MASSIVE APC REVIEW: iPhone 4

Insomnihack (New user):

Great review. Look forward to the updates on the antenna issue and battery life.

Also it would great if you could provide links to the original photos and H.264 720p video sample before they were re-compressed for the web.

I've been trying to decide between switching from an iPhone 3G to Android (something like the Samsung Galaxy S) or upgrading to an iPhone 4 when it hits Australia.

The things that are pushing me towards an iPhone 4 are the awesome 960x640 display, excellent battery life (going by other reviews), gaming power, huge range of the App Store and photo/HD video quality. Also keeping my existing iOS apps and iTunes library is very appealing as Apple still beats Google in that regard. I would still definitely be jailbreaking to open up the phone and given the phone the full power it is capable of.

I just wish the iPhone had a 4" display, a more open OS, widgets, better social media and contact integration, and that it didn't have that pesky antenna issue.. Although given it can solved easily with a case I'm not too fussed about the last one.

Insomnihack (New user):

Great review. Look forward to the updates on the antenna issue and battery life.

Also it would great if you could provide links to the original photos and H.264 720p video sample before they were re-compressed for the web.

I've been trying to decide between switching from an iPhone 3G to Android (something like the Samsung Galaxy S) or upgrading to an iPhone 4 when it hits Australia.

The things that are pushing me towards an iPhone 4 are the awesome 960x640 display, excellent battery life (going by other reviews), gaming power, huge range of the App Store and photo/HD video quality. Also keeping my existing iOS apps and iTunes library is very appealing as Apple still beats Google in that regard. I would still definitely be jailbreaking to open up the phone and given the phone the full power it is capable of.

I just wish the iPhone had a 4" display, a more open OS, widgets, better social media and contact integration, and that it didn't have that pesky antenna issue.. Although given it can solved easily with a case I'm not too fussed about the last one.

BlackShadowKiwi (New user):

Great review of a great product. But is the iPhone all it's hyped up to be? We won't really know until, one, we get it in Australia, and two, Apple resolves the reception issues that seem to be affecting it is the currently released countries.

Without the phone testing, this artical really is little more than a reprint of everything that we can find on Aplpe's website. Please guys, hold off next time, until you can test in the real world.

The Big Baboo (New user):

It's a phone for God's sake.Why would I want to do anything else with a phone except make a few calls or write some text messages.3.5" screen ha ha and the rest of it.I think I'll consign this thing straight to the scrap heap because that's where I think most of them will end up.

Insomnihack (New user):

If you're not interested in smartphone features then why are you reading this review? Go and buy a $50 Nokia and live happily ever after.

The Big Baboo (New user):

Yep you're sure right there but I suppose as one of the "Herd" you just have to snap up whatever the latest "tech thingie" is that's out at the moment.Oooo by the way I got a $35 Samsung that doesn't even have a camera :)

Descolada (New user):

man that is a moronic statement. yeah why would you want to recieve email, look up and view the internet. use google maps and gps services. read pdf books and magazines, play games, watch movies, take photos, record video and listen to music anywhere you are. yeah that just sounds totally useless.

Descolada (New user):

man that is a moronic statement. yeah why would you want to recieve email, search the internet, watch movies, record video, take photos,
play games, listen to music, use gps services sync all your information with your pc, and to the internet cloud all from a device that is always on you 24/7. yep sounds completely useless.

BlackShadowKiwi (New user):

Great review of a great product. But is the iPhone all it's hyped up to be? We won't really know until, one, we get it in Australia, and two, Apple resolves the reception issues that seem to be affecting it is the currently released countries.

Without the phone testing, this artical really is little more than a reprint of everything that we can find on Aplpe's website. Please guys, hold off next time, until you can test in the real world.

djsflynn (APC staff):

I love the new design but can live without most of the new features (yes, including that admittedly lush hi-res display) and I'm happy to wait for issues such as signal strength woes and potential case calamities to be rectified in next year's iPhone 5 release... so for now, I'll stick with my iPhone 3GS.

Insomnihack (New user):

If I had a 3GS I'd wait for iPhone4S (I bet that will come before iPhone 5) as well. However for those of us using the aging old 3G (and with contracts about to expire) the iPhone 4 and the features of iOS4 is a big step up.

Not phased by the reception issue as it's 100% solved by a case which I was going to get to protect the phone anyway.

Phil S (New user):

An android phone (like the Galaxy S or HTC Desire) can do everything this phone can. The only reason to stick with the iphone is because you've invested too heavily in apps and are thus trapped or because you like it as a status symbol.

Trust me, in 6 months time you'll be kicking yourself for buying an iphone4 when Android Gingerbread is released (with huge speed improvements and hopefully a new UI) running on phones with dual core 1.5GHz snapdragons (proper multitasking anyone?) and 1GB ram.

Oh and android with froyo (android 2.2) is already faster than the iphone 4 at loading websites and general OS usage (everything moves so smoothly!). Imagine what it will be like with gingerbread!

Don't get stuck with a phone for 2 years that is already out of date. Get an android phone. Even the 2 year old HTC dream (original android phone) has had the latest release ported over to it. Android phones are upgradeable and won't disappoint!

Insomnihack (New user):

You know I agree that there’s a lot to like about Android. It’s come a long way since 1.6 and I think once the individual manufacturers get Froyo rolled out (as you know they often take a LONG time to issue official OS updates) then Android handsets will really start to shine. I really like the open nature of Android compared to the closed off world of Apple, and it’s a tinkerers dream with so many options and tweaks and custom ROMs to play with.

However Android is not the perfect solution you make it out to be. It’s just flat out false to say the Desire or Samsung can do everything the iPhone 4 can.

For starters, let’s look at Android Apps: There’s a ton of fragmentation in the Android marketplace due to so many different handsets, all with different specs. I’ve got an HTC Desire as my business phone (so you know that I’m speaking from experience) and overall it’s a really good phone. I love it’s multiple homescreens and overall I like the HTC Sense skin. However I’ve been largely annoyed by the inconsistencies with the OS and especially with Android apps from the market. Often apps won’t run at all, with no explanation as to why, and Android apps aren’t even close to the level of slickness, professionalism and “wow factor” you get from games from the Apple App Store. Even though the Samsung has a great 3D gaming chipset there are practically no games to take advantage of it! Why would a developer write games that can only run on a single Samsung handset when they can make millions from the iPhone? I also hate the way that with Android 2.1 you can’t install apps to the external memory! This is a giant pain in the arse when you have limited storage as is the case on my Desire.

Do you know that Google currently have no program for Australian developers to make paid apps? This means ZERO paid (there are obviously some good free ones) Australian apps equivalent to what we see from Apple. They really want to fix this problem ASAP as it’s driving Aussie developers away.

In addition to all the app problems, my Desire suffers horrible battery life (worse than my iPhone 3G which is saying something). It also has several bugs. One of which it always loses sync with my exchange server. All the settings are right. It will just stop working and the only way to fix it is to reset. Others have also experienced this (thread about it at Whirlpool) and there’s no official recognition of it yet from HTC.

To top it off the Desire’s camera is very ordinary. The pictures are simply flat and lifeless and there is no HD recording (supposedly coming in a future update, but that’s the story of Android’s life – “its coming soon”).

The crappy camera brings me to my next point, I’m an amateur film maker in my spare time and I use a Flip HD currently to grab quick shots and things of interest when I’m out and about. However small as it is, I’d love to leave the flip behind as it’s still something extra to lug around. There’s many times when it’s just not appropriate to carry around (when going out to party for example :) ). It’s time like this I want my phone to be able to record excellent quality 720p footage.
I’ve checked out all the current phones with 720p recording (including the Galaxy S which came very close to being my next phone) but none of the video samples from other phones come close to the quality of the iPhone 4. I’ve accessed and analysed a lot of original H.264 footage (before being compressed for the web) from the iPhone 4 and it’s quality is head and shoulders above that from the Galaxy S and Nexus One. Both of those phones suffer excessive “lens wobble” and don’t have the smooth frame rate and colour fidelity of the iPhone.

Android fans and critics can bag out the iPhone’s problems all they want (and I admit it has its fair share of issues) however the one area Apple really got it right this time around is with the camera. Rather than focusing on the old “more megapixels is better” technique of other manufacturers, they instead focused on the quality of the lens and image processing. The advanced backside illumination sensor also means far better low-light performance and it addition it has one of the most effective LED flashes I’ve yet seen on a smartphone (which can also be used as a light when shooting video). The Samsung Galaxy S doesn’t even have a flash! That was an instant “no sale” for me as I take a lot of pics at night.

In addition to the above there are also some advantages to Apple’s iOS. Because Apple have such limited hardware out there that they produced themselves, there are no compatibility issues whatsoever, and the general the Apple experience is one that is polished and consistent. Android feels like it’s still in beta by comparison and still suffers that horrible laggy feel when navigating menus, even with a 1ghz processor under the hood.

The 960x640 screen by Apple is also the highest pixel density and highest resolution phone on the market so I’m not sure why you’d think other phones can compete there. This resolution isn’t by accident either. It’s exactly four times the pixels of the original 480x320 screen which means older apps are scaled perfectly to the higher resolution and look fantastic (as there’s no uneven scaling interpolation of pixels). Having said that I still love the inky blacks and strong saturated colours of Samsung’s Super AMOLED screen. It looks fantastic. No doubt about it. When they up the resolution to 720p it will be unbeatable! :)

Put it this way: I upgrade early and upgrade often (keeping in mind I have an iPhone 3G and an HTC Desire so I’m in a good position to rate the pros and cons of both). I think that some of your post is right: The good thing about Android is that new hardware is coming out all the time (which as I said can be a good thing and a bad thing) but within 6 months (an eternity in smartphone time!) I’m sure the next generation of Android devices will beat the iPhone 4 in most (if not all) areas. I’ve also read that fixing the consistency of the Android UI and solving fragmentation issues is a big priority of Google with Froyo (and gingerbread) so a lot of these problems will be smoothed out. When that is the case and I can buy a 1.5Ghz hummingbird phone with a 4.3” screen, 1GB of ram, a 720p AMOLED screen, 128GB SD card, 1080p video recording and a 12megapixel backside illuminated sensor camera, running Gingerbread, I will be first in line to buy one :)

For now, the iPhone 4 comes out on top for me. That’s just me. I don’t expect everyone to be the same. What I object to however is when people make blanket statements like “Android is better – it kills the iPhone”. It’s just rubbish. Like anything in life there are pros and cons to each platform. It’s just a matter of weighing them up and deciding which system is best for you.

apt.pupil (New user):

@imsomnihack,

the Xperia X10 is due to get an OS update with confirmed 720p recording in Q4. I am personally hanging out for this, as i DO work in the mobile industry(not for much longer though) and i DO get to see the quality of phones.

I still have my HD2 currently because as you said, Android is not quite there yet, but it is catching up. Once FLAC support is enabled and SE get their act together, i will personally be jumping onboard the green boat. As for the iphone 4? there is always gonna be isheep who will pursue that device, regardless of its issues.
Did you know that the iphone4 brags video calling as a key feature, but video calling on iphone4's is stinted at best-just like bluetooth. you can only videocall other iphone4s- and only while connected to a wifi network.

the multitasking is nowhere near as good as androids or winmos, and both apple and google lack decent office software on the phone

as for the app store- the 2 app stores cater to 2 different crowds. the apple corner being for the people who want to fit in and have a reason to look smug, while the android crowd could be best described as the typical Linux crowd: overbearing, nerdy geeks

Sp33d d3mon (New user):

so, effectively your review unit was an iPod touch with a camera, GPS and a Retina display ;P

i might consider getting one, my old $30 Samsung (yes, I am a teenager, OMG) from 2006 is a little long in the tooth, plus I don't wanna carry round my iPod on the train as well just to play Angry Birds. well, new apple store in Perth hopefully has a hands on demo