But too many other people have had dropped calls, and to tell people to spend an extra 25 quid on a sliver of rubber to wrap around the side just doesn't go far enough put matters right.
The iPhone's call quality may be very good indeed, but that's no help if you're struggling to make a call in the first place.
Looks like a third-gen product, works like the first generation
You shouldn't struggle to keep its battery topped up, though like any smartphone it's not going to last for weeks on single charge. But a day or two, depending on usage, yes. How much of a hit multitasking makes is arguably irrelevant since you can't switch it off.
Verdict
Some say the iPhone 4 is the best iPhone yet. I'm not so sure. It ought to be, and on paper it certainly is, but in the flesh it isn't. This is Apple's third iPhone design, yet it feels in some ways like its first. Fixes may come, but for now this is a phone that forces its users to like or lump its quirks.
You just didn't have to do that with the 3GS. You took it out of the box and it worked the way you expected it to. Its successor, pretty though it is, requires you to hold it carefully so that you don't lose the signal and don't tap buttons with your ear because the proximity sensor doesn't work properly. And that's wrong.
BlackBerry fans may mutter sullenly about function being more important that form, there's no doubt that the iPhone 4 is a gorgeous looking phone - a thing of beauty that raises the technological bar for Nokia, HTC, Samsung and co. to reach up to. They all will, of course, but by the time they do, Apple will have the 4GS ready and that really will blow your socks off. ®
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Apple iPhone 4
COMMENTS
Apple OneCell
Apparently the next generation of iPhone is called the Apple OneCell. Apple commented on the proposed name stating:
"We flatly reject any claims that the new OneCell name is any way reflects the number of un-banned applications, or the fact that users are in any way locked-in, and that OneCell in no way refers to either the battery life or average intelligence of Apple users."
:-)
Nokia...
Have really gone down hill lately. Time was you could chuck your nokia around and it'd survive no worries.
I remember back in the day dropping my 3210 in a river, could see the screen lit up and working at the bottom with full signal. Fished it out, dried it - worked first time.
This is the sort of thing I expect to see in a phone test.
no fixin' required
@Mr Burns and AC (assuming Smithers)
No fixin' required, just needs a s/w update apparently.
It does amaze me the amount of negative press Apple gets her at El Reg, or even the amount of vitriol spewed by people who have no clue in the comments, but at least one of you had the balls to sign their name against it.
It's a bloody good phone, but if it didn't exist, then I doubt the current crop of phones would be anywhere near the current state of technology.
Android wouldn't be a competitor, WebOS might actually have saved palm, and Windows 7 would be out in 2011 (oh wait, the last is probably still true)
Re: Innacuracies
"I experience zero signal degradation when i deliberately cover up the bottom left of mine."
Oh well then they must all be fine.
Panic over everyone; someone tell His Illustrious Steveness.
A fair review
It's nice to see a fair review of the iPhone 4 instead of the usual "ZOMG teh phonez doesnt wurkz when you hold teh bottum left". I can re-create the problem on my phone, but in general use I never hold it in the way that interferes with the antenna. That's not a conscious choice, it's just the way I naturally want to hold it.
I've had mine since launch now and I've been generally quite pleased, and the speed boost over my old 3G is brilliant. It used to take over a minute to load a web page on the 3G, the iPhone 4 does it in seconds. The camera also is really excellent compared to what was on the 3G. All in all though, it's actually more of the same, which is fine, but it's not as revolutionary as the 3G was for me after years of Windows Mobile.
I agree with the reviewer about the lack of need for multi-tasking most of the time. After Windows Mobile's way of handling things, I thought the elegance of only allowing one app to run at a time was a smart solution to limited resources, a small screen, ease of use and ensuring the running app is able to use the full power of the system.
As to whether it's a better choice than an Android device, I'm not sure. I've got quite a large array of games and apps on my iPhone now and I generally think iOS is a nicer interface to use. I am however very jealous that Android has Flash, as that's probably my biggest bug-bear with the new iPhone. I'd have preferred a 64GB model too as I've already filled the 32GB... If Android starts to get more games and the platform fragmentation problems are sorted out, my next phone might not be from Apple...
