Trevor has put his thoughts of the new iPhone 4 on 247 and he seems more than impressed-
I queued for more than eight hours yesterday, but it was worth the wait.
The screen is just beautiful. Text looks extraordinary. It’s hard to explain, but the screen just seems to disappear as if there is absolutely nothing between you and the words you are reading. Photos and videos just pop.
Call clarity is orders of magnitude better than on my iPhone 3GS. Everything is louder and clearer.
No one has been able to fully match the speed, fluidity and consistency of the iPhone user interface, and the iPhone 4 simply kicks it up another notch. It’s breathtakingly fast and smooth.
Low light photos are great and I’ve been impressed with flash photos, too. I think this camera can replace a point and shoot with ease. Goodbye Flip, too.
Battery life is looking very good. Yesterday I used the phone intensively for more than two hours straight including surfing, video, 15 minutes chatting on the phone, and a couple of FaceTime calls. Battery went from 100% to 80%. In normal use, I reckon there’s more than enough juice to get through the day with room to spare.
I love the look and feel of the new industrial design. My old iPhone 3GS feels bulky in comparison. Build quality is exceptional.
FaceTime is so easy to use and so seamlessly integrated with the phone it’s not even funny. Video calling may not be new, but I think the iPhone is going to take it mainstream.
I agree with Gavin – the iPod has much richer and deeper sound than previously. Surprising.
The overall performance of the device combined with multitasking provides an unprecedented flow to everything that I do. It doesn’t get much better than this.
I will miss my old 3GS which, despite being a year old, was still right at the top of the smartphone heap. But then my new iPhone 4 is in a class of its own.
And then Gavin popped up with more-
I have now had the iPhone 4 for just over 24 hours. And what a difference it has made already despite the fact I haven’t been able to make any calls as my number won’t be ported until 4pm on Monday.
However, I have synced my films, music and iPod Touch apps across and with the wifi connection been online trying everything from email, web, You Tube and more. What is bizarre is I am having to use my HTC HD2 until Monday and therefore it is easy to compare. Obviously 2 different operating systems, and despite the fact the HD2 is a great phone, the iPhone 4 trounces it is so many ways. The iPhone 4 touch screen typing is the best. Unbelievably the HD2 doesn’t even come close. Then there is the fluidity and speed. Everything just works. No tweaks needed. The HD2 is larger, heavier, larger screen but now it doesn’t look or feel right. Apple’s ios4 really shows how backward Windows Mobile 6.5.5 is! Now I don’t want a war on bashing operating systems. The HD2 does have some useful spec eg 4.3 inch screen, wifi router and highly tweakable. But all those specs in my opinion doesn’t produce a better phone. I was thinking about my time with the HTC Hero and other Android phones. They are good too, but have an uncontrolled infrastructure ie. different hardware but it does so the most promise. Web os will it survive. Could evolve into something amazing. Anyway back to my iPhone 4.
The screen. The more I use it the more I realise how incredible looking and using the screen is. Writing, viewing anything. The camera. Totally way way above my expectations. Goto my Flickr photo stream, the Dartmoor 3 photos with iP4 next to were all taken on the phone. Make sure you go large to see the detail. My Flickr is www.Flickr.com/photos/gavinfabl100 . I repeat it’s worth checking out the quality. The audio. How good is good. Well my headphones suddenly started resonating at levels not heard before. Deeper and tighter bass, mid range clarity and superb treble. Very impressive.
And then there is the apps. Endless. Moving between apps is fast and fluid. It’s worth seeing for yourself in an Apple store. The other sweet spot is using the sd reader and copying photos from the iPhone to the iPad . Gotta say this works a treat. Does anyone know what app you can use to transfer other types of docs? Facetime. Can we get a list of numbers, names to do this. It’s about time we got to see you!
And then Mark popped up with some differing views-
I have just bought the iPhone4 and am seriously thinking of returning it for the Galaxy S. I ALMOST bought the Galaxy S anyway, but this new problem with the iPhone4′s phone reception has spoiled the aura for me about the “good design” of the iPhone4. Now it feels like style over content. There are some very good points about the iPhone, a smoother interface than Galaxy S, but that does not equal the plethora of features where Galaxy S surpasses iPhone:
you cannot play divx xvid mpeg4 wmv, and apple does not support adobe flash!
you cannot play flac or ape uncompressed audio files you cannot have home screens filled with active widgets you cannot drag and drop music to and from device you cannot use any old usb cable to charge the phone and have to use itunes and quicktime to sync you cannot have a spare battery you cannot put your HD videos you shoot on a SERIES of external memory sticks (when you go on holiday, for example). Hmmm. Mark.
That’s it for now- no more iPhone 4 reviews and first impressions for a few days. It is looking like it is a winner in most people’s eyes so far.
I believe Apple is releasing software update next week to address the signal issue. I myself haven’t got it but then I have phone in a case.
I’m going to make sure I play with one this weekend! The signal problem is pretty shocking. I’m not a big one for conspiracy theories but it does seems that Apple knew about it – hence the rubberised case which just happens to fix it.
I was chatting in the playground to another parent when picking up my son and they were teasing I was holding my iPhone incorrectly until I pointed out it mine was older and not affected. Even if it doesn’t affect all iPhones, Apple need to fix the ones that it is a problem for soon because the news is out to customers who aren’t as obsessed and knowledgeable as us lot.
I had a look at a display model today – the screen res is amazing. It reminds me of the first time I fired up my VGA Loox PDA for the wow factor. However, someone had managed to break it already and there was a streak of bright white spots all the way across! I couldn’t change the signal strength although I tried
I’m still happy to wait, it’s awkward not to since I’m mid contract and don’t have a micro-sim and I don’t think I’d get a benefit from the new features – yet.
Still enjoying my iPhone 4. Battery life great, camera and video much better than previous models, screen is beautiful, and as for the signal problem. I can get it to reduce if I hold it in a specific way, but that’s simply not how I hold my phone so it’s not an issue for me. I shall buy a case for it once more of them are released too. As has been pointed out elsewhere, ALL phones will be subject to a reduction in signal if you block the place where the antenna is. It’s maybe just more obvious with this phone because the antenna is in a prominent position on the side of the case.
Yes, I’m still delighted with my iPhone 4, as indicated in my comments above. Screen, speed, sound, camera, size, weight and overall fit and finish are just exceptional.
On the subject of the antenna “issue”, I’ve been obsessively watching the reception indicator on my iPhone 4 since I got it on Thursday. I live in an area with lousy 3G coverage, so I’m used to seeing alarming signal variation, and dropped calls have definitely been on the increase in recent months.
Try as I may, I cannot replicate the phenomenon. Yes, my signal strength still seems to be all over the place, but this happens whether the phone is in my hand, on the table, or encased in Apple’s bumper case. I’ve even seen the signal indicator go UP from virtually nothing to 4-5 bars when I pick it up off the table.
The good news for me is that the dropped calls I was getting have completely disappeared and call quality has improved markedly, so I have to conclude that the iPhone 4 is actually far better at obtaining and holding on to a signal than its predecessor.
I got to play with a friend’s iPhone 4 last night and was very impressed. The screen is absolutely incredible and easily the best I have ever seen. Haven’t yet seen a Super AMOLED but I can’t imagine how it could be better. I have a strong aversion to Steve Jobs’ hyperboles but I was genuinely shocked at how good the screen was. Photos looked like prints: you really do have to see it to believe it. (I’m sounding like Trevor now: that’s worrying)
The phone signal strength was quite low so I saw this as a golden opportunity to test the signal issue. I held it the ‘wrong way’ and sure enough the signal strength changed. Within a minute it went up to full and stayed there! Go figure. Must be my electrifying personality
Personally I am not sure that I like the new shape but maybe it is something you get used to. I prefer phones that are a bit more curved but a case or the bumper could help. I think I would have to get some sort of case. I know it’s got that toughened gorilla glass but it just feels too expensive to carry round unprotected.
Didn’t get to test the browser because of the awfulness of the O2 network. According to their website there is good 3G coverage in my area but I can rarely get it. If I was to get this phone it would have to be on Voda or T-mob.
Is it enough to tempt me away from Android? Possibly. I prefer the HTC SenseUI interface with all those wonderful widgets but iPhone 4 is one classy bit of kit. If only I had enough money to have both.