iPhone 4: Initial Reactions
Apple's keynote speech at Monday's WWDC had as much to do with defending its recent business decisions as introducing the newest model of the iPhone. My thoughts on the former are in a separate post, but as for opinions concerning the phone itself, look no further.
The Retina Display is going to be the least-appreciated of the iPhone 4's new features in the press, but I view it as nothing short of revolutionary. It resolves one of my biggest issues with modern technology: the relatively low pixel density of mobile displays intended for reading large blocks of text. I've never had the desire to immediately purchase an iPhone after it was announced. Even the original model, which was so innovative at the time, was too expensive for me to consider. But the Retina Display alone does it for me. Even the Droid's 265ppi screen can't hold up to the Retina's 326ppi, a resolution which even exceeds that of a glossy print magazine. I would assume that a larger Retina Display for a device like the iPad would be prohibitively expensive to produce (if not technically infeasible), so the iPhone actually seems like a better option than the iPad for reading e-books for the forseeable future. The introduction of iBooks for the iPhone, along with its embedded PDF viewer, makes the prospect considerably more attractive.
The lack of a 64GB model, on the other hand, is definitely less than great, especially since a 64GB iPod touch has been selling at $399 for the past nine months. If I had to guess, it might just be a pricing strategy. With all the new components in the iPhone 4, Apple couldn't sell a 64GB model at $299 (at least, not with an exorbitantly high profit margin), and Apple didn't want to introduce a $399 iPhone in the interest of making the product continue to seem affordable. It's a little worrisome, though because with HD video recording, not to mention all of the new apps that will be using high-resolution graphics to take advantage of the Retina Display, storage space will fill up very quickly on the iPhone 4.
Other than that, most of the new features introduced on Monday were either iterative, irrelevant to the consumer's experience, or a retread of previous announcements. The addition of a gyroscope further extends Apple's ambitions to elevate the iPhone into a major gaming platform, the Totally Groundbreaking And Unique Multitasking Capabilities of iOS 4 were already announced in the spring, and while iAds has the potential to increase both viewer engagement with immersive advertising and revenue for independent app developers, it's probably not going to make much of a difference for consumers used to seeing AdMob contextual ads all over Tap Tap Revenge. But for the Retina Display and the HD video recording capabilities alone, the iPhone 4 looks like it'll be more than worth the pre-order.
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Comments
The new hardware doesn’t do a lot for me. I have the 3GS and am perfectly happy with it so far. And I get all of the iOS4 features, which is what I’m really looking forward to. Multi-tasking, which is loooooong overdue, and app folders alone are enough for me to upgrade.
I wonder if Facetime will work with the existing camera on the 3GS. I don’t see any reason why it shouldn’t, although that hasn’t stopped Apple before.
I am interested in seeing the screen too.
Other than that, the great thing in this is HD video - depending on how good it REALLY is (and how good the audio is).
I think of processor speed mainly as future proofing - like the iPhoneOS3 was designed to work well on both the 3G and 3GS, the current iPhoneOS4 is designed to work well on the 3GS too. Then again, perhaps iMovie really works better on an A4.
The biggest unknown is reception. If it can be a better PHONE that’d be brilliant (and it’s also great that it supports 3G900, for Australia & NZ!!)
I’m wondering if iPhone is such a big seller Apple were scared to crush the world Flash market with a 64GB phone.
I applaud Apple for its innovation in design, though think it odd that a gyroscope is a Keynote-worthy feature. Apple drives other companies to produce better-looking devices, which is awesome. And they lead in many ways when it comes to design. That said, I find switching back to an iphone/ipod touch from my incredible to be slow and counter-intuitive. (from the bberry it was more just awkward)
As someone who’s mostly on the sidelines for this, I was pretty relieved with this release. I have no regret purchasing the incredible a few weeks ago, given I use a phone to you know, talk to people. (I also wonder if wifi chat was somehow spurned on by the dismal performance of AT&T;).
I agree the gyroscope was odd to demonstrate to users - but probably very worthwhile to demonstrate to developers.
I’m wondering if iPhone is such a big seller Apple were scared to crush the world Flash market with a 64GB phone.
The iphone 4 is a great device. Many improvements over the 3gs. Its unfortunate that the anntenna issues prevented it from reaching its full potential. casual summer dresses
I think of processor speed mainly as future proofing - like the iPhoneOS3 was designed to work well on both the 3G and 3GS, the current iPhoneOS4 is designed to work well on the 3GS too. Then again, perhaps iMovie really works better on an A4.I agree the Reverse Cell Phone Lookup was odd to demonstrate to users - but probably very worthwhile to demonstrate to developers.
Facetime two 3GS eitneun existing I wonder if the camera works with. You do not see any reason why I have to stop before the application is not, but it should not.
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