Style and handling summary for iPhone 4 review
While its futuristic, industrial design makes it thinner than the iPhone 3GS, the iPhone 4 weighs 2g more, so feels more substantial.
User friendliness summary for iPhone 4 review
Usability is the iPhone 4's byword. Apple has taken this slick, intuitive smartphone to a new level.
Feature set summary for iPhone 4 review
You'll find nothing new in the iPhone 4's feature set, though the touch-screen feels more responsive and we were impressed by the ‘Retina' display and five megapixel HD recording camera.
Performance summary for iPhone 4 review
For the first time it's possible to multitask on the iPhone thanks to the 1GHz A4 processor, though it's not possible with some apps to leave a page to load while you do something else, because they pause rather than run in the background.
Battery power summary for iPhone 4 review
Improvements have been made; we got a full day while running Wi-Fi, GPS and 3G.
Full Review and Specification for the Apple iPhone 4 review
The full Apple iPhone 4 Review
Apple manages to maintain its place at the top of the tree for producing good tech and being the master of hype. And though the iPhone 4 has nothing new as such, it’s just a much-improved device. True, videocalling, multitasking and HD cameras have appeared on other phones for a number of years now, but they get a new lease of life on the intuitive interface of the iPhone. And we can’t help drooling over that fabulous display, either.
Industrial style
The major change with the iPhone 4 is its design – industrial, with square edges rather than curves, clad in matt silver – it’s the slimmest iPhone yet. Tempered glass covers the 3.5in screen, as well as the back. The glass is scratch-resistant, but certainly not smudge-proof. The classic home button sits beneath the display, with the familiar volume rocker usurped by round, small ‘+’ and ‘-‘ buttons. The SIM slot is home to the MicroSIM and sits on the right. The usual dock connector can be found at the bottom of the handset where you’ll also find two decent small speaker vents. The 3.5mm audio jack also stays in its usual place at the top of the device. While the handset is slimmer than the iPhone 3GS at 9.3mm, it is, in fact, 2g heavier.
The user interface, meanwhile, remains pretty much the same, albeit with a few new features to compete against its more customisable rivals. Now, users can alter app screen backgrounds and create folders of apps, just by dragging one app on top of another. The phone will automatically label the folder appropriately – games or social, for instance – or you can change the folder name yourself. Widgets are still absent, so you’ll have to make do with uniform screens of app icons. Neat touches can be seen on the weather app, which automatically displays the temperature with a symbol showing current weather conditions, while mail and social network icons show how many events and messages you have.
Touchy, feely
Amazingly, the touch-screen appears to be even more responsive, and the keyboard more accurate. Autocorrect is pretty much perfect, and there was no keyboard lag. With the keyboard responding to the lightest touch, and multitouch zooming around the websites, browsing is a joy. It’s a shame that the browser does not auto-fill text on non-mobile sites, and there is also a lack of tabbed browsing. A carousel at the bottom right of the display shows open windows, which you can tap to view. It is possible to mail web links, but not share them to social networks, as you can on phones such as the Samsung Wave and HTC Desire. Copy and paste still impresses though – just long press and drag two pins to the ends of your chosen text.
Mail has had a facelift too: multiple email accounts can be viewed in a universal inbox. Battery life is also improved – the phone ran for a full day while running Wi-Fi, GPS and 3G.
Multitasking gets started
Double-tap the home button and up pops a toolbar showing all programmes – the most recently opened apps appear on the left. Scroll to the right to see the rest, in order of time opened. Swipe left to show the music player controls. Apple’s 1GHz A4 processor comes into its own here – we noticed no lag in response time, even with 15 apps, the browser and Spotify open.
But don’t expect multitasking to be the same as it is on other phones – not all apps can run in the background. Instead, they pause, so you can’t open a web page for instance, switch to another app and let it load – the page will simply pause until you switch back. Also, be aware that not all apps are iOS4.0 compatible; it was disappointing to find that we couldn’t listen to Spotify while doing something else. However, be patient, because as we went to press, the company had submitted a multitasking app, which is awaiting Apple approval.
However, because apps pause rather than running in the background, sucking up memory, the iPhone 4 can run far more smoothly than any other phone; we are also very fond of the app-switching animation, which shows the screen of the new app sliding in front of the last one.
When a call comes in, an alert pops up, and whether you choose to answer or cancel the call, you’ll automatically go back to where you were when you’re finished. If you want to manually shut down an app, just long-press on an app in the multitasking toolbar, then tap the red ‘-’ in the corner.
It is now also possible for apps to ‘call up’ another app. This means, for example, that the email client can call up QuickOffice to open a Word document in an attachment, or in Books you can open a PDF. This clever little feature also lets you save PDFs from the iBook ‘bookshelf’ for easy access (see more on this below).
FaceTime
It’s amazing how Apple can trademark a feature that’s been on other mobile phones for years – but it’s likely that if anything is going to put video-calling into the mainstream, it’s Apple’s Wi-Fi-only video call feature – titled FaceTime. Its drawback is that it only works between iPhone 4s, and while that might seem strange, with 1.7 million units being sold in the first three days of its launch, it’s highly likely most new owners will have at least another friend to chat to via the magic of video.
Video calling is simple; start up the dialler, call a contact, and as the call connects, tap the FaceTime icon. This will only appear if both callers are connected to Wi-Fi and using iPhone 4s. Once you’re connected, you can tap the top right to change to the main camera, which will show the other caller the view from the camera at the back of the device.
FaceTime is simple to use, works brilliantly, and got us pretty excited about the whole video calling idea. We weren’t even bothered by the fact that it only works over Wi-Fi; the UK 3G network wouldn’t offer the same audio clarity anyway. Apple says the FaceTime code will, in the future, be open standard, which should pave the way for compatibility with other devices.
The only thing we do have a problem with is that the dialler is not user friendly when it comes to making an ordinary voice call. While phones such as HTC’s Android allow you to type in a few letters of a contact’s name to pull up a list of likely friends, you’ll still have to either type in the number or scroll through the phonebook to make a call. To get round this, add names to your favourites list – a call log also allows you to call back recent numbers.
The eyes have it
The ‘Retina Display’ is one the most hyped features on the iPhone 4. This impressive bit of tech squeezes 326 pixels into each inch of the display. It means that however close you zoom in to text, the edges will always appear smooth. It makes pictures and movies look incredible, but where it really makes its mark is when it comes to reading books on your device. Text is simple to read, even in sunlight.
Talking of reading books, the iBooks app installs a virtual wooden bookshelf on your iPhone 4. You can fill it with ebooks that are downloaded from iTunes-style store. In landscape and portrait mode, you’ll only see one page – not the two-page view of the iPad. You do get treated to the cute page-turning animation though, and it’s possible to hold down on the dotted line at the bottom of each page, then drag your finger to the page you want. It’s also possible to add bookmarks, highlight text as if you’re note taking, and even download free samples of books before deciding to buy. There are also charts of the top paid-for ebooks and top free ebooks.
We were stunned by the five-megapixel HD recording camera. As you might expect from Apple, there aren’t a whole host of options – just flash on/off/auto – but the shutter speed is instantaneous. We were impressed by the definition and clarity in daylight, while in lowlight, the image is still sharp, although the flash does tend to lend a yellow cast to the image. You can choose manual touch focus, or allow the camera to automatically focus on the faces in your scene. Want to take a self-portrait? Then switch to the front facing camera.
Video editing is a wonder. Crop a video with the native app, or for proper video splicing, and to create slideshows from photos, download the iMovies for iPhone app for only £2.99.
The verdict
We know what you want to ask – is the iPhone 4 better than all the other smartphones? Well, it does lack widgets and the customisable home screen you’ll find on Android handsets, but it’s faultless when it comes to usability. And as for apps, the App Store’s offering if now set at an incredible standard, and updated apps work even better on iOS4.0. If you’re a bit of a techie, you might find the lack of customisation options somewhat frustrating, but for most buyers, the iPhone 4 was worth the wait…
