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My first smartphone was a used 4S and I loved it. The all-glass design feels great and its weight makes it feel less "cheap" compared to the 6 and other aluminum backed iPhones.
 
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Good times, when we've had a 2-year cadence of actually innovative iPhone releases under a visionary leader. It's a shame this powerhouse of a device got embedded in collective memory as the "you're holding it wrong" phone.
The market wasn't nearly as mature at the time. Things were progressing quickly. Now, unless there's some major new innovation/technology, it's small steps. The antenna was such an isolated problem and overblown, it's a shame.

Looks so outdated, at the time though it was the best looking phone one could get.
Only the size is outdated, the design still looks fantastic.

I still have mine. It boots up and runs well!
I have my 4S and it still works. Amazing how well the glass held up.

Still the peak of iPhone design IMHO. It wasn't until the iPhone X where an iPhone design has come close to matching the iPhone 4 era for me.
It felt almost like a luxury product.

Still my favorite iPhone design to this day. The silver and black combo was so slick and I loved the little details like the +/- etching on the volume buttons or the black ring around the headphone jack. It just felt like such a massive step up from previous iPhones in pretty much every way.
Pretty much a step up from all phones.
 
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The iPhone 4 is what brought me back after my first foray into Android back when I had the HTC EVO and the Galaxy S1 Epic. The 4 had a striking design that no one could match and the screen was mind boggling for the time.

I loved my X and the 11 is quite amazing but there was something about the iPhone 4... it just hit different.
 
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I still think they leaked the prototype on purpose. It's too silly that someone would bring a prototype to a bar, and I know big tech companies have intentionally leaked things in the past. Really hyped up the release.
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My first smartphone was a used 4S and I loved it. The all-glass design feels great and its weight makes it feel less "cheap" compared to the 6 and other aluminum backed iPhones.
Yeah, the 6 is probably the cheapest looking and feeling iPhone ever. The antenna bands are weird too.
 
When I pick up my old IPhone 4 I still think it is great design. It feels so nice and high quality in my hand.
The size is perfect (even better than 5/5s/SE). I would immediately buy a iPhone 11 with this size (with a full size screen).
The only thing I do not like so much is the big shiny apple logo and the writings on the backside.
I owned also a 5s which I also liked, but never loved so much as the 4.
I even like that the weight of the 4/4s is heavier than the 5/5s. When I first picked up a 5 it felt light like a toy and not so premium like the 4/4s. The stainless steel frame and the glass backside of the 4/4s gives it more luxurious touch than the 5/5s/SE.
I only updated once from iOS 4 to iOS 5, and it is absolutely amazing how snappy this phone and the OS UI still feels when turning it on a few times a year.
At the moment I stick to my SE, have no plans to update it with the 11 or new SE. Maybe the smaller rumored 12 could be my type....
 
It sure has fallen a long ways as they've grown.

I feel like like the Genius Bar is now the "litigation and demand bar"...
I can go there with a real legit issue and seemingly have to "make the case" for the support that should be getting offered.

Personally, I think it's all part of the edict from the head bean counter.

Every time I’ve gone into an Apple store with a problem, they’ve gone above and beyond my expectations.

iPhone 5 microphone issue when making a call: they handed me a new iPhone 5.

MacBook Pro headphone plug issue - they replaced the MacBook Pro logic board. It had fallen off the table, had a big dent on the corner, they didn’t care.

Apple external USB super drive that I bought on eBay, and I told them I bought it on eBay - they confirmed I recently bought a MacBook Pro, handed me a new super drive.
 
The 4 was my first smartphone. Had an iPod touch before. Canadian here. I recall seeing it the first time while travelling. Apple store at the Louvre. Was blown away by the design and retina screen.

Thought it was slow as molasses, which it was. Everyone seemed to think it was ‘snappy’.
 
I still think they leaked the prototype on purpose. It's too silly that someone would bring a prototype to a bar, and I know big tech companies have intentionally leaked things in the past. Really hyped up the release.

They would have leaked elevator photo's, or blurry shots of it. Or they would have leaked out small parts that would hype it, but wouldn't give it away. They would not allow a full fledged prototype to intentionally leak out for people to tear down and fully inspect.

Plus having the police raid the journalists house wouldn't be apart of an intentional leak either.

Only thing intentional was Gizmodo further proving how unethical they are.
 
The 4S was my first smartphone, and my last iPhone. I loved it and still have a white one around. Absolutely great design.

But I wasn't happy with iOS 7 and the inability to revert to iOS 6 (and the tiny screens) drove me to Android, where I remain to this day.

That said, my family switched back last year (all iPhone Xr), so I'm the lone holdout (on a Note8).

My upgrade cycle is coming up so depending on what I see this fall it is likely I'll switch back, even though I LOVE my Note8 and there'll still be Android features I WILL miss.
 
Great phone it was my first IPhone. The reason I never got the 3GS was it lacked many features and never had a very good camera. The Retina display was ahead of its time.

Random but does anybody think it reminded you of a pay phone with the dark colour and circle buttons? I kept thinking it those 1990’s payphones?
 
A piece of throw away history...

Although the iPhone 4 was released June 2010 it wasn’t until late-April 2011 that the White iPhone 4 was released.
 
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I’ve had them all, and there’s only 2 iPhones that have ever given me that special feeling...the 4 (I waited for the white version, still in working order) and my current model X.

Can’t wait until October for their beautiful hybrid offspring.
 
Every time I’ve gone into an Apple store with a problem, they’ve gone above and beyond my expectations.

Very different experiences at different locations - just another sign of a large large large company these days.
Glad it's been good for you though! Can't say the same personally (in-store I mean)
 
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I worked at O2 in Glasgow for all iPhone releases from iPhone 1 all the way to iPhone 7. The iPhone 4 had such a big buzz, we had sold out before we opened because the queue was so big!

Amazing phone, real wow factor ten years ago.

iPhone XS is the closest they’ve came since, I think. Hopefully the iPhone 12’s return to this style will be great.
 
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This is the 9th anniversary of my first iPhone (an IPhone 4) and the 7th anniversary of when Jony Ive bricked it with iOS7. It became absolutely ususable from being slowed down so much. Got in just 2 years of good use on my iPhone 4. Thanks Jony & Apple, happy anniversary.
 
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I thought he said "stop me if you've already seen this" as a throwback to the exact same quote he said on the original iPhone release. Maybe the joke was double-sided and gave a nod to the leaked iPhone 4.
 
This is the 9th anniversary of my first iPhone (an IPhone 4) and the 7th anniversary of when Jony Ive bricked it with iOS7. It became absolutely ususable from being slowed down so much. Got in just 2 years of good use on my iPhone 4. Thanks Jony & Apple, happy anniversary.

They made improvements to responsiveness, as well as adding a “reduce motion” option in later patches to iOS 7, that helped get back some of the snappiness of iOS 6 on older devices.

Edit: also wanted to mention that iOS 7 was released in September 2013, along side the iPhone 5S, three years after the iPhone 4 was released.

 
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Ironically, Gizmodo has absolutely nothing to say about the anniversary of this event. I looked at all their posts from the past 48 hours and there was only one unrelated article about Apple.
 
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ah yes the infamous "engineer" who left prototype at bar
remember that well
i go to bars (pre covid) and would never leave a prototype behind even after several vodkas
I would only leave a terrible date behind
 
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