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.

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.

At last after seven years of hard work world’s first and only solar powered airplane Solar Impulse made its first real flight on April 7 2010. Solar Impulse, a prototype of an airplane designed to fly around the world using only solar power. On Swiss countryside this aircraft powered by 12,000 solar cells flew for 87 minutes to an altitude of nearly 4,000 feet.

Solar Impulse program founder Bertrand Piccard called the inaugural flight a crucial step toward fulfilling his goal of circumnavigating the globe in such an unusual aircraft. In a statement from the Solar Impulse team, Piccard said he was relieved to have the first flight completed after seven years of hard work.

”This first flight was for me a very intense moment,” test pilot Markus Scherdel said after emerging from the solar airplane’s podlike cockpit. During the flight, HB-SIA lifted off at just under 30 mph and a relatively short takeoff run. The four 10-horsepower electric motors are expected to deliver enough power for a cruise speed of around 40 to 45 mph. No, Solar Impulse won’t set any speed records.

The wingspan of HB-SIA is 208 feet, that’s about 10 feet more than Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner. But the airplane only weighs 3,500 pounds loaded for flight, about 499,000 pounds less than the 787. After more flight testing with the sun powering HB-SIA, the Solar Impulse team hopes to perform night testing later this year. During those flights, the team will examine the viability of the schedule they plan to use for the around-the-world flight. The plan is to climb to higher altitudes during the day, and trade that altitude for airspeed, supplemented with battery power, to continue flying during the night. They expect to fly 36-hour shifts.

“We still have a long way to go until the night flights and an even longer way before flying round the world, but today, thanks to the extraordinary work of an entire team, an essential step towards achieving our vision has been taken,” Piccard said in the statement from the team. The around-the-world flight is scheduled to take place in 2012 with an updated version of HB-SIA. The flight will take place in several stages with pilots alternating regularly and a team on the ground keeping a careful eye on weather for the delicate aircraft.

At the end of the year, we look back on the past 12 months to try to figure out what went right – and what’s coming up on the horizon. The gaming industry is no different, and gamers are trying to determine what games succeeded and which will be the sequels-to-come in 2010.

Spike TV hosted the Video Game Awards 2009 on Saturday and handed out hardware to some of the best games of the year. All the big games were nominated in 28 different categories, from best game based on a TV show or movie, to best fighting game and, finally, game of the year. Each platform also got a “best of” award voted on by fans.

Top honors went to “Uncharted 2: Among Thieves” for game of the year, beating out “Assassin’s Creed 2”, “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2”, “Left 4 Dead 2” and the only non-sequel out of the nominees, “Batman: Arkham Asylum.”

“Uncharted 2” also picked up best PS3 game, while “Left 4 Dead 2” got best Xbox 360 game. “New Super Mario Bros. Wii” was chosen best Wii game and “Dragon Age: Origins” was the best PC game.

The night wasn’t all about looking back at 2009. There were enough world-premier and first-look videos to whet the appetite for 2010. “God of War III” won the award for most anticipated game of 2010.

One of the biggest surprises included a look at the debut trailer of “Batman: Arkham Asylum 2,” which features a burning Gotham City and a laughing Joker seen getting a blood transfusion. The Clown Prince of Crime obviously survived the “final” battle with Batman, but is definitely in recovery mode and homicidal as ever.

Another game goes the sequel route in 2010 was “Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II.” The debut trailer features the voices of Yoda and Darth Vader trying to sway the main character from the first game to their side of the force.

But probably the brightest light for 2010 will be shining on the newest incarnation in the Halo franchise. The first ever in-game footage of “Halo: Reach” highlighted the group interactions as players will be taking on the role of Lieutenant with the call sign Noble Six.

Other announcements included the addition of Green Day to the “Rock Band” game, a new “Prince of Persia” game and a “Tron: Evolution” game that will obviously be tied in to the upcoming movie.

If you were hoping to catch your breath after this year’s blockbuster games, time’s up. Make sure your platforms are ready because this is going to be a wild, exciting ride in 2010.

NASA launched a new telescope into space on Monday to scan the cosmos for undiscovered objects, including asteroids and comets that might threaten Earth.

The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, spacecraft will employ an infrared camera to detect light- and heat-emitting objects that other orbiting telescopes, such as the Hubble, might miss.

WISE launched Monday at 9:09 a.m. ET aboard a Delta II rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The launch was postponed from Friday because of a problem with the motion of a booster steering engine.

The unmanned WISE will spend the next nine months in orbit, 326 miles above the Earth, mapping the universe in infrared light. Its lens eventually will cover the whole sky 1½ times, snapping a picture every 11 seconds.

“The last time we mapped the whole sky at these particular infrared wavelengths was 26 years ago,” said Edward “Ned” Wright of UCLA, the principal investigator of the mission. He was referring to WISE’s predecessor, the Infrared Astronomical Satellite, which launched in 1983 and discovered six comets.