A First look at the iPhone 4
By Like many of you, I have been glued to Fedex’s tracking page ever since I got that fateful email that stated my new iPhone 4 has shipped. Imagine my glee when I heard about other’s receiving their packages two days early! Imagine the anguish I endured at work knowing that package was sitting on my desk at home. Fortunately, my wait is over, and I now hold in my hand the latest creation from Steve and his gang. So enough with my pontificating, lets take a look at this thing.
The package should be familiar to those that have purchased previous iPhone models. The phone sits on top and below you find an AC adapter, charge cable, and headphones. My initial impression was shock at how thin this phone really is. The weight is noticeable, but in a good way. This definitely feels more like the original iPhone that the plastic backed later versions. The attention to detail and beautiful engineering is immediately noticeable with the fine lines and satisfying clicks on the buttons. One press of the power button and the iPhone prompts you to connect to iTunes.
The activation was smooth and without issue, though I have been reading that some have had problems. The initial sync took an enormous amount of time, partly due to the optimization of the images from my iPhoto library. Not only did the iPhone sync all my contacts, music, etc, it also imported all of my settings from my old phone including my wallpaper. I really couldn’t ask for an easier or more seamless upgrade process. I remember the days of importing contacts from one phone to another, and it is amazing to see how far we have come.
The first thing you notice when the home screen appears is the new Retina display. It really is unbelievable and until you see it in person you can’t imagine how good it really looks. Sometimes market hype can exaggerate about a feature, but in this case it was right in every way. You really do get the impression you are looking at print. This definitely bodes well for the rest of my initial experience with the new iPhone.
Since I am upgrading from a first generation iPhone, it should go without saying that the speed on the new iPhone blows the original out of the water. Every animation is smooth, and every app loads in a blink. The app switching is amazing and works completely as advertised. This new phone has raised the bar of expectations for responsive mobile devices. I have long stopped bringing my laptop to work in favor of using my iPhone, but with more ram and faster CPU, I wouldn’t doubt that I will find even more ways to replace my desktop with my iPhone. Over the next couple of weeks I will be making good use of this new device and will report back to you on what I like and what frustrates me. Until then, I leave you with a gallery of photos after the break to feast your eyes on until your package arrives.
