Despite waiting on line for 7 hours yesterday at the Staten Island Mall, I’m very happy with my new iPhone. So here’s a straight to the point review I’ve put together.
Editor’s note: I’d like to apologize if this comes off as “fanboyish” but I’m genuinely impressed with the phone.
The phone I had before this one was an iPhone 3G. It was my first foray into the iPhone and I never looked back. I decided to skip the 3GS because there wasn’t enough improvement to justify the early upgrade fees. But the iPhone 4 won me over almost immediately.
When I first saw the phone in real life, it was running into DAPS friend James Sorrenti as he was leaving (and I was arriving) the mall. [he got there at 4:30am!] Now I wasn’t impressed until James had me look at some text. I went to the Safari app and loaded the first page I could, and was blown away by the retina display. I didn’t need to zoom in to read the sometimes small text that many websites have when viewed on the iPhone. Then I noticed the phone itself. Being a design geek, I flipped and rotated the phone to look at every centimeter of the form factor. No image that apple put out prior to this moment was as impressive as seeing it in person. It really is a beautiful piece of design.
An example of my background image and grouped apps.
iOS4, the software that runs on the phone, is a welcome improvement (although I’ve had it a week prior, along with many of the “added features” via jailbreaking). But running the iOS on the new iPhone is something different entirely. Sure I can now add background images (customization!) and group apps in folders (I am now running 30+ apps on one screen), but what I really wanted to see was the multi-tasking, HD video, and facetime.
multi-tasking in action
Multitasking is kind of pointless on a mobile device in my opinion. The only time I really pined for it is when I need to use info from one app to do something in another. (Maps location to a tweet, for example) Jailbroken iPhones have some pretty well-liked solutions for multitasking, and after trying a few, I decided I’ll just wait. While Apple’s multi-tasking isn’t really multitasking, it works almost exactly like I need it to. What it seems to do is pause the app you are in, store the state, then close it. You can remove that save point if you want, but if you are an app-switcher like I am, you’ll tend to keep them around.
The camera, while not the best in the world, is pretty damn good. Video is in HD and very clean looking. You can focus/expose for anything in the frame while shooting without loss. I was really impressed, then I downloaded iMovie for iPhone and made this: (which is still processing at the time of writing this.)
I no longer feel like I’ll be missing something if I don’t bring my camera, because the phone does it all for the most part.
Facetime was the first thing Kristin and I did when we got home, and this WILL revolutionize the way we make phone love. Here is a tender moment Kristin and I had using Facetime to connect with our family.
All in all, if you are eligible for the $199/$299 price, jump on this asap. If not, just wait till next year when a better phone comes out.
OH! About all those problems being reported with the phones (yellowed screen, bad reception) I haven’t had any of them. The only problem I find is that the “I’m on the phone” sensor (you know, the one that kills the screen when the phone is next to your ear) is way too sensitive. Twice today I’ve put someone on speaker phone and cheek-dialed a three-way call when I move the phone slightly away from my face. That’s gonna be annoying.
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