After much anticipation, Steve Jobs finally unveiled the iPhone 4, and man, was it underwhelming; especially in light of all the hype the gadget received back in April, when a lost prototype found its way to a local bar. The simple black machine was a slicker, handsomer, Redford-esque version of the current 3GS and its blank face was the perfect tabula rasa where all our hopes of what the iPhone 4 would be capable of were projected. I personally had high hopes for the machine, specifically with the user interface; Apple certainly must be aware at the speed with which the smartphone industry is moving would certainly adjust accordingly. However, the adjustments as outlined by the Jobs himself only seem to be alterations when placed against the backdrop of the changes other smartphones are undergoing. Just on a superficial level, one that Apple usually leverages so well with is sleek, intuitive, and simple design philosophy, Droid phones are actually starting to look prettier than the iPhone; a great boon of the shift the smartphone industry may encounter in the near future.
Simply put, the iPhone 4 is just an iPhone 3GS with a facelift. It builds on the core capabilities that the iPhone traditionally does well but does not offer anything game-changing. It offers a higher resolution screen that Jobs is calling retina display, an 8 megapixel camera, an internal camera, video calling, and better battery life. Nothing screams revolution. Even Jobs' retina display is an exaggeration. But Perhaps I’m asking for too much, but then I think back to only 3 months ago when Apple created an entirely new market with the release of the iPad.
I also look at the evolution of the Droid phones and the arrival of the computing behemoth, Microsoft, to the smartphone industry and the iPhone 4 starts to look like a Blackberry, or worse, a Palm. So will I upgrade, no. I’ll just wait for this guy to get released.
Whoops. When I responded, I talked about the possibility of making video chat actually used by real people. but i didn't realize iPhone 4 only uses wifi for video chat... which, in that regard, puts it back in the glorified webcam/mirror range of 4 years ago. so bad example. but i guess i can fall back on multitasking to support my general excitement
Plus, I believe HTC's Evo 4 can place video calls while simply using its own network. The iPhone still could make video calling practical and widely used, but I'd prefer to do that on a phone that offered more...
I honestly believe the iPhone 4 will look completely dated by the end of fall
I never really understood people's attitudes regarding iPhone. I thought the first one was missing a lot. And now that its combined its original ingenuity with other features I like, I'm finally excited about an iPhone, but everyone else is underwhelmed. Take for example, when we got front facing cameras several years ago, I thought it was pretty cool, but I didn't realize that no one actually uses video calling and most networks don't support it; so the front camera on my old n70 simply became a webcam for my PC. Apple may just have what it takes to push the technology to the point where it's practical and widely used. That's ACTUALLY really cool.
not to mention the giant beast... multitasking. i think in six months time, the world is going to be wondering how it ever survived in an environment where it had to shut an app down to get to another one. in a smartphone.
this iPhone 4 is good.