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Our Apple iPhone 4 Review

At last, the iPhone's exterior designers are back from their extended holiday and offered a new model that is strikingly different to previous models, even before you turn it on. It has a stainless steel band, housing volume controls and the GPS antenna, sandwiched by super-toughened glass that is ’30 times stronger than plastic’.

When you first see the ultra-clear display spring into life, it’s a breathtaking moment. Apple has named the new screen technology Retina Display, as it’s supposed to offer more colour information than the retina can handle. This may be true, it may be not. What is real is the clarity of the 960 x 640 screen that crams 326 pixels per inch into the 3.5 inch screen.

And no matter how close you press your eyes to the screen, it is virtually impossible to the pixels, so no more jagged lines on web text. It is truly amazing to see this, considering the first iPhone launched only in 2007.

The iPhone 4 also boasts Apple’s latest operating system, iOS4, with many eagerly-awaited updates and improvements running under the 1Ghz processor. RAM has also doubled, from 256Mb to 512Mb, with a choice of either 16Gb or 32Gb. Just when you think Apple can’t improve existing things, they go off in another direction and make things better.

Among the best improvements is the 5 megapixel camera, replacing the poorer quality of the iPhone 3GS’s 3 megapixel offering. Tap the screen for autofocus is now a lot smoother than before, and also sets contrast and white balance. There’s a worthwhile LED flash and picture quality is stunning, even when zoomed all the way in.

Battery life is much better than in previous models. Apple claim that it lasts up to 40% longer than previous iPhones. This is good news as the iPhone 4 is so great to hold and use that you’ll be using it all day long.

Access to the Apple Store’s 200,000 applications is here and they’ll also look a thousand times better. Apple’s renowned iTunes app has also been updated, with Genius recommending songs that are similar to the one you are listening to and the shake to shuffle feature.

Now available on Three network, this loveable device is available from around £30 per month. Good value when you consider that, once you’ve picked it up, you may never want to put it down again.

What We Liked

It’s a great object of beauty, both to look at and to use. Its ease of use is up to Apple’s usual standards. By this standard, it would seem that phones are becoming loaded with so many cool features that we may forget that you can also use them to call people.

What We Disliked

There are still connectivity issues when using the iPhone as a phone, but things are slowly improving.

Our Final Verdict

The sound quality, visual quality and functionality put the iPhone 4 streets ahead of other smartphones in this sort of class and price range.

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	Read Review
	Apple iPhone 4
General
Form Factor	Candybar
Dimensions	115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3 (mm)
Talk Time	840 mins
Standby Time	300 hours
Weight	137 g
Quad Band	Yes
Accelerometer	Yes
Photo and Video
Integrated Camera	Yes
Camera	5.00 megapixels
Camera Flash	Yes
Video Player	Yes
Phone
Polyphonic Ringtones	Yes
Smart Phone	Yes
Internal Memory	16GB or 32GB
Messaging
Instant Messaging (IM)	Yes
MMS	Yes
Photo Messaging	Yes
Screen
Colour Screen	Yes
Touch Screen	Yes
Screen Resolution	960 x 640 pixels
Connectivity
3G	Yes
EDGE	Yes
Bluetooth	Yes
Email	Yes
HSDPA	Yes
WAP	Yes
Web Browser	Yes
Wi-Fi	Yes
GPS	Yes
Music and Radio
MP3 Player	Yes
MP3 Ringtones	Yes
Additional Content
Downloadable Content	Yes
Downloadable Games	Yes
Downloadable Ringtones	Yes

Apple iPhone 4 Full Specification

General

Photo and Video

Phone

Messaging

Screen

Connectivity

Music and Radio

Additional Content