date, it has been successful. iPhone OS 4.0 supports the iBookstore, which looks just as it did on the iPad. Only smaller.
• No mention made of the rumoured iPhone 4G.
• Game Center – A social gaming platform that will include achievements and leaderboards similar to Xbox Live. It will likely replace existing platforms like ngmoco plus+, but Jobs assured those in attendance that the same people who would potentially be in competition with them have worked with them on it.
• iAd – This is Apple’s foray into advertising, and Jobs wasn’t shy about saying they’re “babes in the woods.” However, this seemed to excite him a great deal. Going so far to say that mobile advertising “really sucks” right now (It kind of does), Apple has attempted to combine the interactivity of web-based ads with the emotionality of televised one. What this translates to is highly interactive, app-like ads that make use of HTML5 video and that hover over the app the user might be using. Simply click on an ad within an app, play around with it or even make a purchase, and then go right back to what you were doing. Apple plans on selling and hosting these ads, with 60% of the revenue going to developers. Pro? Con? App developers will surely like some extra cashflow, but it could still go either way from a user’s perspective, depending on how it’s actually used.