The iPhone 4 Review



Prologue





We all have seen it (well, some have personally and most of us have seen it online) and we all have read about it. We all have witnessed the hype, the controversies and the media circus that happened over it. But that’s the thing about Apple products, especially when it comes to one of the company’s flagship products.

But that’s not the point here and certainly not the story. I’ve finally scored one and today, I’m going to put it on a review. But before you proceed I must clear something, this review is based on my personal views and experience with the device and in some parts it may/will sound subjective. I’ve tried to keep the focus objective wherever possible, but as a long time iPhone user and due to the nature of few features it’s very difficult to be objective. I hope you readers understand.

With that out of the way, let’s proceed and find out if it is anything as “magical” as dear Steve El Jobso says it is. ;)

First Impressions

(hardware and exterior)


First, the packaging… which is as bare minimum as it can get. This is something I would really like to be fixed. Let me explain what I mean by that later.



The box has gotten smaller compared to earlier iPhone packaging and apparently it’s been a steady evolution since past few generations. Smaller packaging means more boxes per cargo shipment, means leaner logistics costs, which in turn means better profit margin overall.



Open the box and there it is. iPhone 4, sitting flush in a cardboard tray at the top of the box. To Apple’s credit the packaging is top notch, but that’s always been the case with Apple products. The cardboard and other material used in the packaging screams of grade-A quality. You know that your product is going to be safe in that sturdy packaging.



iPhone 4, Finger Tips a.k.a instructions manual/tips on using iPhone, USB wall charger and USB to 30-pin iPod/iPhone connecter cable. That’s about it, that’s all she’s got to offer in the package. Oh and there is that small metal pin to eject the SIM tray, how generous of thou, oh Apple.

This is what is my beef with Apple, at least where iPhone is concerned… the lack of decent bundle for such a flagship device. You see, with every new generation of iPod, Apple started cutting down on bundled accessory to keep the end cost down. What you get in the package is bare minimum to get started using your device. To some extent it makes sense since Apple sells iPhone as subsidized item in USA. But I think Apple should have separate bundle for those who buy the iPhone upfront or in countries where iPhone is being sold unsubsidized, because *shocker* it’s an high-end phone and has a price tag matching that status. So pretty-please-with-sugar-on-top Apple, make those users feel special and “magical” for throwing wads of cash on such an high-end device. Be little more generous with the accessories, will ya?



Say what you want but you have to hold this one in your hand to truly appreciate it. The feel, build quality and the touch is… in one word… premium, or another… exquisite. I’m being little subjective here but I’m not exaggerating. This thing is a, thing of beauty.

So now let’s take a look at the hardware, exterior that is. Sorry, but it won’t be possible to show the innards of the iPhone, since this is being my personal device and all… but I’m pretty sure you’ve seen it already on iFixit. Those who haven’t, can view it here : iPhone 4 Teardown - iFixit



Starting from the bottom, we have 30-pin apple dock connecter, speaker grills (with one of it hiding the primary mic I suspect)… and a quite unconventional for Apple, OMG the screws *gasp*. Also, as you can see the legendary HOME button… the lone physical input warrior on the face of the iPhone.



On the left, starting at top is the mute/unmute switch and another unconventional implementation by apple, separate volume up and down buttons instead of the usual rocker as on the first three iPhones.



Top of the device consists of hold/wake-up switch on left and a 3.5mm audio/headset jack on right. The tiny hole beside the headphone jack is a secondary mic used for noise cancellation.



The right side of the device is devoid of any contraptions, except the SIM tray. Which is Micro-SIM standard; so the regular SIM requires to be cut down to Micro-SIM size, for using with the iPhone.



Rounding off our tour of device exterior, on the back we have a 5 mega-pixel camera with backlit sensor for better low-light performance. Also, Apple has finally included the LED flash to go with the camera so that you can light up your friend’s face while he picks his nose. Upon the close inspection, the camera lens is bigger compared to iPhone 3G. I didn’t have iPhone 3GS unit to compare the lens, but I suspect it would be little larger than 3G and little smaller than iPhone 4’s lens. The lens also seems to have a slight wider focal length compared to the earlier iPhones.

Apart from the new exterior, with front and back constructed of gorilla glass there are quite a few notable changes made on the inside as well. There is a new processor derived from ARM core, known as Apple A4. The clock speeds are currently unknown, but suspected to be around 700-800 MHz. The same processor powers iPad and as we know on iPad it runs at 1GHz. Numbers aside, iPhone 4 is blazingly fast. The interface is snappier than snappy without any lag or slowdowns at all. Thanks to iPhone 4 my already slow iPhone 2G and 3G feel… well, dead slow. The speed is not the only thing that embarrasses older iPhone, the new display on iPhone 4 completely dazzles the viewer. After using iPhone 4 for few minutes, I started seeing things that never noticed before on my iPhone 2G and 3G. I’m seeing pixels, jagged edges around text, washed out shades and dull colors.



See what I mean here? Check the difference between the two. iPhone 4 on left and iPhone 3G on right.

That IPS panel is surely worth all the hype.

Software

(iPhone 4 specific features)


Thanks to the new hardware features there are few notable software differences as well compared to earlier iPhone models. Although, iPhone 3GS gets most of the software features with upgraded iOS build there few things still unique to iPhone 4.

One such feature is camera application. iPhone 4’s camera app has few things to differentiate itself from earlier iPhones, such as HDR shooting option, flash support, HD video recording using either the front or back camera.



As you can see in this shot, in the top left corner you’ve option to turn off or on the LED flash. In the top center, you have the HDR switch and top-right you have the camera source switch. On the toolbar at the bottom (or on the left when in landscape mode) you have the Gallery button (on top in this shot), shutter/record button and shooting mode switch (at the bottom). Too bad, there is still no dedicated camera button (hardware button) anywhere on the phone.

The HDR shooting mode works most of the time where it’s applicable. If you’re shooting a subject that is already properly exposed and there is no extreme exposure contrast in the scene you’ll not find much difference in normal shot and HDR shot. HDR mode is also pointless when shooting fast moving objects or sports event because of how the HDR works. To put it simply, camera takes multiple shots (minimum 3) with different exposure settings and then it combines those shots to balance the overall exposure in the photo making the both bright and dark areas of photo properly exposed. Regardless of how fast camera you use, due to the small interval between shooting these photographs the moving object will be captured at different locations in each shot making the final image ghosted. Thankfully, when HDR is enabled iPhone also saves original image along with HDR shot in the Camera Roll. Enabling HDR also disables the flash, as using flash can greatly change the exposure metering in the final shot. Similarly, enabling flash will automatically turn off HDR mode. Also, HDR mode and flash is available only when using the back camera. The front camera is can shoot photos and videos at VGA resolution.



The video is recorded at 720p with audio, at up to 30fps using the back camera. The video recording is smooth and works as advertised. However, what’s interesting is how the video recording is actually handled. When you change from Photo to Video mode the focal length on camera changes significantly. Take a look at the following shot, on the left Photo mode of the same frame and on the right Video mode of the same frame. I think, what’s going on here is that Apple is using cropped mode of the camera sensor for video recording because in the photo mode the focal length is quite wide. See the picture below to understand what I mean.



Photo mode on left, Video mode on right

Overall, the performance of iPhone 4 camera is quite good and satisfying. The noise performance is quite better compared to iPhone 3G as you can see below. I never liked in-built flash even on DSLR cameras so I don’t have anything better to say about iPhone 4’s or other cellphone’s flash in general. It’s there and it works and those who like cellphone flash will like it, that’s all. In general I’m not a big fan of cellphone cameras, but as the saying goes, “the best camera is the one that you have with you”… and on that note your average cellphone camera has gotten even better. iPhone 4’s camera works as advertised and in general delivers the satisfying results. It’s still no better than proper camera, but it’s a mark that we have come long way from crappy cameras (read: absolute useless) in cellphone. I’m also kind of pleased for the fact that instead of pursuing megapixel count, Apple is going for better low-noise performance with a better sensor.

Another iPhone 4 specific feature is video calling a.k.a. FaceTime (as Apple calls it). Currently, the state of FaceTime is a bit awkward as it’s very limited. Out of the box, you require WiFi connection with good speed to use it (although there is a app available for jailbroken phones to use it over 3G), currently it works only on iPhone 4 (as there are no other FaceTime compatible devices in market). But past all those limitations, trust me when I say this, it is dead simple to use and it works. I have a relative in US who also has an iPhone 4 and the first thing I did was to call him and initiate FaceTime. He was at his house and didn’t have WiFi, but luckily he had jailbroken his iPhone 4 and was able to use FaceTime over 3G. Using FaceTime is as simple as just clicking a button and voila, you and your friends are sharing each other’s ugly mugs. The video was smooth and no hiccups, and the voice was crisp and clear. Although, I was simply testing the FaceTime I ended up going through the tour of his house on video. The camera was quick and responsive adjusting the exposure as the light changed in the environment (in and out of rooms). It was really a nice experience and dead simple to use. You can switch the camera source in middle of call and the video is orientation aware, so when you rotate your phone in landscape mode the video adjusts automatically on both camera sources. I’m pretty sure that in future we will be able to use FaceTime over 3G out of the box, without needing the jailbreak and possible/hopefully with other camera/3G enabled cellphones.



Then there was multitasking. It’s not exactly iPhone 4 exclusive feature, but thanks to that 512mb of ram under the hood it’s a breeze on iPhone 4. But what I’m going to talk here is my problem with the current implementation. The only problem I’ve with multi-tasking on iPhone 4 is the tedious way to close an application. Currently clicking on home button, minimizes the app (or put it in background) so you can open another app. Double clicking the home button with open multi-tasking tray which shows all the current running apps for quick switching. To close certain app, one needs to tap and hold any app icon till they start wiggling. At this point, you get little red (-) badge on all the running apps so you can close it. Seriously? Isn’t that too many clicks and taps to close a freaking application? Whatever happened to ease of use Apple? What I would like to see is the return of force quitting the app by holding the home button for a few seconds. Earlier (IIRC before iOS 3.x), clicking on home button closed an app and clicking + holding the home button force quitted apps (for frozen or non-responsive apps). This is what Apple should bring back to force quitting the app which we don’t want to put in the background. I’m done using this app and I don’t want to multitask it, I just want to close it without having to go through the big ordeal. Apart from that minor complaint, the multi-tasking works as one can expect it to be. Some may say that it’s not true multi-tasking as one found on Android… well whoop-de-doo. One of most popular apps on Androids are task killing apps to optimize battery life, I think that says it all.

Speaking of battery… iPhone 4 has got the biggest battery than any of the earlier iPhones. But how well does that translate in real life? Pretty good compared to earlier iPhones, but we are still far away from the day when the jinx of smartphones and limited battery life is lifted. It’s still too early to derive any numbers for me (plus since the device is not actually mine to use I can’t really test the battery life objectively). Hopefully when I get my own iPhone 4, I’ll be able to put some numbers regarding the battery life. I think the problem is not with the battery itself, but how we use our phones. We want to do more and more on our phones and the more we do the more battery is going to be used. So unless we want to carry bricks in our pockets this is best we are going to get in currently available battery technology.

Controversies and personal experience

The Antennagate. I’m sure almost everyone is waiting to hear this and what is my own experience with iPhone 4’s much controversial antenna design. Well, yes it’s there and no, it’s not as bad as you must have heard/read. The effect might be more apparent on 3G networks, but on my normal connection we haven’t faced any call drops or huge signal reduction on iPhone 4 regardless “how we are holding the phone”. In fact, iPhone 4 overall has much better reception compared to earlier iPhones in my house. My house is kind of situated on virtual cusp of two cell radiuses so the signal is always bit problematic in certain regions of my house, specially the living room where I spend most of the time. So far, iPhone 4 has managed to hold its reception pretty well compared to my older phones. Also, holding the phone tightly on the controversial region of iPhone 4’s antenna has variable results in different places. Where I’m getting full signal, holding the iPhone in “a wrong way” sometimes drops the signal by one bar while in average to low signal zone it doesn’t make any difference at all. I am still planning to do more testing on this outdoors in different places, but so far the infamous “Antennagate” issue has been bit of a washout for me.

The call quality and voice clarity is vastly improved in iPhone 4… although, considering the fact that I’ve been using iPhone 2G since ages it’s bound to feel way better. I think the noise cancelation works pretty well with the secondary mic filtering out unwanted background noises, but we (Indians) might require more than secondary mic to filter out the loud background noises in our surroundings. Given all the religious public festivities and markets and roads, we are too damn loud for any noise cancellation system. But apart from average Indian road noises, the noise cancellation makes noticeable difference in call quality.

The improvements continue with web browsing as well. On the WiFi, iPhone 4 is a clear winner compared to the older iPhones thanks to the faster hardware and support for WiFi-N standard. But even on GPRS iPhone 4 is noticeably faster than the earlier iPhones. I experienced at least 2-3 seconds difference in page loading/rendering between iPhone 3G and iPhone 4 on GPRS. Although I think, that the difference might not be much noticeable between iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4.

Related Media

(Camera testing, photo & video samples and voice recording etc.)


Following are the samples of camera testing between iPhone 4 and iPhone 3G, as well as video recording and other samples. Please be aware that these are not technical tests. Following shots are untouched/unedited and are uploaded as is. You can view the original shot in it's full size by clicking on it and viewing "All Sizes" on flickr.

First let’s check out some HDR shots along with their Non-HDR originals.



Mr. Gator (non-HDR on left, HDR on right)



Cafe Interior (non-HDR on left, HDR on right)



The Watch (non-HDR on left, HDR on right)



Street (non-HDR on left, HDR on right)



Lights (non-HDR on left, HDR on right)
Here are two shots comparing the iPhone 4 with the iPhone 3G and one bonus shot with the iPhone 4’s flash.



From Left: iPhone 4 (no Flash), iPhone 4 (Flash), iPhone 3G



iPhone 4 on left, iPhone 3G on right

Camera app’s tap-to-focus works well and iPhone 4’s camera has a decent depth of field fall-off. Check out the shots below (along with HDR shots).



Red Gator Focus (non-HDR on left, HDR on right)



Blue Ninja Focus (non-HDR on left, HDR on right)

Following are video samples.

Street : iPhone4-VideoSample-01 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Drive : iPhone4-VideoSample-02 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Toys : iPhone4-VideoSample-03 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Epilogue

Overall, iPhone 4 is an evolution in a right direction. Is it the best phone in the market? Maybe not, because there isn’t such a device. Is it the best iPhone ever? This I would be inclined to say… YES. There are many things going for iPhone 4 than just new hardware or new exterior. With iPhone 4 Apple changed the form factor continuity to a significant degree. They didn’t break it, but they did some pretty unconventional things from almost similar body-work for 3 generations of iPhones. Similar to exterior, even other hardware components were subjected to this change. The camera for example, received a new backlit sensor and a decent megapixel bump, instead of just getting some ridiculous megapixel count like all other phone makers seem to boast. Not to forget, the LED flash (which everyone wanted and I still highly disprove of, on any phone for that matter). The biggest component under the hood of iPhone is the battery and it seems to pay off quite well in regular usage compared to previous iPhones. But the biggest highlight of iPhone 4 by far is the uber gorgeous display. No photos, no screenshots, no video can give you slightest of idea how beautiful it is… this is something you have to experience yourself, with your own eyes.

For every virtue there is a vice and iPhone 4 is no exception to that. The new re-designed exterior for example, has already caused a lot of grief to Apple and while true to some extent, I would still say that the whole thing was blown way out of proportion. The phenomenon does happen, but it’s so variable under different conditions that it’s difficult to quantify who’s a bigger culprit in which situation. It’s evident that iPhone 4’s new antenna design should go under some re-work, but it’s definitely not as horrible as we have read on interwebs.

Antenna is not the only thing that got affected in the new re-design. The front and back are now both made of glass and while the glass used is quite tough, it’s not as tough as first iPhone in case of a fall. Overall the design feels very solid and sturdy and definitely nice in hands, but it won’t respond as gracefully to a fall as the first iPhone (aluminum back).

Currently iPhone is available in Indian gray market for Rs. 38000 for 16GB and Rs. 45000-46000 for 32GB. The sources which I contacted assured me that all these are factory unlocked pieces (which could mean most of these units are sourced from Hong-Kong). I sourced my unit (16GB) from Sony Electronics in Irla, Andheri for 35000, although I was buying 5 other phones (mid-end Nokias) so it helped along with about an hour of haggling with him to get down to this price (I should give credit where it’s due, I was accompanied by one of the best haggler known :p)

In the end, I’m very much satisfied with the purchase and I’ll be getting another unit soon in future. As you see, yours truly is in dire need of upgrade from his iPhone 2G. Although I’m currently using iPhone 3G for the time being, after seeing the iPhone 4’s display and speed, nothing else is going to do. On that bombshell, I shall conclude this review. Adios, until next time.

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And here's some more iPhone 4 eyecandy for your viewing pleasure.



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Disclaimer: All the photos used in this review are subject to copyright and sole property of author, including the images used on iPhone 4's screen (except the wallpaper backgrounds)

 
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