My Thoughts on iPhone 4
When Apple released the iPhone 3G, I immediately upgraded. It was a no-brainer for me. I wanted the speed of the 3G network. The only thing that I missed was the design. I’ve always preferred the original design to the iPhone 3G and 3GS.
When the iPhone 3GS came out, most of the features that came with it were ho-hum to me. The only thing I really wanted was the video camera. If AT&T had granted me an earlier upgrade date than they did, I might would have upgraded. But as it was, I was going to have to wait about six months to upgrade, or the first of this year.
By the time I was upgrade eligible, I was just fine waiting for the next generation of the iPhone. It was a relatively short wait, and my patience has paid off.
Apple’s release of the iPhone 4 has me far more excited than the iPhone 3GS. From design to improvements, the iPhone 4 looks like a brilliant phone that will once again revolutionizes what a smart phone should be.
Here’s what grabbed me from the Steve Jobs keynote:
Design. This phone is beautiful. Like the original, it has a flat back. It is thin. The lines are beautiful. Solid black backing, stainless steel frame and black-framed glass. As I said, I’ve never liked the design of the 3G-series. When the photos of the iPhone 4 prototype were leaked, I got excited. It is a work of beauty.
HD Video. Too many times I’ve seen my kids doing something or I’ve been on the job and I’ve wished for video capability on my iPhone. Now, I get it. Plus, the iPhone 4 records in HD. Combined with what looks like a real promising endeavor with iMovie for iPhone, this is going to be fantastic to use.
Camera Improvements. Increasing the camera to 5 megapixels was nice, but it’s only a fraction of what Apple really did here. They’ve done two things that will make it the best camera on any phone. First was a flash, which other smart phones have. The second, however, is really unique. The inclusion of a backside illumination sensor helps boost the quality of the photos. Full details on the camera are here.
Retina Display. This makes a big difference if you do a lot of reading on your iPhone. I suspect it will make a real difference with the increased abilities of the camera and with iMovie for iPhone as well. As much as I use Instapaper and Kindle on my iPhone, I welcome what Apple has done here. It will be the sharpest display of any phone available. Read more about Retina Display here.
iOS 4 changes. Not only did the name change from iPhone OS to iOS, the new features were shown in more detail yesterday. Multitasking and folders are the two things that excite me the most. I’m also looking forward to the ability of adding multiple Exchange accounts. All of this will make my iPhone much more useable as an enterprise machine.
iBooks. We knew it was coming, and now it is official. iBooks is coming to the iPhone, and as expected it will automatically sync with the iPad. In short, it works just like the Kindle app does with the Kindle. I won’t say I’ll never use my Kindle app again, but iBooks will be my main reader on both my iPhone and iPad now.
I also wanted to share one of the more interesting pieces on first impressions of the iPhone 4. It comes from Kyle Baxter over at TightWinds, and it sums up my feelings nicely.
The iPhone 4 can be pre-ordered on June 15. I’ve already put it on my calendar.
