An iPhone 4 display set at Starhub
The things that I like about the iPhone 4 are its delectably delicious screen with its ever-responsive capacitive touch interface, one of the best 5 megapixel phone camera and crisp video quality from the camcorder according to the folks at gsmarena. It even has a touch-to-focus video recording which I think is one of the first on a mobile phone. The screen (dubbed the 'Retina Display') is especially gorgeous. I reminisce the days where I do dot peeping on inkjet printers' samples that shout 1440dpi.. 2880 dpi, 4800dpi (remember the dpi race at Epson?). The iPhone 4's display just didn't show up the scan lines at all, no dots. Very Sweet apple (pun semi intended).. but thats where my list of complements for the iPhone end.
The home button is very stiff! For both display sets at Singtel and Starhub shops, I have to use my nails to press it. Double clicking to switch apps is quite edgy. I'm not sure why people or the reviewers are not complaining!
The stiff iPhone 4 home button
I've upgraded my iPhone 3G's OS to iOS4 and its virtually nothing special except I can finally turn off cellular data (phew..). However, a brief use of the display-set iPhone 4 made me think slightly otherwise. The pseudo multi-tasking is quite easy to toggle, something Apple won't want to give the 3G owners (DAMN!), wallpapers look good, and it feels much faster and smoother.
Contrary to popular belief, the death grip doesn't seem to surface on my short use of the new iPhone. Maybe Singtel has good reception coverage over Singapore. I hope to try doing that in a lift soon.
With the iPhone 4, I simply cannot:
- Save contact numbers to my sim card without jailbreaking. I NEED this feature as its a most primitive and useful form of backup. You can switch phones and keep in touch with old friends easily.
- Listen to class 95, 933, 98.7 fm etc. etc. etc. for the latest songs without draining battery life. I think FM radio is an important feature ever since nokia started putting it on mobile phones. It is harmlessly battery sipping, and you can tune in to latest news and the latest songs buzzing without using your 3G data limit. Inexcusable.
- Use the iPhone as a USB card reader (there's no micro-SD card btw). Pulling pictures, mp3 files and vCard contacts off my phone on any linux, windows, Solaris, and Mac OS machine is a must have for me as I work with these platforms often.
- Play flash games on it. Can't be helped we know! Fortunately due to the popularity of iOS, software authors and popular websites will make a special app for the app store.
There is no perfect smart phone yet and there never will be. I would still agree that Apple makes products that are delightful to look-at, hold and a breeze to use. The iPhone showroom-freshness appeal just doesn't go away that quickly. I have already stopped marveling at the Motorola Milestone (a.k.a Droid in the USA) barely a few months after getting it; the Milestone has become my tool rather than fashion accessory. On the other hand, I'm still ogling at my iPhone 3G every other day for more than half a year!
For Apple, sacrifices are made for fine-grained control and functionality; they make features that volks WANT and they do it very well. I've observed that it is usually the more freedom inducing, geeky stuff thats missing and could not be more intuitively implemented to satisfy the majority of the crowd. In short I still took my hat off to Apple for the fact that only their phones have made long overnight queues.
The iPhone 4 on the left and right sides. Look how slim it is.
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