IPhone 4
Encyclopedia
The iPhone 4 is a touchscreen
slate smartphone
developed by Apple Inc. It is the fourth generation iPhone
, and successor to the iPhone 3GS
. It is particularly marketed for video calling
(marketed by Apple as FaceTime
), consumption of media such as books and periodicals, movies, music, and games, and for general web and e-mail access. It was announced on June 7, 2010, at the WWDC 2010 held at the Moscone Center
, San Francisco, and was released on June 24, 2010, in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Japan.
The iPhone 4 runs Apple's iOS operating system, the same operating system as used on previous iPhones, the iPad
, and the iPod Touch
. It is primarily controlled by a user's fingertips on the multi-touch
display, which is sensitive to fingertip contact.
The most noticeable difference between the iPhone 4 and its predecessors is the new design, which incorporates an uninsulated stainless steel frame that acts as the device's antenna. The internal components of the device are situated between two panels of chemically strengthened aluminosilicate
glass. It has an Apple A4
processor and 512 MB
of eDRAM
, twice that of its predecessor and four times that of the original iPhone. Its 3.5 inches (88.9 mm) LED backlit liquid crystal display
with a 960×640 pixel resolution is marketed as the "Retina Display".
The latest operating system release is iOS 5.0.1.
In October 2011, the iPhone 4S
was announced, which retains the same form factor but includes many upgrades such as the A5 processor
, iOS 5, and an improved camera.
reported that they had purchased an iPhone prototype for $5000, and furthermore, had conducted a product teardown
of the device. The prototype is reported to have been lost by an Apple employee, Gray Powell, in Redwood City
, California. Shortly after Gizmodo published detailed information about the prototype, Apple's legal associates formally requested for the phone to be returned to Apple, and Gizmodo responded with the intent to cooperate. On April 22, officers from the Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team (REACT) task force of the California HTTAP Program
raided the home of Jason Chen, the Gizmodo editor responsible for reviewing the prototype, seizing all of his computers and hard drives. The Electronic Frontier Foundation
criticized the raid as violating journalist source protection laws that forbid the seizure of journalist computers as well as the suspicion that Apple had used its influence as a member of the steering committee which is charged with direction and oversight of the California REACT task force to push police into action in a way that would not normally be conducted for this type of incident. Apple had already received the iPhone prototype prior to the raid when it was returned by Gizmodo. The District Attorney
has stated that the investigation has been suspended, and discontinued searching through the Gizmodo editor's belongings as they determine whether the shield laws are applicable, and cautioned that no charges have been issued at this point.
which crashed due to the surge in traffic. The same issue was reported with AT&T and SoftBank
, Apple's exclusive partners in the United States and Japan respectively, who suspended advance sales of the iPhone 4 as demand threatened to exceed supply. Retail stores were also unable to complete pre-order transactions due to the servers crashing. Apple and its partner carriers received 600,000 pre-orders for the iPhone 4 in the first 24 hours, the largest number of pre-orders Apple has received in a single day for any device. Engadget
reported that at 20:30 UTC
, all iPhone 4 pre-order suppliers had sold out. 1.7 million iPhone 4s were sold in its first three days of availability.
The iPhone 4 has also been released through Orange in Tunisia and was available in eight cities at the launch. In South Korea, it was released by KT on September 10. In Israel, it was released, too, on September 24, through Cellcom
, Pelephone
and Orange. It was launched in Thailand on September 23 by AIS, DTAC and True Move, and in Malaysia on September 26 in Kuala Lumpur, and nationwide on September 27 according to the website of Maxis
. The iPhone 4 was released in South Africa on September 22 on the Vodacom
and MTN networks, in very limited quantities. The iPhone 4 was launched in Vietnam on September 30 by VinaPhone and Viettel, at first in 3 major cities: Hanoi
, Ho Chi Minh city
and Da Nang
, and then all over the country by the end of October.
The iPhone 4 was launched in India on May 27, 2011 by Aircel
and Airtel
. Aircel is releasing the 16GB iPhone 4 for 34,500 and the 32GB one for 40,990. The smartphone will be available on a contract basis from both the service providers.
On January 11, 2011, Verizon
announced during a media event that it had reached an agreement with Apple and would begin selling a CDMA iPhone 4 in the United States, ending Apple's exclusivity agreement with AT&T. The Verizon iPhone went on sale on February 10 and pre orders began on February 3. The Verizon iPhone includes the 'Personal Hotspot" feature which allows a user to use the iPhone as a wireless hotspot
, with up to 5 devices connecting at one time. The February 3 presale of the iPhone 4 broke Verizon's first day sales records for a single device.
On June 24, 2010, Apple issued a statement that the white iPhone 4 models were proving more "challenging to manufacture" than expected, and initially pushed the release date back to the second half of July.
There was a lot of speculation surrounding the delay of the white iPhone 4. Among the most popular rumors are those concerning the phone's internal camera being adversely affected by light leaking in due to the semi-translucent glass and the white paint. Other sources report that the problem relates to Apple's inability to match the white color of the front face plate with that of the home button.
On April 27 Apple announced that it would be releasing the white iPhone 4 model on April 28, 2011 for both GSM and CDMA.
The release of the white iPhone 4 was carried out on April 28, and is still available for purchase today.
During Apple's official unveiling of the iPhone 4S
on October 4, 2011 it was announced that Sprint
would begin carrying the reconfigured CDMA iPhone 4 and the iPhone 4S in the US on October 14.
capacitive touchscreen
with a pixel density of 326 pixels per inch (ppi) on a 3.5 in (8.9 cm) (diagonally measured), 960×640 display. Each pixel is 78 micrometre
s in width. The display has a contrast ratio
of 800:1. The screen is marketed by Apple as the "Retina Display", based on the assertion that a display of approximately 300 ppi at a distance of 12 inch from one's eye, or 57 arcseconds per pixel is the maximum amount of detail that the human retina can perceive. With the iPhone expected to be used at a distance of about 12 inches from the eyes, a higher resolution would allegedly have no effect on the image's apparent quality as the maximum potential of the human eye has already been met.
This claim has been disputed. Raymond Soneira, president of DisplayMate Technologies, said in an interview with Wired magazine
, that the claims by Jobs are something of an exaggeration: "It is reasonably close to being a perfect display, but Steve pushed it a little too far." Soneira stated that the resolution of the human retina is higher than claimed by Apple, working out to 477 ppi at 12 inch from the eyes, or 36 arcseconds per pixel. However, Phil Plait, author of Bad Astronomy
, whose career includes a collaboration with NASA
regarding the camera on the Hubble Space Telescope
, responded to the criticism by stating that "if you have [better than 20/20] eyesight, then at one foot away the iPhone 4’s pixels are resolved. The picture will look pixellated. If you have average eyesight, the picture will look just fine."
in 720p
at 30 frames per second
. Both cameras make use of the tap to focus feature, part of iOS 4, for photo and video recording. The rear-facing camera has a 5× digital zoom
.
documentation has shown that the iPhone 4 contains a Penta-Band
3G
UMTS
antenna, not a Quad-Band
3G UMTS radio, as advertised by Apple. According to the FCC
documentation filed by Apple, the radio inside the iPhone 4 supports 800, 850, 900, 1900, and 2100 MHz. The 800 MHz frequency, which is most commonly used in Japanese mobile phones, is not advertised as being supported by Apple. However, the 800 MHz band is a subset of the 850 MHz band, which probably explains why the device is advertised as Quad-Band. The chip-sets were manufactured by Skyworks Solutions
and Infineon for GSM version.
As with most of Apple's mobile products, the iPhone 4 also uses the 30 pin dock connector as its only external data port.
The iPhone 4 is the first generation of iPhone to have a second microphone used for noise cancellation
. It is located on the top of the unit near the headphone jack; the main microphone is on the bottom left.
that detects 3-axis angular acceleration around the X, Y and Z axes
, enabling precise calculation of yaw, pitch, and roll. The gyroscope complements the accelerometer
, a sensor that has been present since the original iPhone
, which detects the device's acceleration, shake, vibration shock, or fall by detecting linear acceleration along one of three axes (X, Y and Z). The combined data from the accelerometer and the gyroscope provides detailed and precise information about the device's 6-axis movement in space. The 3 axes of the gyroscope combined with the 3 axes of the accelerometer enable the device to recognize approximately how far, fast, and in which direction it has moved in space.
chip, which was designed by Intrinsity
and, like all previous iPhone models, manufactured by Samsung
. This system-on-a-chip
is composed of an ARM Cortex-A8
CPU
integrated with a PowerVR SGX 535
GPU
. The Apple A4 is also used in the iPad
where it is clocked at its rated speed of 1 GHz
. The clock speed in the iPhone 4 has not been disclosed. All previous models of the iPhone have underclocked the CPU, which typically extends battery life and lowers heat dissipation
.
The iPhone 4 has 512 MB of eDRAM
. The additional eDRAM supports increased performance and multi-tasking.
on iPhone 4 devices running on a GSM network, which is positioned in an ejectable tray, located on the right side of the device. On a CDMA network, however, the phone connects to the network using an ESN
. All previous models have used regular Mini-SIM cards. Depending on the operator, Micro-SIM cards may not be available for all networks globally. As a technical workaround it is possible to trim a Mini-SIM card with a knife or scissors so that it fits into the Micro-SIM tray.
As on previous models, all data is stored in flash memory
, 16GB or 32GB, and not on the SIM. Unlike previous generations, the storage capacity is not printed on the back of the unit.
. Most notably, the bulges of the back panel as well as the band between the front and back are gone and have been replaced with flattened surfaces. The redesign reflects the utilitarianism and uniformity of existing Apple products, such as the iPad
and the iMac
. The overall dimensions of the iPhone 4 have been reduced from its predecessor. It is 4.5 inches (114.3 mm) high, 2.31 inches (58.7 mm) wide, and 0.37 inches (9.4 mm) deep, compared to the iPhone 3GS, which is 4.55 inches (115.6 mm) high, 2.44 inches (62 mm) wide, and 0.48 inches (12.2 mm) deep; making the iPhone 4 24% thinner than its predecessor, the iPhone 3GS
. Steve Jobs
claims that it is “the thinnest smartphone on the planet". The reduced size of the device is primarily due to the externally placed antenna.
The iPhone 4 is structured around a stainless steel
frame that wraps around the edge of the phone, acting both as the primary structure for the device and as the iPhone 4's antennas. This metal band features two slits on the GSM version of the phone, one at the lower left, and one at the top (and a fake slit along the lower right, to cosmetically mirror the one at the lower left) that divide the band into two antenna sections: the left section of the band serves as the Bluetooth
, Wi-Fi
, and GPS
antenna, and the right and lower sections of the band act as the antenna for GSM and UMTS
connectivity. On the CDMA version of the phone, however, there are four slits in the metal band. Two at the top (on the left and right) and two at the bottom. This divides the metal band into four different segments, which like the GSM version of the phone, serves as different antennas for connectivity. The top portion of the band (divided by the top left and right slits) is for connecting to the CDMA network. The left portion of the metal band is for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and GPS just like the GSM version. The right side is not an antenna, but serves to cosmetically mirror the left side and also to create a similar look to the GSM version of the phone.
The internal components are situated between two panels of aluminosilicate
glass, described by Apple as being "chemically strengthened to be 20 times stiffer and 30 times harder than plastic," theoretically allowing it to be more scratch resistant and durable than the previous models.
In fall 2010, pentalobular screws started to replace the Philips screws used in post-repair units in the US and in production units in Japan.
Additionally, the plastic band houses metallic buttons for the volume controls and sleep/wake button. The six holes in the Bumper enable access to the mute switch, dock connector, headphone jack, speaker, and microphones. The bumper also can be used to prevent the "antenna issue" that users face when holding the parts of the steel band where the antennas are, that could cause the phone's signal to drop.
As a consequence of this problem, it was reported on July 2, 2010 that several iPhone 4 users were planning on suing Apple and AT&T
for fraud by concealment, negligence, intentional misrepresentation and defective design. The legal challenge was started by California law firm Kershaw, Cutter & Ratinoff
, who set up a website to recruit disenchanted iPhone 4 buyers for a lawsuit against Apple. Later that day, Apple issued another statement stating that it had discovered the cause of the "dramatic drop in bars". Apple explained how the formula it used to calculate the number of bars to display was "wrong". Apple promised to correct the issue and release a software update within a few weeks that would address the "mistake", which had been present since the original iPhone
. The New York Times
commented that "the failure to detect this longstanding problem earlier is astonishing."
Consumer Reports
initially stated that the iPhone 4's signal issues are not "unique, and may not be serious" and it continued to mention that signal loss is a problem that is faced by the entire smartphone industry. It has been such a problem that Apple made a formal apology. The next day, Consumer Reports altered their stance after encountering instances of dropped calls. Consumer Reports rejected Apple's explanation after conducting tests in a controlled environment, and comparing the results against previous generations of iPhone. It sarcastically pointed out that using a piece of tape to cover the lower left antenna gap was one way to fix the problem, but recommended that consumers who "want an iPhone that works well without a masking-tape fix" purchase the iPhone 3GS
instead. Consumer Reports also tested the iPhone 4 whilst it was wearing a Bumper, a frame-like cover manufactured by Apple that prevents direct contact with the antenna, reporting that it did resolve the problem. CNN
repeated Consumer Reports statement that a small amount of duct tape
had proven an effective fix to the iPhone 4's dropped call issue.
On July 16, 2010, at a press conference, Steve Jobs
announced that Apple would provide all iPhone 4 owners with a free case to help solve the antenna issue and a refund to those users who had already purchased a Bumper. The free case offer would be valid until September 30, 2010, when Apple would re-evaluate the situation. To get a free case, owners were able to apply via an app installed on the phone found in the App Store from July 22, 2010 to September 30, 2010. Jobs also announced that Apple could not produce enough Bumpers for all owners of the phone, but would source a supply and offer a range of cases. Additionally, Jobs cited figures from AppleCare
which showed that only 0.55 percent of all iPhone 4 users have complained to the company about the issue, while the number of phones returned to Apple was 1.7 percent4.3 percentage points less than the number of iPhone 3GS models that were returned in the first month of the phone's launch.
Consumer Reports noted that the solution was not permanent, though a good first step. However, because Jobs did not specify a time line for fixing the problem, and the offering for a free bumper only being a temporary solution, PC World
decided to remove the iPhone 4 from its "Top 10 Cell Phones" chart and reassign it to a pending rating.
AnandTech
researched iPhone 4 antenna and identified that its outer construction provides 5–9 dB (6.9–9 times) better sensitivity comparing to common internal antenna design of iPhone 3Gs (the phone keeps working connection with signal as low as −120/121 dB comparing to usual −113/115 dB).
Despite the negative media attention regarding the antenna issues, 72% of iPhone 4 users say that they are "very satisfied" with their iPhone 4 according to an August 2010 survey by ChangeWave Research.
is greater than zero and less than one degree west of the meridian, the app incorrectly reports the longitude as being east of the meridian. (fixed with iOS 5.0)
Also when crossing the date line, the longitude changes from 179°59'59" W directly to 179°59'59" E (or vice versa) missing out 180°0'0" E. Crossing the meridian, the display correctly shows 0°0'0" E
announcement of the iPhone 4 was generally positive. The announcement included information that had not been covered by Gizmodo. Fox News
commented that "seeing it in action is far more informative than staring at Gizmodo's photos of a busted test unit". Rhodri Marsden
of The Independent
said that "aside from the introduction of face-to-face video calling, it's not a staggering feature set," instead focusing on how the device is "more powerful than its predecessor, speedier, easier to use and will make previously laborious tasks seem like a cinch".
CNET
reacted to the announcement by explaining how it believes that iMovie for iOS was the "most exciting part of this year's WWDC Keynote". The article noted how the iPhone 4, unlike current cameras, can record HD content and then edit it from the same device, labeling it a "true mobile editing suite".
called the device "the best device in its class". Engadget
named it the "best smartphone on the market" in June 2010. CNET
gave the iPhone 4 a rating of 8.6 out of 10, one of the highest ratings it has given any smartphone. TechRadar
gave the device 4.5/5 stars. Consumer Reports said the signal problem was the reason they did not rate it a "recommended" model, although the other tests ranked it highest among smart phones.
Joshua Topolsky of Engadget
described the device's industrial design as being "more detailed and sophisticated" than its predecessor.
aboard the Space Shuttle
on the STS-135
mission. The devices were used in various experiments, utilizing sensors and a special app.
Touchscreen
A touchscreen is an electronic visual display that can detect the presence and location of a touch within the display area. The term generally refers to touching the display of the device with a finger or hand. Touchscreens can also sense other passive objects, such as a stylus...
slate smartphone
Smartphone
A smartphone is a high-end mobile phone built on a mobile computing platform, with more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary feature phone. The first smartphones were devices that mainly combined the functions of a personal digital assistant and a mobile phone or camera...
developed by Apple Inc. It is the fourth generation iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
, and successor to the iPhone 3GS
IPhone 3GS
-Camera:The iPhone 3GS features an improved 3 megapixel camera manufactured by OmniVision. In addition to the higher megapixel count, it also features auto-focus, auto white balance and auto macro and is capable of capturing VGA video...
. It is particularly marketed for video calling
Videotelephony
Videotelephony comprises the technologies for the reception and transmission of audio-video signals by users at different locations, for communication between people in real-time....
(marketed by Apple as FaceTime
FaceTime
FaceTime is a video calling software application and related protocol developed by Apple for supported mobile devices running the iOS, in addition to Macintosh computers running Mac OS X 10.6.6 and higher...
), consumption of media such as books and periodicals, movies, music, and games, and for general web and e-mail access. It was announced on June 7, 2010, at the WWDC 2010 held at the Moscone Center
Moscone Center
Moscone Center is the largest convention and exhibition complex in San Francisco, California. It comprises three main halls: Two underground halls underneath Yerba Buena Gardens, known as Moscone North and Moscone South, and a three-level Moscone West exhibition hall across 4th Street...
, San Francisco, and was released on June 24, 2010, in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Japan.
The iPhone 4 runs Apple's iOS operating system, the same operating system as used on previous iPhones, the iPad
IPad
The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...
, and the iPod Touch
IPod Touch
The iPod Touch is a portable media player, personal digital assistant, handheld game console, and Wi-Fi mobile device designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The iPod Touch adds the multi-touch graphical user interface to the iPod line...
. It is primarily controlled by a user's fingertips on the multi-touch
Multi-touch
In computing, multi-touch refers to a touch sensing surface's ability to recognize the presence of two or more points of contact with the surface...
display, which is sensitive to fingertip contact.
The most noticeable difference between the iPhone 4 and its predecessors is the new design, which incorporates an uninsulated stainless steel frame that acts as the device's antenna. The internal components of the device are situated between two panels of chemically strengthened aluminosilicate
Aluminosilicate
Aluminosilicate minerals are minerals composed of aluminium, silicon, and oxygen, plus countercations. They are a major component of kaolin and other clay minerals....
glass. It has an Apple A4
Apple A4
The Apple A4 is a package on package system-on-a-chip designed by Apple and manufactured by Samsung. It combines an ARM Cortex-A8 CPU with a PowerVR GPU, and emphasizes power efficiency. The chip commercially debuted with the release of Apple's iPad tablet; followed shortly by the iPhone 4...
processor and 512 MB
Megabyte
The megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage or transmission with two different values depending on context: bytes generally for computer memory; and one million bytes generally for computer storage. The IEEE Standards Board has decided that "Mega will mean 1 000...
of eDRAM
EDRAM
eDRAM stands for "embedded DRAM", a capacitor-based dynamic random access memory integrated on the same die as an ASIC or processor. The cost-per-bit is higher than for stand-alone DRAM chips but in many applications the performance advantages of placing the eDRAM on the same chip as the processor...
, twice that of its predecessor and four times that of the original iPhone. Its 3.5 inches (88.9 mm) LED backlit liquid crystal display
Liquid crystal display
A liquid crystal display is a flat panel display, electronic visual display, or video display that uses the light modulating properties of liquid crystals . LCs do not emit light directly....
with a 960×640 pixel resolution is marketed as the "Retina Display".
The latest operating system release is iOS 5.0.1.
In October 2011, the iPhone 4S
IPhone 4S
The iPhone 4S is a touchscreen slate smartphone developed by Apple Inc. It is the fifth generation of the iPhone, a device that combines a widescreen iPod with a touchscreen, mobile phone, and internet communicator. It retains the exterior design of its predecessor, iPhone 4, but is host to a range...
was announced, which retains the same form factor but includes many upgrades such as the A5 processor
Apple A5
The Apple A5 is a package on package system-on-a-chip designed by Apple and manufactured by Samsung to replace the Apple A4. The chip commercially debuted with the release of Apple's iPad 2 tablet, and also powers the iPhone 4S...
, iOS 5, and an improved camera.
Prototypes
Prior to the official unveiling of the iPhone 4 on June 7, 2010, two prototypes were brought to the attention of the media, breaching Apple's normally secretive development process. Many of the speculations regarding technical specifications proved accurate.Gizmodo Leak
On April 19, 2010, gadget website GizmodoGizmodo
Gizmodo is a technology weblog about consumer electronics. It is part of the Gawker Media network run by Nick Denton and is known for its up-to-date coverage of the technology industry, along with topics as broad as design; architecture; space and science....
reported that they had purchased an iPhone prototype for $5000, and furthermore, had conducted a product teardown
Product teardown
A product teardown, or simply teardown, is the act of disassembling a product, such as a television set, to identify its component parts and functions. For products having secret technology, such as the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25, the process may be secret...
of the device. The prototype is reported to have been lost by an Apple employee, Gray Powell, in Redwood City
Redwood City, California
Redwood City is a California charter city located on the San Francisco Peninsula in Northern California, approximately 27 miles south of San Francisco, and 24 miles north of San Jose. Redwood City's history spans from its earliest inhabitation by the Ohlone people, to its tradition as a port for...
, California. Shortly after Gizmodo published detailed information about the prototype, Apple's legal associates formally requested for the phone to be returned to Apple, and Gizmodo responded with the intent to cooperate. On April 22, officers from the Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team (REACT) task force of the California HTTAP Program
High Technology Theft Apprehension and Prosecution Program
The High Technology Theft Apprehension and Prosecution Program, abbreviated as the HTTAP Program, is a program within the California Emergency Management Agency concerned with high technology crime including white-collar crime, cracking, computerized money laundering, theft of services, copyright...
raided the home of Jason Chen, the Gizmodo editor responsible for reviewing the prototype, seizing all of his computers and hard drives. The Electronic Frontier Foundation
Electronic Frontier Foundation
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is an international non-profit digital rights advocacy and legal organization based in the United States...
criticized the raid as violating journalist source protection laws that forbid the seizure of journalist computers as well as the suspicion that Apple had used its influence as a member of the steering committee which is charged with direction and oversight of the California REACT task force to push police into action in a way that would not normally be conducted for this type of incident. Apple had already received the iPhone prototype prior to the raid when it was returned by Gizmodo. The District Attorney
District attorney
In many jurisdictions in the United States, a District Attorney is an elected or appointed government official who represents the government in the prosecution of criminal offenses. The district attorney is the highest officeholder in the jurisdiction's legal department and supervises a staff of...
has stated that the investigation has been suspended, and discontinued searching through the Gizmodo editor's belongings as they determine whether the shield laws are applicable, and cautioned that no charges have been issued at this point.
Taoviet Leak
Pictures and video of a second prototype were published on a Vietnamese website, Taoviet, on May 12, 2010. It was almost identical to the first, and used an A4 chip manufactured by Apple. The website purchased the prototype for $4,000. DigiTimes reported that the screen resolution of the new phone was 960-by-640, which was confirmed by Apple at the iPhone 4's official announcement.Release
The iPhone 4 was made available for pre-order on June 15, 2010. Customers attempting to pre-order the iPhone 4 reported problems with the pre-order process on the U.S. and U.K. online Apple StoresApple Store (online)
The Apple Store is the online store of Apple Inc.. All of Apple's product lines are carried as well as select brands of accessories for its products. It is owned and operated by Apple in Cupertino, California...
which crashed due to the surge in traffic. The same issue was reported with AT&T and SoftBank
SoftBank
is a Japanese telecommunications and internet corporation, with operations in broadband, fixed-line telecommunications, e-Commerce, Internet, broadmedia, technology services, finance, media and marketing, and other businesses....
, Apple's exclusive partners in the United States and Japan respectively, who suspended advance sales of the iPhone 4 as demand threatened to exceed supply. Retail stores were also unable to complete pre-order transactions due to the servers crashing. Apple and its partner carriers received 600,000 pre-orders for the iPhone 4 in the first 24 hours, the largest number of pre-orders Apple has received in a single day for any device. Engadget
Engadget
Engadget is a multilingual technology blog network with daily coverage of gadgets and consumer electronics. Though on appearance Engadget functions much like a blog and may be defined as such, much of its editorial content takes the form of an online magazine...
reported that at 20:30 UTC
Coordinated Universal Time
Coordinated Universal Time is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is one of several closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. Computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC for that purpose...
, all iPhone 4 pre-order suppliers had sold out. 1.7 million iPhone 4s were sold in its first three days of availability.
The iPhone 4 has also been released through Orange in Tunisia and was available in eight cities at the launch. In South Korea, it was released by KT on September 10. In Israel, it was released, too, on September 24, through Cellcom
Cellcom (Israel)
Cellcom is a major Israeli telecommunications company. Founded in 1994, most of the company's business is centered around wireless service...
, Pelephone
Pelephone
Pelephone is an Israeli-based telecommunications company, founded in 1986 as a joint venture between Motorola and Tadiran, today owned by Bezeq. It was the first company to offer mobile phone services in Israel. Due to this, the brand-name "Pelephone" became the genericized trademark for mobile...
and Orange. It was launched in Thailand on September 23 by AIS, DTAC and True Move, and in Malaysia on September 26 in Kuala Lumpur, and nationwide on September 27 according to the website of Maxis
Maxis Communications
Maxis Communications Berhad is a Malaysian cellular operator company headquartered at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It was started in the year 1993. It uses the dialing pref ix identifier of "012" , "017" and “0142”. Their mobile services are provided over the 900 & 1800 MHz GSM band and as July 2005,...
. The iPhone 4 was released in South Africa on September 22 on the Vodacom
Vodacom
Vodacom is a pan-African mobile telecommunications company, and was the 1st cellular network in South Africa. It provides GSM service to more than 35 million customers in South Africa, Tanzania, Lesotho, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Revenue for the year ended 31 March 2008...
and MTN networks, in very limited quantities. The iPhone 4 was launched in Vietnam on September 30 by VinaPhone and Viettel, at first in 3 major cities: Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
, Ho Chi Minh city
Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City , formerly named Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam...
and Da Nang
Da Nang
Đà Nẵng , occasionally Danang, is a major port city in the South Central Coast of Vietnam, on the coast of the South China Sea at the mouth of the Han River. It is the commercial and educational center of Central Vietnam; its well-sheltered, easily accessible port and its location on the path of...
, and then all over the country by the end of October.
The iPhone 4 was launched in India on May 27, 2011 by Aircel
Aircel
Aircel group is a mobile phone service provider in India. It offers both prepaid and postpaid GSM cellular phone coverage throughout India. The Aircel group is a joint venture between Maxis Communications Berhad of Malaysia and Sindya Securities & Investments Private Limited, whose current...
and Airtel
Bharti Airtel
Bharti Airtel Limited , commonly known as Airtel, is an Indian telecommunications company that operates in 20 countries across South Asia, Africa and the Channel Islands. It operates a GSM network in all countries, providing 2G or 3G services depending upon the country of operation...
. Aircel is releasing the 16GB iPhone 4 for 34,500 and the 32GB one for 40,990. The smartphone will be available on a contract basis from both the service providers.
On January 11, 2011, Verizon
Verizon Wireless
Cellco Partnership, doing business as Verizon Wireless, is one of the largest mobile network operators in the United States. The network has 107.7 million subscribers as of 2011, making it the largest wireless service provider in America....
announced during a media event that it had reached an agreement with Apple and would begin selling a CDMA iPhone 4 in the United States, ending Apple's exclusivity agreement with AT&T. The Verizon iPhone went on sale on February 10 and pre orders began on February 3. The Verizon iPhone includes the 'Personal Hotspot" feature which allows a user to use the iPhone as a wireless hotspot
Hotspot (Wi-Fi)
A hotspot is a site that offers Internet access over a wireless local area network through the use of a router connected to a link to an Internet service provider...
, with up to 5 devices connecting at one time. The February 3 presale of the iPhone 4 broke Verizon's first day sales records for a single device.
On June 24, 2010, Apple issued a statement that the white iPhone 4 models were proving more "challenging to manufacture" than expected, and initially pushed the release date back to the second half of July.
There was a lot of speculation surrounding the delay of the white iPhone 4. Among the most popular rumors are those concerning the phone's internal camera being adversely affected by light leaking in due to the semi-translucent glass and the white paint. Other sources report that the problem relates to Apple's inability to match the white color of the front face plate with that of the home button.
On April 27 Apple announced that it would be releasing the white iPhone 4 model on April 28, 2011 for both GSM and CDMA.
The release of the white iPhone 4 was carried out on April 28, and is still available for purchase today.
During Apple's official unveiling of the iPhone 4S
IPhone 4S
The iPhone 4S is a touchscreen slate smartphone developed by Apple Inc. It is the fifth generation of the iPhone, a device that combines a widescreen iPod with a touchscreen, mobile phone, and internet communicator. It retains the exterior design of its predecessor, iPhone 4, but is host to a range...
on October 4, 2011 it was announced that Sprint
Sprint Nextel
Sprint Nextel Corporation is an American telecommunications company based in Overland Park, Kansas. The company owns and operates Sprint, the third largest wireless telecommunications network in the United States, with 53.4 million customers, behind Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility...
would begin carrying the reconfigured CDMA iPhone 4 and the iPhone 4S in the US on October 14.
Display
The display of the iPhone 4 is manufactured by LG under an exclusive contract with Apple. It features an LED backlit TFT LCDLiquid crystal display
A liquid crystal display is a flat panel display, electronic visual display, or video display that uses the light modulating properties of liquid crystals . LCs do not emit light directly....
capacitive touchscreen
Touchscreen
A touchscreen is an electronic visual display that can detect the presence and location of a touch within the display area. The term generally refers to touching the display of the device with a finger or hand. Touchscreens can also sense other passive objects, such as a stylus...
with a pixel density of 326 pixels per inch (ppi) on a 3.5 in (8.9 cm) (diagonally measured), 960×640 display. Each pixel is 78 micrometre
Micrometre
A micrometer , is by definition 1×10-6 of a meter .In plain English, it means one-millionth of a meter . Its unit symbol in the International System of Units is μm...
s in width. The display has a contrast ratio
Contrast ratio
The contrast ratio is a property of a display system, defined as the ratio of the luminance of the brightest color to that of the darkest color that the system is capable of producing...
of 800:1. The screen is marketed by Apple as the "Retina Display", based on the assertion that a display of approximately 300 ppi at a distance of 12 inch from one's eye, or 57 arcseconds per pixel is the maximum amount of detail that the human retina can perceive. With the iPhone expected to be used at a distance of about 12 inches from the eyes, a higher resolution would allegedly have no effect on the image's apparent quality as the maximum potential of the human eye has already been met.
This claim has been disputed. Raymond Soneira, president of DisplayMate Technologies, said in an interview with Wired magazine
Wired (magazine)
Wired is a full-color monthly American magazine and on-line periodical, published since January 1993, that reports on how new and developing technology affects culture, the economy, and politics...
, that the claims by Jobs are something of an exaggeration: "It is reasonably close to being a perfect display, but Steve pushed it a little too far." Soneira stated that the resolution of the human retina is higher than claimed by Apple, working out to 477 ppi at 12 inch from the eyes, or 36 arcseconds per pixel. However, Phil Plait, author of Bad Astronomy
Bad Astronomy
Bad Astronomy: Misconceptions and Misuses Revealed, from Astrology to the Moon Landing "Hoax" is a non-fiction book by the American astronomer Phil Plait, also known as "the Bad Astronomer"...
, whose career includes a collaboration with NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
regarding the camera on the Hubble Space Telescope
Hubble Space Telescope
The Hubble Space Telescope is a space telescope that was carried into orbit by a Space Shuttle in 1990 and remains in operation. A 2.4 meter aperture telescope in low Earth orbit, Hubble's four main instruments observe in the near ultraviolet, visible, and near infrared...
, responded to the criticism by stating that "if you have [better than 20/20] eyesight, then at one foot away the iPhone 4’s pixels are resolved. The picture will look pixellated. If you have average eyesight, the picture will look just fine."
Camera
The iPhone 4 features an additional front-facing VGA camera, and a backside-illuminated 5 megapixel rear-facing camera with a 3.85mm f/2.8 lenshttp://pocketnow.com/iphone/iphone-5-first-test-photo and an LED flash. The rear-facing camera is capable of recording HD videoHigh-definition video
High-definition video or HD video refers to any video system of higher resolution than standard-definition video, and most commonly involves display resolutions of 1,280×720 pixels or 1,920×1,080 pixels...
in 720p
720p
720p is the shorthand name for 1280x720, a category of High-definition television video modes having a resolution of 1080 or 720p and a progressive scan...
at 30 frames per second
Frame rate
Frame rate is the frequency at which an imaging device produces unique consecutive images called frames. The term applies equally well to computer graphics, video cameras, film cameras, and motion capture systems...
. Both cameras make use of the tap to focus feature, part of iOS 4, for photo and video recording. The rear-facing camera has a 5× digital zoom
Digital zoom
Digital zoom is a method of decreasing the apparent angle of view of a digital photographic or video image. Digital zoom is accomplished by cropping an image down to a centered area with the same aspect ratio as the original, and usually also interpolating the result back up to the pixel...
.
Connectivity
In contrast to Steve Jobs' announcement at WWDC 2010, recent Federal Communications CommissionFederal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
documentation has shown that the iPhone 4 contains a Penta-Band
Multi-band
In telecommunications, the terms multi-band, dual-band, tri-band, quad-band and penta-band refer to a device supporting multiple radio frequency bands used for communication...
3G
3G
3G or 3rd generation mobile telecommunications is a generation of standards for mobile phones and mobile telecommunication services fulfilling the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 specifications by the International Telecommunication Union...
UMTS
Universal Mobile Telecommunications System
Universal Mobile Telecommunications System is a third generation mobile cellular technology for networks based on the GSM standard. Developed by the 3GPP , UMTS is a component of the International Telecommunications Union IMT-2000 standard set and compares with the CDMA2000 standard set for...
antenna, not a Quad-Band
Multi-band
In telecommunications, the terms multi-band, dual-band, tri-band, quad-band and penta-band refer to a device supporting multiple radio frequency bands used for communication...
3G UMTS radio, as advertised by Apple. According to the FCC
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
documentation filed by Apple, the radio inside the iPhone 4 supports 800, 850, 900, 1900, and 2100 MHz. The 800 MHz frequency, which is most commonly used in Japanese mobile phones, is not advertised as being supported by Apple. However, the 800 MHz band is a subset of the 850 MHz band, which probably explains why the device is advertised as Quad-Band. The chip-sets were manufactured by Skyworks Solutions
Skyworks Solutions
Skyworks Solutions, Inc. is a semiconductor company headquartered in Woburn, Massachusetts.The company manufactures semiconductors for use in radio frequency and mobile communications systems...
and Infineon for GSM version.
As with most of Apple's mobile products, the iPhone 4 also uses the 30 pin dock connector as its only external data port.
The iPhone 4 is the first generation of iPhone to have a second microphone used for noise cancellation
Noise-canceling microphone
A noise-canceling microphone is a microphone designed to filter out ambient noise from the desired sound, especially useful in noisy environments.-Technical detail:...
. It is located on the top of the unit near the headphone jack; the main microphone is on the bottom left.
Gyroscope and accelerometer
The iPhone 4 introduces a gyroscopic sensorVibrating structure gyroscope
A vibrating structure gyroscope is a type ofgyroscope that functions much like the halteresof an insect.The underlying physical principle is that a vibratingobject tends to continue vibrating in the same planeas its support rotates...
that detects 3-axis angular acceleration around the X, Y and Z axes
Cartesian coordinate system
A Cartesian coordinate system specifies each point uniquely in a plane by a pair of numerical coordinates, which are the signed distances from the point to two fixed perpendicular directed lines, measured in the same unit of length...
, enabling precise calculation of yaw, pitch, and roll. The gyroscope complements the accelerometer
Accelerometer
An accelerometer is a device that measures proper acceleration, also called the four-acceleration. This is not necessarily the same as the coordinate acceleration , but is rather the type of acceleration associated with the phenomenon of weight experienced by a test mass that resides in the frame...
, a sensor that has been present since the original iPhone
IPhone (original)
The iPhone—retroactively labeled the original iPhone, iPhone 2G, or iPhone EDGE—was the first generation of iPhone designed and marketed by Apple Inc. and was succeeded by the iPhone 3G. It was announced on January 9, 2007 after months of rumors and speculation. It was introduced in the United...
, which detects the device's acceleration, shake, vibration shock, or fall by detecting linear acceleration along one of three axes (X, Y and Z). The combined data from the accelerometer and the gyroscope provides detailed and precise information about the device's 6-axis movement in space. The 3 axes of the gyroscope combined with the 3 axes of the accelerometer enable the device to recognize approximately how far, fast, and in which direction it has moved in space.
Processor and memory
The iPhone 4 is powered by the Apple A4Apple A4
The Apple A4 is a package on package system-on-a-chip designed by Apple and manufactured by Samsung. It combines an ARM Cortex-A8 CPU with a PowerVR GPU, and emphasizes power efficiency. The chip commercially debuted with the release of Apple's iPad tablet; followed shortly by the iPhone 4...
chip, which was designed by Intrinsity
Intrinsity
Intrinsity was a privately held Austin, Texas based fabless semiconductor company; it was founded in 1997 as EVSX on the remnants of Exponential Technology and changed its name to Intrinsity in 2000...
and, like all previous iPhone models, manufactured by Samsung
Samsung Group
The Samsung Group is a South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea...
. This system-on-a-chip
System-on-a-chip
A system on a chip or system on chip is an integrated circuit that integrates all components of a computer or other electronic system into a single chip. It may contain digital, analog, mixed-signal, and often radio-frequency functions—all on a single chip substrate...
is composed of an ARM Cortex-A8
ARM architecture
ARM is a 32-bit reduced instruction set computer instruction set architecture developed by ARM Holdings. It was named the Advanced RISC Machine, and before that, the Acorn RISC Machine. The ARM architecture is the most widely used 32-bit ISA in numbers produced...
CPU
Central processing unit
The central processing unit is the portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a computer program, to perform the basic arithmetical, logical, and input/output operations of the system. The CPU plays a role somewhat analogous to the brain in the computer. The term has been in...
integrated with a PowerVR SGX 535
PowerVR
PowerVR is a division of Imagination Technologies that develops hardware and software for 2D and 3D rendering, and for video encoding, decoding, associated image processing and Direct X, OpenGL ES, OpenVG, and OpenCL acceleration....
GPU
Graphics processing unit
A graphics processing unit or GPU is a specialized circuit designed to rapidly manipulate and alter memory in such a way so as to accelerate the building of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display...
. The Apple A4 is also used in the iPad
IPad
The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...
where it is clocked at its rated speed of 1 GHz
GHZ
GHZ or GHz may refer to:# Gigahertz .# Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger state — a quantum entanglement of three particles.# Galactic Habitable Zone — the region of a galaxy that is favorable to the formation of life....
. The clock speed in the iPhone 4 has not been disclosed. All previous models of the iPhone have underclocked the CPU, which typically extends battery life and lowers heat dissipation
CPU power dissipation
Central processing unit power dissipation or CPU power dissipation is the process in which central processing units consume electrical energy, and dissipate this energy both by the action of the switching devices contained in the CPU and by the energy lost in the form of heat due to the impedance...
.
The iPhone 4 has 512 MB of eDRAM
EDRAM
eDRAM stands for "embedded DRAM", a capacitor-based dynamic random access memory integrated on the same die as an ASIC or processor. The cost-per-bit is higher than for stand-alone DRAM chips but in many applications the performance advantages of placing the eDRAM on the same chip as the processor...
. The additional eDRAM supports increased performance and multi-tasking.
Storage and Micro-SIM
The iPhone 4 uses a Micro-SIM cardSubscriber Identity Module
A subscriber identity module or subscriber identification module is an integrated circuit that securely stores the International Mobile Subscriber Identity and the related key used to identify and authenticate subscriber on mobile telephony devices .A SIM is held on a removable SIM card, which...
on iPhone 4 devices running on a GSM network, which is positioned in an ejectable tray, located on the right side of the device. On a CDMA network, however, the phone connects to the network using an ESN
Electronic Serial Number
Electronic serial numbers were created by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to uniquely identify mobile devices, from the days of AMPS in the United States from the early 1980s. The administrative role was taken over by the Telecommunications Industry Association in 1997 and is still...
. All previous models have used regular Mini-SIM cards. Depending on the operator, Micro-SIM cards may not be available for all networks globally. As a technical workaround it is possible to trim a Mini-SIM card with a knife or scissors so that it fits into the Micro-SIM tray.
As on previous models, all data is stored in flash memory
Flash memory
Flash memory is a non-volatile computer storage chip that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. It was developed from EEPROM and must be erased in fairly large blocks before these can be rewritten with new data...
, 16GB or 32GB, and not on the SIM. Unlike previous generations, the storage capacity is not printed on the back of the unit.
Design
The iPhone 4 features a redesigned structure, designed by Jonathan IveJonathan Ive
Jonathan "Jony" Ive, CBE is an English designer and the Senior Vice President of Industrial Design at Apple Inc. He is the leading designer and conceptual mind behind the iMac, titanium and aluminum PowerBook G4, G4 Cube, MacBook, unibody MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iPod, iPhone, and iPad.- Early...
. Most notably, the bulges of the back panel as well as the band between the front and back are gone and have been replaced with flattened surfaces. The redesign reflects the utilitarianism and uniformity of existing Apple products, such as the iPad
IPad
The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...
and the iMac
IMac
The iMac is a range of all-in-one Macintosh desktop computers built by Apple. It has been the primary part of Apple's consumer desktop offerings since its introduction in 1998, and has evolved through five distinct forms....
. The overall dimensions of the iPhone 4 have been reduced from its predecessor. It is 4.5 inches (114.3 mm) high, 2.31 inches (58.7 mm) wide, and 0.37 inches (9.4 mm) deep, compared to the iPhone 3GS, which is 4.55 inches (115.6 mm) high, 2.44 inches (62 mm) wide, and 0.48 inches (12.2 mm) deep; making the iPhone 4 24% thinner than its predecessor, the iPhone 3GS
IPhone 3GS
-Camera:The iPhone 3GS features an improved 3 megapixel camera manufactured by OmniVision. In addition to the higher megapixel count, it also features auto-focus, auto white balance and auto macro and is capable of capturing VGA video...
. Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs
Steven Paul Jobs was an American businessman and inventor widely recognized as a charismatic pioneer of the personal computer revolution. He was co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc...
claims that it is “the thinnest smartphone on the planet". The reduced size of the device is primarily due to the externally placed antenna.
The iPhone 4 is structured around a stainless steel
Stainless steel
In metallurgy, stainless steel, also known as inox steel or inox from French "inoxydable", is defined as a steel alloy with a minimum of 10.5 or 11% chromium content by mass....
frame that wraps around the edge of the phone, acting both as the primary structure for the device and as the iPhone 4's antennas. This metal band features two slits on the GSM version of the phone, one at the lower left, and one at the top (and a fake slit along the lower right, to cosmetically mirror the one at the lower left) that divide the band into two antenna sections: the left section of the band serves as the Bluetooth
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a proprietary open wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances from fixed and mobile devices, creating personal area networks with high levels of security...
, Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi or Wifi, is a mechanism for wirelessly connecting electronic devices. A device enabled with Wi-Fi, such as a personal computer, video game console, smartphone, or digital audio player, can connect to the Internet via a wireless network access point. An access point has a range of about 20...
, and GPS
Global Positioning System
The Global Positioning System is a space-based global navigation satellite system that provides location and time information in all weather, anywhere on or near the Earth, where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites...
antenna, and the right and lower sections of the band act as the antenna for GSM and UMTS
Universal Mobile Telecommunications System
Universal Mobile Telecommunications System is a third generation mobile cellular technology for networks based on the GSM standard. Developed by the 3GPP , UMTS is a component of the International Telecommunications Union IMT-2000 standard set and compares with the CDMA2000 standard set for...
connectivity. On the CDMA version of the phone, however, there are four slits in the metal band. Two at the top (on the left and right) and two at the bottom. This divides the metal band into four different segments, which like the GSM version of the phone, serves as different antennas for connectivity. The top portion of the band (divided by the top left and right slits) is for connecting to the CDMA network. The left portion of the metal band is for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and GPS just like the GSM version. The right side is not an antenna, but serves to cosmetically mirror the left side and also to create a similar look to the GSM version of the phone.
The internal components are situated between two panels of aluminosilicate
Aluminosilicate
Aluminosilicate minerals are minerals composed of aluminium, silicon, and oxygen, plus countercations. They are a major component of kaolin and other clay minerals....
glass, described by Apple as being "chemically strengthened to be 20 times stiffer and 30 times harder than plastic," theoretically allowing it to be more scratch resistant and durable than the previous models.
In fall 2010, pentalobular screws started to replace the Philips screws used in post-repair units in the US and in production units in Japan.
FaceTime
The iPhone 4 supports FaceTime, an embedded video calling application that is able to use either the front or back camera over a Wi-Fi connection to communicate with another iPhone 4, the fourth-generation iPod Touch, an iPad2 or any Mac computer running 10.6 Snow Leopard.Bumper
An iPhone 4 Bumper is a ring of rubber and plastic that surrounds the edge of the iPhone 4. The inner part is rubber with the external band made of plastic. The Bumper wraps around the edges of the device protecting the edges, and to a lesser extent, the screen. The Bumper does not cover the front or rear of the phone, though it does slightly raise the iPhone off whatever surface it is sitting on.Additionally, the plastic band houses metallic buttons for the volume controls and sleep/wake button. The six holes in the Bumper enable access to the mute switch, dock connector, headphone jack, speaker, and microphones. The bumper also can be used to prevent the "antenna issue" that users face when holding the parts of the steel band where the antennas are, that could cause the phone's signal to drop.
Technical issues
Some users have reported a yellow discoloration of the screen when they first received the phone which disappeared after several days, which was attributed to the glass lamination glue that was used. It did not have time to dry fully before the unit reached consumers due to the speed of manufacturing. Another issue reported by some users within days of the iPhone 4 release was that during calls the proximity sensor can be insensitive, so that facial contact with the touchscreen can end calls, mute calls, and dial other numbers.Antenna
Shortly after the iPhone 4 was launched, some consumers reported that signal strength of the phone was reduced when touching the lower left edge of the phone, bridging one of the two locations which separates the two antennas, resulting in dropped calls in some areas with lower signal reception. In response, Apple issued a statement advising that customers should "avoid gripping [the phone] in the lower left corner" when making or receiving a call.As a consequence of this problem, it was reported on July 2, 2010 that several iPhone 4 users were planning on suing Apple and AT&T
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
for fraud by concealment, negligence, intentional misrepresentation and defective design. The legal challenge was started by California law firm Kershaw, Cutter & Ratinoff
Kershaw, Cutter & Ratinoff
Kershaw, Cutter & Ratinoff is a personal injury and class action law firm located in Sacramento, California. The firm has seven attorneys, including its three founding partners, William A. Kershaw, C. Brooks Cutter and Eric J. Ratinoff...
, who set up a website to recruit disenchanted iPhone 4 buyers for a lawsuit against Apple. Later that day, Apple issued another statement stating that it had discovered the cause of the "dramatic drop in bars". Apple explained how the formula it used to calculate the number of bars to display was "wrong". Apple promised to correct the issue and release a software update within a few weeks that would address the "mistake", which had been present since the original iPhone
IPhone (original)
The iPhone—retroactively labeled the original iPhone, iPhone 2G, or iPhone EDGE—was the first generation of iPhone designed and marketed by Apple Inc. and was succeeded by the iPhone 3G. It was announced on January 9, 2007 after months of rumors and speculation. It was introduced in the United...
. The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
commented that "the failure to detect this longstanding problem earlier is astonishing."
Consumer Reports
Consumer Reports
Consumer Reports is an American magazine published monthly by Consumers Union since 1936. It publishes reviews and comparisons of consumer products and services based on reporting and results from its in-house testing laboratory. It also publishes cleaning and general buying guides...
initially stated that the iPhone 4's signal issues are not "unique, and may not be serious" and it continued to mention that signal loss is a problem that is faced by the entire smartphone industry. It has been such a problem that Apple made a formal apology. The next day, Consumer Reports altered their stance after encountering instances of dropped calls. Consumer Reports rejected Apple's explanation after conducting tests in a controlled environment, and comparing the results against previous generations of iPhone. It sarcastically pointed out that using a piece of tape to cover the lower left antenna gap was one way to fix the problem, but recommended that consumers who "want an iPhone that works well without a masking-tape fix" purchase the iPhone 3GS
IPhone 3GS
-Camera:The iPhone 3GS features an improved 3 megapixel camera manufactured by OmniVision. In addition to the higher megapixel count, it also features auto-focus, auto white balance and auto macro and is capable of capturing VGA video...
instead. Consumer Reports also tested the iPhone 4 whilst it was wearing a Bumper, a frame-like cover manufactured by Apple that prevents direct contact with the antenna, reporting that it did resolve the problem. CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
repeated Consumer Reports statement that a small amount of duct tape
Duct tape
Duct tape, or duck tape, is cloth- or scrim-backed pressure sensitive tape often sealed with polyethylene. It is very similar to gaffer tape but differs in that gaffer tape was designed to be cleanly removed, while duct tape was not. It has a standard width of and is generally silver or black...
had proven an effective fix to the iPhone 4's dropped call issue.
On July 16, 2010, at a press conference, Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs
Steven Paul Jobs was an American businessman and inventor widely recognized as a charismatic pioneer of the personal computer revolution. He was co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc...
announced that Apple would provide all iPhone 4 owners with a free case to help solve the antenna issue and a refund to those users who had already purchased a Bumper. The free case offer would be valid until September 30, 2010, when Apple would re-evaluate the situation. To get a free case, owners were able to apply via an app installed on the phone found in the App Store from July 22, 2010 to September 30, 2010. Jobs also announced that Apple could not produce enough Bumpers for all owners of the phone, but would source a supply and offer a range of cases. Additionally, Jobs cited figures from AppleCare
AppleCare
AppleCare is a service and support plan offered by Apple Inc. that extends the standard Apple warranty and phone support for its products to two years for iPods, iPads, and iPhones or three years for Macs.-AppleCare Protection Plan:...
which showed that only 0.55 percent of all iPhone 4 users have complained to the company about the issue, while the number of phones returned to Apple was 1.7 percent4.3 percentage points less than the number of iPhone 3GS models that were returned in the first month of the phone's launch.
Consumer Reports noted that the solution was not permanent, though a good first step. However, because Jobs did not specify a time line for fixing the problem, and the offering for a free bumper only being a temporary solution, PC World
PC World (magazine)
PC World is a global computer magazine published monthly by IDG. It offers advice on various aspects of PCs and related items, the Internet, and other personal-technology products and services...
decided to remove the iPhone 4 from its "Top 10 Cell Phones" chart and reassign it to a pending rating.
AnandTech
AnandTech
AnandTech is an online computer hardware magazine. It was founded in 1997 by then 15-year-old Anand Lal Shimpi, who is the current editor-in-chief and CEO. The web site is recommended as a good resource of hardware reviews for off-the-shelf components addressed to computer building enthusiasts...
researched iPhone 4 antenna and identified that its outer construction provides 5–9 dB (6.9–9 times) better sensitivity comparing to common internal antenna design of iPhone 3Gs (the phone keeps working connection with signal as low as −120/121 dB comparing to usual −113/115 dB).
Despite the negative media attention regarding the antenna issues, 72% of iPhone 4 users say that they are "very satisfied" with their iPhone 4 according to an August 2010 survey by ChangeWave Research.
Camera image fault
Reports about iPhone 4 cameras being rendered useless by a peculiar fault started to show up on the Internet in September 2010. Under certain lighting conditions the back camera produces a large green 'halo' in the center of the image. This renders many of these images to be of much lower quality than what the iPhone 3GS is capable of producing under similar lighting conditions. Reports started surfacing on forums and have since been picked up by major media sources.Compass
The built in Compass application has a couple of minor software issues. In use it displays the iPhone's position at the bottom of the compass display (derived from the inbuilt A-GPS facility). While this positional information is correct for most of the world, there is a minor issue that if the longitudeLongitude
Longitude is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east-west position of a point on the Earth's surface. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees, minutes and seconds, and denoted by the Greek letter lambda ....
is greater than zero and less than one degree west of the meridian, the app incorrectly reports the longitude as being east of the meridian. (fixed with iOS 5.0)
Also when crossing the date line, the longitude changes from 179°59'59" W directly to 179°59'59" E (or vice versa) missing out 180°0'0" E. Crossing the meridian, the display correctly shows 0°0'0" E
Reaction to the announcement
Media reaction to Steve Jobs'Steve Jobs
Steven Paul Jobs was an American businessman and inventor widely recognized as a charismatic pioneer of the personal computer revolution. He was co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc...
announcement of the iPhone 4 was generally positive. The announcement included information that had not been covered by Gizmodo. Fox News
Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
commented that "seeing it in action is far more informative than staring at Gizmodo's photos of a busted test unit". Rhodri Marsden
Rhodri Marsden
-Journalism:Rhodri Marsden currently writes a weekly column for The Independent called "Life On Marsden", and a monthly "Cyberculture" spread for the same newspaper about technology and the internet. He previously wrote The Observer Music Monthly's "Guitarist Wanted" column, which required him to...
of The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
said that "aside from the introduction of face-to-face video calling, it's not a staggering feature set," instead focusing on how the device is "more powerful than its predecessor, speedier, easier to use and will make previously laborious tasks seem like a cinch".
CNET
CNET.com
CNET is a tech media website that publishes news articles, blogs, and podcasts on technology and consumer electronics. Originally founded in 1994 by Halsey Minor and Shelby Bonnie, it was the flagship brand of CNET Networks and became a brand of CBS Interactive through CNET Networks' acquisition...
reacted to the announcement by explaining how it believes that iMovie for iOS was the "most exciting part of this year's WWDC Keynote". The article noted how the iPhone 4, unlike current cameras, can record HD content and then edit it from the same device, labeling it a "true mobile editing suite".
Reviews
Reviews of the iPhone 4 have been generally favorable. Walt Mossberg of The Wall Street JournalThe Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
called the device "the best device in its class". Engadget
Engadget
Engadget is a multilingual technology blog network with daily coverage of gadgets and consumer electronics. Though on appearance Engadget functions much like a blog and may be defined as such, much of its editorial content takes the form of an online magazine...
named it the "best smartphone on the market" in June 2010. CNET
CNET
CNET is a tech media website that publishes news articles, blogs, and podcasts on technology and consumer electronics. Originally founded in 1994 by Halsey Minor and Shelby Bonnie, it was the flagship brand of CNET Networks and became a brand of CBS Interactive through CNET Networks' acquisition...
gave the iPhone 4 a rating of 8.6 out of 10, one of the highest ratings it has given any smartphone. TechRadar
TechRadar
TechRadar is an online publication focused on technology company which looks and reviews the most available tech today. TechRadar is owned by the Future plc company, the sixth-largest in the United Kingdom. It has a great number of reviews. Such as: Tablet Computer, Smartphone, PC, Macintosh,...
gave the device 4.5/5 stars. Consumer Reports said the signal problem was the reason they did not rate it a "recommended" model, although the other tests ranked it highest among smart phones.
Joshua Topolsky of Engadget
Engadget
Engadget is a multilingual technology blog network with daily coverage of gadgets and consumer electronics. Though on appearance Engadget functions much like a blog and may be defined as such, much of its editorial content takes the form of an online magazine...
described the device's industrial design as being "more detailed and sophisticated" than its predecessor.
iPhones in space
In 2011, two iPhone 4 with a special app were taken to the International Space StationInternational Space Station
The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...
aboard the Space Shuttle
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...
on the STS-135
STS-135
STS-135 was the final mission of the American Space Shuttle program. It used the orbiter Atlantis and hardware originally processed for the STS-335 contingency mission, which was not flown. STS-135 launched on 8 July and was originally scheduled to land on 20 July 2011, but the mission was...
mission. The devices were used in various experiments, utilizing sensors and a special app.