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
Final Words
The iPhone 4 is a tremendous improvement over the previous phones from Apple. Battery life alone is enough to sell a brand new notebook, there's no reason the same shouldn't apply for a smartphone. Being able to deliver real world battery life use of between 5.5 and 10 hours on a single charge is quite impressive. And if you aren't using the phone nonstop? Expect even longer battery life.
On top of the battery life improvements Apple finally plays catch up and surpasses the technological advancements in its Android competitors. The 4's camera is as good as it gets today and the screen is a beauty. I don't believe this advantage will last for the lifetime of the iPhone 4. The phones that are in development today at least surpass the 4's specs in terms of raw CPU speed. Given that Apple's retina display is in high volume production already I'd expect other manufacturers to pick it up in due time.
And believe it or not, even if you upgrade to the iPhone 4 today in another 12 months it'll most likely be replaced by a dual core version that you'll want even more.
HTC EVO 4G (back) vs. iPhone 4 (front)
The main downside to the iPhone 4 is the obvious lapse in Apple's engineering judgment. The fact that Apple didn't have the foresight to coat the stainless steel antenna band with even a fraction of an ounce worth of non-conductive material either tells us that Apple doesn't care or that it simply doesn't test thoroughly enough. The latter is a message we've seen a few times before with OS X issues, the iPhone 4 simply reinforces it. At the bare minimum Apple should give away its bumper case with every iPhone 4 sold. The best scenario is for Apple to coat the antenna and replace all existing phones with a revised model.The ideal situation is very costly for Apple but it is the right thing to do. Plus it's not like Apple doesn't have the resources to take care of its customers.
As for the iPhone vs. Android debate, the 4 doesn't really change much. If you're not a fan of iOS 4 or Apple then the 4th generation iPhone isn't going to change your opinion. If you're an existing iPhone user you'll want to upgrade. It's worth it. The 4 simply makes the iPhone 3GS feel dated, which it is. It's a mild update to three year old phone vs. the significant redesign that is the iPhone 4. If you're married to Android, in the next 6 - 12 months we should see feature parity from the competition. And if you're a fan of Palm, let's just see what happens when the HP deal closes.
There's another category of users who are interested in the iPhone but simply put off by AT&T. While enabling HSUPA and the improved baseband make the iPhone 4 more attractive from a network standpoint, if you hate AT&T's coverage there's nothing Apple can do about it. I do get the feeling that the AT&T exclusivity will be over sooner rather than later. The iPhone and iOS are soon to be a mobile advertising platform, which means Apple needs as many users as possible. This is in direct contrast to the Mac strategy which purposefully didn't focus on volume to maintain high profit margins. Ultimately it means that AT&T either has to grow to be much larger than Verizon, or Apple has to embrace both carriers in order to fend off Android.
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Brian Klug - Wednesday, June 30, 2010 - link
I just used the data I had in my bench for the Nexus One, but retesting with Froyo is coming soon since the OTA final update only got pushed out final yesterday. I've been holding off waiting for that final.-Brian
vlntwarrior - Wednesday, June 30, 2010 - link
The drop in signal from cupping the device with a case on is purely a function of us being "ugly bags of mostly water."and I thought I was the only geek to randomly quote this line in normal everyday conversation
JP_Lager - Wednesday, June 30, 2010 - link
From the article regarding the Apple Bumper Case..Third party connectors will not fit, I had the same issue.
To fix just take a nail file and file the edge so it is at a slight angle all around. Takes about 2-3 min to do, now all my third party accessories will connect and lock with no problem.
JP
Lothsahn - Wednesday, June 30, 2010 - link
"ugly bags of mostly water""going places no iPhone had ever gone before"
Anyone else see any Star Trek references I missed?
Lothsahn
rs1 - Wednesday, June 30, 2010 - link
"The main downside to the iPhone 4 is the obvious lapse in Apple's engineering judgment."I think you're giving their engineering and marketing departments too little credit. If anything, I would think that the antenna placement and all-glass construction were intentional design decisions stipulated by marketing, so that they could sell a $30 piece of rubberized plastic. It's quite clever, really. Completely lacking in moral sense, but clever nonetheless.
Toadster - Wednesday, June 30, 2010 - link
just kidding! (well, maybe not)Great writeup! Keep em coming!
balazer - Wednesday, June 30, 2010 - link
This article has sloppy use of power units.dBm is an absolute measure of power. Thus, you could say a received signal is -119 dBm.
dB is a relative measure of power - a logarithmic representation of a factor. Thus, you could say that one signal is 10 dB stronger than another, which is to say that one signal is 10 times as strong as the other. (20 dB is 100 times as strong; 30 dB is 1000 times as strong, etc.)
The difference between -109 dBm and -119 dBm is 10 dB, not 10 dBm. 10 dBm is actually much more power than the difference between -109 dBm and -119 dBm.
Brian Klug - Wednesday, June 30, 2010 - link
The funny part is that I did it the right way the first time, and then changed it hastily. Fixed!-Brian
Janet55 - Wednesday, June 30, 2010 - link
Nice and insightful review!My new iphone is fantastic...
The picture definition ...I'm speachless....personally I really like the grouping of apps much tidier than before and the camera zoom. And I have no signal problem yet, I have held it in the way which is supposed to drop the signal several times and only notice the signal drop once.
I showed the phone to my team at work and let them play with it...they all love it and there are a few green eyes I can assure you.
As the iPhone 4 high-definition video clips, watch video on IPhone 4 must be cool and amazing, I've been looking for a good program to Convert videos or rip DVD movies for the iPhone 4 and i think iFunia iPhone 4 Video Converter is the one which worth trying, Im ready for enjoying on the go!
I am very pleased, it's expensive but it actually feels worth it. can't recommended it enough. Gorgeous to look at and an absolute pleasure to use.
Cr0nJ0b - Wednesday, June 30, 2010 - link
I haven't seen this widely reported...and I sort of expected this when i did the update...but my company of 20,000+ is having HUGE exchange issues related to iphone users who upgraded to IOS4. I'm not sure exactly what the issue is, but I'm guessing it has to do with ActiveSync. It puts a LOT of stress on the servers...in fact, my corp has asked us to avoid upgrading if we haven't done so yet. They also say that there is a patch on the Apple website, but it hasn't been tested, so they are asking for more time.