iPhone 4 Lives Up To The Hype [Review]

iPhone 4 Lives Up To The Hype [Review]

You’re probably sick of reading about the iPhone 4, so here it is in a nutshell: It’s slick as sh*t and I recommend without hesitation that you buy it.

  • No yellow spots
  • Holding it the “wrong way” drops bars, but it doesn’t matter much to performance.
  • It doesn’t scratch that easily, no matter what you’ve read.
  • Industrial design is beautiful.
  • The screen is gorgeous: like going from SD to HD.
  • Photos and video are much improved.

iPhone 4 Lives Up To The Hype [Review]

I stood in line for four-and-a-half hours this morning to get the iPhone 4. I wasn’t as excited as I was at the 3GS launch last year, but this phone has really grown on me. I love it.

Combined with the iOS 4 update, this is one sweet pocket computer/entertainment powerhouse. It’s beautifully made: the Aston Martin of gadgets. FaceTime videoconferencing is fun. It takes much better pictures and video. It’s also gotten better at making phone calls.

The Screen

The 326-pixels-per-inch Retina display is like moving from a standard-def TV to HD. By comparison, an old iPhone 3GS screen looks like shit. This is funny because I never noticed it before. A high-res iPhone screen wasn’t on anyone’s wish list, but once you see the Retina display, you can’t go back. It’s very crisp and clear, especially when displaying text.

iPhone 4 Lives Up To The Hype [Review]

Industrial Design

The industrial design is superb. The iPhone 4 is probably Apple’s best device yet. Made from two slabs of hardened glass, wrapped in stainless steel, the phone has significant heft and weight. The glass and metal feel so much more substantial and classier than the old plastic models. It makes older iPhones look old-fashioned and dated, like old see-through iMacs.

That Jonny Ive managed to cram in a beefier battery (16 percent bigger), a faster processor, a gyroscope and a pair of cameras into this thinner, sleeker case is a testament to the man’s extraordinary design chops. The buttons are nicely set and respond with a satisfying click.

Engadget reported that the iPhone’s glass scratches easily, but mine is still spotless despite taking a couple of falls. No, it hasn’t been in the same pocket as my keys, but the glass feels as sturdy as the glass on the 3GS, which has stood up amazingly well to a year’s abuse.

The microphone is now noise-reducing, and the speaker is louder and clearer. This is evident the first time the phone rings — it’s noticeably louder. Calls on the speaker phone seem more audible. The earpiece seems to be louder too, but this may be my imagination.

The iPhone sports the new A4 chip, the same used in the iPad, and the speed is awesome. This is one whippy device. The 3GS was no slouch, but the iPhone 4 is almost instantaneous in all its functions, especially the camera. There’s no lag in typing — a problem that sometimes drove me crazy on the 3GS.

The Antenna Death Grip

The “Death Grip” that drops bars when you wrap your fingers around the lower antenna is real, but it may not have much effect on performance. It’s not the number of bars that count, says tech expert Ted Landau, but the decibels per milliwatt (dBm). “FWIW, the number of bars on my iPhone vary a lot — depending on how I hold phone — but actually dbms stay within about 10 unit range,” he said on Twitter. (To see dBm on older iPhones — it doesn’t work in iOS 4 — type *3001#12345#* in the Phone app’s Keypad screen and tap Call button. The dBm appears where bars were. Tap to toggle.)

iPhone 4 Lives Up To The Hype [Review]

FaceTime and Front-Facing Camera

Apple’s FaceTime videoconferencing is elegant and cool but I’m skeptical that it’s anything but a novelty. Launching FaceTime is a one-button affair. There’s no setup and no configuration. If the other party also has an iPhone 4 (and is on a Wi-Fi network), you hit the FaceTime button and you’re quickly connected. Admittedly, I had a lot of problems initially connecting to my old buddies at Wired.com, and they with me. Whatever the issues were, they eventually resolved and when we did connect we were laughing our heads off at the kick of it. It’s a ton of fun.

But I suspect the novelty will soon wear off. I can’t see people using it for day-to-day communication. The best thing about ordinary telephone calls is you can surf the web or watch TV while also conducting a conversation. You can’t do that with FaceTime, and I think that will be a problem. In addition, I’ve had a FaceTime system on my computers for a couple of years now (iChat and iSight) and rarely use it. Neither does anyone else I know.

5-Megapixel Camera

The 5-megapixel camera is no DSLR, but it does rival a low- to mid-range point-and-shoot snappers. Pictures are pretty good, if a little washed out. Snapping pictures is instantaneous; there’s no infuriating lag. The extra speed also means less blur, which is especially handy for fast-moving subjects like my kids.

On the back there’s a bright little LED flash that’s surprisingly functional (see the under-the-sink snap below). It looks especially handy for illuminating low-light video shoots, Blair Witch-style.

The new camera shoots video at 720p HD resolution. In my quick tests, the video looked pretty good. I’ll report back later when I’ve had a chance to put it through its paces. A comparison by iLounge shows it rivals video from a HD Flip camcorder.

iPhone 4 Lives Up To The Hype [Review]

I recommend the iPhone 4 without reservation, even with the ‘Death Grip’ antenna issue, which initially freaked me out, but now looks like no big deal.

Sample Pictures:

These aren’t the greatest pictures, but the camera is comparable to a low- to mid-range point-and-shoot. And like they say, the best camera is the one you have on you…

DON'T MISS
The iPhone 4 ‘Death Grip’ Is Real — But Does It Matter?

iPhone 4 Lives Up To The Hype [Review]

The colors are washed out, but it was a typical summer day in San Francisco: gloomy.

iPhone 4 Lives Up To The Hype [Review]

This is through glass:

iPhone 4 Lives Up To The Hype [Review]

Using the built-in flash:

iPhone 4 Lives Up To The Hype [Review]

Here’s what the zoom can do:

iPhone 4 Lives Up To The Hype [Review]

iPhone 4 Lives Up To The Hype [Review]

About the author

Leander Kahney

is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac, and author of three books about technology culture: Inside Steve’s Brain, the New York Times bestseller about Steve Jobs; Cult of Mac; and Cult of iPod. Leander has written for Wired, MacWeek, Scientific American, and The Guardian in London. Follow Leander on Twitter @lkahney and Facebook.

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Posted in iPhone, Reviews, Top stories |

  • http://www.howiesweb.com Howie Isaacks

    I guess you forgot to use folders?

  • Seppel

    You got me with the picture of the turtle. awesome. <3

  • Jae

    Howie, thats because he’s talking about the actual iPhone 4 hardware, not so much the iOS 4 software.

  • http://ihbs.co.uk Ben

    awesome. Ive just picked mine up today. 29 hours after i joined the back of the queue at 7.30 AM here in the UK. have to wait till i get home from work to activate it. cant wait!

  • http://deoclicianocgiportfolio.wordpress.com Deocliciano Okssipin Vieira

    Well, the rage clouding the reason settled down?

    But No yellow spots could be too soon.

    Do not forget that many things in this phone is really original, originality brings new challenges.
    So there could be more annoyances ahead.

    I do not have a cellular phone since 2003-04, and i am still waiting for the REAL one to buy.

  • esfrost

    Great review, this what i wanted to read, i dont need those bulshit details about the camera and the whole package.

  • fotostuf

    Just a question… I don’t quite understand why people are standing in line as you did (“I stood in line for four-and-a-half hours this morning to get the iPhone 4″).
    Not trying to be annoying or anything, but… it’s a PHONE… it isn’t the Pope or the President or Hanna Montana or Hot For Words or Jimmy Page or whatever gets you drooling! It’s gonna be around for a while… why is everyone going so nuts?
    Don’t get me wrong… I love my iPhone4! But I walked into a small AT&T store at 9am to pre-order for both me and the wife, and yesterday went and picked them both up at 4:45pm… both times with no lines, no issues, no wait, no hassle, and no great write up on how frakin’ long the line was!
    Please someone, don’t flame… just tell me… what gives?!?!?

  • John

    @fotostuff Some people like the waiting in line for a new product thing. I pre-ordered mine on AT&T’s website on the 16th and it showed up yesterday via UPS. My only concern was if activation would be a headache. It wasn’t!

  • Jeff

    “(To see dBms, type *3001#12345#* in the Phone app’s Keypad screen and tap Call button. dBms appear where bars are. Tap to toggle.)”

    Doesn’t work with iOS 4.

  • _bart

    the cat doesn’t seem happy with what you guys do with it

  • Ken A

    Good review, thanks!

    However I find this remark sad…”The best thing about ordinary telephone calls is you can surf the web or watch TV while also conducting a conversation. ” Unless you’re on hold one should pay attention to who they converse with, otherwise what’s the sense of calling and speaking to someone if you’re going to tune them out? I expect the FaceTime will be appreciated by folks wanting to connect to those they use it with.

  • http://media360d.blogspot.com Sam

    Hi Leander!

    Great review! But if you go by today’s confession, even Steve agrees that the antenna problem is real and he wants us to buy his silly looking bumpers.

    I ont wanna hide the gread design of the new iPhone 4 inside a bumper! What do you think?

    Regards,
    Sam
    London

  • http://www.gonzalofernandez.es Gonzalo Fernández

    Antenna issue? You’re right, fanboys. It’s a fuss over nothing. It works perfectly well if you lie it on a desk and jab at the screen with your nose.

  • Brian

    All I got out of the article is that your cat is as big as your son and this is endlessly amusing to me. In all seriousness though, I’ve been really impressed with my new iPhone and since I’m neither left-handed nor a caveman, I have no trouble holding the phone and getting maximum reception (notably better than my 3G, I might add). Great piece!

  • Pauly

    @Deocliciano Okssipin Vieira: If you haven’t found a phone you’d like to own since 2004, then you never will. Your standards are unrealistic. It’s a phone dude, not sliced bread.

  • Rodrigo

    This was Leander’s “Review for the rest of us”. Very nice!
    I was getting tired of technical reviews…

  • Moosetang

    The only one I’ve seen or held so far had yellow blotches on the screen. My friend tried to take it back, but they said wait a few days and they might go away. Something about glue not dried yet. I’m going to bet the dropped calls continue, even with a bumper or case though. Blame AT&T?! ….but the problem is actually Apple’s chip instruction sets, in failing to step down from 3g to Edge networks dropping calls. If they got that right you wouldn’t drop any calls, no matter how you held it. The bars would go down and it’d switch.

    Also I want to point out that this processor chip was originally contracted by Samsung in a contract with Intrinsity to map it’s Domino Logic and element interconnects. This is a complicated and intricate way to extract faster speeds with fewer gates. Intrinsity almost went under several times needing more investment each time since Samsung’s original contract in 2007/2008. The biggest problem was the SGX-540 chip integration. So Apple offered Samsung to share costs as partner w/ them early last year. Because they’d be needing a new chip too.

    It’s the same chip that’s in Samsung’s Wave, Galaxy S and future TaPe Tablet. The difference is the TaPe will have1gig of ram w/proc clocked to 1.2gHz. But same GPS, gyro, etc as iPhone, Wave and Galaxy S. It’s just Hummingbird A8 re-branded as Apple A4!

    I find it odd that video chat is WiFi only on iPhone, but not on these other Samsung phones and Slate PC. Why? AT&T version of Galaxy S can even use their very C@@L one button 3G “Video Share” service $5 a month. Why can’t iPhones? They got 20 phones that can use this service and it’s not that bandwidth intensive. My friend says it’s the Garden Wall. Jail Break it and you can use full Multi-Tasking and Video chat over 3G.

    Another odd thing. Samsung Galaxy does not drop calls with same chips different internal antenna. Why? So… this is why it most likely relates to the on chip runtime compiler of Objective C instruction sets embedded in the processor. Seems they could fix that with a firmware upgrade. The instruction sets should be the only difference in the two processors (one for Samsung and one for Apple), both made by Samsung!

  • http://tekunoloji.com Ray

    I completely agree. I recommend the iPhone 4 wihout hesitation. The screen is incredibly smooth – I’m making more mistakes typing on the highees keyboard than on my 1g iPod touch

  • John Smith

    @Gonzalo Fernández – you just come across sounding like a tool in that post. Even the most critical articles about the so called “death grip” do not suggest the phone is unusable (or recommend pressing buttons with your nose; unnecessary and a very inefficient way to make calls) – just that the signal will drop in some units when you hold it a certain way.

    Almost all items of technology have idiocycracies. Just because you can make the signal on the phone weaker if you spend the time to figure out how to hold it in the correct way to produce that effect does not mean that it will be an issue during day to day use. The author of the article clearly states it is not an issue for him on his phone – I fail to see how that makes him a fanboy. Actually I think the derogatory comment that you are looking for here is troll and it does not apply to the author of the article.

  • http://twitter.com/vanmacguy Vanmacguy

    Well, I was leaning towards waiting until iPhone 5 (I’m in Canada and we don’t have the 4 yet), but after reading this, I’m getting the 4 when it comes out.

    If I remember correctly, FaceTime was said to be Wi-Fi only at the launch because Apple still had to work out some details with the carriers (AT&T), so be patient everyone, I think FaceTime will be over the air soon enough.

    Looking forward to the screen and hopefully some battery life improvements. Don’t really care about multitasking much (I’m running iOS4 on my 3G) but the unified inbox saves me time every single day. I have 5 email accounts on my 3G and it’s awesome.

    Thanks for the encouraging review CoM. That’s why I come here.

    Now, what’s Rogers number again…?

  • xiaoa

    hi, friend,this article about iphone4 is too much detail…..i am deeply attracted by this vertion. haha i decided to buy one a few days later..but i have a problem to sak you, a few days later, somebody recommend me to download a software called ANEESOFT iphone videos convert .he said that :if you want to make you iphone4 more perfect ,you can choice this software,bacause it can convert all kinds of format video to iphone including iphone4, is it realy ? why the iphone4 need this software?Isn’t it cannot play video?

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