2 Weeks with iPhone 4
Little over two weeks ago I took delivery of a 32GB iPhone 4, having ordered the SIM free version direct from Apple. I was out of contract, making me fully available for an upgrade from o2, but the lure of my current £15 o2 iPhone Simplicity tariff with 300 mins and unlimited texts was too much to ignore and I decided to buy the handset outright and stay on the Simplicity plan with a 12 month contract.
I have been totally blown away by the speed and beauty of iPhone 4. The screen is just beautiful – turn it to any angle and it just stands out, looking like the icons are painted ON the screen. That’s the first thing you notice. The second thing is the speed. Coming from a laggy iPhone 3G, it is a real treat to use something that loads games much easier and switches between apps that much quicker.
The 5MP camera on the iPhone is wonderful. I am truly stunned at the beautiful shots it produces and the tap to focus is a dream. Coming from a 2MP on my 3G is a huge upgrade and I think it’s safe to say that I won’t be needing a separate digital camera for my photography needs anymore. The iPhone 4 camera has taken it’s place. Here’s a photo straight from the iPhone, no editing…
One question I have been asked the most over the past two weeks is what my signal strength and reception is like, given that many are experiencing issues due to the antenna placement. I have not experienced a single dropped call. I know many people personally who have the iPhone 4 and none of them have experienced any significant issues with regards to signal, nor are they regretting their upgrade in any way. There’s now a rumour of an iPhone 4 recall. It’s interesting to note that of the people I follow on Twitter, those who appear gleeful of a possible (though unlikely) recall are the ones that don’t have an iPhone 4 or any interest in Apple. Make of that what you will.
I have made several phone calls and all of them have been clear and constant, no dropouts. Infact recently I was on a call and not paying attention to how I was holding the phone. When I looked, one of my fingers was near the ‘death grip’ corner and yet my bars were full. I’m pleased to say that the signal issue isn’t affecting me to the extent that it’s reportedly affecting others. However, talk to my Brother and he will tell you a different story with his handset – but then again he’s using a Nokia and gets repeated drops with every call he makes 
Have you bought iPhone 4? What are your thoughts and experiences thus far?
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About the author
I'm a thirty-something Geordie Lass with a passion for Macs. I love playing with new gadgets, Mac software and iPhone/iPad apps.
| Print article | This entry was posted by Sam on July 14, 2010 at 8:04 pm, and is filed under Apple, Hardware, iPhone. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site. |
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about 1 month ago
I’m still debating if I’m going to upgrade or not. It’s not a huge step up from the 3GS other than the display so I’m on the fence still. I know for sure I’m waiting until it’s available in white to even consider it. I’m not especially thrilled with iOS4 either, it’s got a lot of bugs. Sometimes the camera is snappy and sometimes it’s super laggy. The photos app is a mess. I’m often making changes to mine since my portfolio is on there but now after every modification and sync I have to restart my phone or there will be a bunch of black boxes where the thumbnails were. There’s thousands of complaints about this on the Apple help forums but no acknowledgment from Apple. My battery life has gotten even worse after upgrading to iOS4 as well, I love folders and multi-task but am sometimes wishing I hadn’t upgraded. I’m craving some decent battery performance which may push me to upgrade eventually.
So… I’m definitely waiting for the white model to come out but before that I’ll let them release their first iOS4 update and see what it fixes. If it’s still giving me issues I’ll wait until next year or possibly even switch to another device.
MobileMe has been a headache as well since they “upgraded” it. Contacts disappearing, their photos disappearing, mail having lots of slow periods. My entire MobileMe photo gallery got wiped out too. This is the first time I’m less than impressed with Apple in a very very long time. So I’m waiting it out a bit.
Glad you’re having a good experience, I definitely would have upgraded from just a 3G!
about 1 month ago
I forgot to add that the photos are now is this horrible order that makes no sense. They aren’t in date taken or file name sequence (as they used to be). It’s become a pain in the ass to find a certain photo sometimes. Grr….
about 1 month ago
Hey Andrew! One of the bugs in iOS4 that I would like fixing ASAP is the screen staying active while making a call. Last weekend I accidentally typed out a lengthy paragraph of gibberish in an email all with my ear, LOL!
I had contacts photos disappearing in iOS4 aswell. The remedy was to go into Mail, Contacts, Calendar within settings and switch ‘Contacts’ to off, then switch back on again. That made everything sync properly.
I haven’t had a problem with photos not appearing in sequence, but occasionally when I’ve deleted a photo it’s left a black square. Only a reboot will return the camera roll to it’s usual state.
Hope the white iPhone gets released soon. I know a few people holding out for that.
about 1 month ago
Mine arrives tomorrow hopefully !
Been through all sorts getting it, not supposed to be able to upgrade until the end of August but have done a lot of messing around, i just hope it all works and by the end of August i can get my mobile number moved to the new iPhone contract as i’ve had that number for 13 years :O
Of all of my friends that have them, none of them have had any dropped calls, and they’ve only had the signal strength drop when they intentionally tried to get it to drop.
I know someone who is after the white one, but as they’ve not even launched it in the US yet i think they’ll bite the bullet and just go for the black one.
Keri.
about 1 month ago
Hey Keri – congrats on the purchase! Did you buy outright from Apple? If you did and you’re an o2 customer then all you need to do is pick up a Micro SIM from an o2 store and transfer your number over to that via the SIM swap site http://shop.o2.co.uk/new-iphone/aboutsimswap.html
Yeah, if I give the iPhone the “death grip” intentionally then the bars will drop, but it’s not a natural holding position for me and it’s never resulted in service loss.
Hope you’ll be as happy with yours as I am
about 1 month ago
Orange shafted me today, so two formal complaints, a cancelled contract and a cancelled order later and i’m off hunting for an iphone on any network that can provide me a handset!
about 1 month ago
Hi Sam,
I have a few of issues with my new iPhone.
1.
When in a call I have occasionally put the call into speaker mode, something I have never done on any previous model of phone. So there is something of a proximity sensor issue – which I suspect will be resolved in a software update.
2.
This is just a niggle, when viewing photos sometimes they are slightly zoomed in so it cuts off the left hand side of the photo, if you zoom out it will then show the full image.
3. Finally, the death grip issue.
I can reproduce the issue very easily however, it does really depend on the moisture content on my hands. I have had two people complain that I am cutting out even though I had full 3G connection when I made the call. Quick check on the bars when in call and they have dropped to one bar.
However, it really does depend on how I am holding the phone too. For example when I use the phone when browsing web, email playing some games I cradle it in my left hand so the heel of my hand is down left side and as a result the phone will either lose bars or lose signal completely, which is a pain when using data. I have now adopted a slightly different way of holding the phone in my left hand where the phone is resting on my smallest finger which pushes the heel of my hand away from the side which means I retain most bars/data service.
There is an issue in this design without a doubt and I do think the individual person has some bearing on how bad they are affected. However, I love the iPhone 4. It’s form factor is fantastic the screen just blows me away and its definitely a lot faster than my previous iPhone 3G.
Note I have yet to update to latest iOS version.
about 1 month ago
Ugh, Keri, how disappointing
Hope you can get one soon.
Hey Stephen! Yeah, hoping the proximity sensor issue will be fixed soon. Was on the phone earlier and once again my ear was creating all kinds of havoc :/
I updated to iOS 4.0.1 last night and deliberately death gripped the thing to erm…death. I held it tightly for about 90 seconds and the last two bars stayed up, no loss of service. Previously only one bar would remain although there never was any loss of service then either.
But glad you are enjoying the iPhone 4 as much as me. I just can’t put it down – it really is a treat after using the 3G for 2 years
about 3 weeks ago
Great post. I’m upgrading from a buggy, slow and rather backwards 3G this weekend. I just hope Apple don’t release an iOS in two years time that cripples the 4 like they did the 3G!
about 3 weeks ago
Hey Christian! How are you enjoying your iPhone 4? I didn’t upgrade to iOS4 on my 3G as I only had to wait a few days for my iPhone 4, plus I figured it would run *horribly* on such an old phone. From the sounds of it, it does run horribly on the 3G.