iPhone OS 4.0 is on its way. What do we know about it?

As we have already mentioned, we believe Apple has planned to announced iPhone OS 4.0 shortly after the market release of the iPad and for a reason. The mobile devices of the company should be able to communicate with one another in a seamless manner and this is one of the major challenges the new software faces (and should be able to tackle). The word has it the iPhone is about to become a fully functional web camera for the iPad (Camera A and Camera B), although the latter have not been made by Apple. 

Information has surfaced the new version of the operating system will allow for improved gesture control. Whether this is the case indeed and the functionality would be similar to what the Palm Pre delivers (with its touch-band dedicated to gesture controls) remains to be seen.

A glimpse at the hardware specifications of the next iPhone

Tradition enjoins the new generation iPhone should be announced at the beginning of the summer, but now, with the spring well on its way, we still don't know much about what the handset would look like. Still, pictures and a video have already appeared on the Internet and allegedly, they reveal more about the handset display. Supposedly, the screen will be larger and measure 3.7 inches, instead of 3.5. Sounds great, because this probably means the new iPhone would remain comfortable to operate with one hand. According to another rumor, the native resolution would increase to 960х640 pixels, which would make for a nice improvement as well.




One of the things hidden under the hood would probably be none other, but Apple's A4 processor running at 1GHz. It has already proved itself as the mighty component responsible for the smooth operation of the iPad. A processor like this would be more than welcome, given the new iPhone would probably come with multitasking and HD video playback support, with these being some of the new features we would love to see.

The new generation is supposed to come with 5-megapixel camera. A reference to a resolution of 1,280x720 has been spotted in iPhone 3.2 SDK files, but we still don't know if this means video capture or playback. We certainly hope it's the former option, since most high-end devices scheduled for a summer release will offer such functionality. The next iPhone should also be equipped with video call camera, unless O2 UK has got it terribly wrong and made a huge mistake in its internal documentation.

Last, but not least, a CDMA version of the iPhone might finally see the light of day and bring joy to many customers of Verizon.

Conjectures and hopes relating to the future of the iPhone

We have already mentioned some of these, but we do hope that tomorrow we will finally see...

Streaming and cloud-based services (i.e. access to information uploaded on remote servers, no matter where you are or what handset you have). Apple acquired Lala at the end of 2009, a company that owned a website where you were allowed to upload music and listen to it later, no matter your particular location. According to the creator of MP3.com, you will soon be able to share your iTunes library and the iPhone seems like the best content streaming device for the task, because it allows for uninterrupted internet connectivity (unlike the iPod touch), plus many users today need constant connection to the Web to have their picture albums on Picasa, Flickr, Facebook, etc. automatically synchronized.

Transferring files over Bluetooth? Why not? Similarly to the long-awaited multitasking, this is one of the functions iPhone owners have been asking for since the market release of the first iPhone.

Speaking of hardware, we believe it would be really nice if the new device is equipped with LED flash, because the camera of the iPhone can be quite capable... if you stick to taking pictures in proper lighting conditions. Actually, it's not just a flash we have dreamed about, we would also want it to be a double Xenon one. And lasers... if at all possible. Fingers crossed, right?

(Instead of) conclusion

We all know that even if none of the above-mentioned rumors proves to be accurate, the next iPhone will still be an awesome, incredible, magnificent, super, mega, awesome, revolutionary, splendid, amazing... (we are about to lose it, aren't we?)...  awesome handset. All right, this was a joke... Anyway, sound off your opinion and share your expectations with us. Tell us what you think about the next iPhone and iPhone OS 4.0 in the comments below.