iPhone 4 Reviews

[Lord_Nemesis]

Looks like Apple has started shipping the new iPhones.

Came across this review on engadget.

iPhone 4 review – Engadget

[Metalspree]

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

One of the first iphone i am kind of liking.If one can install android will buy it

[Sei]

Man, wish they had a similar structure in India. Pay 200$ and get a plan for a year or two. Sigh…

[ankurcshah93]

@Sei: Yeah, I agree too.There would be high end phones for everyone then.

[smoky004]

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.Overall, the iPhone 4 outclasses pretty much every smartphone on the market in terms of industrial design

to our eyes, there has never been a more detailed, clear, or viewable screen on any mobile device.

Nexus One up top, iPhone 4 below

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

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.

Here’s the thing – this may not be “true” multitasking for a lot of us, but it amounts to multitasking for most of us.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.pple combines these heavy hitters with more familiar tricks, like push notifications, to excellent effect.

But what is it(facetime) 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.

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!)

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.

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.

iPhone 4 review – Engadget

amazing !!.wonder when they will bring it to india!!

[kauzy]

damn smoky stop it..

such posts just make me more inclined on buying another iPhone.. already have 2.. i have to save some moolah

[apextwin146]

Look at the damn screen quality!!! Its like comparing the output of a LAser printer(aPple) to that of a DotMatrix printer(Nexus)!!!

[sathyanaidu]

hope they compare it with one of the Super AMOLED phones for display quality.. or maybe they didn’t because they knew the outcome?

[madnav]

i can’t remember the last time i checked picture quality under magnifier

it only looks good upto a certain noticeable pixel pitch…and beyond that is it quiet not noticeable.

I, for one, can not notice the pixels on 320x480 over 3.2" screen of spica…that is, with naked eyes without magnifier.

but anyways, everybody has a selling point and this one isn’t a point for me.

[desiibond]

to the naked eye, the difference in iphone 3GS vs iphone 4G is more due to the increased resolution and the mighty IPS panel and this retina thing is just to please eardums! In terms of display quality, IPS pawns AMOLED and LCD. pixelation is least of the worry for top end mobiles.

[Gannu]

@desiibond

IPS pawns AMOLED and LCD

IPS itself is a type of LCD panel then what exactly is it 'pawn’ing? TN?

The ‘Retina Display’ is just another marketing gimmick to lure more buyers and curious onlookers. It is impossible to distinguish between the displays of the different smartphones available in the market today and cramping 2x more pixels into a limited space does not exactly help IMO. The 2x resolution found in the iPhone 4 vis-a-vis the 3GS is exactly as a result of this. I’m not sure if a human eye can exactly tell the difference between the 2 displays at the usual viewing distance (about a feet?) and not using a magnifying lens.

What I loved OTOH, is the better processor, the increased RAM, increased battery life, HD video recording and the added sensors which aid in better gaming.

[Lord_Nemesis]

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.

The funny thing about this review is that on one side the reviewer claims that a lot of this is a matter taste (which is really what it is), but then goes on to make a blanket statement that apple has moved one step ahead of the competition. Personally I don’t see how. Hardware wise, there were phones that were superior in terms of several aspects. Software/UI is a matter of user preference. In terms of overall package, it does not bring anything drastically new to the table that appeals to an audience that were not an audience’s of previous iterations of the iPhone. For example a guy who prefers a physical keyboard would still not find the new iPhone appealing nor to an Android user who likes customization and and an active desktop on his phone. To these people iPhone is not even in the competition let alone ahead of the competition. Considering that the community of people who find the iPhone appealing is still a minority compared to the overall smart phone community who don’t find it appealing, I think its more apt to say that Apple has moved one step ahead of it self in their previous iPhone iteration rather than talk about the competition.

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@Desecrator

The ‘Retina Display’ is just another marketing gimmick to lure more buyers and curious onlookers. It is impossible to distinguish between the displays of the different smartphones available in the market today and cramping 2x more pixels into a limited space does not exactly help IMO. The 2x resolution found in the iPhone 4 vis-a-vis the 3GS is exactly as a result of this. I’m not sure if a human eye can exactly tell the difference between the 2 displays at the usual viewing distance (about a feet?) and not using a magnifying lens.

Yes Retina Display is a marketing gimmick and the technology itself is a evolutionary step rather than some thing revolutionary. But at the same time I simply won’t agree that the 4x (Its not 2x as you said ) resolution does not help. The high resolution does matter for people like me who can distinguish between pixels even at a reasonable distance. For example I can see the individual pixels on a PSP, iPhone or iPhone Touch and many other displays that have low resolutions. The smaller the pixels, the better. However I don’t think it offers a lot of advantage over an already fairly high res display like 480 x 800.

The fact that its currently the highest resolution is just a matter of coincidence in my opinion. They were tied down by the 2:3 aspect and the easiest way to end up a higher resolution without introducing scaling issues for existing apps is to double the horizontal and vertical resolution and coincidentally they ended up with a display that is currently the highest resolution in the market. If LG can design a display if this resolution and size, I don’t think samsung would not be able to do that if they wanted.

[Gannu]

@Lord Nemesis

The high resolution does matter for people like me who can distinguish between pixels even at a reasonable distance. For example I can see the individual pixels on a PSP, iPhone or iPhone Touch and many other displays that have low resolutions.

WTH?

Perhaps with a PSP one can since I think I have seen pixelations on a friend’s PSP 3003. I have heard the display of the PSP 3003 isn’t all that great either but on an iPhone or an iPod touch?

That TBH sounds almost next to unbelievable! I just tried with mine and I simply couldn’t. And I think I have a fairly decent eyesight.

Can anyone else here identify the pixels on an iPod Touch/iPhone’s display? :ashamed:

[kauzy]

well.. i can give it a try provided each pixel is of different color..

[Lord_Nemesis]

@Desecrator

WTH?

Perhaps with a PSP one can since I think I have seen pixelations on a friend’s PSP 3003. I have heard the display of the PSP 3003 isn’t all that great either but on an iPhone or an iPod touch?

That TBH sounds almost next to unbelievable! I just tried with mine and I simply couldn’t. And I think I have a fairly decent eyesight.

Can anyone else here identify the pixels on an iPod Touch/iPhone’s display? :ashamed:

I don’t think it has any thing to do with good eyesight. I am myself myopic and wear glasses.

At a distance of one foot I was always able to easily make out the pixels on my previous phone which had a 2.9" display with resolution 320 x 208 (Dot Pitch = 0.193 mm). At about 7 Inches distance I can make out the pixels on my Nokia 5800 which has a 640 x 360 resolution on a 3.2" screen (Dot Pitch = 0.11mm). The previous iPhones/iPod touch had a resolution of 480 x 320 on a 3.5" display (Dot Pitch = 0.154 mm). I have used an iPhone/iPod Touch only a few times and I was able to make out the pixels and I am pretty sure I was looking at the screen from a distance of about a foot and at the worst 10 inches.
One of the reasons even for monitors, I prefer displays with low dot pitch. Aliasing is also easily noticeable to me.

[FaH33m]

I can’t make out the pixels on my iPhone 2G even after holding it less than a foot away from my eyes .

[smoky004]

To be honest ppi is far more important than resolution.Such high resolution for a phone display doesn’t mean it will be any better than other phone displays currently in the market.Maybe the improvement will be noticeable over a low res prev. gen iphone but compared to phones like evo 4g the difference won’t be much(infact it won’t even be noticeable).Infact apple choose this particular res not because it wanted to bring out the screen with the highest res but res on the prev gen models were low and the only way to increase them without introducing any scaling issues was to increase it 4 fold. On the other hand improved ppi is not just a marketing gimmick it should in theory greatly improve text readability and video quality.Many fanboi’s demand 720p displays on mobile phones without realizing it will be nothin more than a marketing gimmick on such a tiny screen. Just like a 8 or 12 Mp camera on a mobile phone.You simply domt need it.

[raul]

I just got ios4 on my 3G and while it’s not superfast honestly it’s not bad either, pretty zippy. But then I have had 3.0 for like 7 months now so it was getting laggy anyway.

I will be heading to the states in 2 months and I am in 2 minds, I have had the 3G for an year and a half, before that I had the 2g for nearly an year before it got flicked. While I am a bit curious about the new iphone screen I am also honestly a bit bored of the apple ecosystem and the closed system also bugs me sometimes. I used the nexus one for a couple of days and it’s nice but audio quality was a bit wanting. I am a bit more inclined towards android now. I like the openness and the hacky half baked apps, and perhaps I am simply bored of the iPhone.

Apple did a wonderful job with the phone hardware, software fluidity, appstore and for tinkerers it was fabulous with jail breaking and stuff, but now 3 years later and with android coming on I suspect tinkerers, and most folks on boards like this would be will probably move to android. For the general public who need a phone, mail, Internet, multimedia and a polished experiece iPhone does it perhaps the best currently.

I also got the iPad recently and while it’s impressive for speed and as an Internet and multimedia device again the closed system is limiting in some way, the only way it will be useful to me is if I can use it as a pc and here again I find myself looking towards android pads.

[smoky004]

OKay here’s are some vidz shot by iphone 4 :-

iPhone 4 (Also New iTouch) Camera Test -- Outside w/ Macro Flowers + Pond

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[Lord_Nemesis]

@smoky004

To be honest ppi is far more important than resolution.Such high resolution for a phone display doesn’t mean it will be any better than other phone displays currently in the market.

Resolution is in itself a factor that determines PPI. Its not less or more important than PPI. PPI is just a factor of resolution and size. if you keep size constant, resolution directly determines the PPI.

@smoky004

Infact apple choose this particular res not because it wanted to bring out the screen with the highest res but res on the prev gen models were low and the only way to increase them without introducing any scaling issues was to increase it 4 fold.

Exactly what I mentioned in one of my previous posts. The goal was to increase the resolution without loosing the aspect or having to incur major scaling related issues. The simplest way out was to double the horizontal and vertical resolution which makes scaling trivial.

@smoky004

On the other hand improved ppi is not just a marketing gimmick it should in theory greatly improve text readability and video quality.

PPI is not at all a marketing gimmick, but unlike a word like “AMOLED” which is a term describing the technology involved, the term “Retina Display” is purely a marketing word. Its like those detergent ad’s where you are bombarded with words like “Active Whiteners” and similar junk. What it means simply is that LG has come up with a new high resolution display to complete with Samsung’s own displays. Both use different technologies and have different advantages and disadvantages.