Right so iPhon4 day has come and gone and now as the dust has settled and I have actually had time to use the phone I can now comment on the myth and legend that is the iPhone 4.
The first thing to note, as usual for Apple, is that the packaging is as minimal as it can be and the box is considerably smaller then the 3G that I was replacing with it. The content again is minimal, the phone, sync cable, wall charger, headphones, SIM ejection tool and warranty information. Personally I like this minimalism and think a lot of companies could learn a thing or two from Apple in this regard.
Having opted for changing network I was speared the horrendous lines at o2 stores and managed to walk in and out of my chosen emporium within 20 minutes cradling my new toy. The first thing that strikes you about the handset when you initially unpack is it's that it is retro and modern looking at the same time, gone are the curves of previous iPhones replaced by sleek straight edges. The jury is still out on how comfortable this will be to hold for long surfing or gaming sessions but so far I have to admit it is not as comfy to hold although once you add one of the Apple bumpers, which is an almost essential purchase do to the signal lose issue (see below), it is a lot more comfortable to hang onto for long periods of times. But still in its naked form it is a beautiful looking device and so incredibly thin.
Having missed the upgrade to the 3GS the first thing that hit me was the speed of the phone, it is incredibly fast and responsive, you touch an icon and immediately the app opens ready for use even when you have a non native app running a back ground service. The second thing that hits you is the screen which Apple have dubbed the Retina Display which is a LCD that uses IPS technology similar to what Apple use in their LED Cinema displays. And the screen is everything that it has cracked up to be, it is a thing of real beauty, it is extremely bright and apps that use the full 960x640 look stunning.
The quality of the screen is most evident when flicking through my photo library, the pictures have a life that was never there on the low resolution 3G, they simply look stunning. App icons are beautifully renders in high resolution and incredible, although these have to be updated by the app developer.
It now packs a 5 megapixel camera and for those of you hung up on megapixels, don't despair as we all know this has no bearing on how good camera is. The iPhone 4 camera is a revelation to behold it simply takes some stunning pictures there are no two way s about it, okay it lacks plenty of features but for a quick point and shoot it is superb. The only thing that would really improve this would be some image stabilisation hardware as it can be tricky to hold the thing steady.
The 3Gs added video recording and once again Apple up the ante and packs in 720p 30fps video recording and if you though the pictures it took were good the video is simply in a league of its own. Again there are issues with image stabilisation but for the price and the quality it cannot be beaten. It produces nice free silky smooth HD video which can be uploaded directly to Youtube (Youtube uploading requires a purchase of iMove).
As a phone not much has changed, you still can't personalise it beyond changing the ringtone and setting background wallpaper, there are no profiles and still there is no notification system for the lock screen. And you must have heard about the signal lose issue so I won't go into it here but I will say this it will depend on where you are and how strong the signal strength is. So far I have not had the misfortune of dropping any calls.
On the whole it is a well designed phone, antenna design notwithstanding and a worthy upgrade from a iPhone 2/3G but maybe not so much for a upgrade for 3Gs users.
