Yesterday, I became the proud owner of a new iPhone 4 16 GB Black model. While the wait was adventurous, if you followed our coverage on #RFLIVE, the results were over and above stellar! Here are my first impressions, all be it brief, on the new iPhone 4.
Size – This thing is small! Let me restate that, it’s skinny! I never expected this version to have been so downsized. It’s bordering on awkward to type on because of its squared off edges. I am adjusting very quickly, but at first, I was trying to find the “right” or comfortable way of holding it when typing. I can say that I haven’t used my pinky as much to brace it now. The 3GS’ tapered back forced me to utilize my pinky to hold it stable when typing with one or two hands.
Screen – You all have read the posts, you’ve seen the comparisons, you probably even saw the videos trying to provide comparisons of the screens resolution. In Steve’s words, “You ain’t seen this yet.” It literally is mind blowing! The crispness of the fonts and images, is nothing short of astonishing. My recent run in with the HTC Evo falls way short with the new iPhone 4’s Retina display.
There isn’t really any purpose of posting camera shots of the screen, it deserves your eyes. Icons, such as the iBooks icon, show so much more detail. This is a great opportunity for developers and graphic designers to start designing the next level of eye catching app icons! As you might have guessed, the better the app icon, the more likely it is to catch the eyes of potential customers. With this level of resolution and color, we are bound to see some really beautiful icons in the coming weeks.
Mail – The Mail app has been redesigned as mentioned in the iOS 4 keynote. What I didn’t notice myself, was the option now to “Archive” messages instead of deleting them. This setting is found in the Settings app, in each account settings. When Archiving is enabled, mail is not deleted, rather, it is moved to the “All Mail” folder for the account. Its a nice feature to help you clean up your inbox without having to commit the message to the trash. Another big feature was the addition of a combined inbox. Personally, I haven’t been a fan of this but I will be trying it out over the next week or so. I’ll let you know how I adapt to it in a follow up review.
Reception – I just wanted to address this personally, since it seems to be one of the only issues coming to light today. I haven’t experienced any reception degradation when holding the device, ATT is constantly poor everywhere here! Just kidding. All kidding aside, I honestly haven’t experienced this yet, though, I will be keeping my eye on this for the next couple of days.
FaceTime – One of the very first things I wanted to try much like everyone else in the world. As soon as I got home, I dialed up a friend of mine and we started a FaceTime session. It was AWESOME! Granted it was VGA quality, it was really smooth and performed great! I can’t wait to get my wife an iPhone 4 just so I can see my kids while I’m at work or shows. It’s really going to bridge the gap for families and couples in a way that is as simple and intuitive as having a normal face-to-face conversation. I’ll add this prediction: AT&T won’t offer FaceTime over 3G until 2012. Zzzzing!
Camera – Damn! This is the biggest speed improvement I’ve seen in anything ever! Sounds overly general, but it’s true! The Camera app has been optimized so much, that taking a picture is basically instantaneous! I’m not sure if that is a product of the iPhone 4 or of iOS 4, I didn’t bother upgrading my 3GS this time around. Let us know in the comments if you have updated to iOS 4 on your 3G or 3GS! The built in zoom was nice. After taking a picture at full zoom, the picture was cleaned up and actually turned out quite nice.
iOS 4 – iPhone 4 brought me my first exposure to the new OS and wow… its pretty! The animations are slick for the app switching, the return of the glass dock, the multiple Exchange accounts… everything was welcomed by my warm embrace! The feature I was most excited about honestly, ability to edit a playlist while on the go! I can’t tell you how many times I found the need to add or remove a song while at the gym or rehearsing at a Rome Apart gig. I am also excited about the tethering option now available… the cost I’m not too excited about, but that’s a very long winded topic for another day.
As time goes on, and the “new” feeling wears off, I am sure to find more about iPhone 4 and iOS 4 that excite me, frustrate me, or simply make things easier. Okay, enough writing, I wanna go play with my new iPhone 4 .. Be sure to let us know what you think of yours!
… and don’t forget to checkout our HD unboxing below!
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