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
Speakerphone Volume
In my N900/Motorola Droid piece, I alluded to an interesting note I made about the iPhone 3GS's speaker volume. For a long while, people have complained that the iPhone's speakerphone volume was too quiet, complaining that even at the maximum volume it was nowhere near loud enough. The same applied to noise level over the handset through the earphone speaker.
I've noticed a similar issue, but picked out another detail while testing the AT&T MicroCell - calls on 2G are louder than calls on 3G. After I got my soundmeter, I set out about measuring, and found that my suspicions were confirmed. Calls on 2G GSM are indeed significantly louder than calls on 3G UMTS on the iPhone, and curiously not so on the Nexus One. The reason? Dynamic range compression.
If you're familiar with the FM loudness war, than you'll instantly understand what's at play with 2G versus 3G call loudness. Calls placed over GSM have a smaller dynamic range, while 3G calls over UMTS have greater dynamic range (and fidelity). The dynamic range of GSM is roughly equivalent to CDMA 1xRTT (which is what all calls on Sprint and Verizon are placed over - not over 3G Ev-Do), though that's a whole other can of worms to discuss. Regardless, when users unfamiliar with the inherent difference in fidelity hear a 3G call after getting accustomed to 2G loudness from 1xRTT or GSM, it sounds notably quiet on the iPhone.
This is a problem that's existed since the iPhone 3G, and has gone unchecked in the 3GS, and 4. For whatever reason, Apple isn't increasing the gain on 3G to match the same loudness, possibly to preserve fidelity, and the result is that the speakerphone and earpiece are never as loud as they really could be compared to a 2G call. As I mentioned before, Android on the Nexus One appears to use an automatic gain algorithm to normalize loudness. If you place a 3G call and listen carefully, you can actually hear the gain ramp up to meet the same loudness as the 2G GSM call.
The difference between these phones might not look like much, but keep in mind the logarithmic nature of dB: -3 dB is half the loudness.
On the iPhone 3GS, the difference is 7.36 dBA, while the iPhone 4 somewhat lowers it down to a still-audibly-different 3.31 dBA. The Nexus One shows no difference in loudness between 2G and 3G, correcting both to a (likely purposefully exact) 80 dBA. The iPhone 4 is indeed louder than the 3GS, by 4 dBA. It's a difference, but not an overwhelming one. I'd say the iPhone 4's speakerphone is still loud enough, though calls over 3G are still a bit too quiet. Until Apple increases the gain on 3G calls, iPhone 4 customers who are hard of hearing should invest in a bluetooth headset.
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JAS - Wednesday, June 30, 2010 - link
AT&T recently upgraded its 3G network in New York City. So, the improved wireless connection experienced with the iPhone 4 might be coincidental.http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-20009134-94.html
John Sawyer - Thursday, July 1, 2010 - link
You mean, "might NOT be coincidental"?John Sawyer - Thursday, July 1, 2010 - link
A very large part of the problem between ATT and the iPhone prior to model 4, has been a weird interaction between the two, rather than being due to just one or the other. I don't know which party is more to "blame" for not having addressed this problem, but since the iPhone 4, and non-iPhones, experience much fewer problems with ATT's signal, I suspect Apple and the previous iPhone designs are more to blame, and ATT has allowed itself to take the brunt of it.Dennis Travis - Wednesday, June 30, 2010 - link
Another Outstanding review. So much detail. The part on the Antenna was great. Answered any questions I had about the iPhone 4.Thanks so much.
mongo lloyd - Wednesday, June 30, 2010 - link
"If you're married to Android, in the next 6 - 12 months we should see feature parity from the competition."I must be mad then, because I'd say there are Android smartphones out there that match, or even surpass the iPhone 4's features (especially software-wise), apart from battery life and the high-res screen (but the difference isn't massive between 600x960 and 480x800 or 480x854, plus you have the TFT vs (S)AMOLED pros and cons).
mongo lloyd - Wednesday, June 30, 2010 - link
It is a nice screen though, I must say.solipsism - Wednesday, June 30, 2010 - link
Buying and using nearly every new smartphone I can't say that Android beats iOS in any consumer way expect for the anemic notification system found on iOS, but while Android is pretty decent, it's still a far cry from WebOS. I haven't gotten the push for Froyo yet, have they finally fixed copy/paste on Android to?I see Android (and other) smartphones being in trouble in this next year against the iPhone 4. They will need to compete against the iPhone 4's display but at the risk of battery life, which they already do poorly in (despite the iPhone getting a bad rap). Unless Froyo has brought about some dynamic power management changes I don't think see other smartphones being as competitive as they would have been otherwise.
Spoelie - Wednesday, June 30, 2010 - link
In GSMarena's preview of iOS4, there is a whole list of features that iOS4 does not do that Android does. This is not a stab at iOS4, but it does validate the conclusions Anand makes and it proves that you can't really make blanket statements like "can't say that Android beats iOS in any consumer way". It just depends how much you value those kind of features. The list reads like this:* No Flash support in the web browser
* No true multitasking for all applications
* iOS4 for iPhone 3G has limited new feature set
* Poor performance on iPhone 3G
* No quick toggles for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or 3G
* No social networking integration
* No info widgets on lockscreen or homescreen
* SMS tones are still not customizable
* No mass mark emails as read
* No proper file browser or access to the file system
* No USB mass storage mode
* No vibration feedback when touching the screen
* No Bluetooth file transfers to other mobile phones
* Contacts lack a swipe-to-delete or mass delete feature
* No SMS/MMS delivery notifications
* No smart dialing (but Spotlight is a somewhat of a substitute)
* No DivX or XviD video support and no official third-party application to play that
* The whole iPhone is too dependent on iTunes - you cannot add the same type of content (video, photos, apps) to the phone from two computers, a regular file management interface would have been much better
Again, not a stab at iOS4, just to point out the different markets.
FATCamaro - Wednesday, June 30, 2010 - link
I think all but 3 in your list are design choices rather than missing features. The only things that seem like features would be...* No info widgets on lockscreen or homescreen
* No SMS/MMS delivery notifications
* No mass mark emails as read
Griswold - Wednesday, June 30, 2010 - link
Theres no difference for the enduser between design choices and missing features - if it doesnt do what you want or need it to do, its not the right phone. That said, the feature set of android is much richer, but not everyone wants or needs that... apparently. Doesnt change the fact that android does beat iOs in many ways.