iPhone 4G

Apple iPhone 4 review: Love it or hate it

Introduction
You can't make a phone that everyone loves and Apple is not even trying. Much like any other iPhone so far, the iPhone 4 is a phone that everybody loves AND hates.

Apple’s latest is always the greatest – you have to give them that. Sometimes it seems they put less effort into making it than in letting people know they did. But with the Apple iPhone 4, they were obviously hard at work. The 4th generation iPhone has an all new look, new feel and plenty of new skill. We already caught a glimpse of the iOS4. But there’s much more: a 1GHz chip, two cameras, HD video and of course the Retina display – the highest-res screen we’ve seen so far on a GSM phone.

  

Apple iPhone 4 official photos

Surely there are still enough blank spots on the feature list but that’s Apple and its iPhone. Compromises are being made in every phone out there anyway. But the simple fact is Number 4 is the best iPhone to-date. Let’s see how good that is.

Key features

• Quad-band GSM and quad-band 3G support with 7.2 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA
• 3.5" 16M-color LED-backlit TFT capacitive touchscreen of 640 x 960 px resolution
• Scratch-resistant glass front and rear, with fingerprint-resistant coating
• 1GHz Apple A4 SoC; 512MB of RAM
• 5 MP autofocus camera with LED flash and touch focus
• 720p video recording at 30fps
• Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n
• GPS with A-GPS connectivity; digital compass
• 16/32GB storage options
• Accelerometer, proximity sensor and three-axis gyro sensor
• Active noise cancellation with a dedicated secondary microphone
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack, stereo Bluetooth v2.1
• Excellent audio output quality
• Slim waistline at only 9.3mm
• Secondary front-facing camera
• Some degree of multitasking
• Rich AppStore

Main disadvantages

• Hardware design is prone to reception issues
• MicroSIM card support only
• No Flash support in the web browser
• No true multitasking for all applications
• FaceTime video calls work only over Wi-Fi
• No file transfer over Bluetooth or USB Mass Storage mode
• No hardware shutter key for the camera
• No FM radio
• No stereo speakers
• No microSD card slot
• No smart dialing
• Too dependent on iTunes for loading multimedia content
• Poor loudspeaker performance

As you can see, most of the main disadvantages are simply passed from one generation to the next but - whatever iPhone you’re coming from - the Number 4 will tick most of your boxes. Upgraders will be used to the shortcomings, and unbiased observers will have less points to complain against.

It just seems some features will be forever missing. The iPhone’s memory isn’t expandable and you can’t use the thing as an external drive (this also means that files are only transferred via iTunes, again). Bluetooth has been upgraded to cover not only for music and calls but a compatible wireless keyboard too. File transfers however are a no-go.

The lack of Flash support in the Safari browser is no surprise given the Apple-Adobe feud. Luckily there’s the good old YouTube app to partly make up for that but Flash games  are still out of the question.

There is now a secondary video-call cam but the “reinvented” FaceTime video calls feature only works over Wi-Fi (for now) and between two iPhone 4’s.

As for the multitasking, this is the closest the iPhone has ever gotten but there is no true multitasking, and certainly not for all apps.

You've probably also heard of the user reports of reception issues and you're wondering how much of that is true. Well, we've checked that in detail, too.

   

The Apple iPhone 4 is a thing of beauty

All that (and a bit more) aside, the new goodies seem to merit at least some of the iPhone 4 hype. The Retina display is gorgeous. The 3.5” capacitive TFT touchscreen has four times the resolution of the older iPhones. At 640 x 960 pixels, it’s the best we’ve seen – statistically. But perhaps the most impressive too, for its actual performance.

There’s a generational leap in imaging too. The first two iPhones had a single 2MP fixed focus camera on board. Last year’s 3GS tried to make some sense with a 3-megapixel autofocus snapper. With the iPhone 4, Apple are finally beginning to look good. The primary 5-megapixel autofocus camera not only takes impressive images but shoots 720p videos too. Oh, and it has a LED flash.

Now, let’s see what else is in that tiny white retail box and check out those shiny glass panels. Let the iPhone 4 unboxing begin.

Unboxing the Apple iPhone 4

The new iPhone comes in a tiny white box with not much in it. Underneath the phone itself, we found the usual set of accessories: a charger, a USB cable and the same set of earphones with a 3.5mm audio jack as the one of the 3GS.

   
Nothing surprising to see in the Apple iPhone 4 retail package

Amidst the booklets (an iPhone 4 brochure and product guide) we came upon the SIM eject tool and a couple of stickers with an apple on them. That’s that. No free bumper case, no polishing cloth, no dock. You’re buying a 600 euro phone SIM-free – and you’re supposed to be able to afford some extra accessories.

Apple iPhone 4 360-degree spin

Three generations and an iPad later, the iPhone finally looks different. Better. At 115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3 mm the iPhone 4 is impressively slim and obviously less curvy. The weight has stayed almost the same at 137 g, an emphatic statement of the newly found poise and presence.

The metallic frame around the body actually consists of two separate parts and both are individual antennas. You probably have heard by now, that this design is reportedly causing some reception issues. Well, we're about to test that further down in the Telephony section of this review.

Apple's external antenna detailed

The new materials used on the iPhone 4 account for much of the weight. A stainless steel band frames the handset top to bottom, scratch-resistant glass covering both the front and rear. The trademark curved back is now gone and it’s not the phone’s loss but the user’s. The iPhone 4 looks great but just isn’t as comfortable – and secure – to handle. It just feels way more slippery to hold in hand than the previous two generations.

Design and constructionOK, a new look for the iPhone does sound risky. After all, they didn’t bother to change the design for three generations and still sold ship loads of the thing. The Number 4 is here to open a brand new page in the iPhone history but a complete departure from the original styling could’ve been way too adventurous.

   
The all-new Apple iPhone 4

To be honest, Apple simply nailed it. Some will tell you the Number 4 has just about nothing in common with its predecessors. They may be right. We wouldn’t call it a complete overhaul though. You know, one of the things that made iPhone what it is, was the belief that no design is the best design.

When all you have is touchscreen and an interface that sets the standards for user-friendliness, you don’t need to put the focus elsewhere by getting too fancy with the finish. The iPhone is one of the most minimalist phone designs out there and Number 4 knows better than to try anything stupid.

So, Apple had no design to start with, made very little changes to it and ended up with a brilliant new design. What do you call it? Here’s one – magic. The iPhone 4 is thinner, sharper, more advanced, refined. The one thing to note probably is that it somehow feels more delicate than the older versions. This has nothing to do with the build and finish – we wouldn’t call the iPhone 4 fragile (despite glass being inherently quite easy to shatter).

If you put a 3GS and an iPhone 4 side by side on the table, you may have a hard time noticing a profound difference. That’s when the screens are off though. Once that gorgeous Retina Display powers up, you will want to turn off the 3GS and put it hastily away to save it the embarrassment. Hard to believe it was considered one of the better phone screens out there.

At the rear, the new styling is way more prominent. Instead of plastic there’s glossy glass surface that is said to be scratch-resistant and quite more sturdy than plastic. But as it turned out, if you want to get it scratched or broken, you’ll succeed.