The fourth iteration of the iPhone is certainly the most controversial handset so far. Hardware leaks, suicides and police raids have all formed part of this smartphone's turbulent journey to market.
iPhone 4 - Build:
The first thing you'll notice when holding the iPhone 4 is just how incredible the build quality is. It feel incredibly pleasing in the hand and actually, make the 3GS feel, well, a bit chubby and cheap. The front and back are black glass with a brushed steel band running round the phone.
iPhone 4 - Software:
Apple's iPhone 4 ships running iOS4 which makes sense if you think about it, and while Apple's latest operating system has some significant developments on 3.0 there are still some niggling issues that make it, well, not all that it could be.
Unfortunately there's still some stuff missing, chief among them -- glancable information. The widget system, on which Android is based, and which makes it such an appealing option to hardcore techies and it's a crying shame that is doesn't make an appearance in some form on iOS 4.
iPhone 4 - Screen:
You'll have heard a lot about Apple's highly lauded retina display. It's got four times as many pixels as the 3GS's screen and 78% of the pixels of the iPad.
Video looks superb on it too and Apple's A4 processor could handle most anything we threw at it. The blacks are superbly deep and the colours are vibrant.
iPhone 4 - Camera:
The original iPhone camera was a duffer, the second one was a duffer, the third one was better, but it was still a bit of a duffer. This one is good. Not incredible, but good, very good -- owing to its 5 megapixels and backlit sensor.
Apple have characteristically held back with the stock camera app -- there's no pre-set japery or filters. It's photo, video, zoom and that's it.
iPhone 4 - Performance:
Remember lag? Yeah. When you opened an app and for a while nothing happened, things "loaded". After 10 minutes using this phone you'll have forgotten what that was like because it just doesn't happen. It doesn't matter how many apps you flick between, how many apps you've got running, they all just work straight away.
Throw super high quality video at it, ipod, streaming -- anything. It just works.
Conclusion:
There is no other way to say it: The iPhone 4 is the best smartphone on the market. Backed-up by the now established app store, there isn't a smartphone currently available that can compete with it.
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