Apple iPhone 4 Review

In the box
- iPhone 4
- Apple 3.5mm headphone
- USB Dock connector
- USB Power Adaptor

The iPhone 4 represents a much more significant upgrade since its last jump from the 3G to the 3GS, and is marked with several hardware added to iPhone improvements. The phone has been plagued by antenna issues and screen problems, but that has not dampened the buying public.

Design
The iPhone 4 retains the basic design of the previous iPhones, a brick of electronics, and a screen with a central button. However this iteration, with dimensions at 115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3 mm, is much more squarish, has a flat back and is covered in scratch-free plate glass, front and back. The phone’s borders are covered with aluminium, and still follows Apple’s standard for aesthetics.

The phone is has a nice, dense weight to it, but it is by no means light, at 137g.

Apple has coined their 3.5 inch HD screen, ‘Retina Display’. The screen displays 960x360 pixels and it does display some clear eye candy. Apple plugs it as a crystal clear screen which the user can look at from any angle without losing any of the quality. One thing we do agree with Apple, is the Retina Display does display some eye candy on screen, watching movies on the screen is a joy as well.

The ubiquitous home central button remains, on the left spine, it still retains the volume rocker but it is spilt into two buttons, the vibrate trigger is there as well. The top of the phone has the 3.5mm headphone jack and the power button.

Meanwhile, the Apple charger dock is at the bottom. The microSIM slot is located on the right side of the phone, and will require a smidge more strength to eject said slot. The front-facing camera allows photos and video calls (Apple is calling it FaceTime). FaceTime is only does Wi-Fi calls right now, but Apple claims a software update will enable 3G calls soon.

The battery pack is increased 16% to deal with further hardware upgrades, and multitasking which comes with iOS4. But out testing shows similar battery life before we had to charge the phone again.

Apple retained the same memory size for the iPhone 4, at 16 or 32 GB. There is also a 1GHz processor, which should translate into extra speeds. The iPhone 4 has a gyroscope to increase the accuracy of the accelerometer control and the maps function.

Finally, we threw in the ‘death grip’ test, where we did not experience signal degradation from our carrier. Apple also promised free bumpers to those who purchased the iPhone, which you have to register via an iPhone app called Case Program. After choosing your bumper, Apple will send you the Bumper free of charge.

iOS4
The iPhone 4 is installed with the iOS4 on the get go, Apple has been touting multitasking as the iOS4’s major upgrade, users will be able to switch back and forth between applications without having to shut down the app entirely to access another one. You can control Ipod musicwith the multitasking bar, without leaving the homescreen.

iOS4 allows multiple accounts now, and it can either as viewed unified as a one long thread or we can choose to see our Hotmail or Gmail as a separate account. Emails can now be organised by thread, much like a text conversation. Within the thread, the amount of unread messages is displayed.

Other upgrades include a refurbished UI, where the apps and the wallpaper are spruced up. The Springboard is also revamped. iOS4 allows the screen’s portrait to be locked as well, so you can read lying down, without the screen going in all directions.

iBooks comes free on the App store, it logs in with your App store/iTunes account. iBooks is similar to the iPad’s app, swiping left and right will turn the page. You can also read your books horizontally. A quick scroll at the bottom, will allow quick jumping to your favourite page or chapter. There is also the ability to bookmark your pages, highlight words or sentences, and search them through a free dictionary, or Google or Wikipedia.

To address the antenna issues, iOS 4.0.1 will give the iPhone 4 a curved display, which will display a more accurate representation of the signal received.

iOS4 retains functionality like Spotlight, MMS, voice control, and Cut, Copy and Paste. The

The UI remains easy to use, and with further upgrades to make it even more useful.

Connectivity
The iPhone 4 has quad-band connectivity options (850/900/1800/1900 MHz), 7.2Mbps HSDPA, GRPS, EDGE, Bluetooth 2.1 and Wi-Fi.

Camera
The iPhone 4 has a 5 megapixel camera and has a LED flash, with a digital zoom. Photo quality is above average, and would give point and shoot camera’s a run for their money, especially with the handiness of a mobile device. The iPhone 4 retains the ability to tap-to-focus. The tap-to- focus works very much like an autofocus camera.

The front facing camera shoots at 640x480 pixels, and is able to record video as well.

The phone’s camera sees a video recorder option, recording at 720p@30fps. The quality is pretty good and allows video editing or trimming as Apple calls it. like copy and paste, there are grab points that can be pulled from one point to the other. You still cannot cut the middle and paste front and back parts together. But, now you can save your edit copy without overwriting the previous one.

Verdict
Everything old is new again with the iPhone 4, the device is follows the proven designs of previous iPhones but spruced up with a HD screen and video call camera. The iOS4 remains the bedrock of the device, with ease of use in mind.

Apple is slowly piling on the hardware, but they are still behind compared to one or two bleeding cutting edge phones like the HTC EVO 4G. There is also the antenna issue, which depends on who you want to listen to, represents either a catastrophic disaster for the phone or a minor speed bump. The bumper Apple’s handing out is a stopgap measure, but from what we’ve seen it will not hinder the phone or its functions.

All in all, it is still a good smartphone to have, with better hardware, a proven UI, and still remains a beautiful device. We don’t see Apple reducing the pricing for the iPhone 4, so we are expecting a similar contract – RM 2,400 onward with a commitment fee. The iPhone 4 is expected to arrive by the end of August, with both Maxis and DiGi announcing its availability.