Okay, so you’ve probably already read about my little math illustration about the ratio between working to not working iPhone 4′s. Putting all that ugliness behind us, I am glad to finally have a working iPhone. Yes, it was an unlucky/annoying road to get here, but this is probably one instance where it really is the destination, and not the journey, that counts.
I’ll be waiting for the free case from Apple to come in around the end of September (if they don’t ship it early this time). I ordered the Speck PixelSkin HD after doing some research and looking at the kinds of features I want in a case—covers the buttons, non-sticky (unlike silicone), non-brittle (unlike hard plastic), non-bulky profile, bump and back protection, ample space for the ports, and finally, pretty/neat looking. Here’s a gratuitous gallery:
The actual review of the phone is after the break.
First impressions of the phone? It’s small. It’s really small. In a great way, too, since it fits comfortably in my pocket with headphones plugged in (which cannot be said about some larger music-phones… like my friend’s Ericsson). I believe this is mainly due to the fact that it’s only about 1 cm thick and flat all around. I knew before I purchased the phone that I’d love the clean, straight cuts along the sides and back, but holding it in my hand or whipping it out feels totally badass with such a nice form factor.
The screen’s beautiful. I think the screen may be the single most important change they made to the iPhone that really sold me on it (besides already looking like the ultimate katana of slickness over all smart phones). I mean, with a smart phone you can expect to be spending quite some time staring at the screen as you work, play, organize, and use your phone in general. That’s why it made so much sense for me when Apple announced the mega-awesome display (note: the new iPod Touch is going to crush everyone else’s balls with its own Retina Display—just watch). Colours are vibrant and contrast is awesome. High-definition videos (snagged off YouTube at 720p with jDownloader) are beauties to show to friends. To be honest, I haven’t done all that much reading on the iPhone so far but I imagine I’ll do more of that once my case comes in and it’s not so glaringly obvious that I’m being a total dickbag, pulling out my iPhone on the bus/wherever to read in public.
The sensor functionality is neat though not game-changing. The new gyroscope is kind of cool (I want to test this out on an airplane and on a boat sometime) and shooting stuff in GunRange with the gyro is pretty balling, I must admit. Still, maybe for lack of creativity I fail to see how many of these crazy sensors in the phone would come into play in day-to-day productivity use (e.g. use that doesn’t involve blasting Mokis into wormholes homeward).
The rear-facing camera is sweet. I’ve snapped a few photos (admittedly with the previous lemon iPhone) and some videos, and they are all surprisingly good for a handheld’s photographs. I’m not a photograph buff so I don’t really know how to hold an intelligent discussion about quality photos. I do know, though, that taking a good photo != taking a large photo (i.e. having over 9000 megapixels doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get good photos). All I can say so far is that the camera takes photos that look good to me—won’t pass for anything professional, but it probably could pass for something taken with an average-to-above-average, dedicated digital camera. Front camera doesn’t seem to take photographs that are as pretty, but that may have more to do with them being of me than the camera’s fault (I do know it’s lower MP on the front-facing camera though). Flash is there, and it works. Don’t know how great the results are (under Swiss Chalet’s lighting photos of my mom looked kind of really freaking yellow, but she is Asian, so…).
As for attenuation, I’ve always had crap-tastic reception here in the condo (I live on the ground floor, until +18 floors of concrete and steel) so it hasn’t been hard getting the bars to go from 3 to 1 (under Fido’s Toronto network, by the way). I have not been able to get it to completely lose reception (i.e. I can’t get the phone to go into “Searching…” mode) and I can’t even get any attenuation in places with decent-to-good reception (like downtown). So, for all those nay-sayers and haters, there’s that.
Anyway, all in all, I’m much more than pleased with the new iPhone (I sort of have to be, having paid that kind of money + hassle for it). No Flash is still kind of a “WTF, seriously?” issue, but I have yet to browse onto a web site that hinged upon Flash to run so I guess it’s kind of not a problem. I guess. Can I recommend the phone to others? Well, if you are like me, and enjoy having all your stuff (phone, music, camera, and more) in one place, then it’s definitely worth considering. Some people really hate on Apple for the sake of not looking like a fanboy—sadly for them, the Anti-Apple Club is biggest fanboy club out there—and those people should just get an Android phone or a Blackberry. Or, wait for the Windows Phone 7 by end of 2010.
If you plan on getting a data plan, you should just get the subsidized one through a carrier. If you don’t want the data plan and the extra $360 (minimum) + tax per year, and know how to do math, get the unlocked phone from Apple directly. You’ll probably have to wait a few weeks since everyone’s apparently crazy for this phone, but you won’t regret it (unless you’re paying for the phone by starving your children and not paying your utility bills).