“It’s the biggest leap since the original iPhone.”

Steve Jobs is right. Thankfully, there was no overuse in the words ‘magical’ and ‘revolutionary’ this time around, but one thing is for sure – this iPhone is a complete game changer to the iPhone line.

Design

Let’s go over the build first. This thing has two pieces of glass that serve as the screen/front display as well as the backside. Jobs claims that this glass is 30 times stronger than sapphires, so it is pretty good at being scratch resistant. I’ve been using mine for 4 days now, normal use, and no scratches. But also keep in mind that I have my phone separate from everything else (as should you, really).

Despite my lust for a white iPhone originally, I decided to just deal with a black one because I wanted to have it first, and frankly, I couldn’t wait until the second half of July. I’ve noticed that the black model doesn’t really show fingerprints as much as the previous models, and if it does, it’s easy to clean – I found that this screen as well as the iPad screen can get cleaned simply by wiping with the bottom of your palm. However, dust can show up much more, but that’s easy to clean too.

The stainless steel band that surrounds the exterior of the phone is just a gorgeous design, despite the reception issues that it is reportedly causing (though a software fix may be out soon to address this). Because of the unibody, square design of the phone, it felt a bit weird to hold compared to the previous three generations (I’ve had them all). But after a while, it felt much more natural to hold in the hand, because it didn’t have the curved back of the 3G and 3GS, though I still believe that the first generation’s back casing is the best.

I felt that the glass on the front and back made it a little weird to hold, but surprisingly it isn’t so slippery anymore. I believe that the stainless steel antenna band helps alleviate this problem.

The design of the iPhone has undergone a very thorough change, and for the most part, it’s for the better. I just wish that Apple did not make the back with an easily breakable material and did not have problems with the antenna.

I would believe that it would still be wise to invest in a Bumper or a case since the phone is made of a very easily-breakable material – glass. Better safe than sorry.

But the new redesign of the hardware is a welcome change – since it’s the “biggest leap since the original iPhone”, it would be wise to start it off with a brand-new design. For better or worse, a new look doesn’t seem to hurt the most popular smartphone on the market.

Camera

The camera on this thing is a fantastic upgrade from the 3GS. 5 megapixels, LED flash, and illumination sensor to help take pictures in low light. It’s the iPhoneographer’s dream.

Picture quality of the photos I’ve taken is great, the colors seem just about right and nothing is really too over-saturated or washed out. It captures the scene as it was intended to be. Although if a scene is getting some parts washed out or blown out (such as the sky against a foreground), the tap-to-focus that originated from the 3GS is still there so such problems can be easily fixed. There is also 5x digital zoom, available because of iOS 4, that will activate once the screen is tapped (tap-to-focus).

The LED flash is controlled by the on-screen controls in the upper left corner (On, Auto, Off) and is easy as pie to use. Since the iPhone 4 also comes with a front-facing VGA camera, there is also a button in the top right to switch to the front facing and back again. The Camera app will also remember your settings the next time you go back in the application.

Video recording on the iPhone 4 is shot in beautiful 720p HD resolution. There are still the basic video editing options that are built in, but there is also the iMovie application that Apple has released specifically for the iPhone 4 because of the processor, memory, and HD capabilities.

The biggest downfall though, is that currently HD content cannot be uploaded directly to YouTube through the device – it must be transferred to a computer and then uploaded through the web. There is no iPhone workaround for this. This limitation is also there because of upload performance, though even trying through Wi-Fi will yield the same result. Apple has dropped the ball on this one – if HD content must be sent to a computer first, then it is no different than having to use a Flip Mino HD or the like, besides having everything else with you in one. Hopefully this will be addressed in the future, if not, then Apple has let down a lot of people.

Retina Display

This display is sharp and crisp. And I mean really sharp and crisp. I didn’t even think the 3GS screen was that bad until I saw this thing for the first time – it completely blows the 3GS display out of the water. Typography that is completely zoomed in on will display no showing of pixels – this thing makes everything like real print. Even tiny text can be read clearly now without the need for much adjustment. Everything will just look better with this display (except for the surplus of third party apps that aren’t currently updated with support for the Retina Display – they’re all pixelated).

Not much else I can say about the Retina display, other than it’s just awesome.

FaceTime

FaceTime calls can be placed initially through a regular phone call or directly through the “FaceTime” option when viewing a contact’s information card (only viewable if the user has displayed their phone number for use with FaceTime, available in the device Settings).

When placed through a regular call, once the FaceTime is started, minutes are no longer being used since it will be handled over to the Wi-Fi connection. Video is decent quality for a VGA camera, and the images can be in either portrait or landscape mode. Audio is also pretty good with the current hardware.

The display of FaceTime will have the other recipient of the call being shown on the main screen, and a smaller window that will show your own video on the screen, and this window can be dragged to any of the screen’s corners. You can also switch to the back camera to share your surroundings if you desire.

The camera may not be the best out there, but for quick sharing of moments, it’s perfect. FaceTime is great for catching up in a fun new way.

Software

Because of the iPhone 4’s 1GHz processor and 512MB of RAM, everything just runs much faster and snappier. iOS 4 definitely was not this speedy even on last year’s 3GS model. There is virtually no lag on anything, even games. Everything is just clear and crisp, and blazing fast.

Conclusion

This really is the biggest leap for Apple’s iconic phone. Aside from the design flaws and HD uploading problems, there is little else that absolutely needs to be changed.