ベン・ギルド (Ben Guild)


iPhone 4: I'm keeping it!

So, I've had the latest iPhone for a few weeks now, and I'm keeping it! — It's replaced my BlackBerry at this point, which I'd grown to both love and hate simultaneously.

After a thorough trial, and disliking the original iPhone when it first launched, I've found this iPhone to be “strongly bearable” with some room to grow. — For example, the new “unified inbox” and enhanced support for push email through Microsoft Exchange that came last year in iPhone OS 3 both bring us one step closer to having enterprise-level messaging on this platform, similar to BlackBerry.

What's awesome

Of course, there are some major perks with iPhone… such as the growing App Store, larger display, and built-in iPod that syncs so well with iTunes. 👍🏻

To me, there's just so little to hate about the iPhone 4. While it's had to catch up in some respects, it's taken such a huge leap forward at the same time. — It's so well designed, beautiful, brilliant, and fashionably advanced compared to other smartphones that even the smaller things that I don't like about it just don't matter as much.

The inferiority of the BlackBerry had really started to drive me crazy as that technology and form-factor has begun to age so quickly by comparison.

Wishes

There are still a couple of things that I'd like to see in particular:

  • It'd be nice to be able to stream iTunes music over cellular-data, since the device's storage still isn't quite enough for a larger music collection. — Hopefully, we'll be able to do so from the iTunes Cloud within the next 12-months or so? …Maybe!
  • A today screen, or something! I miss being able to glance at my BlackBerry and see upcoming appointments and newly received messages without having to unlock it and open specific apps. — I realize that this has its security benefits and keeps the lock screen free from clutter, but at least some owner information in the event that my phone is lost or stolen would be nice!

My iPhone 4 lock screen.
For now, I've added owner information (obfuscated for this photograph, of course) to my wallpaper, designed using iPhone-like interface elements that are embedded into the graphic itself!

Other favorite features

There are so many things that I like about it now, though:

  • Voice commands! These work great in the car, or with a set of earphones that have a built-in microphone and controls.
    • “Play album: OK Computer
    • “Call John Smith” … with no setup required!
    • … etc.!
  • The Retina display is amazing.
  • Great battery life!
  • The form-factor of the device is fantastic, and has a very industrial look/feel.
  • 720p video-recording + an excellent still camera.
  • FaceTime doesn't use any cellphone minutes! ⏲
  • Full Safari web-browser. 💪🏻
  • Skype is also pretty awesome on the iPhone now, especially the new version that they launched last night. (… It just needs video calling using the device's front-camera!)
  • The games are next-level… I have SimCity and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars! 😲

…Overall, great phone. I hope that everyone upgrades! 📲