It's June 23rd. A day before the latest and greatest iPhone is to be launch. I hear a knocking on the door. I peak out the window and who do I see? It's the FedEx guy aka Santa Claus! I run to the door, hoping he's delivering my shiny new iPhone 4 and not some shoes for my sister. I open the door, the FedEx smiles and guy hands me a box far too small to be a pair of shoes far too small even for my sister. I sign as quickly as I can, exchange some quick words with the FedEx guy regarding all of the early deliveries he's making for the new iPhones, and then run inside.
I slice through the packaging like Wolverine going into some poor schmuck's abdomen, and, instead of exposing guts, I see nothing but light! Ok, maybe it was just the glare of my bedroom light shining off the shrink-wrapping around the packaging. I examine the packaging; it's the usual minimalist, let-the-photos-do-the-work type of packaging that Apple is famous for. I find no problems with it (Phew!) and proceed to remove the contents. iPhone - check. Headphones, plug-in charger, USB chord - check. Instructions labeled 'Finger Tips' - check. All is familiar; all is well. A brisk five minutes later, my phone is activated and synced.
Alright, enough of this literary doody. Let's start the actual review! I won't waste much time overemphasizing anything. I'll try to be as straightforward regarding the features I've used throughtout the day. Vamos la!
Design
Once again, Jonathan Ive has worked his voodoo on a few basic materials and created a drool-worthy piece of industrial art. Flat glass on both sides, surrounded by a stainless steel band - a genius engineering feat which uses the band as an antennae covering all the separate signals (GSM, Bluetooth, WiFi, etc.)! A simple design that manages to invoke a level of sophistication worthy of the 'next' iPhone. It's thinner than previous iPhones, yet manages to feel sturdier and more substantial. It's a little harder to figure out which side is which when it's in your pocket, but that's pretty minor. I tend to always put the screen towards me, so it's not a big deal. It just looks like how a smartphone should; smart.
Retina Display
When you first turn on the iPhone, you'll immediately notice the superior quality and clarity of this screen. It's so sharp and crisp that it made my funny bits tingle. I'm serious. It makes my 1920x1200 resolution MacBook Pro screen look so outdated it might as well be a glorified Speak 'N Spell! Text looks like pure ink. Photos look beautiful. The one drawback? App icons NOT optimized for the higher resolution look bad. I mean REALLY bad. They're more pixelated than Mai Shiranui's 'bouncies' from the original Fatal Fury. Fortunately, developers are quickly updating their apps, which include the icons.
Speed
Snappy. Snappy. Snappy. This thing responds better than I could have hoped. Don't buy into what Wired is saying. It's definitely faster than my iPad in terms of clicking around and accessing apps. I couldn't believe how quickly this thing went through the process of opening the camera app, setting up, snapping a photo and saving it; it took less time to do all of that than my 3G took to just OPEN the Camera app! It's THAT fast.
Folders
I'm sure you're wondering, "Why the fuck are you reviewing this before Multitasking?" Well, Chachie, it's because I got to use this on my iPhone 3G for a couple days, first. Just bare with me for a minute. Since multitasking wasn't available for the 3G, folders were the next best feature. Talk about organization! I had 10 pages of apps going, constantly moving things around to match up and fumbling through pages, forgetting which had all my games and which had all my fart apps. With folders you simply drag and drop icons on top of eachother and iOS does the rest! It names the folders for you (you do have the option to name them whatever you want) and all you have to do is place 'em where you want 'em. I get why Apple limited the number of apps you can put in each folder, but, still, I'd rather be able to put ALL my games in one folder instead of Games and Games2.
Multitasking
Ok, here it is. Happy? Here's my take on this wonderful, yet slightly awkward feature. Multitasking, the way it's set up to work in iOS, makes this phone feel more like a Mac than ever before, which is a very good thing, yet, also a slightly not so good thing. Let me explain... On a Mac, when you open a program and then close a window, the program stays open with just a small indicator in the dock letting you know that it's still running. You then have to 'quit' the program for it to actually close. Not a big deal. You can either right click and choose quit or select the program and hit cmd-Q. Options. They're wonerful, aren't they? On the iPhone, it's a little different.
Before iOS 4, whenever you closed out of an app it just closed, unless it was the iPod or Mail. With iOS 4, every single time you launch an app - be it Settings or Weather or Pandora - if they need to run in the background, they will. That's a good thing, right? Well, yes and no. You see, it's one thing if you want Pandora running while you surf the web or check your email, but, if you're not careful, you can end up with a crapload of apps in the background, though not all are necessarily running. It does make it a pain when you try to switch between apps and you have to scroll through them all. Every time you go back to the home screen, these apps will still be available in the fast-switch screen. So how do you close 'em? Well, you have to double-tap the home button to launch the fast-switch screen, hold down on one of the icons until the close symbols appear and close whichever apps you want. It's pretty straightforward, but why isn't there a way to just quit out of an app while I'm in it? I guess it wouldn't be good user experience to lose screen real estate to close buttons and whatnot, but it's a little annoying having all these apps running in the background both unnecessarily and unintentionally.
I guess it can be seen as a minor gripe, but, with my OCD, it's a pain! Still, it's super helpful and exactly what most of us have screamed for!
Camera & Video
I skipped the 3GS, so I didn't know the wonders of the zooming, auto-focusing, movie-making joy it had. Well, I can't speak for the 3GS, but what I found built-into the iPhone 4 was something special (special in the world of cell phone cameras, anyway). The auto-focus is wonderful and chooses great spots depending on the cameras positioning to your subject. Choosing your own focal points are done with a simple tap and the camera responds super quick. You can easily swap to the front-facing camera, but it tends to be a bit grainy. The pictures, when taken in the right conditions, are beautiful and look as if they were produced with something packing more than 5MP. I'm sure the number whores may balk at the 5MP spec, but Apple isn't stupid. Instead of throwing in a higher MP camera, they focused on the internal software/firmware that handled the photos and made that better instead, which, in my opinion, was the better way to go. Photos come out super clear, albeit with a slightly high white balance, but nothing that would really ruin the shots.
Check out that depth!
The flash is a nice addition, but it's a bit bright. I still have the plastic on the back which, unfortunately, covers the flash making it wash everything out so until I get a proper cover, I'll stay away from that.
Video is excellent. It shoots pretty smoothly at 720p 30fps. Taking a video and editing it with simple trim commands is quick and intuitive, which I'm sure is about the same as it was with the 3GS. I'm not much of a video guy, so, if you wanna see video examples, just Google it. I ain't Fellini, but I'll be picking up iMovie when it's available. Speaking of video...
FaceTime
Here's a feature that is pretty damn cool to use. I don't generally use my webcam, but I would definitely use video calling. It's not that I necessarily want to see who I'm talking to, but the ability to call someone and stream video of family members or silly shit my friends are doing are always fun to pass around and are better conveyed through video. There are other benefits to this, but I know your imaginations are good enough to figure those out on your own.
It'd be nice of AT&T had a good enough network to allow this on 3G, but, alas, it can only be done through WiFi. Maybe that's a good thing. Do I really need to be around a bunch of people talking AT their phones to equally uninteresting people? Nope. It's still fun, though.
Multiple Exchange accounts and threading. 'Nuff said.
Gyroscope
Still waiting for some apps that'll really take advantage of this. Maybe Apple will put out like iJenga or something. Gonna have to wait, but I'm excited to see what developers come up with!
Wallpapers
I'm a wallpaper whore. I change my desktop screens virtually on a daily basis. My iPad, which came with the multi-wallpaper functionality, has been put through it's paces and made me want the ability to do the same with my iPhone since day one. I was a little let down that I couldn't do that with iOS 4 on my 3G, so I was gonna have to wait before I could subject an iPhone to my wallpaper-changing ways. This is one of those features that isn't a game-changer, but it's a welcome aesthetic. I'm one of those people who believe a wallpaper shouldn't detract from programs and whatnot, so I tend to use clean imagery that isn't terribly bright or has a lot going on. I was ok with the plain, black background on the iPhone, but it's nice to add some color to it. It's not like the 'live' wallpapers found on certain other phones, but I find that really gimmicky and nothing more than battery-drainers. fine if you liek it, but, personally, I couldn't care less.
Apple included some new wallpapers ranging from outdoor photos to textures and patterns. They did a good job in giving you obvious choices for the lock and home screens. Again, less 'active' imagery for the home screens work best since you can't see too much behind the apps.
Battery
Just like when I got my iPad and ran it through some 'heavy' use, the new iPhone is no different. I've gone all day without charging it (outside of the initial activation) and I'm nowhere near the halfway point. I didn't even plug it into the car adapter on the way home; I actually listened to the radio! I had wifi running with numerous apps in the background. Taking photos and video. Surfing the web. A FaceTime call. Still going strong!
Final Thoughts
There are a ton of other features - large and small - strewn about iOS4 that I don't have the strength in my hands to write about. You'll just have to find them yourself. I promise you, though, for the most part, everything is a necessity and you will be glad that what's there is there, even if you don't necessarily NEED it. Apple put a lot of effort into covering as many bases as they can. Honestly, the only thing that's holding this thing back from being perfect is AT&T. I didn't bother covering that part because, well, let's face it, everyone has their opinion on them. Service is fine for me - I even noticed slightly better reception in some spots - but still shitty where I sit at work. You'd think these jackasses would put some repeaters in the building considering the fact that they're providing these to employees! I guess not enough people have complained, yet.
Anyway... With the exception of AT&T's shortcomings, the iPhone 4, in my opinion, is simply a great phone that nothing out there can really touch. From build quality to software, the phone just screams perfection and shows why sometimes having control over what you produce isn't necessarily a bad thing. This is what the iPhone should have been since day one. It's taken a few years, but it's finally here, and looking back, Apple made the right decisions to let the product evolution take its course rather than shoe-horn features and technology into a plastic case because it looks good on paper, which, sad to say, is what all of their competitors basically do. If only they tried copying Apples' philosophies instead of just their designs. Oh, to think of what could have been...
Cheers!
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