Apple's iPhone 4 hits stores today

After lining up for hours, or sometimes days, Apple fanatics this morning started to get their hands on the iPhone 4, the latest gizmo in that company's line of trend-setting smartphones.

The iPhone 4 went on sale at 7 a.m. local time today in U.S. stores, and at 8 a.m. local time in France, Germany, Japan and the UK.

At a flagship Apple Store on Fifth Avenue in New York, more than 600 people had lined up to get a device that some were calling the "Jesus Phone," according to CNNMoney.

Gizmodo, a technology blog, pointed its readers to an iPhone app -- called Line Snob -- that helps iPhone line junkies know how long they will be waiting. Of course, as one commenter pointed out, you would need an old version of the iPhone to be able to use that app.

When Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the new phone this month, he said the iPhone 4 is "the biggest leap we've taken since the original iPhone," which debuted in 2007.

The phone will cost $199 for a 16-gigabyte version and $299 for a version with 32 gigabytes of storage space for photos, videos, movies and apps. It 4 has a higher-resolution screen, which Apple calls a "retina display" and says is better than anything in the industry.

It is about 25 percent thinner than the most recent generation of iPhones and features cameras on the front and back, which will allow video conferencing. The phone comes in two colors: black and white.

Early reviews of the phone have been predominantly positive.

(Via CNN)