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.
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Dark Legion - Wednesday, June 30, 2010 - link
Not to be a grammar nazi, but since I'm posting other things anyway..."Even Palm entered the race with a competent offering, and Microsoft isn't far behind."
Both the Evo and Incredible have 8GB built in + room for 16GB microSD (though they come with 8GB microSD?), and the Incredible also has dual LED flash.
SimKill - Wednesday, June 30, 2010 - link
I just printed this to a PDF, and its 75 freaking pages... Holy bleeding batman(in a good way) It's longer than even some magazines, 1 article.AWESOME
(I think it would be perfect on a Kindle...hmm next thing to buy :evilgrin: )
It's going to make for a nice evening read.
griffonu - Wednesday, June 30, 2010 - link
Really cool review! The first informative one in a general noise of non-sense and subjective opinions on the net./bow
Furuno - Wednesday, June 30, 2010 - link
I don't now what should I say about those $29.99 bumper case... It's even more expensive than my $15 "backup" phone...And I wonder why you're so excited about video call? isn't this is an old technology already? I've been doing this since high school with Nokia 3G's phone (forget the name).
I still prefer N900 tough, mostly because of it's Debian-based OS. As a programmer that's usually works with a Linux machine it's just incredible. Like, wow I can do apt-get install on my phone!
Oh, and thanks for the in-depth antenna issue explanation! Great article!
Griswold - Wednesday, June 30, 2010 - link
I'd rather like to know what apple says about the bumper cases. They cost them maybe a dollar at the most to make and they sell it for 29 bucks. Thats a fucking fat cash cow right there and it explains why they refuse to hand one out for free. What would you rather have? $2m spent in a couple weeks for satisfied customers or $56m profit from partly annoyed customers?(yea I read it, the issue is not really an issue and not everyone is going to buy a bumper case... its anecdotal)
JAS - Wednesday, June 30, 2010 - link
Indeed, Apple's pricing for its Bumper is outrageous. Who would pay $29 for a small piece of plastic? But if you are running a corporation, have a legal responsibility to shareholders to maximize profits, *and* customers are willing to buy a product at the listed price ... ?How long will it be until a third-party case maker introduces its own perimeter case for under $10?
kmmatney - Wednesday, June 30, 2010 - link
It won't be long at all. I bought by 3GS rubber case for ~$2 on dealextreme. It's now even cheaper:http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.11687#op... full view
I agree that they should give away the cases for free, or heavily discounted . In any case, I don't anyone is crazy to not use a case on such an expensive device. You're going to drop it sometime.
Screammit - Thursday, July 1, 2010 - link
I'd have to agree with the video call bit, other phones (evo in particular) can do video calls over 3g AND can interface with computers through applications like Fring and Skype. I'm sure the video quality to only other iphone 4 users is stellar, especially over wifi, but isn't it a tad restrictive?archcommus - Wednesday, June 30, 2010 - link
I'm sorry, as much as I love Anandtech and Anand's in-depth and candid articles in particular, the bias here towards Apple is extremely strong. This article is night and day compared to the EVO review just posted. This is direct, interesting, discusses real impressions - EVO review was just a list of facts and things we mostly already knew. Honestly, it shouldn't have even been posted. I've gotten similar feelings about other Android reviews (Droid review 6 months after release? really?). I come to Anandtech to expect this level of quality in all articles, regardless of personal preference. As I said, I usually love your content Anand, but really the only thing I'm following of yours now are your SSD articles. All the rest of your attention goes towards Mac/iPhone.Griswold - Wednesday, June 30, 2010 - link
Have to agree, even though it assured me that my plan to get that phone is a good plan.Too much apple brown nosing.