Smartphone Review: Apple iPhone 4

Beautiful, with a caveat


Smartphone Review: Apple iPhone 4
by Hedirman Supian
05:55 AM Aug 06, 2010

I WOULD often tell people I write love stories between people and inanimate objects. Sometimes, that isn't very far from the truth when the object in question is Apple's latest smartphone - the iPhone 4.

Compared to the iPhone 3GS, the iPhone 4 ($888 for 16GB; $1,048 for 32GB) features a faster processor, more memory, a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash (plus a front-facing VGA camera), a higher-resolution screen and a new aesthetic.

And these few improvements make all the difference.

Version 4 is just slightly thinner than its predecessor at 9.3mm, but the removal of the curved back and the addition of the glass makes it feel very svelte indeed. And although it looks fragile with all that glass, the build quality is top-notch.

The 3.5-inch touchscreen is exceedingly sharp, enough to make you rub your eyes in disbelief the first few times you gaze at it. It's bright (and useable outdoors), higher in contrast, has a wider viewing angle and the colours are very vivid - my only regret is that it makes my iPad look like a CRT screen.

Phone performance seems slightly snappier compared with the 3GS but it still takes a few seconds to load my 450 contacts whenever I launch my address book. Apart from iMovie, a US$4.99 movie editing app from Apple, there are few apps available that take advantage of the increased horsepower or the new gyroscope that the phone harbours.

Despite the thinner enclosure, day-to-day battery life has improved. It only gave me a low-battery warning after a 14-hour day that involved plenty of 3G, photo-taking, video-capturing and editing usage.

Though the 5-megapixel camera lags behind in terms of resolution when you compare it to the latest cutting-edge smartphones, pictures had ample detail, with well-saturated colours. Low-light performance was way above average compared to a regular phone camera. It takes sharp high-definition (HD) video, too. Combined with the phone's tap-to-focus feature, and Apple's iMovie app, it's easy to produce, edit and upload a HD (at 720p resolution) creative movie all on your iPhone.

You can activate video-calling - dubbed FaceTime - only when you're connected via WiFi. While it's a marked improvement over a conventional 3G video call, the video can appear pixelated at times, though audio quality's good. The ability to easily switch between the front and back camera in a call is a nice touch.

Voice quality on the iPhone has improved. My call recipients no longer complain that I sounded too soft or muffled.

The much-publicised antenna issue is real, but how it affects calls seems to vary. In areas with a strong signal strength (five bars), it would drop to two or three bars when I gripped the bottom left corner of the phone, sans the Apple bumper. With weaker signals, it would drop to one or two bars - but the phone managed to hold on to the calls, even as I traversed halfway across the island in a cab. I tested it on the networks of two telcos here and in remote areas of the island, as well as the Central Business District.

When we repeated the test with another smartphone, it seemed less affected in terms of voice quality and data transmission rates. The weaker signals caused by the so-called Death Grip will also affect any application that depends on an Internet connection.

The only time the iPhone 4 dropped a call was when I was caught in a lift or had to switch networks because 3G coverage is (still) not available in the underground portion of the East-West train line. For those of you who have to ply that route, I hope you've armed your iPhone with Bejeweled. HEDIRMAN SUPIAN

http://www.todayonline.com/Tech/Techreviews/EDC100806-0000045/Beautiful,-with-a-caveat

Sonix Snap Slim Case for iPhone 4 with 2 Screen Protectors (Black)