NEW YORK: Apple’s new iPhone, its fourth in four years, reached stores this week. Ordinarily, this is where you’d expect to find a review of it. But honestly -- what’s the point?
The iPhone 4 is already a hit. AT&T says it received 10 times as many preorders as it did for the iPhone 3GS last year. On the first day of taking orders, Apple processed 600,000 requests -- before its ordering system, and AT&T’s, descended into chaos.
In short, the public seems to be perfectly capable of sniffing out a winner without the help of tech critics.
On the other hand, the new model won’t do anything for people who detest the iPhone. It wouldn’t matter if the new iPhone could levitate, cure hepatitis and clean your gutters; the Cantankerous Committee would still avoid it.
Despite the strong initial, positive reaction, this must still be a nerve-racking time to be Apple; the iPhone is no longer the only worthy contender. Phones running Google’s Android software are gaining rave reviews and packing in features that iPhone owners can only envy.
The Android app store is ballooning, multiple phone makers are competing, and Google updates the software several times a year. Apple releases only one new model a year, so the new iPhone had better be pretty amazing to compete. It is.
The first thing you notice is the new shape. Despite a beefier battery (16% more likely to last a full day), a faster processor and upgraded everything, the new model is still noticeably thinner and narrower than before.
How is that possible? In part, the trick was squaring off the back. It’s no longer gracefully curved -- a design that, if you think about it, created wasted space around the rectangular components.
The new iPhone is two glass slabs, front and back, wrapped by a stainless-steel band. The result is beautiful, and since there’s no more plastic, it feels solid and Lexus-like. But it no longer feels like a soothing worry stone, and it’s now impossible to tell by touch which way it’s facing in your pocket.
The new metal mute and volume buttons are much stiffer. Still, Apple says the iPhone 4 is the world’s thinnest smartphone, and most people will approve of the trade-offs.
The iPhone 4 is already a hit. AT&T says it received 10 times as many preorders as it did for the iPhone 3GS last year. On the first day of taking orders, Apple processed 600,000 requests -- before its ordering system, and AT&T’s, descended into chaos.
In short, the public seems to be perfectly capable of sniffing out a winner without the help of tech critics.
On the other hand, the new model won’t do anything for people who detest the iPhone. It wouldn’t matter if the new iPhone could levitate, cure hepatitis and clean your gutters; the Cantankerous Committee would still avoid it.
Despite the strong initial, positive reaction, this must still be a nerve-racking time to be Apple; the iPhone is no longer the only worthy contender. Phones running Google’s Android software are gaining rave reviews and packing in features that iPhone owners can only envy.
The Android app store is ballooning, multiple phone makers are competing, and Google updates the software several times a year. Apple releases only one new model a year, so the new iPhone had better be pretty amazing to compete. It is.
The first thing you notice is the new shape. Despite a beefier battery (16% more likely to last a full day), a faster processor and upgraded everything, the new model is still noticeably thinner and narrower than before.
How is that possible? In part, the trick was squaring off the back. It’s no longer gracefully curved -- a design that, if you think about it, created wasted space around the rectangular components.
The new iPhone is two glass slabs, front and back, wrapped by a stainless-steel band. The result is beautiful, and since there’s no more plastic, it feels solid and Lexus-like. But it no longer feels like a soothing worry stone, and it’s now impossible to tell by touch which way it’s facing in your pocket.
The new metal mute and volume buttons are much stiffer. Still, Apple says the iPhone 4 is the world’s thinnest smartphone, and most people will approve of the trade-offs.
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