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This is mostly about the phone itself with just a few comments on iOS, so I'm posting in Hardware.
I apologize in advance for the “middle school quality” of my review. I'm not much of a writer or blogger, etc. So I may jump around and it might sound like my 7 yr old niece typed it.
iPhone 4 16GB purchased/activated 10/28/2010, iOS 4.1
Initial impressions:
The Positive:
Sexy! It looks like something James Bond would carry. Everything on the Retina Display screen is so crisp and clear. Amazing! Gorgeous! Super simple to set up in iTunes (nothing new here – we have an iPod Touch and iPad). Settings on the phone (also familiar) was easy enough to go through and customize to my liking. iOS is extremely intuitive and even a child could navigate the menus and apps with ease. Mail set up was a breeze with gmail and even with Hotmail (believe it or not). The iPhone 4 recognized my home network and didn't require any additional set up on my part other than entering my network WPA2 password into the iPhone's Wi-Fi settings.
The Negative:
It felt awkward to hold in my hand, i.e. holding with left hand in portrait mode while typing with right hand. I contribute this to the flat back of the phone. It looks cool, but isn't very ergonomic. Wish there was some way to have the comfort of the 3Gs' rounded back, but not experience any movement that comes from typing when the 3Gs is flat on a table/desk. The iPhone 4 did feel a little heavy at first. I'm sure this is due largely to the glass front and back. Also, I was coming from a BlackBerry Pearl, which is a relatively small and light weight device. So, that could contribute slightly to how heavy the iPhone 4 felt to me. Although, when in my pocket I don't notice it as much.
What I love:
I can't believe how snappy apps run. Even web browsing on Safari is fast. I should note here that I primarily have used it via Wi-Fi at home. Not very much 3G usage out of the house yet. Going out of town this weekend (somewhat rural area/small town), so I should get a chance to experience that a little more. Folders for the apps is a great feature. I'm a bit of a “neat freak” and I absolutely hate clutter. So organizing my apps in folders is right up my alley! Phone calls are simple, once I got used to going back and forth between the keypad and other phone options. Phone calls are VERY clear too. Either with the phone to my ear or on speaker, it is clear as a bell. This is a HUGE improvement over my BB Pearl. Especially when I was on hold and they're playing that recorded muzak stuff and the BB Pearl was on speaker. For some reason, most of the time it just wouldn't play the music and when it did play the music, it was all “choppy”. Don't have that problem now with my iPhone 4. Great selection of (useful) apps in the App Store. The conversation style in MMS is pretty clever. Although, I'm sure this isn't the only mobile OS that has such a feature. But still... I thought typing on such a small keyboard (especially a touchscreen) would be difficult but I am just as accurate and fluid as I was with my BB QWERTY keyboard. I've owned an iPad for about 3 months now so I may have a slight advantage as far as the keyboard setup goes. But the accuracy when typing is impressive nonetheless. The camera is average (haven't taken any videos yet), but I do prefer having the HDR turned on. With HDR, photos look really good. This makes the photo file sizes larger, though. So it's a trade off. I'm glad Apple included an easy way to turn camera flash on and off. I have yet to try Face Time, but I've read good things about it.
What I don't love:
When using the buttons on the side to turn down the volume, I wish that when you got down to 1, it would let you go one more and make it vibrate (or just make “1” = vibrate). I know there is the switch just above the buttons for automatically jumping to vibrate mode, but I prefer that to be set to silent when I flip the switch. I can't count how many times I've picked the phone up and had it upside down. If there was just a slightly more obvious indicator on the front to make me aware of top vs. bottom. I already mentioned the ergonomic issue with holding it in one hand and tapping/typing with the other. Not a big deal, but I'm surprised Apple let this slide, especially seeing as how that's the way they show it in every one of their commercials. They are always holding it with the left and typing with the right index finger. But I guess you can't have your cake and eat it too...
Well, that's it, I guess. I'm so glad I finally got an iPhone and I'm very happy I made the decision to protect it with Ghost Armor right away. I recommend this phone and this method of protecting it to anyone.
I apologize in advance for the “middle school quality” of my review. I'm not much of a writer or blogger, etc. So I may jump around and it might sound like my 7 yr old niece typed it.
iPhone 4 16GB purchased/activated 10/28/2010, iOS 4.1
Initial impressions:
The Positive:
Sexy! It looks like something James Bond would carry. Everything on the Retina Display screen is so crisp and clear. Amazing! Gorgeous! Super simple to set up in iTunes (nothing new here – we have an iPod Touch and iPad). Settings on the phone (also familiar) was easy enough to go through and customize to my liking. iOS is extremely intuitive and even a child could navigate the menus and apps with ease. Mail set up was a breeze with gmail and even with Hotmail (believe it or not). The iPhone 4 recognized my home network and didn't require any additional set up on my part other than entering my network WPA2 password into the iPhone's Wi-Fi settings.
The Negative:
It felt awkward to hold in my hand, i.e. holding with left hand in portrait mode while typing with right hand. I contribute this to the flat back of the phone. It looks cool, but isn't very ergonomic. Wish there was some way to have the comfort of the 3Gs' rounded back, but not experience any movement that comes from typing when the 3Gs is flat on a table/desk. The iPhone 4 did feel a little heavy at first. I'm sure this is due largely to the glass front and back. Also, I was coming from a BlackBerry Pearl, which is a relatively small and light weight device. So, that could contribute slightly to how heavy the iPhone 4 felt to me. Although, when in my pocket I don't notice it as much.
What I love:
I can't believe how snappy apps run. Even web browsing on Safari is fast. I should note here that I primarily have used it via Wi-Fi at home. Not very much 3G usage out of the house yet. Going out of town this weekend (somewhat rural area/small town), so I should get a chance to experience that a little more. Folders for the apps is a great feature. I'm a bit of a “neat freak” and I absolutely hate clutter. So organizing my apps in folders is right up my alley! Phone calls are simple, once I got used to going back and forth between the keypad and other phone options. Phone calls are VERY clear too. Either with the phone to my ear or on speaker, it is clear as a bell. This is a HUGE improvement over my BB Pearl. Especially when I was on hold and they're playing that recorded muzak stuff and the BB Pearl was on speaker. For some reason, most of the time it just wouldn't play the music and when it did play the music, it was all “choppy”. Don't have that problem now with my iPhone 4. Great selection of (useful) apps in the App Store. The conversation style in MMS is pretty clever. Although, I'm sure this isn't the only mobile OS that has such a feature. But still... I thought typing on such a small keyboard (especially a touchscreen) would be difficult but I am just as accurate and fluid as I was with my BB QWERTY keyboard. I've owned an iPad for about 3 months now so I may have a slight advantage as far as the keyboard setup goes. But the accuracy when typing is impressive nonetheless. The camera is average (haven't taken any videos yet), but I do prefer having the HDR turned on. With HDR, photos look really good. This makes the photo file sizes larger, though. So it's a trade off. I'm glad Apple included an easy way to turn camera flash on and off. I have yet to try Face Time, but I've read good things about it.
What I don't love:
When using the buttons on the side to turn down the volume, I wish that when you got down to 1, it would let you go one more and make it vibrate (or just make “1” = vibrate). I know there is the switch just above the buttons for automatically jumping to vibrate mode, but I prefer that to be set to silent when I flip the switch. I can't count how many times I've picked the phone up and had it upside down. If there was just a slightly more obvious indicator on the front to make me aware of top vs. bottom. I already mentioned the ergonomic issue with holding it in one hand and tapping/typing with the other. Not a big deal, but I'm surprised Apple let this slide, especially seeing as how that's the way they show it in every one of their commercials. They are always holding it with the left and typing with the right index finger. But I guess you can't have your cake and eat it too...
Well, that's it, I guess. I'm so glad I finally got an iPhone and I'm very happy I made the decision to protect it with Ghost Armor right away. I recommend this phone and this method of protecting it to anyone.
And I even read that over twice... *sigh* And I'm such a stickler for spelling/grammar. Oh well... ![:\](/mac_images/images/smilies/Undecided.png "Undecided :\")
