The iPhone 4 Review
The hype swirling around the iPhone 4 has been unmissable. But is Apple’s newest smartphone really that great? To find out, we put three of them through an extensive regimen of testing, tapping, taking pictures, and much more.
The iPhone 4 isn’t particularly well-named. That’s because one of the things you’ll use this ingenious little device for least is making boring old phone calls. Between the terrific dual cameras, the zippy performance, and the luscious Retina Display, we were quickly absorbed in photography, games, web-browsing, and loads more. It’s truly a dramatic leap forward from the not-shabby-at-all iPhone 3GS.
With so many meaty new features, it’s hard to play favorites, but after a couple weeks of use, the dual cameras emerged as the iPhone 4’s biggest upgrade. The rear camera gives you 5-megapixel still photos and 720p video, and our test shots produced impressive results. That’s in part because Apple began using a back-illuminated sensor in the iPhone 4’s camera, which is techno-jargon for a more sensitive, er, sensor that lets you capture remarkably crisp, detailed shots in even low-light settings. In fact, the new LED flash really only trips for fairly dark scenes--and you’ll want to do your best to avoid using it because its harshness often washes out a lot of detail. When shooting video, the main thing to remember is there’s no stabilizer, so if you get jiggly with it, you’re in for some seriously shaky footage. But the overall quality of photos and video is fantastic--so much so that I stopped carrying around my now-redundant point-n-shoot.
The front camera’s perfect for self portraits, while the rear lens shoots vivid, detailed stills that rival many point-n-shoots.
But that’s just half the story. The front camera is 640x480 VGA quality (or roughly 0.3 megapixels), so it works decently for those casual self-portrait moments. But where it really struts its stuff is during FaceTime calls. Once you enable these video phone calls in the Settings menu, they “just work” in that effortless Apple way. True, FaceTime calls are only possible over Wi-Fi, but that wasn’t a problem as we mostly used this feature at home with family (where Wi-Fi is always available). In that setting, we particularly loved the ability to switch to using the rear camera to show off, for example, the antics of our kids for the loved ones on the other end of the line. We did make a few business calls with FaceTime, including one cross-country conversation to New York, and video calls always performed smoothly for us, though the picture sometimes gets blurry. Still, it’s downright awkward to stare at a colleague or someone you’ve never met before during a call. But that’s not Apple’s fault--it’s just a cultural truth of the moment.
Holding the phone at the proper angle for a FaceTime call can get kinda awkward…
When it comes to horsepower, the iPhone 4’s A4 processor and 512MB RAM make it feel speedy and agile. That impression was backed up in our lab, where it sailed through our tests, posting performance gains of 164 percent over a 3G running iOS 4 and 34 percent over a 3GS running iOS 4 in the benchmarking app Geekbench 2. That power is put to excellent use with iOS 4, which delivers great new features like multitasking, folders, a unified email inbox, Bluetooth keyboard support, and loads more.
Moving through the other key specs, our battery rundown (playing video at 50 percent brightness and 50 percent volume) clocked in at 10.67 hours on a brand-new device, and while that’ll decline over time as battery capacity diminishes, this battery sure comes out of the gate with a bang. Better yet, the new Retina Display is one of the sharpest-looking we’ve ever seen, and at 326 pixels per inch, it should be. The 3.5-inch screen is the same size as the 3GS’s but packs in four times as many pixels. While its superpowers don’t extend to defeating bright sunlight (which washes it out, as the sun’s glare does to every display we’ve taken outside), it’s noticeably more clear, detailed, and just plain pretty than anything you’ve seen on a mobile device before. All told, that’s a lot of pep in a pretty small box.
Folders are the iOS 4 feature we gravitated to first, but once you learn the ins and outs of the multitasking bar, it’s pretty handy too.
Speaking of which, our biggest complaint about the iPhone 4 is that its boxy shape just doesn’t sit as comfortably in the hand as the beveled edges of its predecessors did. Don’t get us wrong--the iPhone 4’s design is gorgeous, and we love the look of its steel band and the crisp action of the new volume buttons. But between that boxiness and the oleophobic coating on the aluminosilicate glass, the iPhone 4 feels slippery and harder to grip than its predecessors, especially when taking photos. Still, that’s a fairly small downside, and on the whole, the elegant design quietly convinces you that you’ve got a high-quality, carefully constructed device in your hands.
And yes, that means the widely publicized “death grip”--where gripping the iPhone around the black band in the lower-left corner of its steel siding seems to disrupt its 3G connection--is not our biggest complaint. At the end of the day, the iPhone 4 absolutely must function as a phone, and in our testing, we detected a noticeable improvement in call performance. Unfortunately, Apple removed the field-test mode from this model of phone, so we had to make day-to-day observations of its phone-calling prowess rather than crunching hard numbers. I spent a week using an iPhone 4 with one of Apple’s Bumpers (which blocks the “death grip” effect) and another using it without one in a remote-ish area with definite patches in AT&T’s coverage, and found no difference. At the same time, I dropped fewer calls than I did in the same area with my old 3G. So while it hardly added up to a gigantic improvement in AT&T’s generally poor service in the San Francisco Bay Area, the iPhone 4 kept me talking a little more reliably.
At press time, Apple released a statement saying it’d found the root cause of the “death grip” phenomenon: an error in how the iPhone 4 calculates the number of bars it displays. Our take is that, at worst, Apple’s been busted for either a software glitch or for fluffing the number of bars, and the promised firmware update will make this all a distant memory. So we’re giving the iPhone 4’s phone the benefit of the doubt for now, but we’ll update this review and score if we discover conflicting info or if the firmware upgrade doesn’t resolve this issue.
(This paragraph was revised on 7/16/10 after Apple's press conference.)
At press time, Apple held a press conference to address snowballing concerns about the “death grip.” While Steve Jobs staunchly defended the iPhone 4’s hardware and its antenna, Apple also announced that anyone buying an iPhone 4 before September 30 could get a free case at apple.com, and anyone who’d already bought an Apple Bumper would get a refund. Also, iPhone 4s can now be returned within 30 days with no restocking fee. While that’s a mixed message, we understand that Apple’s trying to quell consumer concerns while working on a fix for what we’d guess is a software issue. So we’re giving the iPhone 4’s calling performance the benefit of the doubt for now, but we’ll update this review and score if needed as this unfolds.
Follow this article's author, Paul Curthoys, on Twitter.
The iPhone 4’s impressive leaps in performance, its hefty roster of new features, and that lovely screen cement its position as a powerful pocket computer and camera that also makes phone calls. Whether you just bought a 3GS last year or you’re considering your first iPhone purchase, it’s the kind of essential, must-own device that you’ll delight in using every day.
iPhone 4
COMPANY: Apple
CONTACT: www.apple.com/iphone
PRICE: $199 for 16GB model; $299 for 32GB model
REQUIREMENTS: Two-year AT&T contract with monthly plan starting at $64.99
Fantastic new dual camera with flash enables 5MP stills, HD video, and FaceTime calls. Gorgeous screen. Significant battery-life improvements. Zippy A4 processor runs iOS 4 smoothly. Better, faster 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity. Lovely design.
AT&T is sole U.S. carrier. Doesn’t sit in hand as comfortably as older iPhones. Glass finish is slippery and smudgy. Must be docked to upload HD video to YouTube.
Score
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hen1023
December 01, 2010 at 6:50pm
Now in the market of smart phones, iPhone, also with other Apple devices are too hot, and most of the people think there is no other product could challenge the position of Apple iPhone. But actually it is not the case. Now that the Nokia N8 has shipped, The Nokia N8 is the first Symbian^3 smartphone released globally and big emphasis is placed on its imaging capabilities.Could it challenge iPhone 4 ? Below we would have a simple review and comparison to find out more features of the two hot devices.
[b]Nokia N8: Hardware Impresses, but Software Underwhelms[/b]
The new Nokia N8 is the Finnish company’s first successful touchscreen phone. It’s neat, good-looking and has a battery that will take you safely from one day to the next. You’ll probably still want to recharge it overnight just to be sure, but our tests saw it last happily into a second and even a third day between charges. Plus, it’s a Nokia, and has a hugely familiar operating system that’s intuitive and simple, so there’s only the gentlest new-interface learning curve.
In fact, the system has been greatly improved from earlier touchscreen versions so it’s less erratic and more accessible. The phone’s anodised aluminium casing is solid and businesslike, especially in the dark grey and silver colour options (lime green not so much). It’s no slouch in the features department: a class-leading 12-megapixel camera with Xenon flash means you can rely on it if your job entails taking site-visit photographs or high-quality video. Even better, thanks to a mini-HDMI socket and supplied cable you can painlessly play back the video or photographs on a full-size flatscreen TV, say – handy for presentations. And when you’re on the road, the excellent BBC iPlayer application will mean you can play back last night’s EastEnders on the hotel room TV.Nokia has top class push-email features – though BlackBerry is still the gold standard here and many users will still prefer the convenience of a real keyboard instead of a touchscreen version. Overall, though, this is a powerful smartphone which will serve business users well.
[b]iPhone 4G -[/b]The iPhone 4.0 is too hot today. Many refer to it as the Apple iPhone 4G, but that term is actually incorrect. Regardless, you are probably wondering if the smartphone is worth its value. First, lets consider the iPhone 4 cost. To upgrade from your current AT&T plan, the price is $199.99 for a 16 GB unit and $299.99 for a 32 GB unit. However, if you don’t currently have an AT&T contract, the price of an unlocked iPhone 4 without a contract is $599.99 and $699.99 for a 16 GB and 32 GB respectively. Ultimately, if you are upgrading, the price generally isn’t a huge concern. Now let’s take a look at some of the iPhone 4 features. Probably the most notable is the video calling, which allows you to video conference with a contact who also has the model. While this feature is definitely an example of superior technological innovation, not every smartphone consumer has an iPhone 4. The 960 x 640 resolution makes the interface of the model eye-catching. Videos can be recorded in HD, and the display of the model is probably better than that of your own personal computer. At the same time, don’t fail to realize that the iPhone 4 battery life is going to take a hit with the display of these distinguished graphics.
It is really wonderful that we can enjoy our movies and music with smart portable players anytime and anywhere. But you may also get confused with the problem: how to get movies and music into your favorite portable players?
Now I will introduce you an all in one solution. Only one program will help you solve all your questions, that is Nidesoft DVD Ripper Suite. This program consists of two wonderful software: Nidesoft DVD Ripper and Nidesoft Video Converter. Nidesoft DVD Ripper is an excellent software with powerful functions that can convert DVD files to almost all popular video and audio formats including MP4, MP3, AVI,WMV, 3GP, AVC, AAC,etc. Nidesoft Video Converter can convert between almost all popular video and audio formats so that you can get movies and music from any format files. The quality is high and the speed is super fast. Also it is easy to use, only a few clicks were needed.
You can free download the Nidesoft DVD Ripper and Video Converter from this link:
http://www.nidesoft.com/dvd-ripper.htmlThen I will introduce you how to get movies and music from DVD and other video files with this powerful program.
[b]How to get movies and music from DVD?[/b]
[b]Step 1:[/b]you may open the [url=http://www.nidesoft.com/dvd-ripper.html]Nidesoft DVD Ripper[/url] and load DVD movies first.
a.Open the Nidesoft DVD Ripper Suite you have just downloaded, click “DVD Ripper”, then you may get the software Nidesoft DVD Ripper.
b.Insert the DVD disc into the DVD Drive
c.Click the Open DVD button, browse your computer, find the DVD folder of the movie and open it.
[img]http://nidesoft.com/forum/dvd-ripper-suite/dvd-ripper-2.jpg[/img]
After add your movie, you can click any title or chapter to preview it in the preview window on the right. Then you can choose any titles or chapters you want to convert by click the check boxes before them. In this way, you can choose to convert DVD with the entire movie or just convert one or several chapters.
[b]Step 2:[/b]
[b]Merge:[/b] A regular DVD movie has several chapters, you can convert several chapters into one by click the blank box before [b]merge into one file[/b]. Click the check box before any chapter you want and merge them into one file.
[b]Crop:[/b] you can cut off the black edges of the DVD movie to watch in full screen by click the crop button. A window will be opened and you can customize the size of screen by your will.
[b]Effect:[/b] Click the [b]Effect[/b] button you can set special effect including gray effect and negative effect.You can also set the brightness, contrast, saturation and volume.
[b]Trim:[/b] as you have selected the clips to convert, you can trim any segment of the clips by clicking the trim button. You can move the slide below the screen or set the start time and end time to trim any segment.
[b]Step 3:[/b] you may customize the output video with its full functions.
Audio Track: Select an audio track from the available audio tracks of your DVD movie.
[b]Subtitle:[/b] Common DVD movies have several subtitles such as English, Chinese, French, etc. You can choose one language you prefer or select “None” to delete subtitle.
[b]Profile:[/b] Click the button and show the list of profiles, you can select the profiles you want. For example, if you want to convert your DVD movies to your iPod video player, click the “iPod video MPEG-4 (*.mp4)”.
Note: If you don’t know which format to convert, you may choose the profile according to your portable player. For example, if your portable player is PSP, choose the profile “PSP Video MPEG-4 (*mp4)”
[b]Step 4:[/b] now you can start your conversion.
After the settings finished, you can just click the [b]convert[/b] button to start the conversion. You can view the conversion speed at the bottom. The conversion will be completed in few minutes.[b]How to convert video or audio files to some formats which your player supports?[/b]
You can free download the Nidesoft Video Converter from this link:
http://www.nidesoft.com/video-converter.html
For example, you have downloaded a file from YouTube is in “flv” format and you may follow the way below to convert the flv files or other video files in your computer into your portable player.
[b]Step 1:[/b]open the [url=http://www.nidesoft.com/video-converter.html] Nidesoft Video Converter [/url]and load files.
a.Open the Nidesoft DVD Ripper Suite you have just downloaded, click “Video Converter”, you may get the software Nidesoft Video Converter.
b.click "add Files" button and import the videos from your computer. Nidesoft video converter supports batch conversion so you can import multiple files at one time.
[img]http://nidesoft.com/forum/dvd-ripper-suite/video-converter-2.jpg[/img]
c.EDIT the video with the function button:
Crop, Effect, Trim, Options
(1)[b]Crop:[/b] Remove the undesired area or just convert part of the video area from your video file by dragging the frame around the video or setting the crop values: Top, Button, Left and Right.
(2)[b]Effect:[/b] You can select gray effect or Negative effect from Special Effect or tune the Brightness, Contrast, Saturation and Volume to get special effect movie.
(3)[b]Trim:[/b] To get your favorite segment by setting the “Start Time” and “End Time” or dragging the Start Time slider to set the start time and dragging the End Time slider to set the finish time.
(4)[b]Options:[/b]
Set video Resolution, video Bitrate, Audio Channels, and Audio Bitrate to customize the output video's quality.
Note: You could click the white box besides "Merge into one file" to merge your selected titles into one video before starting the conversion.
d.Select the out file format
Click the “format” drop-down list to select the output format. If you don’t know what formats your device supports, you can just select the format according to the device name.
e.Click the "Convert" button and start the conversion. Please wait a few minutes before the conversion succeeds!
Ok, now you have got music from videos and next what you need to do is enjoying it. If you have any questions, please visit [url=http://www.nidesoft.com] Nidesoft Studio website[/url] or send email to:[email]support@nidesoft.com[/email].It’s my pleasure to help you solve your problem.
Macrunner
August 16, 2010 at 2:17pm
The video calling, more slim, 5 MP camera, more apps, iOS 4, except the antenna, but I have got a case.
Something still need to be improved, but almost perfect to me.-----------------------------
iPhone Transfer for Mac Users
http://www.iphonemactransfer.com
smpopa
July 09, 2010 at 1:53pm
I have one coming soon - ordered already! I don't "death-grip" any phone I have so I don't see this being a problem with the new one. If they are a little slippery, doesn't some type of a case fix that problem? Let's not be TOO critical - the big improvements (face video and better camera) really outweigh the other issues in my book. I'm all in and know that Apple still produces the best products out there. I'm in!!!
Paul Curthoys
July 09, 2010 at 6:59am
If we felt it was an antenna problem, we wouldn't have given it an Awesome. Our take is that it's most likely a software-related issue that will be fixed shortly, and that the actual antenna is an upgrade on previous iPhones. Plus, the "death grip" never once affected my ability to connect in 2 weeks of testing, though I could make bars drop--just not calls as a result of the death grip. Which is why we decided to go this way. If we learn differently, the review/score will be revised as warranted.
MichiganDave
July 09, 2010 at 6:51am
but wouldn't the "awesome" rating be better reserved for after Apple fixes the antenna problem?
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