Over the past couple days, I’ve taken some time to play with the new iPhone to give it a real hands-on review. And after some hands on time, I wanted to quickly run through the points I brought up in my last post.
1) All New Design
It’s an Apple, that’s sure. The phone looks good, and feels nice in the hand. That said, just like previous iPhones, it feels awkward when up to my ear. The angles and edges just aren’t comfortable when using the phone as a phone. I tried to recreate the issue people have been talking about with blocking reception when holding it a certain way, but I wasn’t able to, so no comment there.
I’m still a little hesitant about the glass enclosure though. Apple claims it’s stronger than plastic, but I dropped my iPhone 3G about half a dozen times and the worst that happened was a couple microfractures, and those are not the results that have been had with iPhone 4 drop tests.
2) “Retina Display”
Images and text were certainly crisp. It was sharper than my Nexus One (I tested by looking at the same images on Flickr on both devices.) But, as I expected, the colors were much richer on the Nexus One. Overall, the iPhone display would be better for small text, but since there’s a zoom function, I don’t really see the point. I’ll take the better colors on AMOLED than sharper tiny text on an iPhone.
3) A4 Processor
The iPhone is fast, just like all new smartphones. I’ve played with the EVO, a lot of time with my Nexus One, and I didn’t feel like the iPhone was any faster or more responsive really.
4) Gyroscope
I completely forgot that this existed, so I haven’t played with it.
5) Camera
The camera app UI and quality are the best I’ve seen on a phone. Can’t argue that. However, I didn’t see a huge difference between the HD video on the iPhone and the HD video I’ve taken on my Nexus One.
6) iOS 4
Again, nothing special here. If you like the iPhone, there’s nothing especially new here. Folders exist, so what? Multitasking is there, but it’s not really multitasking, so much as a better task switcher. It’s still just as closed down and sterile as iOS always has been. Custom wallpapers doesn’t change that. It’s still as pretty a UI as it’s always been, but with no customization or control options, I just don’t see the value.
7) iBooks
Meh. Kindle is on all platforms now, and there’s nothing special about iBooks. Kindle is already moving on to offer video and other media into eBooks, so Apple is already playing catch-up.
8) iAds
No comment. Oh wait, one comment: ANTI-FUCKING -COMPETITIVE.
9) Facetime
Not available on the store demo models, and I haven’t had a chance to check it out, but I still don’t see the point.
