Photo answers review
Photo answers rating 
Apple’s iPhone has seen many developments since its creation in 2007 and the very latest version – the iPhone 4 benefits from plenty more features to tempt existing iPhone users into an upgrade and those after a new all-in-one phone.
The noticeable difference between the iPhone 4 and its predecessor – the iPhone 3GS – is its shape. The 3GS had a rounded back, which made it comfortable to hold in the hand. Apple has done away with this design, manufacturing the iPhone 4 with a much simpler flat back. This makes it no less comfortable to hold than the older model and gives it the advantage of being able to stand the phone up on its side so you can show off your images to family and friends using the slideshow feature.
The exterior controls remain in roughly the same place, although new buttons have been introduced on the side for controlling volume and switching the phone to silent mode. The arrangement of speakers either side of the 30-pin dock connector is also the same, but the speakers are fractionally larger.
The one pitfall with previous iPhones was the way it fell behind many other types of phones on the market in terms of its camera capabilities. The 3Mp camera in the 3G and 3GS iPhones were suitable for the occasional snap, but the image quality left a lot to be desired. Apple has now introduced two new cameras into the iPhone 4. Beside the all-new 5Mp camer,a on the back of the phone is a flash that can be set to Auto, Off or On. This is controlled from the top-left of the screen and on the opposite side there’s the option of switching across to the lower resolution VGA camera for video calling. At the bottom right of the camera interface there’s a slide bar, which lets you quickly switch between the still camera and the 720p HD video recording mode.
Loading the camera from the main menu screen took just two seconds, so early indications showed this camera was going to be fast to use. The large square AF point is positioned centrally the first time the camera is used, but it can be easily repositioned if your subject doesn’t appear centrally. Touch the screen where you’d like and the AF point will be repositioned and focus will automatically be carried out, all within 1.5 seconds. In darker conditions we found the AF took a little more time to lock on to a subject, but was in keeping with most compact AF speeds. Touching the screen once also allows you to access the 5x zoom. To zoom in you move the zoom +/- slider left to right which takes less than a second. We found it increasingly difficult to hold the phone steady at full zoom and encountered camera shake in a few of our zoom shots so ended up walking closer to the subject to minimise shake.
One area of the camera phone that has been significantly improved is the shutter lag. On previous iPhones there was an irritating delay between hitting the shutter button and the camera actually firing. This has been resolved in the iPhone 4 and the moment you hit the shutter button the image is recorded, meaning you’ll get images as you saw them when you hit the touch screen. If you like getting up close to subjects, you’ll like the macro capabilities too. We managed to focus on subjects from 7cm and the AF again proved how good it is by locking onto our subjects with impressive speed.
In terms of image quality, the 5Mp sensor put in a good performance that was far superior to any other iPhone we’ve used before. It worked well in tricky lighting conditions and metered well for bright highlights and dark shadows. Digital noise became more noticeable in darker lighting conditions, but for general shooting and daily snaps the camera is reliable. We produced an A4 print from one of the photos we took and were content with the results. To check out a test image we took on the iPhone 4, look at the images at the top right of this page.
Overall, the iPhone 4 does feature the best iPhone camera we’ve seen, but it still has some way to go until it packs in all the features of a compact. There will be apps you can buy and download from iTunes to apply creative effects and in a future iPhone we hope to see these built in. AF is surprisingly good for a phone camera and there’s no reason why it shouldn’t produce some good results. Would we leave a compact at home and rely on the iPhone’s improved image quality for day trips and spur of the moment shots? Yes we would, and that’s partly down to its practicality and portability. It does what it’s meant to do very well, which is making phone calls and sending messages. Despite all the initial hype surrounding the iPhone 4 and reception, we experienced no such troubles with our test sample and stacked up the minutes in call time without any glitches. The iPhone 4 is certainly a phone/camera you’ll want to get your hands on, even if it’s only in an Apple store to try before you buy.
Technical Specification:
Capacities available: 16GB or 32GB
Colour: Black/White
Still Camera: 5Mp
Video recording: 720p HD video @ 30fps
Screen: Retina 3.5in widescreen Multi-touch display
Screen resolution: 960x640 pixels @ 326ppi
Contrast ratio: 800:1
Battery: Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery
Talk time: 7 hours on 3G, 2 hours on 2G
Standby time: 300 hours
PC System Requirements: Windows 7, Vista, XP Home or Professional with SP 3 or later. iTunes 9.2 or later & internet access.
Mac System Requirements: Mac OS X v10.5.8 or later, iTunes 9.2 or later & Iinternet access.
Height: 115.2mm
Width: 58.6mm
Depth: 9.3mm
Weight: 137g
Photoanswers Rating: 5