iPhone 4 mini-review

After rolling with the new iPhone 4 for a day now, I am very impressed. Here are the most noteworthy new features, in the order I noticed them.

That screen

Oh, that glorious screen. Everything you've heard about how crisp the text looks is true. There's not much more to say—it's marvelous.

Speed

The iPhone 4 is fast, and I mean fast. This is especially noticeable for me, because I upgraded from the two-year old iPhone 3G. But it also outstrips Tracey's iPhone 3GS. This thing is the Firebolt of phones.

Two examples: Plants vs. Zombies, which I estimate at about a 40-second launch time on the 3G, is ready to roll in less than five seconds. And the process of syncing large quantities of data to the phone is also very zippy. I can't quantify this, but it seems that the bottleneck on that process was less about USB 2.0 and more about the iPhone 3G's ability to write to its hard drive. I was very surprised at how quickly the iPhone 4 was ready to roll after starting the restore from my backup yesterday.

Camera

The new camera is astounding. Not only does it benefit greatly from the speed boost on the phone, but the improved optics and the flash make it a legitimate camera for the first time. I don't own a point-and-shoot camera because when I bought my DSLR I never wanted to shoot with anything else, but having a serious camera on the iPhone will mean I can capture a lot of great images without having to plan to go shoot. I'm excited to see what I'll be able to do with this camera combined with my two favorite photography apps, Camera+ and CameraBag.

Fast App Switching

This is a function of the new version of the iPhone's operating system rather than the new hardware, but it definitely takes the entire experience up a few notches. The ability to leave a game to answer a text message and then return to it just as you left it almost makes up for the iPhone's lousy notification system. It's definitely a game-changing feature.

Summary

These are obviously just my first observations, tossed out in about 25 minutes. So far, I am absolutely pleased with the iPhone 4. It's unquestionably worth the upgrade price if you're on the 3G, and probably worthwhile for many or most 3GS users as well.

What's in a name?

With everyone swooning over iPhone 4—rightly so, in my opinion; I'll be pre-ordering on June 15, don't you worry—there's something I haven't seen anyone spend much time talking about. Apple changed the name of their mobile OS from "iPhone OS" to "iOS." Most people who comment on the change say simply that it makes sense, because the OS has expanded beyond the iPhone: first to the iPod touch, and more recently to the iPad.

This is true, but it misses a gigantic point.

The "i" prefix is THE Apple identifier. Not just for their mobile division: for the whole company since Steve Jobs's return as CEO in 1997. They burst back on the scene with the iMac. You had the iBook (the laptop, not the iBooks application). Before its official launch, the TV was going to be the iTV. Every idiot blogger who wants to make fun of Apple fans calls them iFans or iTards or i-Whatevers. When the iPhone launched, there was some question as to whether Apple would make the legal effort required to secure the name "iPhone," since it was the obvious choice but Cisco owned the name. The iPrefix is a clear and obvious way to say, "This product is made by Apple."

So when they change their mobile operating system's name to "iOS," what does that tell us? If you ask me, it tells us that Apple sees their future as wrapped up in these devices. When they say things like "This is changing the way we use computers," it's not empty marketing spin. They really believe it.

Whether or not you agree.