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Don’t believe the (negative) hype: iPhone 4 rocksBut at what cost? And what if you already own an iPhone?
Published On Fri Jul 30 2010
By Marc Saltzman
Video Games Reporter Having sold more than 3 million iPhone 4s in just three weeks in the U.S. and elsewhere, Apple is introducing its latest smartphone in the Great White North on Friday morning – but it arrives atop a wave of negative press stemming from alleged reception problems.
Did Apple – a company whose market value is now bigger than Microsoft’s (at last check, $238 billion U.S. compared to $227 billion U.S.) – launch a subpar product and hope no one will notice?
No.
Whether these issues were overblown by the media or specifically related to the AT&T network, I experienced no “Antennagate” reception issues over the past week—on both the Bell and Telus networks, by holding the iPhone 4 in a number of ways, and with and without the complimentary wraparound “bumper” being given away to appease concerned customers.
Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, here’s what you need to know about the iPhone 4.
New look and feel
The first thing you’ll notice about the smartphone is its sleek redesign.
The iPhone 4 is much slimmer (9.3mm), flatter, and feels like a sturdier smartphone than the iPhone 3GS thanks to stainless steel along the edges and reinforced glass on both sides (said to be 30 times harder than plastic).
It also feels a tad heavier, by just 2 grams (now 137g). The volume up and down buttons are now metal and separated. The iPhone 4 is available only in black at this time, but a white version will be coming later this year.
Better screen
Apple has been boasting about its new “Retina” display, with its incredibly high-resolution of 326 pixels per inch (ppi), four times sharper than past iPhones. This is quite evident when you’re reading text on websites and emails on the 3.5-inch screen.
Even more noticeable, however, is how much better the contrast is on the new iPhone 4, with much deeper blacks and richer colours compared to the iPhone 3GS—with a screen that looked washed out when viewed side by side with the iPhone 4.
Face it
One of my favourite new features of the iPhone 4 is FaceTime, which can best be described as a Skype-like webcam chat between two people over a Wi-Fi connection – but both chatters need an iPhone 4 (Apple says they’ll “open up” the software in the near future so that it’ll work on multiple devices, and over 3G networks, too).
Using the front-facing camera, I tested FaceTime four times this week and it worked like a charm. You can see who you’re talking to (and see yourself in a smaller picture-in-picture window), and with the tap of a button you can flip to the other camera if you want the person to see what you’re seeing. Video calling on cell phones has been around for a few years, sure, but it hasn’t been this clear or intuitive to use.
Say cheese
Compared to other smartphones, iPhones always lacked in the camera department. The new iPhone 4 takes much better pictures with its 5-megapixel camera, LED flash and a larger sensor that delivers better low-light performance.
The iPhone 4 can also shoot HD video (720p quality at 30 frames per second) and despite not having good zoom, the clarity, colour and handling of motion was very impressive – especially for a smartphone. The H.264 video of my kids playing in a waterpark looked great when played back on a computer and HDTV (via PlayStation 3). It was also easy to edit and export the footage on the iPhone 4 itself with the downloadable iMovie app ($4.99).
And more…
Other new features didn’t seem to be as striking. For example, the processor didn’t appear to be any faster than the one powering the iPhone 3GS; battery life seemed comparable (though claiming to offer 40 per cent more talk time); and the 3-axis gyroscope isn’t as big a deal in gaming – to me anyway – as Steve Jobs made it out to be at the iPhone 4 unveiling.
The new iOS4 software is already included in the iPhone 4 (previous iPhone owners must download the free update from iTunes) and offers multitasking, folders, consolidated email inboxes, the iBooks app, better enterprise support, and more.
Summary, pricing
Without question, the iPhone 4 is the most impressive smartphone I’ve ever tested, not to mention it works well with the roughly 250,000 apps already available at the iTunes App Store – a huge value proposition to those interested in picking up Apple’s latest.
If you already own an iPhone 3GS, though, and you’ve downloaded the iOS4 operating system, I’d say you don’t need to upgrade to iPhone 4 despite its better design, FaceTime and HD video recording. Plus, price will likely be a consideration, too.
At the time of writing this – one day before Friday’s Canadian launch – none of the three carriers offering the iPhone 4 – Rogers, Bell and Telus—had confirmed pricing. Strange. Apple did mention the iPhone 4 will be available without a contract for $659 for the 16GB version and $779 for the 32GB one – but that’s a ridiculous price to pay for any smartphone.
Cost notwithstanding, the iPhone 4 packs a serious punch against the competition in the highly-competitive smartphone space. |
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