iPhone 4 Arrives…Big Whoop

I tried to order one for home delivery online, but like many others, Apple’s website kept crashing whenever I tried to complete the order. So, I switched to an in-store reservation, knowing full well that it would be a madhouse at the Apple store on launch day. Wasn’t looking forward to that.

Well, the stores opened at 7am. I arrived at 6:45am and sure enough, there was the line, half a mile long and several people wide outside the King of Prussia mall in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. “No way I’m waiting in that”, I said to myself, but what else could I do?

Apple informed me in an email a few days ago that there would be two lines to wait in once I got to the store: One line for people who reserved the phone in advance (that’s me), and one for those who took their chances (hopefully most of the hundreds I saw waiting). Still, I didn’t see any separating of lines leading up to the mall entrance. Now, I’m not known to be a follower. I figured there’s got to be another entrance to this mall. So, I found one, went in, made may way to the Apple store inside, and found the line for people who reserved the phone to have about 10 people in it. 15 minutes later, I was walking past the poor shlubs roasting in the already 85 (going up to 95) degree heat with my brand new iPhone 4.

Moral of the story? Don’t be a follower.

So now I’ve got the iPhone 4. Big whoop. It seems that it’s mostly about the new Retina display that frankly, my eyes aren’t good enough to notice much of a difference from my iPhone 3GS. As far as other features, you’ve got a faster processor (1GHZ – same as the iPad, which I have and love), front and rear facing cameras (for the new video chat), an LED flash, 720P video and a (hopefully) stronger battery. I would have liked to see more storage space, but we’re still capped at 32GB, no big deal. Some complain that the iPhone screen is only 3.5″ compared to the 4″ screens on some of the new Android phones. I’ve seen one of these big Android phones, and that’s the problem. The phones are too big. Other than that, I’m sure the Android phones are fantastic.

Other features include iOS4 (which can be installed on your 3G or 3GS phones with some restrictions on features) that allows more multitasking, grouping apps in folders, and revisions for the Retina display.

I liked the Apple “Bumper” case pictured above. It protects only the metal band around the outside of the phone. From what I’ve heard about the glass covering the front screen and the back, it’s virtually impossible to scratch with normal use, even abuse (I’ve never scratched an iPhone screen going back to the original iPhone). So, it would seem that the metal band is really the only thing that needs protection. The Bumper has built in buttons that extend the reach to the outside of the case, making operation of the phone seem as normal as without the case, so nice touch there too.

All in all, the iPhone 4 doesn’t feel like a critical upgrade, like it was going from the original iPhone to the 3G. I guess that’s to be expected from now on. That doesn’t mean I don’t like it, but no way am I waiting in that line!

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