The very first thing you notice when you pick up an iPhone 4 for the first time isn't the fancy new industrial design and you'll never know that the device packs a significantly improved CPU either. No, the first thing you notice is the phone's screen--a massive step up in image quality from previous iPhones and even newer phones like the Nexus One and HTC Incredible.
And then, you take the phone into your left hand, lift it to your ear, and make a call. Odds are good that your call won't connect. Whether it's because your hand conducts just enough electricity to connect two of the iPhone 4's antennas or because the meat of your hand absorbs enough signal that you can't connect is unclear. Apple says it's because of meat-based signal attenuation, while everyone else feels the former is true. Either way, the upshot is the same--your call won't go through. If you're in an area with poor coverage, simply holding the phone in your left hand is enough to prevent you from making a call. Apple's software fix for the problem is laughable and the make-good freebie case solves a problem that Apple doesn't admit exists. In my testing, putting a case on the phone is enough to fix the problem. Before I go any further at all, if you don't want to put a case on your phone, don't buy the iPhone 4.
So, faulty antenna aside, how did I find the iPhone 4? Well, to find that out, you'll need to click the Continue Reading button.
The Screen
The star of the iPhone 4 show is undoubtedly its screen. The first time you hold the phone, the first thing you notice are the stunning brightness, incredible clarity, and astonishing viewing angles of the 960x640 pixel, 3.5-inch IPS LCD display. The characters on the screen feel as though they're just beneath the glass of the phone. When compared to similar-resolution screens on the Nexus One or the HTC Incredible (800x480 OLED, on both), the iPhone 4's screen stands out with more vibrant colors and better performance in sunlight.
Even though I'm not convinced that the iPhone 4's screen deserves it's Apple-applied Retina Display moniker--it's named that because its 326 pixel per inch pixel density supposedly goes beyond the human retina's resolution at 12-inches--this is undoubtedly the best screen available on a phone today. The pictures below don't do it justice, but they are pretty. Go see one in person at an Apple store, if you really want to be impressed.
Better Performance
The second thing you'll notice when you pick up an iPhone 4 is that it's fast. In my testing, the iPhone 4 made the iPhone 3GS feel positively pokey, in everything from app load times to web browsing to working inside apps. When you look under the iPhone 4's hood, it's easy to see why it's fast. The iPhone 4 is powered by the same CPU as the iPad, an Apple-designed A4, which packages an ARM Cortex-A8 processor with a PowerVR 3D accelerator on a single die alongside 512MB of RAM. That's right, the iPhone 4 sports double the memory of the iPad, and four times as much as an iPhone 3G. The upshot is that everything from Javascript tests to app load times to scrolling in the browser is faster on the iPhone 4 than the 3GS, although it seems a little slower than the iPad.
How does the iPhone 4 compare to the Android phones running 2.1 or 2.2? It's extremely difficult to do quantitative, apples-to-apples benchmarks comparing devices that run different operating systems. However, I can speak to qualitative differences, and the iPhone's UI and core apps feel consistently faster than any Android phone I've tested, whether it's running 2.1 or 2.2. My hunch is that the perceived difference is more a response to the occasional jarring hitches that continue to plague the Android OS than any difference in real performance between the hardware. iOS feels faster than anything else out there, thanks to Apple's attention to detail where it matters--customer experience.
The New Design
While I can't argue that the iPhone 4's design is anything but gorgeous, it feels more fragile than any other phone I've tested, ever. Yes, the glass surfaces on both the front and back of the iPhone are hardened thanks to an aluminosilicate doping process. Yes, they are scratch resistant. But, they are not shatter-proof. Users have reported shattering their iPhone 4 glass from drops as low as three feet. And, thanks to the nature of the exposed glass corners, if you drop this phone without a case, there's really no good spot for it to land.
The steel antenna band around the edges looks and feels awesome, and after living with them for a while, I really dig the new-style buttons. The individual volume buttons are difficult to mix up, and the silent-mode switch is difficult to move accidentally. And, it's important to consider that even though Apple hasn't confirmed it, the external antenna design is a major contributor to the Death Grip problem.
As Steve Jobs himself said in a 1996 Wired interview " Some people think design means how (a product) looks. But of course, if you dig deeper, it's really how it works." When held to that standard, I feel like the iPhone 4's design really doesn't meet the bar that Apple has set for smart phones. A smart phone that requires a case not only to protect it from the occasional drop but also to prevent signal loss when you hold the phone in your hand is simply not a well-designed product.
Multitasking
The other big bullet point for the iPhone 4 is multitasking. While multitasking is also available on the iPhone 3GS and late-model iPod Touches, it really shines on the speedy iPhone 4 hardware. And, in my tests on comparing iOS 3 to iOS 4 on the iPhone 3GS, the addition of multitasking to the iOS platform doesn't impact battery life for most apps.
How is that even possible? Isn't running an app in the background going to use more battery than not running something in the background? It's simple. The multitasking in iOS 4 isn't really true multitasking, it's a combination of a few different technologies that provide a reasonable approximation of multitasking. iOS 4 works its pseudo-multitasking mojo with a few simple tricks--it's a combination of save states, background APIs, and other nonsense. First, apps built for iOS 4 can save their state whenever you leave them--whether it's to open a link in Safari, to answer a call, or simply when you press the home button. The next time you launch that app, assuming you don't restart the phone or manually kill it, it will resume right where you left off. To use a personal computer metaphor, iOS 4 lets you hibernate apps when previously the app would have simply been closed. This is handy and useful.
The other trick Apple has added to iOS 4 is that it exposes a handful of programming interfaces (APIs) that enable certain types of apps to run in the background. For example, there are APIs for music streaming apps, GPS-aware apps, instant messaging apps, and even presence apps. When an app that needs to run in the background starts, like Pandora, it uses one of these APIs to run a very specific task. In the case of Pandora, it's the actual downloading and playing music bit. For an instant messaging app, it's regular check-ins to the server and notification of any new messages. For GPS apps, it's the current location of the phone along with notifications when you're getting near the next turn. These APIs are already being utilized in dozens, if not hundreds of apps.
The other trick Apple has added to iOS 4 is that it exposes a handful of programming interfaces (APIs) that enable certain types of apps to run in the background. For example, there are APIs for music streaming apps, GPS-aware apps, instant messaging apps, and even presence apps. When an app that needs to run in the background starts, like Pandora, it uses one of these APIs to run a very specific task. In the case of Pandora, it's the actual downloading and playing music bit. For an instant messaging app, it's regular check-ins to the server and notification of any new messages. For GPS apps, it's the current location of the phone along with notifications when you're getting near the next turn. These APIs are already being utilized in dozens, if not hundreds of apps.
To kill unruly apps or switch between open apps, you open the multitasking menu by double-tapping the home button. The app you're currently using slides up, revealing the icons for the most-recently used apps. Hold your finger on the icon, just like you do to arrange apps on the home screen, and little Xes appear on the icons. Click an X, and iOS tosses the save state info it's stored and lets you reinitialize the application. The multitasking menu also includes controls for whatever media playback app was used last--whether it's Pandora, the iPod app, or something else.
The overall effect, while not quite true multitasking, is sufficient for most apps, especially if there's already an API in place in iOS 4 to allow the specific type of background activity your app uses. The downside to this type of API-based approach? If Apple hasn't made an API that exposes the functionality you need in your app, you're SOL.
The overall effect, while not quite true multitasking, is sufficient for most apps, especially if there's already an API in place in iOS 4 to allow the specific type of background activity your app uses. The downside to this type of API-based approach? If Apple hasn't made an API that exposes the functionality you need in your app, you're SOL.
Improved Camera
The camera in the iPhone 4 is among the best that we've tested in a smartphone. The 5MPixel still camera shoots better pictures than any previous iPhone, and is comparable to the cameras on the best Android phones. Apple has also included an LED Flash for the first time, as well as a 5x digital zoom. At the same time, the sensor features a back-illuminated design, which means it works significantly better in low-light situations than more traditional sensors.
The biggest addition to the iPhone 4's camera though is the ability to shoot 720p video at 30fps. We've tested that extensively, and the quality is great. With the addition of the $5 iMovie app for iPhone 4, you can even do light editing on the iPhone, then post the resulting video directly to YouTube--although you can't post them their native 720p resolution, they're automatically scaled down.
The biggest addition to the iPhone 4's camera though is the ability to shoot 720p video at 30fps. We've tested that extensively, and the quality is great. With the addition of the $5 iMovie app for iPhone 4, you can even do light editing on the iPhone, then post the resulting video directly to YouTube--although you can't post them their native 720p resolution, they're automatically scaled down.
Facetime
Yes, Apple added a front-facing camera to the iPhone 4 so people can make video calls to each other. Yes, Facetime is relatively nifty. No, I'm still not going to use it. After watching Apple's ads for Facetime, it's pretty clear that I am not the target market for the video calling feature, and it shows in my usage habits. To date, I've made about three Facetime calls, one to demo the feature to my wife, and two for video or photo shoots for Tested, including the one pictured below.
There are two big problems facing Facetime. First, the requirement that both parties be connected to Wi-Fi is a deal breaker. In reality, many people can't connect to Wi-Fi at their work place or school, which makes Facetime impractical for business conversations. In order to ensure that the person you're calling is connected to Wi-Fi, you really need to schedule your call in advance. While that's easy to do when you call your parents on Sunday morning, it doesn't work outside family.
The second big problem with Facetime is that not everyone has iPhone 4s. Apple whiffed the Facetime launch by not providing, at the bare minimum, OS X and Windows clients for the service. By opening the list of potential Facetime users from the three million people who've bought iPhones to anyone with a PC or Mac, Facetime becomes infinitely more valuable to me, even though I'm probably still not going to use it.
The second big problem with Facetime is that not everyone has iPhone 4s. Apple whiffed the Facetime launch by not providing, at the bare minimum, OS X and Windows clients for the service. By opening the list of potential Facetime users from the three million people who've bought iPhones to anyone with a PC or Mac, Facetime becomes infinitely more valuable to me, even though I'm probably still not going to use it.
New iOS 4 Features
The iPhone 4 ships with iOS 4, the latest version of Apple's iPhone/iPad OS, and it brings some much-needed functionality to iOS. I've already talked about Apple's multitasking implementation, but it also delivers some enhancements to the email client, folders for apps, and improvements to the photo app. (Naturally, these enhancements are available to any other device that supports iOS 4.)
The email enhancements are three-fold. First, Mail includes a unified inbox now. If you choose, you can view all of your incoming mail in one list view, from all the accounts on your phone. This is convenient if you have multiple email accounts that you need to keep on top of. Another optional (but incredibly useful) mail management addition is Gmail-style message threading. Instead of filling your inbox with 35 replies to the same message, Mail now gives you the option of displaying related messages within a single thread. Finally, you can set up multiple Exchange accounts on the iPhone. Want to use Google's sync service to sync your personal Google Calendar and your office's Exchange server to your phone? Now you can do that.
Folders are another major addition to iOS, allowing you to organize apps more efficiently on your home screen by placing them inside containers. The implementation is slick, if you drop like apps into a folder, the folder is automatically named with the app category, and it means much less scrolling across home screens. Unfortunately, it also means it's much more difficult to find your apps, at least for me. Instead of digging through folder after folder, I frequently find myself simply searching for the app I want. Is that an improvement? I'm not sure, frankly.
Finally, iOS 4 adds the ability to sync additional metadata with your photos, exposing iPhoto-like Places, Faces, and Events functionality inside the Photos app. Want to see all the pictures of your kid? That's easy, click on her face in the People window. Want to see the photos from your Hawaii vacation last year? Go to Places and browse on the map to Hawaii. I love having more ways to browse my photos on the phone, unfortunately, this stuff only works if you sync your phone with a Mac (sorry PC users) and use iPhoto to manage your photos. This would be a much more valuable feature if it either ran on the phone itself, or was available to use with third-party apps.
The email enhancements are three-fold. First, Mail includes a unified inbox now. If you choose, you can view all of your incoming mail in one list view, from all the accounts on your phone. This is convenient if you have multiple email accounts that you need to keep on top of. Another optional (but incredibly useful) mail management addition is Gmail-style message threading. Instead of filling your inbox with 35 replies to the same message, Mail now gives you the option of displaying related messages within a single thread. Finally, you can set up multiple Exchange accounts on the iPhone. Want to use Google's sync service to sync your personal Google Calendar and your office's Exchange server to your phone? Now you can do that.
Folders are another major addition to iOS, allowing you to organize apps more efficiently on your home screen by placing them inside containers. The implementation is slick, if you drop like apps into a folder, the folder is automatically named with the app category, and it means much less scrolling across home screens. Unfortunately, it also means it's much more difficult to find your apps, at least for me. Instead of digging through folder after folder, I frequently find myself simply searching for the app I want. Is that an improvement? I'm not sure, frankly.
Finally, iOS 4 adds the ability to sync additional metadata with your photos, exposing iPhoto-like Places, Faces, and Events functionality inside the Photos app. Want to see all the pictures of your kid? That's easy, click on her face in the People window. Want to see the photos from your Hawaii vacation last year? Go to Places and browse on the map to Hawaii. I love having more ways to browse my photos on the phone, unfortunately, this stuff only works if you sync your phone with a Mac (sorry PC users) and use iPhoto to manage your photos. This would be a much more valuable feature if it either ran on the phone itself, or was available to use with third-party apps.
Odds and Ends
The iPhone 4 has a couple of other hardware improvements tucked within its shiny glass shell. It finally adds 802.11n Wi-Fi support, so you turn off legacy 802.11g support on your router, if you so desire. More interesting, perhaps, is the gyroscope.
The iPhone has always included an accelerometer, a solid state sensor that measures movement. However, the accelerometer doesn't measure the phone's orientation--at least, not reliably. The addition of a gyroscope allows app developers to measure the precise orientation of the phone. When combined with the compass, the accelerometer, the GPS sensor, and the cameras, the gyroscope provides the last hardware bit the iPhone needed to deliver awesome, compelling augmented reality apps. Whether developers choose to take advantage of that remains to be seen.
The Overall Experience
In almost all regards, the iPhone 4 is a significant improvement over the iPhone 3Gs, as well as smartphones from competing manufacturers. It's battery life is best in class, the screen is gorgeous, the phone is eminently pocketable, and it's fast and powerful. It's an incredibly capable device, until you try to make a call, that is. Without the antenna issues, I'd whole-heartedly recommend this phone to users, despite my reservations about the durability of Jonathan Ive's glassy design. Unfortunately, the iPhone 4 simply doesn't live up to the design and usability standards that I've come to expect from Apple. The all-too-real antenna issues, combined with Apple's refusal to admit that the iPhone 4 is flawed, and my growing dislike of the App Store approval process prevent me from recommending the iPhone 4 to users. Yes, if you're willing to encumber your iPhone with a bulky case or ill-fitting bumper, it's one of the best phones on the market.
