Apple has announced two last-minute improvements to the iPhone. The first is that the top surface of the device has been upgraded from plastic to a high-quality glass overlay. This improves both the display’s vibrancy as well as the durability. Many were concerned that the polycarbonate plastic commonly used by Apple products would be scratched easily. Apple previously responded that they were using a new polycarbonate plastic process, however, glass is an even superior upgrade.
The second upgrade is in terms of battery life. Through improvements in testing, firmware, and the embedded Mac OS X installation, Apple has increased battery life beyond the previously-announced levels. Talk time has increased three hours to eight hours. Standby time, not previously announced has been rated at 250 hours. Other times are shown below.
This comes as more details have been released to AT&T stores about iPhone’s launch. AT&T stores will close at 4:30 PM on June 29th, to re-brand and prepare for crowd control, easing checkout times for iPhone sales. Such a move may gain Apple attention on nightly newscasts (as opposed to dark photos from a midnight launch). However, users are looking forwards to camping out upwards of 18 hours if lines begin to start at midnight… stores won’t open until 6 PM for sales.