I was lucky enough (or foolish enough – depending on your viewpoint) to pick up my shiny new iPhone4 a few weeks ago and I’ve now had it for long enough to really get a sense of whether it’s any good or not.
I must confess that I recently have moved from being an Apple evangelist to being a bit of an Apple sceptic, but this product steps outside the usual reasons for wanting an Apple product.
Traditionally Apple has offered beautiful products which are simple to use and offer great benefits over their rivals…but also, often these products are far from perfect having glaring problems or omissions. It must also be said that as Apple’s value and success has grown, so has their arrogance.
They make genre defining products which quite literally change the way we behave.
- iMac – the first pretty computer to have a t home and now keep hidden away in the study.
- iPod – redefining how people interact with music – taking their entire collection with them rather than just a few tracks
- iTunes – buying music NOW rather than when you can get to the shop
- OSX – the simplest, safest operating system, by far.
- iPad – well, redefining something, just nobody is quite sure what yet
- iPhone – changing how we think a phone should work and what we think a phone should do.
But against this backdrop of success they have become more and more dictatorial, shutting down access to code, applying distribution pressures & approval processes to stifle developer’s innovation and preventing all developments that they themselves are not driving.
Nowhere can this ‘we know best’ attitude be better seen that in how Apple have dealt with the whole iPhone4 reception saga, which is nothing short of a fiasco. It was a golden opportunity for Apple to demonstrate that they were not like other companies, put the problem right and move-on – yes, there would have been a cost, a substantial cost, but it really would have put clear water between them and the competition. But no, they decided to act like every other company and lie about the problem.
Anyway. Against this backdrop of Apple arrogance I can honestly say that the iPhone4 is the best product I have ever bought. It’s fast, it’s beautifully made, it is capable in everything that it tries to do. Even the camera is good enough to be your only digital photography tool (except in very low light).
So, much as it irks me to admit this. Apple have something to be proud of. It’s a fantastic product and does so many things very well indeed.
Even the reception problem hasn’t really been a problem to me.
So, the iPhone4 is a resounding WIN in my opinion.
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