Home> iPhone Column > A Review of Apple's iPhone 4

A Review of Apple's iPhone 4

Related Article

As expected, the iPhone 4 was announced today during Steve Jobs' keynote at WWDC. Its flagship features are, of course, the extremely high resolution screen, video chat capability with FaceTime, and the sexy new form factor. But there's more to the 4 than that, and even those seemingly self-explanatory new features deserve a closer look. Let's see just what Apple's done here with its biggest update to the iPhone since the original.

Apple iPhone 4 – the look and design

The pictures of the mobile phone are already making rounds over the internet and the enthusiasts are going gaga over it. The device looks familiar as its predecessors, with the black and chrome trim. The popular elements of Apple iPhone-3GS like a small earpiece of rectangular shape and a home button are present in this handset also. However, the new mobile phone appears to be more angular, thicker and taller. Apple iPhone 4 is also not similar to its predecessors in terms of the physical button set ups. Running on iOS 4 operating system, the device comes loaded with storage capacity of 80GB, front camera for iChat, GPS, OLED screen, 32 GB memory and a lot more.

Apple iPhone 4 – the display

Apple has a unique talent for making us want something we never knew we wanted. The iPhone 4 features a 940x640-pixel (or 300 pixels per square inch) "Retina Display," which is four times the resolution of previous iPhone models. What's more, it uses the same IPS display that's found on the iPad with an 800:1 contrast ratio. In our brief hands-on, the display is clearer than crystal clear. Since it renders all text the same, we had no problems reading screens from a variety of sources. Photos looked especially lovely, particularly when you compare the same image between an iPhone 4G and an iPhone 3GS.

Apple iPhone 4 – the camera

Again an important feature of a mobile phone. These days it is simply unimaginable to think of a good handset without proper camera features. Camera in a mobile phone gives a great handy solution for those who like to click images in different parts of life. A camera equipped handset gives them the opportunity of not missing a single important moment in life. The camera feature of Apple iPhone 4 comes loaded with a superb 5 mega pixel auto focus camera that comes with excellent features such as LED flash, geo tagging and touches focus. 720P Video recording can be done with the camera and there is a secondary camera as well.

Apple iPhone 4 – the iOS 4

iPhone 4 comes with iOS 4, the newest version of the world's most advanced mobile operating system. With over 100 new features, it includes Multitasking, Folders, enhanced Mail, deeper Enterprise support and Apple's new iAd mobile advertising platform. With Multitasking, users can now instantly switch between any of their apps while preserving battery life. With Folders, users can easily organize their apps into collections by simply dragging one app on top of another. A folder is automatically created and named based on the category of apps selected. Users can change the name of any folder at any time. In addition, users can now customize their lock and home screens with an array of supplied wallpapers or with any of the photos on their phone. That's a nod to the fact that the OS runs on both the iPhone and the iPad.

Apple iPhone 4 – the network and connectivity

To maintain the basic performance, every mobile phone requires good features in terms of network and connectivity. A mobile device might be loaded with several features, but the most important aspect is maintaining a good network support. Otherwise, the basic requirement of a mobile phone, which is establishing communication, will be hampered in a big way. As far as the leaked information is given, it is expected that the new iPhone 4 will be loaded with the support of both 2G and 3G network. The users of the 2G network will get the support of the quad band GSM 850/ 900/ 1800. 1900; while the 3G users will get the support of tri band HSDPA 850/ 1900/ 2100. Now, let's find out the connectivity features of the mobile phone. The users of the mobile phone can access internet connectivity with Class 10 GPRS and EDGE. The speed of Class 10 GPRS is 32 to 48 kbps and that of EDGE is 236.8 kbps. This mush is definitely not enough, when we are talking about a mobile phone by Apple. The users can enjoy excellent browsing speed with 7.2 mbps HSDPA and Wi-Fi® 802.11b/g. For transferring data to/from other compatible devices, the users can apply cable-based and wireless connectivity. For cable-based connection, they can make use of USB v2.0 and for wireless connection, Bluetooth® v2.1 with A2DP is there.

Apple iPhone 4 – the memory

Another common and important feature of a mobile device is a good memory backup,especially if it is a smart phone with excellent features. Suppose you are using music rich handset, and it has the capability of playing music of diverse formats. However, there is a small hitch. The device does not support sufficient memory, and hence it cannot load enough music files. Therefore, the high end music features of the device are literally of no use as it cannot play sufficient play list of music. The makers of Apple iPhone 4 are very much aware of this aspect and hence it comes loaded with a superb memory storage option. The internal memory capacity of the phone is excellent and hence there is literally no need of an expandable memory option. The internal memory of this latest Apple device is 64/80 GB storage.

Apple iPhone 4 – iMovie and iBooks

iMovie brings movie-editing capabilities to the iPhone. You'll pay $4.99 for the app, but it's a nice touch. iBooks also adds some nifty new features. You can make notes on pages of books, view PDF files, and sync purchases between your iPhone and iPad.

Conclusion

On the whole, this iPhone 4 has us more excited than we were last year when the the 3GS was born. The new features, particularly those in the new operating system, are long overdue and we welcome any efforts to improve call quality (remember that it is a phone, after all).