Posted:
12 years ago
The iPhone 4 is no small thing to review. As most readers of Engadget
are well aware, in the gadget world a new piece of Apple hardware is a
major event, preceded by rumors, speculation, an over-the-top
announcement, and finally days, weeks, or months of anticipation from an
ever-widening fan base.
The iPhone 4 is certainly no exception -- in fact, it may be Apple's
most successful launch yet, despite some bumps on the road. We've
already seen Apple and AT&T's servers overloaded on the first day of
pre-orders, the ship date for the next set of phones pushed back due to
high demand, and die-hard fans in line outside of Apple locations a
week before the phone is actually available. It's a lot to live up to,
and the iPhone 4 is doing its best -- with features like a super-fast A4
CPU, a new front-facing camera and five megapixel shooter on the back, a
completely new industrial design, and that outrageous Retina Display,
no one would argue that Apple has been asleep at the wheel.
So the question turns to whether or not the iPhone 4 can live up to
the intense hype. Can it deliver on the promises Steve Jobs made at
WWDC, and can it cement Apple's position in the marketplace in the face
of mounting competition from the likes of Google and Microsoft? We have
the answers to those questions -- and many more -- in our full review,
so read on to find out!
Hardware :
Perhaps the most notable change with the new iPhone is the drastic
industrial design overhaul -- Apple seems to have completely rethought
its strategy on how the phone should look and feel, and the results are
nothing if not striking.
Industrial design :
In his WWDC keynote, Steve Jobs likened the design of the iPhone 4 to
that of a "beautiful, old Leica camera," and as we've said before, he
wasn't off the mark. Instead of hewing to the curved, plasticky,
silver-bezeled look of the iPhone 3G and 3GS, the company has turned the
casing and face of the device into something decidedly more detailed
and sophisticated. From the design aesthetic through to the actual build
process, Jony Ive and his team have reset what we expect in an iPhone,
coming up with something that clearly harkens back to the retro-future
Braun designs of Dieter Rams. The iPhone 4 is made up of three basic
parts: two pieces of smooth, strengthened glass, and a stainless steel
band which wraps around the sides, top, and bottom of the phone.
The effect is clean but not simple, and Apple has added little
details, like altered volume buttons (what used to be a rocker is now
separated into circular clickers labeled + and -), and notches in that
metal band which serve to improve radio connections (more on that in a
minute). The phone is noticeably thinner than the 3GS at .37 inches
compared to .48 inches, but it weighs the same 4.8 ounces, making the
whole package seem tighter and denser. It feels great in your hand, with
good heft, although it might take a little time to get used to the lack
of a rounded back if you're coming from the 3G or 3GS.
We can't overstate how high-end the design of the iPhone 4 is. The 3GS
now feels cheap and chubby by comparison, and even a phone like the HTC
Droid Incredible -- which just came out -- seems last-generation.
As we said, there are three main pieces of the phone, which together
create an effect not wildly dissimilar to that of an ice cream
sandwich. You know, but far pricier... and not edible. The face of the
device is made up of extremely strong glass which Jony Ive says is
"comparable in strength to sapphire crystal, but about 30 times harder
than plastic." A small slit for the earpiece and the front-facing camera
are embedded in the glass above the display, with the familiar home
button towards the bottom -- a button we should note feels much clickier
than on our 3GS.
On the left side of the phone you've got the new volume buttons, a
redesigned mute switch, and a small notch towards the base of the unit.
On the right side is the Micro SIM slot and another notch in the band at
the bottom, and up top there's the power / sleep button, headphone
jack, another notch, and new noise-canceling microphone. Along the
bottom is a speaker, microphone, and the 30-pin dock connector port. The
backside of the phone is made from the same kind of ultra-strong glass
as the front, interrupted only by the new five megapixel camera, its LED
flash companion and, of course, the Apple logo.
Overall, the iPhone 4 outclasses pretty much every smartphone on the
market in terms of industrial design. It just comes off like a far more
expensive device, like a Mobiado or Vertu -- but better designed. And
it's not just the way the phone looks; the materials feel good --
premium -- in your hands. The first few days we had our test unit, we
were definitely freaked out about dropping or losing the phone, and some
of that had to do with the fact that it's just a really beautiful
device to use and hold.
Internals :
It's not just the face of the phone that's undergone a transformation --
the iPhone 4 is all new inside as well. For starters, Apple has moved
on from the Samsung-built ARM Cortex-A8-based CPU used in the 3GS to its
custom A4 chip used in the iPad, which funnily enough... is an ARM
Cortex-A8-based CPU. While the company hasn't yet said what the clock
speed of the processor is, we're guessing it's something below the 1GHz
touted for its tablet cousin. The phone is definitely snappier than the
3GS, so we're not about to volley complaints just yet -- in particular,
graphics seemed to render faster, and overall responsiveness was
slightly higher, though admittedly, it wasn't blowing the doors off the
joint. It's certainly faster, but the 3GS wasn't hurting on speed to our
eyes, so it's not as wildly noticeable a leap as the 3G to the 3GS.
As usual, Apple isn't fessing up about the RAM situation, though we
have on very good authority that the iPhone 4 has 512MB onboard, a big
step up from the 256MB in the previous model and the iPad. We would have
liked to see it futureproofed with something like 1GB, but then again,
Apple's got to sell a new phone in a year. As far as internal storage
goes, you can buy the new iPhone in either 16GB ($199 on contract) or
32GB ($299 on contract) capacity -- fine for now, but since the company
has just introduced 30FPS 720p video recording, you could find yourself
outgrowing that number pretty quickly. It's a little odd, in fact, that
the company didn't double down here and bump the capacity to 64GB, as
it's recently done with the iPod touch. In terms of wireless, the iPhone
4 is packed with an 802.11n WiFi radio, as well as a quad-band HSUPA
chip and Bluetooth 2.1.
The redesigned housing allows for a much larger lithium-ion battery on
the inside, providing improved numbers for Apple's life ratings (more on
that in a moment), though it's still not easily replaceable.
Additionally, the new phone has those two new cameras (VGA up front,
five megapixels with LED flash around back), a new second microphone
used to combat background noise while on calls (similar to the Nexus
One), a gyroscope in addition to the standard accelerometer, a light
sensor, and a proximity sensor. As with the 3GS, an AGPS chip and
compass are bundled somewhere in that tiny frame as well.
Of course, the big internal story is what has become external:
namely, the UMTS, GPS, WiFi, and Bluetooth antennas. Apple has made the
stainless band around the phone essentially a couple of big antennae,
and they seem to be doing a pretty good job at hanging onto radio
signals. The big question is obviously whether or not this fixes or
helps with the constant dropped calls iPhone users on AT&T's network
have gotten used to. Well in our testing, we had far, far fewer dropped
calls than we experienced on our 3GS. Let's just say that again: yes,
the iPhone 4 does seem to alleviate the dropped call issue. It wasn't
perfect, and we had some connection issues in downtown New York City in
particular, though it's tough to say if it was the fault of our phone,
the cluster of buildings we were near, or the person we were speaking
to, who was on a 3GS in the same location.
Display :
By now you should know that iPhone 4 has an all-new display, as well.
Apple is calling the LED backlit, 960 x 640 IPS screen the "Retina
Display" due to its high resolution and pixel density. At the same
3.5-inches as the older screens, the new display manages an insane
326ppi pixel density along with an 800:1 contrast ratio. Steve made a
huge point about the science behind this technology during his keynote,
claiming that the resolution of the screen essentially tops what is
perceivable by the human eye. There have been some debates as to whether
or not this argument holds water, but we can tell you this: to our
eyes, there has never been a more detailed, clear, or viewable screen on
any mobile device.
Not only are the colors and blacks deep and rich, but you simply
cannot see pixels on the screen. Okay, if you take some macro camera
shots or get right up in there you can make them out, but in general
use, the screen is free of jaggies of any type, unless you're looking at
a last-gen app that hasn't had its artwork updated. Text rendering is
incredibly clear and clean -- webpages that would be line after line of
pixelated content when zoomed out on a 3GS (say, Engadget or the New
York Times) are completely readable on the iPhone 4, though the text is
beyond microscopic. It's impressive, and doubly impressive when you look
at higher-res graphics or watch 720p video on the phone -- the detail
in moving images is particularly striking. What's nice is that most apps
with text in them will benefit from this tech whether or not they've
been updated, as long as they're using Apple's font rendering. Text in
the Engadget app, for instance, looks cleaner, clearer, and much easier
to read on the new iPhone.
Because Apple is using IPS and LED technology for its screen, the iPhone
4 is mercifully visible in full sunlight, and performance in low light
and at extreme viewing angles are favorable. Overall, you simply won't
find a better display on a phone, and that's not just lip service.
Cameras :
The cameras on the new iPhone are going to be a topic of much debate,
since this has been an area where Apple has been slow to innovate. The
3GS sported a measly three megapixel shooter with few bells and whistles
(and no flash), and while it was fine for quick snaps, it wasn't an
artist's tool by any means. The company finally seems to be listening to
a public that's interested in leaving the point-and-shoot at home in
favor of a phone with a capable camera, by adding a five megapixel
shooter to the backside of the iPhone 4 and a VGA camera up front.
Let's first take a look at the higher-res main camera. At his WWDC
keynote, Jobs said that getting great looking images wasn't just about
upping the camera's megapixels, but had more to do with grabbing more
photons. Increase the photon count, let more light in, and your images
will look better, the thought goes. So Apple's using a newer
backside-illuminated sensor that's more sensitive to light in addition
to upping those megapixels -- and we must say, pictures on the iPhone 4
look stunning. Our shots looked good right out of the gate, with few
problems when it came to focusing or low light. With the flash on, we
managed decent if somewhat blown out results (fairly common with smaller
LED flashes) though impressively, the iPhone 4 was usually able to take
completely useable and even handsome photos in fairly low light without
the flash. It seems like that photon situation is definitely in play,
because even shots taken in fairly dark lighting came out looking good.
Autofocus worked well in most situations, and we were actually able to
get some impressive looking macro shots (see the flowers and Penny
below).
In general, we'd have no trouble using the iPhone 4's camera as a
stand-in for a dedicated camera. Not only did it take beautiful shots,
but the A4 and iOS 4 combo have considerably sped up the time it takes
to snap pictures -- it's now almost instantaneous. Otherwise, you have
options for a 5x digital zoom (which produces results that look like a
digital zoom) and basic on / off / auto settings for the flash. It's
pretty bare bones, and we wouldn't have minded a few basic options like
white balance settings -- but c'mon, this is Apple we're talking about.
Luckily, the App Store is chock full of applications that improve upon
the stock camera app -- we expect to see a handful of new ones that take
advantage of the new sensor soon.
As far as video goes, we were definitely impressed by the 720p capture,
though there are stability issues with the lens and the all-too-familiar
"jellyvision" CMOS issues that tend to rear their head if you're not
holding the phone very steady. Still, we can't see carrying around a
Flip HD instead of just keeping this in our pocket (though as we said,
we'd like to see a higher storage capacity). Everything we shot looked
crisp and mostly artifact-free, and we didn't see any hiccups in the 30
FPS rate Apple claims, even in lower light. Adding iMovie to the mix for
on-the-fly editing is a nice touch too (more on that in the software
section). The video below was shot and edited completely in-phone, so
enjoy --
Around front, the VGA camera is... well, a VGA camera. It actually does a
fine job of capturing your face during video calls, and worked
surprisingly well in low light, but it's not going to win any prizes for
being the most advanced shooter on a handset. It does provide for some
interesting angle options when it comes to video shooting, and we expect
a lot of people will be taking advantage of the weirdly video game-like
perspective. All in all, it looks good, but it's pretty utilitarian.
Speaker / earpiece :
We've never had a particular problem with the speaker or earpiece on
previous iPhones (well, the speakerphone has never been loud enough for
our taste), but it's obvious that Apple has done some work on getting
both call quality and speakerphone quality up. Beyond making the phone
considerably and consistently louder in both places, the clarity of the
iPhone 4 is noticeably improved from the previous generation. If you
read our review, then you know that we thought Motorola's original Droid
had some of the best sounding components we've heard on a phone, and
the new iPhone definitely gives them a run for the money. The first time
we took a call on the device we were walking down New York's extremely
noisy Fifth Avenue, and right away it was obvious that the secondary,
noise-canceling mic was doing some heavy lifting, at least on the other
end of the line. Even though sirens were wailing behind us and we were
surrounded by chatty shoppers, it was easy to hear our party on the
other end, and they could hear us perfectly (unless we were lied to).
There's clearly a difference between the sound in the earpiece on the
new phone versus the 3GS, and it ranks highly against newer competition
like the EVO. As far as the speakerphone goes, it gets loud without
distorting or producing cutting midrange, a problem we've noticed on
quite a few recent phones. We'd liken the iPhone 4 in quality to
something along the lines of the BlackBerry Bold -- a bearable tone even
when it gets hot.
Software :
As with the other revisions to Apple's phone line, the hardware is
only half of the story. Along with the iPhone 4 comes iOS 4, the
re-branded iPhone OS which boasts loads of new features, most notably a
very Apple-ized version of smartphone multitasking, a video calling
feature dubbed FaceTime, folders so you can organize your apps, enhanced
Mail, and lots of other nips and tucks -- both big and small -- that
refine the company's growing operating system. Additionally, Apple has
ported the iPad's iBooks to the smaller screen, and has created a new
version of its popular iMovie just for the iPhone 4. Overall, the OS is
still very much the same as it's always been, but there are some big
changes here that bear investigation.
Multitasking :
This is a big one, and more than just a little controversial. Since
the dawn of apps for the iPhone (remember, way back in 2008?), people
have been up in arms about the lack of third-party backgrounding for
applications. Sure, you could keep Mail, Safari, iPod, and a few other
Apple programs cranking while you used your phone, but those privileges
were strictly off limits for third-party devs working on the device.
It's arguable that one of the driving forces behind the jailbreaking
movement was a desire for this feature -- something a phone as powerful
as the iPhone was clearly capable of. Apple's argument has always been
that multitasking causes an undue amount of battery drain from phones,
and had to be approached with caution, lest we all end up with juiceless
phones at high noon. Recently, however, that tune has changed. Apple
has -- in true Apple fashion -- "figured out" how to "do multitasking
right" -- namely, the company isn't allowing full backgrounding as much
as it's allowing a handful of APIs that mimic backgrounding. Things like
holding onto a GPS signal, letting music play in the background,
staying connected to VoIP calls (or receiving them), and fast switching
(basically a way for you to return quickly to exactly where you left off
in an app).
So, does Apple pull it off? Can this scarce handful of APIs makeup for true backgrounding? In a word: yep.
Here's the thing -- this may not be "true" multitasking for a lot of
us, but it amounts to multitasking for most of us. That is, it looks,
feels, and acts like multitasking, so it's pretty tough to complain
about it. In fact: we're not going to complain about it, especially
given the fact that some of our favorite apps -- the IRC client Colloquy
being one of them -- do just about exactly what we need them to do, all
according to Apple's rules and regulations. Previous to the new OS,
we'd been jailbreaking our phone just to keep an IRC session running in
the background. Now, utilizing some of those new APIs, the Colloquy
developers have created an elegant and useful solution that pleases both
users and the Cupertino Cops. The point is: it works, it does so bug
free, and without a major drain on battery life (quite the contrary...
more on that in a moment). We're not saying we liked waiting for this
kind of thing to come around, and yes, we'd prefer something more open
and flexible -- but this works, and works well.
So how is Apple making this magic happen? Here's a breakdown of just
exactly what multitasking really means (and feels like) on the new
iPhone (and the 3GS):
* Fast app switching: You
know how you can leave off in Mail halfway through writing a response
and go back to exactly where you were? Well that happens everywhere now.
When you leave the app, you go back in exactly the same place. And it
happens quickly. Fast app switching is essentially like toggling between
"paused" applications. This combined with Apple's new app switcher
(double tap the home button to bring up your most recently used apps)
destroys that annoying iPhone feeling of going in and out and in and
out. It just doesn't exist anymore, provided all your apps are up to
date, which is going to take some time. It's amazing how much this
single feature counts -- it's definitely one of the prime movers here,
and it's so simple it's stupid. We would have liked to see options for
"favorite" apps or some way to prioritize what you're switching to, but
once you get used to this system -- which just puts whatever you've used
most recently to the far left -- it makes some sense.
* Task completion:
Basically, task completion lets an app do its thing even if you leave
it. So if you're uploading or downloading a picture in Evernote or
Dropbox, or saving an article in the New York Times app, even if you
navigate away, the job is done when you get back to the app. This
accounts for a lot of what we think of as multitasking. Most of your
apps are just idling -- it's only when you interact with them that it
counts. We don't know the boundaries for this API, though it seems to
leave a lot of room for creative use. We know it's not just big jobs,
it's little ones too -- Colloquy uses this feature to keep you connected
to your IRC host. To be honest, that kind of behavior is one thing we
thought we wouldn't see in iOS 4, and here it is. Hopefully Twitter app
devs and other instant messaging clients will utilize the API in a
similar manner.
* Background audio and VoIP: These two are
straightforward. The first allows for music playing apps to keep their
stream running in the background (and even gives them little widget
controls in the app switcher), and the second allows VoIP connections to
stay active. That means you can stay on a Skype call and go check your
mail, but it also means that the VoIP connection will be aware of
incoming calls when you're not actively using an app. Additionally, this
API can be used to allow for recording even if you exit an app, as
demonstrated effectively in the new version of Evernote.
* Background GPS:
Basically, GPS apps can keep running in the background... for obvious
reasons. This one will drain your battery if you're not docked -- but
who's using a GPS app and not plugging that thing in? Okay, we might be a
little guilty of that. Regardless, this will keep your navigation
software afloat if you have to take a call, and apparently will let
GPS-centric apps like FourSquare check in even if you're not running it
in the foreground.
Apple combines these heavy hitters with more familiar tricks, like
push notifications, to excellent effect. We know that the hardcore users
will cry foul because a lot of this doesn't amount to "true"
multitasking, but we also know that often solutions to problems come in
different colors. Apple found a way in iOS 4 to solve a pretty good
amount of its major problems in this department, and so far what we've
seen is very promising. If it's only going to get better from here, we
don't mind coming along for the ride. But it better only get better,
Apple.
FaceTime :
If you didn't know anything about video calling, Apple would definitely
have you convinced that they just up and invented the concept based on
never-aired Jetsons footage judged too futuristic for TV. Of course, the
truth is that in lots of other places (and even in the US to an
extent), smartphone video calling isn't exactly a new thing. In fact, in
much of Europe and Asia, this technology is old hat. But Apple isn't
going to let a little thing like facts get in the way of a good
marketing play, and in their (slight) defense, no one's effectively
brought video calling to the masses just yet. (One of our European
editors says that he's gone ten years without seeing anyone make a video
call in his neck of the woods.) While this may be an unscientific
perspective, it suggests that it's not enough to just have the tech --
the feature needs to be sold to people.
So has Apple done it? Maybe, and maybe not. We're certainly
impressed by the concept and Apple's willingness to open up their
"FaceTime standard" to anyone who wants to get in on the party. That
means that developers on any platform -- provided they can meet all the
necessary requirements -- can create applications that talk via the
protocol (or set of protocols, really). We're also impressed with the
tech itself, which feels polished and slick out of the gate. But right
now, there's only one way to do FaceTime calls, and that's via the
iPhone 4... and only over WiFi, which means that the opportunity to make
these calls is pretty limited for now. Additionally, in our testing, we
found that you really need to have a good, strong, nearby WiFi signal
to hang onto a connection. More than once we had video freeze on us, and
we had one fully dropped call because someone went out of the WiFi
range, but hey... you need to be in range for even the most basic tasks,
so we can't fault Apple too much for that. It does seem clear that the
iPhone video chats are moving quite a few bits around, however. What's
nice about FaceTime is that unlike Qik or other third-party options for
something like the EVO, there's no setup here and it's completely
integrated into the dialer of the phone -- meaning the only hangup is
whether or not you have decent WiFi.
But what is it like? Well in truth, it's actually a teensy bit
amazing. Yes, we're a little numb to the PR speak about how game
changing it is, but there's still something deeply sci-fi about dialing
up a friend and being able to hold this thing in your hand and have a
video chat. We did a call with Apple's Greg Joswiak while he was in
Paris (see the image above), and when he walked outside and flipped the
camera to show us the Eiffel Tower, it was a legitimately weird
experience -- a "you are there" moment. As you can see in the call below
with USA Today's Ed Baig ,it's a pretty new way to talk to someone, at
least for us. Having a random face-to-face conversation with a kid about
what he's having for lunch is just the tip of the iceberg -- we can
definitely see this feature coming into play in all sorts of ways in our
lives.
Technically speaking, actually making calls is straightforward; you
can switch to a FaceTime chat while you're already connected, or you're
given to option to launch right into a FaceTime connection. We were a
little surprised by the fact that you can only mute the audio on your
calls; if you want the video off, you need to cover the lens in the old
fashioned way -- with your hands.
All said, it's a fascinating inclusion, and we've got a sneaking
suspicion that Apple intends to do more than just basic calls with this.
Obviously the addition of conference FaceTime sessions would be huge,
and we're also looking forward to using the function on a 3G network --
it's nice to have a chat from your house, but what would really be great
is taking these kinds of conversations out into the wide world. We
think that coupled with active development for clients on lots of
platforms (not just the iPhone) will make FaceTime much more interesting
-- it's a curiosity right now, but it could be something else entirely
with a little time and elbow grease.
Folders :
What can you really say about folders? Basically: it's about time.
We're happy that Apple has seen the light and included something like
this in iOS 4, and the implementation is elegant enough, but it would
have been nice to store more than 12 items at a time. As it stands, if
you have a lot of one kind of app, you're going to end up with a group
of folders in the same category. We have a second "Games" folder, but
some of you out there will have more like six or seven of those. That
helps the problem, but doesn't solve it completely. We get why Apple
made this decision -- likely a desire to keep it simple -- but it would
be nice to be able to make the room if you wanted it.
Mail improvements :
For a lot of us, the new tweaks to the iPhone's Mail app have
seriously been a long time coming. Among the major improvements in iOS 4
are a unified inbox and threaded messaging (finally!) -- both of which
have made dealing with email on the iPhone a considerably more enjoyable
experience. We still think that the mail client is lacking in
comparison to Gmail, but that has more to do with our addiction to Gmail
than anything else, we suspect. Overall, Mail feels much more complete
now, and Apple has solved the same problem in Mail that it had with app
switching -- that feeling of constantly jumping into and out of your
inboxes.
iBooks / iMovie :
This isn't a barnstormer, but it's a nice inclusion. If you've used
iBooks for the iPad, the experience is about the same... just smaller.
There's not a ton to say about it, except that in addition to lots of
other great book apps on the iPhone, Apple has now given you its own. We
still don't think it stacks up to Amazon or Barnes & Noble in terms
of selection, though the presentation is better in many ways, and it
will sync your notes and bookmarks across platforms.
iMovie, on the other hand, is something new entirely. We can't say
we didn't see this one coming since Apple just added video recording and
editing to its arsenal with the introduction of iPhone OS 3 and the 3GS
-- but this takes things one step further. The $4.99 app gives you
access to more advanced features, like a (very) limited selection of
transitions between clips, the option to add audio to your videos, plus a
handful of themes and titling effects. We found it to be extremely
capable for fast edits, though everything is pretty sandboxed here, so
while you do have the most basic editing tools, things like splitting a
clip can be a little bit of a hassle. Since you can only edit the
beginning and end of a snippet, if you want to split something into
multiple parts you have to drag the clip into your edit repeatedly and
then scale the start and finish points for each one. It can be a pain if
you're doing lots of jump cuts -- though we don't expect everyone to be
making the next Casino on this thing... though, someone probably will,
right? For a few bucks, it's definitely worth having, and we expect that
after a few people start using the thing, Apple might be prompted to
add a few more options.
What's not in the new OS :
It's not all wine and roses as far as we're concerned. While Apple
has made huge strides in many areas here, this wouldn't be an Engadget
review if we didn't have our nitpicks. In particular, we still cannot
understand or accept the company's approach to notifications. We're at
version 4 of this OS, and we're still plagued by these intrusive,
productivity-freezing alerts. If you're as busy as we are, then you know
what it's like to get invite after invite for your calendar, text
messages, and push notifications that just stall the phone out. While
every other modern OS-maker has figured out an elegant way to deal with
notifications (including the forthcoming Windows Phone 7), Apple clings
to this broken system. Why? We can't really say. We find it hard to
believe that there aren't folks in Cupertino who feel the way we do --
in fact, we're sure of it. Maybe that explains the hiring of Palm's
"notification guru" Rich Dellinger. We sure hope!
The other thing that's driving us crazy is the lack of widgets.
Apple almost gets there with its new extensible music player controls,
but there are still no good solutions for glanceable information on the
iPhone. We'll admit that it's better now that fast app switching is in
play, but we'd still like that weather icon to actually show us the
temperature where we live. Is that too much to ask? The competition
seems to have this one licked -- we'd really like to see Apple take a
stab at it.
Accessories :
It wouldn't be a new iPhone without some accessories, but Apple has
kept it tidy. The company is offering a new dock, of course, for
twenty-nine of your US dollars (that's $29), and a selection of colorful
"bumpers" that protect the phone for the same price. We've got a few
bumpers in-house, and while we're not really big fans of the way they
look or feel, they do seem to protect the phone pretty well. On that
note, we've actually seen the iPhone 4 tossed with and without a bumper
across a room (one hit a wall) with no issue, and we dropped ours pretty
hard from about two feet up onto tile with nary a scratch.
Battery life :
This is a big one for many people, and we have some fairly surprising
news to report. The battery life on the iPhone 4 has been outstanding
thus far, exceeding our expectations for longevity during testing. We've
only had a short time to use the phone, but in the week or so we've
been carrying the device as our main phone, we've had pretty amazing
results under normal to heavy use. In fact, we managed to squeeze more
than 38 hours -- yes, 38 hours -- of life out of a single charge using
the phone as we normally would. We're talking calls, some gaming, lots
of push email and calendar invites, playing music over Bluetooth in the
car, and just general testing (like downloading new apps, rearranging
icons, tweaking settings). We went from 10:30AM on a Saturday morning
till 1:00AM on Monday without needing to charge the phone. Of course, it
switched itself off just after the clock struck 1, but it was thrilling
-- like that episode of Seinfeld where Kramer and the car salesman see
how far they can get in a car with the tank on E. Sitcom references
aside, the battery life seems markedly improved in the iPhone 4, and why
not? It's got a much larger battery coupled with that iPad-powering A4,
which has already shown that it can sip rather than gulp power.
Once the rest of the team has their iPhones in hand, we'll do some
hardcore battery life testing and see what we come up with, but we think
under pretty active use, the iPhone 4 blows Apple's previous generation
phone out of the water, and makes a lot of the competition look
downright needy.
Wrap-up :
We're not going to beat around the bush -- in our approximation, the
iPhone 4 is the best smartphone on the market right now. The combination
of gorgeous new hardware, that amazing display, upgraded cameras, and
major improvements to the operating system make this an extremely
formidable package. Yes, there are still pain points that we want to see
Apple fix, and yes, there are some amazing alternatives to the iPhone 4
out there. But when it comes to the total package -- fit and finish in
both software and hardware, performance, app selection, and all of the
little details that make a device like this what it is -- we think it's
the cream of the current crop. We won't argue that a lot of this is a
matter of taste -- some people will just prefer the way Android or
Symbian works to the iPhone, and others will be on the lookout for a
hardware keyboard or a particular asset that the iPhone 4 lacks -- but
in terms of the total picture, it's tough to deny that Apple has moved
one step past the competition with this phone. Of course, in the
hyper-accelerated smartphone market where the Next Big Thing seems to
always be just around the corner, it's anyone's guess how long they keep
that edge.
By Joshua Topolsky
Source : www.engadget.com - By Joshua Topolsky