iPhone 4.0/4G rumour roundup

It's that time of year again. Can you smell it? Can you hear the tippy-tapping of impatient internet chatter? That's the sound of excitable tech geeks and lifestyle freaks alike all clamouring for snippets of information. It can only mean one thing.

Apple's about due to release a new handset, along with an accompanying OS.

So what do we know about iPhone 4.0/4G (there doesn't seem to be a consensus yet on what to call it)? Other than that it'll be the fourth iteration of the phone that changed everything, and that it faces a lot more pressure to come up with the goods than any of its predecessors (thanks, Android).

Well, as ever with an Apple device, we think we know plenty, but can be sure about very little (remember the iPad? That was definitely going to feature a camera, you know, and it was going to be called the iSlate). Here, then, is a roundup of what we know - or what we think we know - so far.

The strongest stick that rivals use to beat the iPhone with is its lack of multi-tasking functionality. “Sure,” says Johnny Windows Phone, “I may be a disastrous mess right now, running on a stop-gap OS while my years-late next iteration crawls towards production... I've forgotten what I was going to say now. Oh yes - but at least I can do more than one thing at a time! In fact, I'm ironing as I type this.”

Apple would argue that its handset does indeed offer multitasking of a sort - the kind of smart, pre-emptive multitasking that saves battery power and maximises overall performance. But anyone who's had to quit out of a game or app to check his email or take an incoming call will know that this is far from a perfect solution.

iPhone 4.0, say a number of people apparently in the know, will change all that, offering a "full-on solution" to multitasking.

Of course, this will mean a fair amount of tinkering with the famous interface that still stands at the pinnacle of mobile phone usability. The current iPhone's smooth, simple OS exists partly because of Apple's narrow approach to allowing third party apps to play nicely together.

Pretty self explanatory, this one. According to iPhone repair site iResQ, the fourth generation of iPhone could quite literally be a bigger deal than the 3GS. They claim to have seen the new faceplate, which they've measured at roughly a quarter of an inch longer than previous versions.

Of course, as the site itself admits, this could simply mean that the faceplate extends further while the surrounding bezel gets a reduction in size.

Either way - if true, it means we're going to be seeing a slightly different-looking fourth generation iPhone. Which is quite a big departure given the uniform design of previous handsets

This one emerged shortly before the unveiling of the iPad, and is indeed related to some of the rotund device's new features. Part of the new SDK, which iPhone OS 4.0 will no doubt make use of, allows developers to utilise a greater variety of gestures for their apps.

This would include such existing (but Apple-only) gestures as the long tap (currently used to copy and paste text) and the triple tap (currently used to turn the iPhone's display off in VoiceOver.

Video chat has been a rumoured feature for the next iPhone ever since the first mutterings concerning the second generation device. It's the new cut-and-paste now that we've, y'know, got cut-and-paste. Of course, no one has done more to fuel these rumours than Apple itself, which continues to patent front-facing camera technology.

So what's different this time? Well, the new iPhone SDK has had a suspicious number of video chat buttons and references popping in and out of use, suggesting that Apple is at least toying with the idea for its upcoming fourth generation device.

Then there's the fact that O2 is offering free video calls in its new iPhone plans. Interesting...

This one seems to be the least likely to me, but it's worth mentioning. Like video calling, Apple has registered a number of patents relating to miniature solar panel technology. Could these be implemented in the fourth generation iPhone?

Back in 2008, Apple made the first related patent for a solar panel that would be situated behind the screen of their device, allowing it to charge during use. More recently it emerged that Apple had patented a technology that would allow one of their devices to draw power from both solar and battery sources.

If it's true that Apple's looking into multitasking (see above) - a known resource drain for mobile devices - then the poor old battery is going to need as much help as it can get.

Maybe solar power isn't such a daft idea after all.