iPhone 4 Review

I have had the iPhone 4 for about six weeks now. My verdict? I absolutely love it. Its the best phone I ever owned, as well as the best iPhone ever (that sounds familiar). I want to cover my favorite features, but first, let’s talk about that elephant.

Antenna

Unfortunately, the one of the best parts of the iPhone has gotten a heavy amount of bad coverage: the dreaded signal drop. I will admit I can make my bars drop, but not as much now with iOS 4.0.1 out. And just yesterday I accidentally held it the wrong way (I had my thumb on the bad spot) and a call almost dropped. But then I realized it, and moved my hand to how I normally hold my phone. That is the only time in six weeks I ever had an issue. I also do not use the bumper, mainly because my car has a dock, but also because I just don’t feel like I need it.

I find this just a small problem. In fact, I believe its better on the iPhone, because I know exactly were the problem is. On other phones, who knows where the antenna is, and I have had problems with other phones dropping calls depending on where I hold the phone.

I also find the benefits outweigh that small problem. I get much better reception in more places now. There are buildings I travel to that I never had a signal before, and now I do- and its usable. Plus, by making the antenna external, the phone is thinner, but with a bigger battery.

Battery

This is a huge benefit to external antenna. The battery lasts forever compared to my 3G (even when new). I can use 3G internet for much longer. I have noticed I can surf for about 3 hours straight, and only lose about 50% of my battery. My 3G would be down to 20% at that point.

Camera

The camera on the phone is wonderful. Its faster for one. I can keep pressing the button and it will take pictures as fast as I can tap it. The pictures look better, and have a much better quality to them (of course I was coming from a 3G too). The video is spectacular as well. Having HD video on a device this small is awesome. Its not perfect- the colors are always exactly right, night shooting is tough, and there is some tearing in video shots. But for a cameraphone? Its amazing.

Screen

The Retina Display is absolutely stunning. Just looking at text blows me away. It almost is as good as high quality printed magazine pages! Looking a pictures, especially from the built in camera, shows so much clarity. I just cannot believe the quality of this screen. Games looks beautiful on it. Watching videos on this thing is amazing.

Speed

Wow is this thing fast. Apps open up in the blink of an eye. I never have to wait for my phone anymore- when I tell it to do something, it does it. The biggest slowness, of course, were games loading. And they load so quick now. I’m eagerly awaiting more apps that can take advantage of the speed.

Other

The GPS is much more accurate now, as well as quicker to identify my location. iOS itself is very cool- I love unified mailboxes. Going back to my iPad without it is a pain in the butt.

The way multitasking on the phone works is just about perfect for me. There still are a lot of apps that need updated for it, but the implementation is great. I love being able to switch back and forth quickly, as well as have a recent items list. One thing I think can be improved is some way of differentiating between running apps and just recent apps. That way I can tell if an app is actually sucking down battery. But other than that, I love it. Its so nice to be able to run MLB At Bat in the background now.

Verdict

Like I said before, this phone is awesome. It gets my 100% buy rating. I’ve played with other Android phones, and the still do not compare. And where I live, ATT has awesome service, so no complaints there. Apple did a great job with the phone.