iPhone 4 Hands-On Reviews and First Impressions

skyehill said:
Bigger screen

Better OS

Swappable batteries

Turn by Turn Nav for free

Not subjected to the infantile whims of Apple's acceptance policy on apps.

Psst, you just got owned.
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Telling someone they just got owned without anyone else pointing it out is quite pathetic.

Um, what are you even doing here?
 
I hope the bumpers dont follow the traditional silicon around your phone formula: put it on your phone and expect surface scratches from the rubbing =(.
 
I've sat on the sidelines (mostly for work reasons) but I'm determined to get my first iPhone, no doubt.

I'll be the first to say that I'm not disappointed by the upgrade; looks to be a very usable phone!
 
To me, it's quite clear now...this is an amazing piece of hardware in every way with an outdated and crappy OS that I can't see myself using after using a Palm Pre and now Droid Incredible.

Maybe if they can put Android 2.2 on an iPhone 4, I'll go buy one!
 
I think it looks/sounds really great and can't quite imagine how it could be much better. For me, right there is the nicest phone ever made.

But I guess someone will respond to me and tell me how my opinion is wrong (or they would have if I hadn't written this).
 
Marcusjlang said:
Apple disappoints once again.

No 64GB option. this really sucks, biggest problem with the new phone
No price drop. so what, no one expected a price drop and a better phone
Wifi only and iPhone to iPhone only video chat. this will change with time, it's a network thing
Virtually identical to the Gizmodo leak that 1000s of people here hated.people are stupid sheep, the fanboys will complain and then eat this up like always

A good phone but outclassed by the Evo 4G in almost every way. Screen does seem impressive though,
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see changes in quote.
 
It looks pretty decent but the "facetime" is weak. Here in Japan regular "dumb phones" can do video chat over the cellular/3g network with any person/any carrier as long as their phone supports it.

Funny story. I was in Fuji and my female friend was back in Okinawa and I wanted to try out the video chat on my phone so I called her up. She answers the phone just out the shower and sees me staring at her in her birthday suit. She drops the phone and runs to grab a towel. It was so funny, the look on her face when she saw me looking back at her.
 
sactownbwoy said:
It looks pretty decent but the "facetime" is weak. Here in Japan regular "dumb phones" can do video chat over the cellular/3g network with any person/any carrier as long as their phone supports it.

Funny story. I was in Fuji and my female friend was back in Okinawa and I wanted to try out the video chat on my phone so I called her up. She answers the phone just out the shower and sees me staring at her in her birthday suit. She drops the phone and runs to grab a towel. It was so funny, the look on her face when she saw me looking back at her.
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Pics or it didn't happen.
 
Marcusjlang said:
I'm just saying one or the other. The fact that there wasn't a storage increase or a price drop is disappointing.

God the fanboyism is crazy, I'm a fan of Apple, but they've been disappointing me (and others) lately. Seriously, you guys are praising the phone that you guys were hailing as fake and ugly when it leaked at first. And Wifi only video chat is really lame.

And yeah, it's a great device, it's still disappointing, Apple can do a lot better. HTC certainly has.
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I don't know anyone who was expecting a price drop on the iphone 4. The fact that the prices remain unchanged is a godsend, IMO. As for the no 64GB capacity iphone, it is a slight letdown, but not a dealbreaked. In fact none of the things you mentioned are dealbreakers to most people.
 
this time around i'll probably get the 16 GB version. (well, once my contract is up) With the ipad, i really dont need that much space i dont think ....
 
spazzcat said:
Looking at the photos maybe its some kind of light/flash??? but you don't see it on the black so who knows :)
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It could be a reflection from something green in front of it. It looks like there is a silver mesh covering it on the first photo.
 
Marcusjlang said:
Apple disappoints once again.

Wifi only and iPhone to iPhone only video chat.
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Think the Inbuilt video chat is a tech demo dressed up as a function.
The camera this there but it's not like there is an international standard on how to hook up a video call. It's a feature without a service.

As long as the camera is accessible to developers then teamed with multitasking (backgrounding) then Skype and others will add this in short order for sure and take away limitations.
 
Afraid of the glass

Call me paranoid, but this is too good to be true. The front AND back are glass? I watched Apple's promo videos, but I'm still quite skeptical that a glass back is going to magically ward off scratches, etc. I hope the aftermarket developers start designing hipcases for iPhone 4 ASAP.
 
I have a few friends in Japan who said that the original iPhone would never sell over there as it lacked features. Japan is so far ahead with features, the cheapest phones are often crammed with things that most people will never use, often because they simply can't work out how and can't find them. Phones often have TV tuners built in and do all sorts of things that we don't get on phones in the west.

Fast forward a few years and not only is the iPhone one of the most popular phones in Japan but the iPad is also a massive hit, even though on paper they should hate it as it just doesn't have enough features and buttons. It looks like people realise its not all about spec sheets and numbers, the most memory and the biggest screen, the most buttons and the biggest manual. Its actually about the user experience and how well it works.

I appreciate the iPhone is not for everyone, some of the Android phones are seriously good, but that does not make the iPhone bad. Just because you get more features does not mean you have a better toy. Look at a base model Mercedes and compare it to a top of the range Ford. Both really good cars, but the Ford wins hands down when it comes to buttons to press and features. It may even be cheaper. However many people prefer the Mercedes. Its harder to customise as you can't get so many after-market add-ons, but maybe most people just want to get in, turn the key, and drive.

Adroid phones are not better, they are different. The iPhone is not better, its different, it depends what you want. Trying to convince everyone that an item is not very good when we all know its going to get top reviews everywhere just looks a bit silly really, sure Apple could have crammed in a few more buttons, but why?

The only thing I can say I wanted was a bit more memory as I wouldn't want to upgrade for a good couple of years and it will come in handy, so 64gig would have been nice. The other things being argued are not accurate - the video calling is wifi only due to the carrier agreements at the moment, I'm sure that will change soon, its not a deal breaker.

If you like it buy it, if you don't then buy something else, but why do people have to try and convince others either way? You don't go round supermarkets trying to change peoples brand choices (well maybe some of you do), so why do it here? It smacks of insecurity and just makes it look like you are not confident with your purchases.
 
tmofee said:
this time around i'll probably get the 16 GB version. (well, once my contract is up) With the ipad, i really dont need that much space i dont think ....
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I think that is an excellent point. With some functionality now being offloaded to the iPad as the more logical destination, some of what we've tried to put on our phones no longer needs to be there. 16 or 32 might suffice now in a way that was not true pre-iPad.

This presupposes you own an iPad of course. One thing is becoming clearer: if you buy into the Apple ecosystem, you get a synergy that the Android folks can only dream about.
 
yep

LagunaSol said:
Amen. Gotta love the ignorance from the Android Army regarding their free OS built (and distributed) for the sole purpose of generating advertising dollars for Google.

Good grief, these people act like Google built Android as a good-will gesture to the world. The naivete is astounding.
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+1
 
Musings

Its funny to hear all the comparison about ATT and Sprint vs Iphone and EVO. The one thing that the iphone is better than the EVO is that you can use the iphone over 90% of the countries in the world, while the EVO only works in the the US and sometimes not so well around LA and Orange County from my experience.

BTW I don't think the EVO can do live video calls. You can record a video and sent it to someone but its not live per the iphone. I could be wrong but I have not spoken to anybody that was bragging about doing a video phone call on it.
 
MillieWales said:
Fast forward a few years and not only is the iPhone one of the most popular phones in Japan but the iPad is also a massive hit, even though on paper they should hate it as it just doesn't have enough features and buttons. It looks like people realise its not all about spec sheets and numbers, the most memory and the biggest screen, the most buttons and the biggest manual. Its actually about the user experience and how well it works.

I appreciate the iPhone is not for everyone, some of the Android phones are seriously good, but that does not make the iPhone bad. Just because you get more features does not mean you have a better toy. Look at a base model Mercedes and compare it to a top of the range Ford. Both really good cars, but the Ford wins hands down when it comes to buttons to press and features. It may even be cheaper. However many people prefer the Mercedes. Its harder to customise as you can't get so many after-market add-ons, but maybe most people just want to get in, turn the key, and drive.
Click to expand...

+1

What geeks have never understood is that most people do not think like geeks. So the geeks are constantly surprised why Linux didn't wipe out Windows, and now they are astounded why anyone would choose an iPhone when these checklist-worthy Androids are so superior on paper.

What Steve talked about the retina display, I saw the value of it as part of the whole. It's going to wow people when they see it in person. It's going to sell itself, while the geeks gnash their teeth and mutter about bigger screen resolution in ways that the average person does not care about and can see does not make a sharper screen for their eyes.
 
skyehill said:
Yay, great screen on a phone with a lousy OS and attached to a phone that can't maintain a simple phone call. Yay!
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Perhaps you should wait until you find out about the call quality before you start judging the new phones ability to hold a call. Apple designed it the way it did to utilize the phone's steel frame as an antenna instead of something buried inside a case. You just might find that the maintaining calls and making calls is much more reliable in the new phone.
 
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