While Apple may tinker with the final packaging and design of the final phone, it’s clear that the features in this lost-and-found next-generation iPhone are drastically new and drastically different from what came before. Here’s the detailed list of our findings:

What’s new

• Front-facing video chat camera
• Improved regular back-camera (the lens is quite noticeably larger than the iPhone 3GS)
• Camera flash
• Micro-SIM instead of standard SIM (like the iPad)
• Improved display. It’s unclear if it’s the 960×640 display thrown around before—it certainly looks like it, with the “Connect to iTunes” screen displaying much higher resolution than on a 3GS.
• What looks to be a secondary mic for noise cancellation, at the top, next to the headphone jack
• Split buttons for volume
• Power, mute, and volume buttons are all metallic

What’s changed

• The back is entirely flat, made of either glass (more likely) or ceramic or shiny plastic in order for the cell signal to poke through. Tapping on the back makes a more hollow and higher pitched sound compared to tapping on the glass on the front/screen, but that could just be the orientation of components inside making for a different sound
• An aluminum border going completely around the outside
• Slightly smaller screen than the 3GS (but seemingly higher resolution)
• Everything is more squared off
• 3 grams heavier
• 16% Larger battery
• Internals components are shrunken, miniaturized and reduced to make room for the larger battery

Retina display

The Retina display on iPhone 4 is the sharpest, most vibrant, highest-resolution phone screen ever, with four times the pixel count of previous iPhone models. In fact, the pixel density is so high that the human eye is unable to distinguish individual pixels. Which makes text amazingly crisp and images stunningly sharp.

multitasking

iPhone 4 introduces a whole new way of multitasking. Now you can run your favourite third-party apps — and switch between them instantly — without slowing down the performance of the foreground app or draining the battery unnecessarily.¹ This smarter approach to multitasking is available only on iPhone.

Shoot your own movies in high definition. Capture impressive video even in low-light settings, thanks to the advanced backside illumination sensor and built-in LED light. Then edit and create your own mini-masterpiece right on iPhone 4 using the new iMovie app — with Apple-designed themes, titles and transitions. It’s coming soon to the App Store.

Take beautiful, detailed photos with the new 5-megapixel camera with built-in LED flash. The advanced backside illumination sensor captures great pictures even in low light. And the new front-facing camera makes it easy to take self-portraits.

While we’ve seen plenty of stabs at viable green energy, from underwater turbines to the Bloom Box, we’re always up for another. Running along the same lines as Uppsala University’s algae-based batteries, researchers at Stanford are generating electrical current by tapping into the electron activity of individual algae cells. The team designed a gold electrode that can be pushed through a cell membrane, which then seals around it. The cell, still alive, does what it does best (photosynthesis), at which point scientists harvest chemical energy in the form of electrons. According to Stanford University News, this results in “electricity production that doesn’t release carbon into the atmosphere. The only byproducts of photosynthesis are protons and oxygen.” Of course, the team has a long way to go before this is economically feasible, but who knows? Maybe there’s an algae-powered OPhone in your future…

The 64GB version of Microsoft Zune HD personal multimedia player lets users store about 20 hours of 720p HD video, or 6,400 songs at 320Kbps. The price compares favorably to an iPod touch of the same capacity, which costs $400.

Each ships alongside firmware 4.5, which adds more codecs support, including DivX, access to Microsoft’s Marketplace apps and music store via the AV dock connection and Smart DJ. Smart DJ lets users select an artist, album or song and hear a playlist of similar songs or genres.

Sanyo brought out two new Xacti camcorders, the vertical CG100 and traditional GH1 both capture 1080p at up to 30 frames per second at 1080p and can move up to 60 frames at 720p. Either adds SDXC and can now take on 64GB or more of removable storage.

The two have 5X lenses with a unique dual-mode configuration that can accommodate wide-angle shots between 40-240mm and telephoto distances at 80-480mm. They can handle 14-megapixel still photos, face detection and on-the-spot color adustjment. Sanyo is shipping both the CG100 and GH1 to Japan on April 16th for an equivalent to $374 and is likely to port them over to the US in the near future.

“Sex and the City” fans were expecting the upcoming sequel – based off HBO’s hit series – to cover the regular bases: Friendship, fashion, cocktails, romance and, of course, New York.

But moviegoers will also see a few more famous faces. Joining Carrie, Charlotte, Samantha and Miranda is a star-filled cast. Penelope Cruz, Liza Minelli and Miley Cyrus are just a few of the celebs who popped up in the new trailer, recently released online.

The trailer also features “Sex and the City’s” leading men, Mr. Big, Steve, Harry and Carrie’s former love, Aiden (John Corbett), who was absent from the first film.

Watch the girls as they travel from New York to Abu Dhabi when “Sex and the City 2” makes its way to the big screen May 28.