The Hardware

Ok, I know I’m not going to be impartial here – I just wrote a post a couple days ago about how damn impressed I was with the hardware, and that was before I even saw it. Still, though, this is definitely a refined piece of hardware. It feels Machined, finished. It feels like a high-end watch – extremely tight, solid construction, great feel to the materials. This isn’t a standard phone body. This is the first phone I’ve felt that feels like a luxury device – there’s nothing cheap about it. I’m seriously impressed.

The Screen

I actually expected to be more impressed by the screen. Don’t get me wrong – it’s a Really nice screen, but it didn’t totally blow me away. I think that’s because I’m already used to the droid screen, which is already in the range of ~265 ppi, so I’m not coming from a normal iPhone. If you’re used to an iPhone, the screen is a Huge improvement, but if you’re already used to a Droid or a Nexus, I think your socks will stay securely on.

The Rest

It’s an iPhone – there’s not much else to say. I didn’t get to really take it for a spin, but it seems fairly snappy, and the multitasking menu is pretty slick. I’m pretty used to android right now, so it’s hard for me to give a good evaluation. There’s too many UX differences for me to figure the phone out well enough in the time I normally have, so I don’t think it’s fair for me to talk about the interface without being sure it’s not just my Droid-addled brain, but iOS4 didn’t strike me as anything overly different than iPhone 3.

One thing did get me though – I’ve been using Swype for a couple months on the Droid now, and I’ll never go back. It’s not on the iPhone, and unless Apple buys the company, it’s not going to be, so that’s definitely a point against the iPhone for me.

Conclusion

I’m not going to get into iPhone vs Droid, because there’s really no point – the new iPhone is still an iPhone, so whatever I’ve said before applies here.

Hardware-wise, though, this is one slick phone, and I really hope the rest of the industry is watching – that, to me, is the iPhone 4′s big contribution: It’s a grown-up phone built to the same standards we expect out of other $500 accessories. If Apple can put the era of shitty plastic phones to rest, I frankly don’t care what they do with the software.

What’s Good:

1. Google Voice – I had to go back and edit this article because I almost forgot about this one – that’s how well it’s integrated into the system. My GV number is effectively my Only number right now. I’m saving $20/mo because I don’t need text messaging from VZW anymore. Like everything else, it occasionally glitches, but otherwise, it’s integrated almost flawlessly into the system. I am seriously impressed by this.
2. The Keyboard – thank god for the keyboard. I’m still not comfortable with the on-screen keyboard, though that’s primarily because no matter how good the on-screen is, the physical is still better. It’s not a great keyboard, but it’s a keyboard.
3. Multitasking – The #1 reason I went with the Droid over the iPhone, and one month on, I’m convinced I made the right choice. I listen to Pandora Constantly, and I can do anything else I want while doing so. Eat it, iPhone.
4. Widgets – I wouldn’t have thought so, but the widgets are really nice. I’ve got twitter, weather, mail, to-do’s, and my calendar all visible on my home screen at a glance, and I can toggle Wi-Fi, GPS, screen brightness, and airplane mode all from one of my home screens.
5. Customizability – Speaking of home screens, I swapped out the default Home app for Home++, which does just a bit more than Home. I also removed the standard camera noise, so now it doesn’t sound like I’m shooting someone when I take a picture
6. Easy Root – I rooted my phone in 5 minutes, and 4 of those were spent downloading the patch.

What’s Bad:

1. The Camera – like, biblically bad. I didn’t expect much, but unless you’re in broad daylight, don’t expect to take a picture. I’ve yet to figure out why this thing insists on closing the iris when the frame’s already black. It’s awful.
2. App Selection – Don’t let anyone tell you different. It’s not an iPhone, so it’s not what Every App You’ll Ever Want is developed for (There’s a few reasons to expect that not to change anytime soon either). There’s a lot of good apps – Pandora, Yelp, Facebook, Twitter clients, all the critical stuff – and there’s some really cool Droid Only stuff – Google Goggles is awesome – but it’s Not an iPhone, and that’s annoyed me more than once.
3. Touch Screen – The screen is gorgeous, but I’d back up what that test showed – the Droid’s screen has some serious precision problems. This is part of the reason why the On-Screen keyboard is so bad.
4. It’s Buggy – I knew this going in, but it’s not a totally polished system, and it shows. I’ve also gotta believe the iPhone apps crash a bit less than the Droid variants, if for no other reason than that they’ve sold as many as they have. I’m pretty accustomed to beta software, but somehow I get the feeling I wouldn’t have a Droid if the iPhone was as buggy – the market wouldn’t have taken off.
5. Apps can only be stored in internal storage – I’ve got a 16gb sd card, but all my apps have to be crammed into the internal memory. Not a huge problem so far, but apparently it’s holding back a few big name developers.

Overall:

Would I buy it again? Yeah, definitely. I’ve got my nags with it, but overall it’s a really impressive piece of hardware (and accompanying software). It’s instantly become an extension of my daily life and it hasn’t really pissed me off, and that’s saying a lot – I’m not normally charitable towards gadgets.

Do I regret not getting an iPhone? Sometimes. The app problem can’t be overstated – it’s the number one reason I wish this phone had a piece of fruit on the back. Until the multitasking issue gets fixed, though, there’s absolutely no way I would switch, especially now that I’ve used a phone that has it.

Final Thoughts:

Ultimately, while I’m a big fan of my Droid, if the iPhone gets multitasking, I’m going to have a hard time not switching. The arguments about open development aren’t enticing to me – the apps I’m missing on the Droid aren’t coming out of big shops, they’re mostly made by startups and small firms, so whatever you want to say about ‘iron fists’ and ‘walled gardens’, I’ll tell ya – from outside the garden, it looks pretty welcoming in there.

Just let me run two apps at a time, dammit.