So it's been over a week since I've gotten my iPhone 4. Having this being my second iPhone (I was indoctrinated to my personal pocket buddy with the 3GS) here are my thoughts on the device so far.
The most obvious shiny new feature is Apple's retina display. While the validity of what resolution would be considered a retina display has been up for debate, the absolute truth is that the display for the iPhone 4 is damn impressive. Upon getting my shiny new iToy the display was the first thing I noticed. Text was sharp, images were extra vibrant. Actually I had to jump into Photoshop to create hi res backgrounds foe t phone because all the ones i made for my 3GS just didn't look pretty enough for my display, there was a stark contrast between the crisp text on lock screen and the pixelated lo res images I made for my first iPhone. Reading has also been a breeze. The sharp text was very easy on the eyes and made reading on the iPhone (especially using reader apps like iBooks and Kindle) a delight.
Under the hood, everything seems to run faster and snappier. Running apps and playing games is more responsive, and even though there are still some random bugs/issues with iOS4, overall it feels like it was made for the iPhone 4. This was a huge difference from the 3GS, when I updates my firmware originally to iOS4 some of the features (primarily multitasking and folders) felt sluggish, yet on the 4 I'm breezing through apps in the background and thumbing through folders with the greatest of ease, this i attribute mostly to the reported 512mb of RAM under the hood.
One feature i regret that I haver gotten the most use out of is FaceTime. While I understand the limitations that the carrier possesses when doing video calls (wifi only) it's sad it can't be of more use. Apps like Skype still haven't been able to implement the front facing camera for use with video chat ad having it limited only as an iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 feels somewhat a step backward. What I hope is that FaceTime will be Apple's new brand and will eventually be a platform for video chat (possible replacing iChat) as the platform.
Now this doesn't mean I haven't used the front facing camera at all now, there's a really fun iPhone 4 exclusive app called IncrediBooth that I use. It utilizes the front facing camera to turn your phone into an old style photobooth, complete with the finished product looking like a classic four picture photobooth strip. There's three different filter options and overall this app has to be the best 99¢ I've spent in the iTunes store in a long time. Still, it's kinda sad that I've used the front facing camera to cam whore more often then FaceTime.
The UI is largely the same with a few tweaks. For example, the hold button has been replaced with the FaceTime button while making a call. I did miss it originally but I learned that when you hold down of the pause button a little bit longer it puts the call on hold, it's an interesting design choice but overall it works. On an iOS4 note, the inclusion of folders is a fantastic addition and little things like a spell check are quite helpful, especially when authoring blog posts such as this. As I said in the "under the hood" paragraph, iOS4 feels like it was made for the iPhone 4. Even swiping between pages is a snap.
On the grip of death, I've done it, I've seen the results. But in doing some testing, I never once noticed a degradation in call quality when death-gripping my iPhone. Even when i get it down to 1 bar it still wouldn't drop the call, i even notice that my calls don't drop in sone of the areas it used to. Overall I don't see and issue with the design and I feel so many mobile phone users are so obsessed with "how many bars do I have" that they don't realize what constitutes a bad signal.
Overall, i haven't been this impressed with a device since I've seen the original iPhone unveiled. It has shocked and awed me in ways i can't even explain. Personally, I can't even fathom what life was like before the iPhone. Apple has once again solidified my support for the device that I will continue to update every year, look forward to next year and we'll see my thoughts on the next iDevice.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
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