Yay! It finally arrived!
The Fedex man came to the office yesterday with my shiney new iPhone 4, direct from the Apple factory in China.
Believe it or not, I’ve never even seen one before in person – I’d ordered it completely sight-unseen and in the 3 weeks since then, I haven’t seen anyone else with one yet.
Immediate first impressions – it feels solid. The iPhone 3 and 3Gs both feel ok, but the curvy sides and plastic back does make it feel… well curvy and plastic. The iPhone 4 however, feels positively solid. Steel alloy all around, and some kind of magic glass on the front and back, make it feel heavy without feeling, well, heavy.
Like in a pinch you could slip it into a sock and make it into a weapon… though I wouldn’t really recommend that.
Some people have said they don’t like the squarish sides, prefering the form factor of the previous models. I’m in the opposite camp – having held this in my hand, I find it much more aesthetically pleasing than the earlier iPhones.
The screen is pretty, the ‘Retina display’ that they were hyping… It is bright and sharp and vibrant.
And of course, the blinky light! The blinky light is impressively bright. I tried using it as a flashlight last night and I was like woah, is there a way to dim it a bit? It’d probably ruin the whole function as a camera flash, but I’d like to slip a wee bit of blue gel in there so it was a blue blinky light. I’ll resist, for now.
Anyhow, to summarize: It’s cool, I like the form factor better than the earlier models, it feels solid and well-built, but pictures cannot do it justice – you really have to see and feel it in person.