Apple iPhone 4 Review

The release of any new piece of Apple hardware, in the gadget world, creates mass hysteria. This like most other Apple gadget hardware was preceded by rumors, speculation and days, weeks even months of anticipation from a constantly expanding fan-base, some determined enough to camp-out or spend up to £1000 just to get their hands on the iPhone 4.

Apple iPhone: Absolutely Beautiful

Retina display

We have already witnessed Apple drowned under the demand and having to push back the ship date for the next set of phones due to high demand. The months of speculation is seemingly worthwhile with the new iPhone featuring a super-fast A4 CPU, a new front-facing camera and a five megapixel shooter on the back, even though the likes of the Motorola Milestone XT720 and the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 back a 8 megapixel camera.

Yet the outrageous Retina Display, this is not to get confused with the Virtual Retina Display that causes the user to see what appears to be a conventional display floating in space in front of them but simply a display that packs a pixel density so high – we’re talking 326 pixels per inch, and a 960x640 display – making it ridiculously high resolution for a phone with a 3.5 inch display, that your eye, or more specifically your retina, cannot distinguish between individual pixels. The end product is 'the sharpest, most vibrant, highest-resolution phone screen ever.'

Apple iPhone: Retina Display

The most obvious change is the complete and drastic overhaul of the iPhone’s design, instead of trimming down the fat as was the trend from the iPhone 2G up until the iPhone 3GS Apple have completely rethought their strategy this time, and the results well you can see for yourself. The iPhone 4 is made up of simply three parts, two smooth and strengthened pieces of glass which is held together by a stainless steel band which wraps around the sides, top and bottom of the phone. The effect is a cleaner, smoother and quite simply better looking device. However, it’s not that simple, Apple have added little details, like altered volume buttons, instead of the previous rocker style volume button it is now separated into circular clicks labeled + and -, and notches in metal band which serve to improve radio connections.

Even though the iPhone 4 weighs just as much as its predecessor the iPhone 3GS it is noticeably thinner by an entire 0.11inches, measuring in at a 0.37inches making the whole package seem tighter and denser. It feels great in your hand but may take a little while to get use to if you’re coming form a 3G or 3GS background.

The iPhone 4 is comparable to well a jam sandwich, just far pricier and unfortunately not edible. Jony Ive says the face of the device is “comparable in strength to sapphire crystal, but about 30 times harder than plastic.” There is a small slit for the earpiece and the front facing camera embedded in the glass above the display, with the familiar and iconic home button, which is a lot clickier then its predecessors, towards the bottom. On the left side of the phone, besides the volume switch, there is the volume silencer rockers switch which has undergone the metallic treatment. The top of the phone as usual has the power/lock key which feels a lot better to the touch and the headphone jack port is now flush to the chassis.

Next to this there is a separate microphone for noise cancelling – we well imagine numerous 3G and 3GS holders will be pushing paperclips in there before they realize that it’s not for the SIM card slot. However, for previous iPhone holders they’ll be happy to know the right hand side is still blank but it would have been nice to see a camera button considering the overhaul of the iPhone’s camera system.

Apple iPhone: 5-Megapixel Camera

Actually the right hand side is not blank it is hiding away the micro-SIM slot, rather than on the top. It’s the same pokey key system as before, so poke your paperclips on the right hand side rather than on the top. This time though the SIM card is much smaller – Apple says it is to make room for stuff inside – we well imagine it is to shake things up a bit and to avoid the iPhone being unlocked… that is until other networks starting producing these SIMs.

It’s not just the design that has gone under the knife but the iPhone 4 is all new inside too. Apple have removed the Samsung-built Arm Cortex-A8-based CPU used in the 3GS to its own custom A4 chip used in the iPad which is an ARM Cortex-A8-based CPU. Whilst the clock speed still hasn’t been revealed but we’re guessing it’s something slightly below the 1GHz used in its tablet counterpart. The phone is certainly faster than the 3GS but it’s not as big of a jump as we noticed between the 3G and the 3GS.

Apple, as usual, hasn’t really bothered to change the RAM situation but it’s highly likely the iPhone 4 has 512MB on board, double the 256MB in the previous model and the iPad. We would like to see something like 1GB but Apple have to sell a new phone soon enough.

16GB or 32GB

As far as internal storage goes, well it’s the same as the 3G and 3GS, either a 16GB version or 32GB version. It was adequate for the previous models but seeing Apple have just introduced as 30FPS 720p video recording I’m sure many users will find themselves outgrowing their storage space pretty quickly. Taking that into account its surprising not to see Apple bump up the storage capacity to 64GB as they have done with the iPod Touch. In terms of wireless, the iPhone 4 is packed with an 802.11n WiFi radio, as well as a quad-band HSUPA chip and Bluetooth 2.1.

Battery life?

The redesigned housing allows for a much larger lithium-ion battery on the inside thus potentially solving the problems of iPhone 3G and 3GS users. In total the iPhone 4 can probably last between 38 – 42 hours, yes it isn’t a typo the iPhone 4 battery life is drastically better than any previous models. Just to be honest this battery time isn’t when the phone’s only being used to text every hour or so but actually heavy duty use, downloading apps, general tweaking, texting extensively and making calls whilst playing music over a Bluetooth headset.

Apple iPhone: The App Store

However, the fun seems to stop there. Apple has remained consistent when it comes to the internals of the box apart from a new graphic on the front to make the iPhone 4 look that bit more mysterious. Simply, the box comes along with the usual, a simple Apple USB cable, a three-pin plug adaptor and some headphones. No, before you ask they haven’t upgraded the headphones, they’re still the poor quality headphones from the year before, with the function button on the cord. Let’s not forget the little tool for removing the micro-SIM card which Apple has so conveniently provided us. Yet as usual, and as previous iPhone owners can relate, Apple should have simply saved money and provided us with a bounty of paper clips as 9 out of 10 people will lose that little tool, panic and improvise.

Apple iPhone: Upgraded Headphones

Micro SIM

The only hassle with the iPhone 4 is the micro SIM. At launch, you had to show your proof of purchase to get a micro SIM - which is a drag. What's more, you can't exactly pop your SIM card into someone else's phone either when rocking a micro SIM - so be aware that you may need a micro SIM holder if you're going to use someone else's phone with your SIM card once you've bought yourself an iPhone 4.

Unfortunately the phone is does not tick all the boxes and Apple seem to have forgotten a number of basics that would have just given the iPhone 4 that extra edge.

Overall, the design might not impress everyone the first time they pick up the phone but it’s a sharp, weighty-feeling, and premium phone and unfortunately it doesn’t sit in the hand as comfortably as its predecessors.