Midnight Blue Says

It’s been two weeks since I received the Apple iPhone 4. FYI – It runs on the 3G network, not the 4G as some reviews have entitled it. It would have been better on 4G, but that is a different discussion. With this review, I am focusing on my experience with this new iPhone. I found a lot of good with the phone a little bad as well.

In summary – nothing is perfect.

The new phone replaced the second generation iPhone, the 3G which is quite a step up in technology. It is a bit smaller and heavier than the 3G, it fits loosely in the lovely pink bumper that formerly held my 3G. Yes, I’m using the bumper to ward off against excessive dropped calls thanks to the engineering snafu in the iPhone 4. For those that don’t already own the bumper fix, Apple is planning to give free bumpers to iPhone 4 owners.

After activation, the first thing I did was organize my apps. Previously, I had to flip through several pages to find a particular app of interest. Now, I’m able to organize them into folders, cutting down search time. This is a great selling point, as I frequently use my social media apps to capture images (and now video) of events in real time. In these events, seconds matter, and this organizational tool is a great asset to my blogging work. Also, the phone now has the capability to multi-task applications – a huge improvement in my book.

How about that video! The iPhone shoots in HD, well, 720p which is more than good enough for most video uses. 720 refers to the number of pixels, and a general rule of thumb states the more pixels,the more detail captured with video. 720 is a very good number.

Here is a short video shot with iphone, starring my favorite hound – Buster:

Vertical and landscaping rules do apply with the video – the above video was shot holding the camera upright, the following video was shot with the camera sidewards or in landscape mode:

They were taken with available light and no post processing editing – what you see is what was shot with the iphone. How about the camera?  The iphone comes equipped with 5 mega pixel camera and a built in LED flash. I’ve taken a few photos with the iphone and posted them on FLICKR for your perusal.

Full iPhone specs can be found HERE.

What about Face Time? A great concept which certainly gained my attention. The iPhone is equipped with two video cameras, one on the back and now one is placed above the working area of the phone. This is to allow you to make use of ‘FaceTime’. Apple adroitly explains this new technology:

“People have been dreaming about video calling for decades. iPhone 4 makes it a reality. With the tap of a button, you can wave hello to your kids, share a smile from across the globe, or watch your best friend laugh at your stories — iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 over Wi-Fi. No other phone makes staying in touch this much fun”

Check out Apple’s video about FaceTime – you’ll be in tears – then more tears will flow when you realize it is not as easy to run as Apple allows you to believe it to be.

In order to use FaceTime, both parties have to be in a WiFi hotspot, like Starbucks or Panera Bread. if your beautiful house is not a wifi area, you are out of luck. It will be interesting to see if Android takes up this technology; I’d like to see how they improve upon. The FaceTime technology on the iPhone 4 is nothing more than a tease to smart phone users. As we all know, upgrade contracts last two years with AT&T and Android is showing real promise.

Wow! Retina display – more pixels give more continuous shapes and tones to text and photos. The clarity and color of the display is simply superb – this is the result of money well spent in R&D by Apple. A real ‘wow’ factor coming from using the 3G for 3 years. This is a superb improvement and makes quite an impact on your daily use of the phone.

Other bells and whistles, such as Voice Control allows for hands free access to the iPhone. With any voice controlled technology, interesting actions can happen when you try to use it while suffering from allergies.  You are still required to depress the center control button to activate the Voice Control area – so it is not completely hands free technology.

The iPhone 4 will work well for most people, with lots of features that take the smart phone to the next level. However, I would have liked to see a more robust  FaceTime, as it is, I’ll rarely use it.  I’ve  had a few dropped calls, but no more than typical for these devices, so I’ll stick with my pink bumper.

As of now, I’m in ‘like’ mode with this iPhone and I’m certain other owners are in the same mode. I look forward to seeing what the competition does to up the technology stakes with the smart phones.

Tags: Product Review