Apple's iPhone 4: Thoroughly Reviewed
by Brian Klug & Anand Lal Shimpi on June 30, 2010 4:06 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Apple
- iPhone 4
- Gadgets
- Mobile
Sidebar: Luxa2 H1-Touch, a Great FaceTime Stand
Not too long ago I visited Thermaltake while I was in California. Thermaltake recently spun off a brand called Luxa2. This brand would focus on more lifestyle products, leaving Thermaltake to the typical PC stuff like cases and powersupplies.
One of Luxa2’s first products was the H1 Touch, an iPhone/iPod Touch cradle. The idea was to be able to hold your iPhone while you’re in the kitchen so you could read recipes or emails without potentially dumping a bunch of flour or oil on your phone. When the 4 was announced, Thermaltake was quite pleased - the H1 Touch would be perfect for FaceTime.
Indeed it is.
The iPhone 4 sits comfortably against a cushioned black pad that holds the back of the phone very well. There are six rubber feet that hold the outside of the phone, they move as one and allow you to maintain a snug fit. The 4 isn’t falling out of there. The only problem here is that one of the feet obstructs the volume up button, so you’ll have to take the phone out of the H1 to increase volume.
The cradle can tilt and rotate, making it far more flexible than the Apple dock for FaceTime. If you are planning on putting in some hours with FaceTime, I’d say the H1 (or perhaps the new H2?) is a must have. It sells for $29.99, the same price as Apple’s dock. It isn’t technically a dock but the connector is still exposed and the cable still works, it’s just not as neat as Apple’s solution. Way more functional for FT though.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
270 Comments
View All Comments
macmanitou - Monday, July 5, 2010 - link
Hi Brian,great article, but one question just pops in my mind looking at the signal attenuation table, is the iPhone 3GS really the best? If yes I should really stick to it and probably just cancel the iPhone 4 order ;)
Sascha
isotropic - Monday, July 5, 2010 - link
Posted by: isotropic | 07/5/10 | 5:01 pm |This link Shows a Test phone TEMS sony/Ericsson K800i test phone (cost 2500+ Euro) being given the grip of death. A test done in a few minutes. It shows at a given point up to 16 dB losses by being held tightly as I have seen people doing it on the new iPhone. Not saying the iPhone could not have a problem, I don’t own one. But the iPhone is not alone for sure on this one. And Apple’s latest explanation seems pretty valid to me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWpGOxyEoZc&fea...
Akv - Monday, July 5, 2010 - link
I don't mind being locked in the Apple network for my iPod, because I find iTunes a quite convenient solution. However for a professionally strategic device like my cell phone, I would prefer a more independent solution.Besides, I still think it doesn't bring enough for the price. I could buy an excellent netbook for less than that price, and I would still have some money left for a simple but efficient clamshell phone.
ifartinyoutdirection - Monday, July 5, 2010 - link
It is a featurehttp://henriko.se/extern/iphone4buttonsandcontrols...
davehutch - Tuesday, July 6, 2010 - link
Your screen captures don't actually reflect what is being recorded. The video capture screen is a full-screen version that is not showing the correct ratio. the screen should be double-tapped for a tru representation and yes, the video angle of view is indeed smaller than the still image angle of view.please see my post here:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=1044575...
for additional screenshots and comments.
r2d2droid - Tuesday, July 6, 2010 - link
Interesting. . . but I still want a droid.estarkey7 - Tuesday, July 6, 2010 - link
Why didn't you use Sprint's Everything plan pricing? For $99.00+$10.00 for the Evo 4g tax you get unlimited EVERYTHING, now add in tethering and see where that brings Sprint in comparison with AT&T and Verizon.Different ballgame all together, because 900 min is nothing. I talk 1200+ every month.
RadioGuru - Tuesday, July 6, 2010 - link
Hello guys. Thanks for the review. I have a quick question. Your wrote that "To generate these numbers, I measured at least 6 times and took the average"I wonder, did you convert the dBm number to linear, took the average and the recalculated the numbers back to dBm, or took the average using the dBm values. If you did the later, the numbers are completely wrong.
Your testing is better than most of what I have seen online so far, but real engineering testing has revealed that the TIS (Total Isotropic Sensitivity) of iPhone4 in Free Space is better than the 3GS, which is great!!!! but.....and here comes the big but....phamtom head testing of WCDMA 1900 TIS/TRP spec testing has shown a degradation of close to 30 to 40 dB in chamber testing. Which means a controlled lab environment...not a cowboy lab testing like the one you used. Sorry, I respect your work and I support what you do...but this time of evaluation requires far more engineering power.
in WCDMA/HSDPA systems, a call dropped is usually driven by reverse link limitaiton. Therefore engineers also consider TRP (Total Radiating Power) to measure antenna performance. in the case of iPhone4, TRP degradation due to HAND+HEAD is close to 40 dB, which will kill the call or increase drop calls or reduce data througput performance.
By the way, BAR maping using SNR makes sense for HSDPA data calls. GSM calls should use RSSI.
jacobdrj - Thursday, July 8, 2010 - link
You rock.dalebeal - Friday, July 9, 2010 - link
This is the most comprehensive review I have read - and I've read a lot of them. Thank you!