Apple iPhone 4 (GSM)
Phone Scoop Review
Jun 24, 2010 by Philip Berne
In-depth with the latest from Apple. read review ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
Push Mail not what I expected
I went to the iPhone 4 after two weeks with the Samsung Captivate.
I chose the iPhone 4 thinking that I was getting a better phone with a better GPS, while the GPS is better on the iphone 4 the push/fetch email is horrible. It sometimes takes up to 24 hours to get my email, and other times I have to open the email application for emails to download, which to me is not pushed email. This is my first and last Apple/iPhone product, I will never purchase anything made by apple. I should have stayed with the Samsung. Rats.
PRO:
Screen is outstanding nice and clear
Calls are loud and clear.
Music is good.
Keyboard great.
Camera good
CON:
Email does not push/fetch has to be done manually
Can't customize ring/notification tones
Way too much provider junk apps
Decent Device
I own every high end device to date, by every carrier. I have a phone fetish. As far as the iphone 4 I am glad I brought it. Like every device it has some issues. But I think apple is a good company over all, and will workout the bugs. Is it worth buying, yes depending on your needs.
Pros:
Alittle better battery life
Display
The new form factor
Better camera with flash.
Cons:
They did not push it to 64gb
A notification light would have been nice
I use both the evo and iphone as my daily devices. If I had to choose one for the day, I would flip a coin. There're both monster phones.
vastly disapointed
my first iphone and last got the new phone to see the hype and was extremely disappointed dropped calls almost everytime and wasn't not aware of wifi requirement for face time i am now a proud android (htc evo) owner with none of the problems
So far so good, but can be better...
Like the name, this is my fourth iPhone. And by far, is the best of all of them. Of course, Apple could have done some things better. Although, I give them credit for what they brought out. Unlike some, I like the new design. Even though, it's not that far from the original it does give it a more modern look then the first. As for performance, it is by far the best smartphone on the market (for now). As for antenna problem, is not an issue for me. I get pretty good coverage except for home, but that doesn't matter considering the only people I want to talk to lives with me. Furthermore, Apple is aware of the problem and I'm sure they will find a solution to this problem. Whether or not Apple or anyone would like to believe, the iPhone is the lifeline of Apple. If it fails, so does Apple. With that said, they are burning the midnight oil to find the solution and I have no doubt they will find it soon. Lastly, if it doesn't work with the way you hold, don't hold it that way - duh... Moving on, they're some quirks in the OS, but I dare one person to tell me an OS that is perfect the first time it comes out. Anyway, the things that good or even better than anyone phone out there right now is FaceTime (yes there are other video calls softwares and phones, but it doesn't work as well, smooth, and easy to use as this one. Although, I wish Apple will soon make it available without the use of Wifi and other person having an iPhone 4), retina display (it is hands down the best display), and the OS (I have four other smart phones - three Android base and one Blackberry. Apple's is easiest, most refined, and efficient of all of them. And once they get the bugs out of this one, it will blow the other ones away).
Where's the Battery?
This is my first experience with any Apple product. I was caught up in all the hype, figured on their 4th try they should probably have it pretty good, so I traded in my Blackberry for an iPhone 4.
It does have the wow factor over the Blackberry but, after using it a short while, you realize that some very basic things the Blackberry does, this doesn't.
First, there is no way to change the email notification. On a Blackberry, you can customize sound, vibration and blinking light. iPhone has no blinking light and can beep once for email. You miss the notification, tough! Second, with the great screen it has, Safari displays less per screen than the Blackberry. It's useless. I could go on and on nitpicking but there is one really really bad feature.
That is the battery. Today I used my iPhone for one 3 minute call, 1 hour of music, 20 minutes of assorted games, and a dozen or so email. The phone left the charger this morning at 100%. I got home this evening 13 hours and 39 minutes later and the phone had 6% battery left!!!!!!
Today I was at the Apple store seeking help. I was told there was nothing wrong with my phone and that kind of battery life was typical for the phone and that the battery is great on the iPhone 4. Right!
I was also told to turn off wifi (which it was off), location services, push and automatic checking of email, as well as don't play any games or do any video type app. If I do that, I will see better battery life!! Maybe I should never turn it on ?
Pros - It gets people's attention.
Cons - Has to be charged at least twice a day for normal usage and left on the charger continually for anything more.
I will never own Apple again
The Iphone 4 is pretty much the exact same phone as all of the other Iphones AT&T has released. It drops calls for me on every call I make or recieve. The case that apple provided and other cases have not fixed the antenna problem for me at all. My voice mail decided to stop working this morning and now I will loose all of my previous messages.
Most people think that the AT&T network is the reason for poor reception dropped calls and slow downloads but its not. Ive had Blackberry phones and Samsung phones with AT&T and they were just fine for me.
Pros:
Being able to have a background picture behind your apps
Video calling
Safari
Cons:
Battery life
Call quality
Call clarity
Video calling (because I drop calls so bad)
Cheap front glass (if you drop it it will take a miracle for it not to break, although this was the same with other Iphone generations. I went through 3 Iphone 3G's before I realized that)
To make a long story short. I exchanged this phone for the Samsung Galaxy S Captivate and I love it. I will never go back to Apple again.
Apple iPhone 4
First of all, I know what you're thinking. Why would I give it five out of five stars with "Antennagate". The supposed Antenna problem on the Apple iPhone 4. My own opinion is that they were brave with this new design, that external antenna's have braved many other designs and have come up hideous, this one is pretty awesome. Pro's: Retina Display is AMAZING. 960 x 640 at 326 Pixels per inch blew me away. There are phones that do have just as vibrant display's, but this one is pretty awesome. Also, instead of using someone else's Processor, it uses the Apple A4 Processor, the same found in the Apple iPad and the fourth generation iPod. It's a screamer, to put it lightly. It's very fast. With 300,000 apps and building, start downloading them from the app store and you have the ultimate multimedia device. Call Quality is outright amazing, and so is image and text quality. Even without the bumper I haven't gotten any dropped calls. Sync the iPhone 4 to itunes and all your contacts, your music, photos etc. are all backed up on your home computer. It's really awesome. I am a huge fan of Android, and how elegant it is, but this phone beats most of the android OS running phones by far. As far as Video quality goes, you're getting full 720p Video recording along with a five megapixel cam with flash, and a front facing VGA Res and video at 30 FPS. It's downright awesome. Visit http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/
for more info on it's features. Even more amazing it only comes with five kinda four buttons. The silent/ring switch above the volume toggle on the left side of the phone. On the top you have the standby/power key, and the home button.
One of the best, but not THE best
here's a REAL review for this phone w/o the apple hype affecting my judgment. This is a good phone, but definitely not the best on the market.
pros
-facetime (good quality)
-nice on-screen keyboard
-resolution!
-even an idiot can use it!
-front-facing camera
-excellent camera and video quality
-editing features on the phone
cons
-no more curved edges, it's just box shaped
-too fragile to be practical
-video chat requires wifi (an EVO or an epic does not) so you can't just video chat anywhere
-screen isn't big enough
-no flash! how could u be high end w/o flash?
-phone doesn't feel as good as an Evo in the hand- just too tiny
-have to HACK IT to make it do what it should have been able to do out the box
-no swype
-imusic and music junk apps aren't available for it (have to go to android)
-no live wallpapers
-can't even change the battery when it dies! What IDIOT designs a phone where you can't even change the battery?!!?
I ended up trading it in to get my money back and bought an EVO. It's the same price, but a better phone with a better monthly plan and service coverage.
I give it a 3 due to the cons, cons that apple refuses to fix, some of them you can overcome by hacking the phone, others you're just stuck with.
Gorgeous Phone
Beautiful phone, looks and feels better than any phone you ever touched. Like a fine Leica camera.
Wonderful Apple iOS for the BEST user experience you will find on ANY phone.
If you like the BEST in life this is the only phone to consider.
Nothing else comes close !
Not quite what i thoght
I was excited of purchasing my new IPhone 4. I have heard alot of hype about IPhone and figured to try one out.
First and foremost i must say what it can do, it does well. On the same note it still lacks alot. Apple you call this multi-tasking?? I had a palm 3 years ago that can multi-task better than this. Needless to say i did experience antenna issues with 3 in a row. I had such a hassle on returning it due to exchanges thru apple and the serial numbers not matching up from the place i got it at. I finally got it returned and got a Samsung Captivate. A real SMART PHONE.
PRO'S - Apple customer service, touch screen worked great.
CON'S - Everything, besides what i mentioned above.
I would highly recommend getting a android device. So much better and without all the proprietary BS.
