REVIEWS OF IPHONE 4

 
Most striking about the iPhone 4 is its new design. While the front is classic iPhone with its single piece of glass, single button, and symmetrical black bezel, the back has moved away from the curves of old to be replaced by a completely flat sheet of aluminosilicate-toughened glass (what do you mean you haven't heard of it?!). Combined with the new flat stainless steel sides, this gives the phone a particularly industrial, minimalist look and feel that is sure to split opinion even more than existing iPhones have.

To our minds the concept is sound and we really like the exceptional fit and finish of the phone but certainly the front bezel does now look a bit tired. In particular this seems to be because the iPhone 4 is slightly narrower and taller, yet retains the same size screen, as previous models. This makes the screen look a bit lost in the vast blackness of that bezel. It's still a pretty stunning design overall but there's definitely a prototype/engineering sample feel that takes the edge off.

By severely shrinking many of the internal components, Apple has managed to make the iPhone 4 noticeably slimmer than its forebears at just 9.3mm, and the company even touts it as the slimmest smartphone. Normally we would be concerned about this as the slimmer devices get, the more difficult they tend to be to handle but thanks to its flat sides the iPhone 4 is actually pretty easy to get a good grip on. However, the pointy edges that result from all those flat surfaces make the phone feel, if not out and out uncomfortable, certainly less comfy than many rivals and even previous iPhones. Weight remains largely unchanged at 137g, 2g more than the iPhone 3GS.

“The white iPhone 4 has finally arrived and it’s beautiful,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “We appreciate everyone who has waited patiently while we’ve worked to get every detail right.”

iPhone 4 is the most innovative phone in the world, featuring Apple’s stunning Retina™ display, the highest resolution display ever built into a phone resulting in super crisp text, images and video, and FaceTime®, which makes video calling a reality.

White models of iPhone 4 will be available in Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Macau, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, UK and the US, beginning Thursday, April 28 and in many more countries around the world soon. White iPhone 4 will be available for a suggested retail price of $199 (US) for the 16GB model and $299 (US) for the 32GB model with a new two year agreement through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), at Apple’s retail stores, AT&T and Verizon Wireless stores and select Apple Authorized Resellers.
                                
Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

Another potential pitfall of having so much glass is its propensity to crack or shatter when knocked. However we've never experienced any such problems with any existing iPhone screens (though we have heard reports) so we see no reason why the glass front and back of the iPhone 4 should suffer unduly. Indeed, Apple has been quite happy to bash phones on tables and floors in various demonstrations we've seen and they've all remained spotless.
                              
Moreover, in our experience, unlike plastic, glass screens are essentially scratch proof in normal use so using glass on the back as well will hopefully mean the iPhone 4 will look flawless for years to come, no matter how rough you treat it. Certainly we know many people that have not been overly careful yet own three year old iPhones that don't have a single scratch on the screen, which is more than can be said of the aluminium and plastic backs of said phones.

Read more »

APPLICATIONS OF IPHONE 4

                                                  

In addition to gestures, you can use your voice to play music and make a phone call. Just press and hold the home button, listen for the audio prompt, and speak the name of the artist, album, or playlist you want to hear. You can pause, play, change tracks, even shuffle your music. When you want to make a call, speak the name or telephone number of the person you want to call. iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS understand 21 different languages.

While many iPhone applications let you zoom in and out specific elements such as images in Mail, or web page columns in Safari, Zoom lets you magnify the entire screen of any application you’re using to help you see what’s on the display. Zoom can be enabled on iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS using iTunes when you’re setting up iPhone, for yourself or someone else, or later, using the Accessibility menu in the Settings application on iPhone.

Zoom works everywhere, including the Home, Unlock, and Spotlight screens—even with applications you purchase from the App store. Two iPhones. The iPhone in the background is displaying the Accessibility Settings screen. The iPhone in the foreground shows the Accessibility Settings screen in reverse video.
                                       
A simple double-tap with three fingers instantly zooms in and out 200% and you can double-tap and drag three fingers to dynamically adjust the magnification between 100% and 500%. Even when zoomed, you can continue using all of the familiar flick, pinch, tap and other iPhone gestures to run your favorite applications. Zoom can also be used with white-on-black (reverse video) and speak auto-text.

For those who need or prefer higher contrast, iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS provide an option to change the display to White On Black. This reverse video effect works in all applications including the Home, Unlock, and Spotlight screens and can be used with Zoom and VoiceOver.

When typing, iPhone suggests a word before you finish typing it or a correction when a word is misspelled. Speak Auto-text speaks these suggestions so you can hear them when they’re presented. When zoomed, for example, the suggestion might not be visible on screen, but you can hear and accept it without seeing it. If you’re using VoiceOver, you won’t have to interrupt your typing and touch the suggestion to hear it. Speak Auto-text can be enabled even when you’re not using VoiceOver or Zoom.

iPhone includes a few, easily discernible physical buttons used to control the phone: the Sleep/Wake button, located on the top edge; the Ring/Silent switch and volume-control buttons, located on the upper-left edge; and the Home button, centered below the display.

Enjoy hands-free communication using the built-in speakerphone, which you can also use to listen to Visual Voicemail, music, podcasts, and video. Turn the ringer on, and iPhone delivers both audible and visual alerts. You can activate alerts for phone calls, text messages, incoming and sent mail, and calendar events. iPhone also offers an audio option confirming keyboard clicks. You can even set incoming calls to display a full-screen image or photo of the caller. In silent mode, iPhone vibrates instead of playing a tone. To ensure that you never miss a notification, you can also have iPhone vibrate and play an audio alert.

You can assign distinctive ringtones to individuals in your contacts list, using the ringtone as an audible caller ID. Visit the iTunes Store to create, purchase, and download additional ringtones of your favorite songs (sold separately).

Read more »