iPhone 4 in detail

[Kenyada]

OK let’s talk about iPhone 4, and how much better it is than iPhone 3GS.

3GS recorded video, 4 captures 720p high definition video AND adds the capability of video editing right on the phone. 4 also boasts an LED flash for low light photos and video.

Retina Display is another first for iPhone. With 626 pixels per inch, four times sharper than 3GS, iPhone 4 has the highest resolution now available. And let’s talk about the glass. On the front and back of iPhone 4, this space-aged technology is enclosed by two panels of “aluminsilicate glass”. Chemically strengthened to be 20 times stiffer and 30 times harder than plastic, the glass is ultra-durable and more scratch resistant than ever before.
If you would like to better manage your applications, the iPhone is for you. For the first time, you can take an application and drag it onto another application, and iPhone 4 will create a Folder and automatically give the folder a category name (which you can change if you’d prefer). So all of your travel apps can be located in one folder that you can click on to see the individual apps in that category. That’s a sweet feature!

iPhone 4 also allows multi-tasking so that you can switch between several applications and not lose your place. And the Mail feature has been upgraded so that all of your email servers can be seen on one screen. No more switching between inboxes of several different servers. And Mail is more manageable

iPhone 4 includes a built-in three-axis gyroscope. When paired with the accelerometer, it makes iPhone 4 capable of advanced motion sensing such as user acceleration, full 3D attitude, and rotation rate. Translation: More motion gestures and greater precision for an even better gaming experience.

While most phones have only one microphone, iPhone 4 has two. The main mic, located on the bottom next to the dock connector, is for phone calls, voice commands, and memos. The second mic, built into the top near the headphone jack, is for FaceTime calls and for making your phone calls better. It works with the main mic to suppress unwanted and distracting background sounds, such as music and loud conversations. This dual-mic noise suppression helps make every conversation a quiet one.

I don’t think we really have a choice this time. There is no other smartphone out there that is THIS smart.

[Kenyada]

The commercials for iPhone competitor, DROID, amuse me. The Droid people don't seem to get it. The robotics involved in their promotion of the product may appeal to children, but adults understand that the strength of a smartphone lies in its usefulness to human beings. So Apple commercials are about people using iPhones and apps to meet their productivity goals. People, not robots, are always featured in Apple's commercials. I don't think the Verizon people have made that connection.

Apple commericals seem to have reached the level of Publix commercials with their appeal to a humanistic core of compassion. For example, the Face Time video, using Louis Armstrong's "Smile," and people using their iPhones to communicate with each other is worthy of an award.

[Glenn]

Apple is the master of commercialism. The 4 is awesome and the Droid is a decent competitor, but as long as everyone is looking to 'kill' Apple products then they are still the trend setters that everyone tries to keep up with.

I was reading the other day that IOS might possible replace OS-X some day....that would be interesting.

The iPad is going to revolutionize computing llike the iPod did to music. People are still calling it a tablet...it was never design to be a tablet, by the time folks figure out that it's not a tablet afterall, Apple will have moved on to hmmm...let's see... refrigerators LOL!

[Kenyada]

Yeah, Apple is calling the shots now in the computer industry. And the success of iPad and iPhone/iTouch will carry over into Mac. Everyone who sees my MacBook Pro is impressed and not as reluctant as years earlier when Macs were thought of as too different.

Tricia has decided that she wants an iPad as well as an iPhone 4. That's saying something for a woman so cheap she saves fast food ketchup packs. But I'm glad she's getting the iPhone 4, because I will have someone to speak to on the phone... frequently. The woman lives on the phone. And since I hate using the phone, I'm hoping that the novelty of video conversation will hold my interest.

I still can't get over the technology leap. We're about to pass the Star Trek crew in tele-communication. Granted, we still lag far behind the Transporter Room, but we're moving in the right direction.

[Kenyada]

iPhone 4 may have reception problems... if held the wrong way. The following is from an article on eweek:

Apple's response is to not hold the device so that your fingers cover that thin black band on the lower left of the iPhone 4's outside edge. The reason this causes a reception problem is that this thin black band (and a similar one on the other side of the device) is actually the insulator that separates two antennas, one for the UHF part of AT&T's voice band and the other the microwave 3G, WiFi and GPS signals.

When you touch this thin black band, you provide an electrical pathway between these two antennas. How much of a pathway you create depends on your personal physiology and the conductivity of your hands. Your hands can change these characteristics when they're wet, and especially if they're sweaty, since perspiration contains salt, which aids in conduction.
It's part of the basic design of the iPhone 4's antenna that you can affect its reception in this way, but that doesn't translate into saying that it's a bad design. Like the antenna design in every other cell phone, the iPhone 4 design is a compromise. The engineers who designed it had to choose between an efficient antenna that would overcome some of the reception problems that had spurred earlier complaints and some worse reception problems that currently plague other smartphones.

In most wireless devices these days, the antenna is printed on the main circuit board, or one that's situated next to it. It looks like a copper zig-zag design, and it's usually under the keyboard or the battery, although there are many places where the designers place them in the interests of looks, convenience or sometimes efficiency.

[Kenyada]

I've decided to hold off on iPhone 4 until they get their antenna interference issues resolved. I will be purchasing two, and I'd rather not have to find out later that Apple has issued a recall for the iPhone 4. I would think that the issues would be dealt with by the XMas buying season. I hope so, anyway.

[Glenn]

yep. I am quickly losing battery capacity in my iphone and I was planning to upgrade to the 4 around the xmas shopping season as well. I was also hoping the next iPad feature upgrade would be out by then too so I would have an 'Apple' xmas lol