Fring Update Allows iPhone Video Calls over 3G!

 

Nobody knew if Apple was going to approve 3rd-party apps that use the front facing camera for video calls on the iPhone 4, but now we do. As Fring, just updated it's iPhone app to support video calling! But the great thing about this is that it that it works over 3G. It is a bit more complicated than Apple's Facetime service, which requires WiFi to work but is very simple and intuitive. But it Fring does work over 3G, which is a Plus.

Download the app Here

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Source Fring

WWDC Roundup

Well this year's WWDC was very entertaining. Alike the Google I/O conference, the keynote was plagued by technical difficulties. Including the WiFi not working which made Steve make everybody turn off their Wifi. Even though we did not see any updates to the Mac Pro, Mac Mini, Apple TV  or the iTunes streaming service, they did announce (to nobody's surprise) the new iPhone: Dubbed the iPhone 4. And that was what this keynote was all about.

Any way lets start from the beggining. At 10:01 PST Steve Jobs got out on stage at the keynote of WWDC. So Steve starts talking about the iPad and how successful it has been. The main facts include that one sold every 3 seconds and there are 8500 iPad apps in the app store. So then he starts to talk about iBooks, and that it has 22% of the eBook market and 5m books downloaded in the first 65 days. Also there is a new feature in iBooks. A PDF reader.

So with that stuff out of the way, Steve talks about the iPhone app store and how it has over 225,000 apps and that there is a 95% apps approved. After, Steve invites up CEOs of several companies to announce their iPhone apps. These include Netflix, Activision and Zynga who make FarmVille. So that means there is going to be an iPhone Netflix app, a Guitar Hero app and a FarmVille for iPhone.

Then Steve talks about how the iPhone has 3 times amount of Market share than Android with 28% of US market share.

However this is when Steve talks about the new iPhone. iPhone 4. And Steve says that the iPhone is "the biggest leap since the original iPhone." So lets go over the main features

  •  The metal band around the iPhone actually helps with the 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth and 2G signals. The back of the iPhone is made out of glass but is supposed to be "30% stronger than plastic."Also the glass is scratch resistant.
  • Thinner profile. In fact it it is 24% thinner than the 3GS at only 9.3mm.
  • A second noise cancelling mike for better call quality.
  • A front facing camera for Video chat. (See Below)
  • A 5Mp Camera with a LED flash which can also record 720p HD footage! It has a 5x digital zoom and tap to focus. Also Apple is announcing iMove for iPhone which lets you edit movies on the iPhone, and then directly upload them to places like YouTube and Facebook.
  • A 3.5" display at 960x640! The highest on any phone on the market. There is also a technlolgy in the display called "Retina Display" which increases the pixel density by 4 times to 326PPi. This makes text, photos videos and the web look really amazing
  • The iPhone 4 will have the Apple A4 1GHz chip like in the iPad so it will run really fast.
  • The battery life will be greatly increased. It will have 7 hours 3G talk time, 6 hours 3G browsing, 10 hours WiFi browsing, 10 hours video, 40 hours music and 300 hours standby.
  • It will have up to 32Gb of storage.
  • It will be quad- band HSDPA/HSUPA. At 7.2 down and 5.8 up. Which could mean other carriers coming to the iPhone later in the year.
  • A Gyroscope for gaming.

 So then Steve just goes over iPhone OS 4 which is now named iOS4 because the iPad also runs the software. Also he then talks about iAds.

Then, there is one more thing. Video Chat (To much applause). Steve called Jony Ive on stage with the front-facing camera. 

Facetime is only from iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 and only on WiFi. However Steve said that they are working with Carriers for 2011 3G facetime. Yes he said "Carriers."

So what will this cost?

Well it will be $199 for the 16Gb model and $299 for the 32Gb. The same price as the 3GS. And a really good thing from AT&T is that if your contract ends in 2010, you're eligible for an iPhone 4 upgrade.

The iPhone 4 will be released on June 24th in US, UK Germany, France and Japan and the iOS4 will be released on June 21st.

See all the info on the new iPhone Here.

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