iPhone 4 Reviewed – Quite a Reception

Third-party access to multitasking means apps from providers other than Apple can now still play music, stay online, and push notifications from the background when necessary. It may not be proper multitasking, but for a phone, it fits the bill nicely. While the A4 is certainly capable of multitasking properly, the implemented method saves on battery life – which is pretty good. The internal battery takes up most of the casing, and it shows. Making a few calls, mucking about online, using Wi-Fi and 3G, I could still easily get away with charging only every second day. Browsing, by the way, is a pretty pleasurable experience on the iPhone. Provided you don’t try access any sites that use Flash, of course.

The iPhone experience is built around adding application via the Appstore. Unfortunately like most services of this nature, the South African service is heavily gimped. You won’t find games on the local digital storefront, owing to the lack of FPB certification, and the selection of other apps is paltry. Thankfully there are workarounds to access the US store, which is filled to the brim with free and paid-for apps and utilities that’ll enhance your general productivity. There’s also a plethora of games available, many making use of the device’s built-in accelerometers and gyroscope, to kill your productivity entirely. I was awfully impressed with the selection of games – from indie and commercial publishers- and equally impressed with how many of them looked and played.

New to iOS4.1 is GameCentre, and application not unlike Xbox Live that tracks achievements in games, and allows for matchmaking and leaderboards. As of writing, only a handful of games actually support the feature and that, along with the fact that South Africa isn’t a supported territory renders it almost entirely useless. I spent nearly 3 unfruitful hours searching for fellow WordsWorth (the only game with GameCentre support I own) players.

It may seem, reading this review, that I’ve succumb to the hive Mind mind-control of Steve Jobs, and that I’m well on my way to becoming an Apple enthusiast – but worry not. While I can almost see why they’ve developed that sort of overzealous dedication, there are definite problems with the device, most of which stem from Apple’s draconian insistence on everything being proprietary.

The only way to transfer and synchronise data, pictures and music is through Apple’s own iTunes software – and only ever from a single computer. It’s a pleasure on a Mac, not so much on a PC. The phone is once again available in 16 and 32Gb models, with no option for storage upgrade via SD cards, like most other modern phones. There’s also little in the way of customisation. Unlike the competing Android platform, for example, I’m unable to replace the global keyboard with something like Swype – a much quicker, more intuitive input method for touch screen phones. That’s not to say that the iPhone’s onscreen keyboard is rubbish though; quite the opposite, in fact. In the time I’ve had the phone I’ve learned to become quite efficient at text input, thanks the the device’s incredibly precise, multi-touch keyboard – but still, I’d like a little choice. Having grown accustomed to how open Android is, the restrictive nature of the iPhone is a little stifling.

All said though, the more I use the iPhone, the more indispensible it’s becoming. If you already have an iPhone 3GS, there’s little compelling reason to upgrade (other than the fact that it’s really, really sexy). If you’re new to the iPhone, or smartphones in general it’s terribly difficult not to be impressed. It’s sublimely easy to use, but still packs the punch to make power users happy. The iPhone 4 is indeed a market-leading smartphone that I’d be hard-pressed not to recommend – provided you can afford one, of course.

Thanks to MTN for supplying us with a review sample, and even bigger thanks for not asking for it back. It’s a good thing too, because they’d have to pry it from my cold, dead hands.

Specs at a glance :

Hardware Specifications

Operating System: iOS 4
Memory: 16GB or 32GB versions available
Display: 3.5-inch (diagonal) widescreen Multi-Touch retina display, 960-by-640-pixel resolution at 326 ppi, 800:1 contrast ratio (typical)
Wireless: UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz)
GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi (802.11n 2.4GHz only)
Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR wireless technology
Digital Camera: 5.0MP, Video recording, HD (720p) up to 30 frames per second with audio
Battery: Rechargeable lithium-ion, Talk time: up to 7 hours on 3G, up to 14 hours on 2G, standby time: up to 300 hours
Internet use: up to 6 hours on 3G, up to 10 hours on Wi-Fi
Video playback: Up to 10 hours
Audio playback: Up to 40 hours
Size: 4.5 x 2.31 x 0.37 in (115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3 mm)
Weight: 4.8 ounces (137 grams)

Last Updated: October 1, 2010