iPhone 4: My Impressions After Two Months

When I stood in line way back in June, on the first day of the iPhone 4 launch, I told myself that no matter how excited I was about this new iPhone, I was going to reserve judgement until I get to play with it for a while.  Well, fast forward two months later and now that the initial excitement of the phone wore off, I feel like I can make a fair assessment of the iPhone 4.  Overall, I really like the phone and I think it is the best one that has come out yet.  Here are some of the things that I love about the new iPhone 4.

The Retina Display

If you haven’t seen the Retina Display in action on an iPhone 4, this will blow you away.  Honestly.  The screen is so clear and bright.  Everything pops out and looks amazing.  This alone can make someone want to change to the iPhone 4.  If you can’t get your hands on an iPhone 4 to see the Retina Display, then check out this link.  Apple does a pretty good job of trying to show you what the Retina Display is on their website.  The Retina Display really does a good job of giving you a crisp, clean look on your screen and is great for looking at photos and games.

Dual Cameras (HD Video, Face Time)

This is a feature that has been a long time coming.  Ever since the first iPhone came out, people would always complain about it not having a front facing camera.  And I agree, it only made sense with a screen that big that an iPhone should have a front facing camera.  Well, as usual, Apple did not disappoint.  Not only did  they add a front facing camera, but they bumped up the back camera to 5 megapixels and a flash as well.  But the goodies didn’t stop there.  I love the fact that the new iPhone 4 can shoot HD video, yes HD video.  This really makes it a versatile device.  But Apple had one more thing up their sleeve as well and that was Face Time.

With FaceTime, I could now video chat with someone else that had an iPhone 4.  Great feature to add and I really like using it.  The only problem is that it is limited.  You can only FaceTime other iPhone 4 users and it only works on WIFI.  So I found that I don’t use the feature as much as I would like it.  But overall, it is a nice feature to have and I hope somehow Apple makes the feature more mainstream.

iOS 4

Finally!!  That is how I sum up this category.  To be honest, I have mixed feelings about the new iOS.  First of all, let me say, I think it is a welcome addition and I am very happy with the update.  With multitasking, folders, the ability to change your background, universal email, etc, this really does make it the biggest update to the iPhone operating system.  But, what leaves me a little bitter is why did Apple have to wait this long to make this happen?  There have been other operating systems that have been able to do this for a while now and it took Apple 4 iPhones to make this happen?  Don’t get me wrong here, I am not complaining.  I just wish we could have seen it earlier.  But I digress.  Like I said, this new iOS, as they are now calling it, is a very welcome addition and as far as the operating part of the iPhone goes, this really does make the phone that much better than what it was before.

Now before you think that I am biased here with this new iPhone.  There are things that I wasn’t too fond of in the new iPhone.  Granted, not all of it is Apple’s fault.  But I want to make it clear, that even though I do love this new iPhone.  There are still things that I wish were better.  So, here they are.

Design

I am still not 100% sure I like this new design of the iPhone 4.  It definitely looks sleek and I know the iPhone was due for a design change.  But, I still like the old 3G and 3GS form factor.  I like the roundedness of those iPhones.  I don’t know if I really like the block design of this new iPhone.  Although the metal band on the outer edge looks good, with the whole antenna fiasco, I think they could have done a better job of the design of the new iPhone.
AT&T

Ok, I know this not totally Apple’s fault, but AT&T is seriously crippling the iPhone.  If it wasn’t for all the other reasons as to why I like the iPhone, I wouldn’t have gotten it because of AT&T.  First of all the cell network stinks and is no where nearly as good as Verizon.  Every time I don’t have service, a Verizon person has service.  It is so frustrating!!  Then AT&T took this long to implement tethering, but then they are charging a lot for it and you can’t tether with the iPad, which makes it virtually useless for me.  Personally, I cannot wait till the iPhone, hopefully goes over to Verizon.  I will jump ship for sure!!  I know the iPhone is popular and these AT&T problems are not hurting it, but I can guarantee by adding Verizon to the mix, Apple will continue to kill it big time in the United States.

Well, there you have it.  These are my impressions of the iPhone 4 after a couple of months.  I tried really hard to be as unbiased as possible.  To sum it up, I really like the iPhone and I finally believe it has gotten to the point where it has a lot of the features that we have been asking for a while now.  If Face Time could be implemented on a greater scale, this phone would truly rock!  I also think if we get it off AT&T, life with the iPhone will be a lot better.  So what do you guys think?  What are your impressions of the new iPhone?

Tagged as: iphone 4