Apple iPhone 4G 16GB Quadband World GSM Phone (Manufacturer Unlocked) Reviews

Average Customer Rating - 2 Reviews

A counter to the absurd 2 star review posted here., December 9, 2010
Obviously an employee of another OEM/provider with an axe to grind against Apple as he has posted one review on Amazon 4 times, all about the iPhone 4. His primary complaint seems to be the dreaded antenna "problem" I've read about recently, this is easily solved by wrapping your iPhone in a protective case which you're going to do anyway when you spend this much money on a smartphone. Slap on a bumper case and you cannot replicate the issue with the antenna, and will never experience a problem with lost signal strength. Read on............

I had the 8GB 3G model and thought that was great, until I got a demo of the iPhone 4. Man is this version is light years ahead of the original model.

With a 1Ghz CPU, and 16GB of flash memory, this thing is a portable office/entertainment center par excellence. I've had this phone for 3 months without a single problem, the display is nice and sharp, the apps load very fast, and I now have over 130 apps to perform just about every duty you could possibly think of with absolutely no impact on performance. And on the ATT 3G network, I average download speeds of around 1.8Mbps, and over 1M upload speeds....and how do I know that, cause I got an app that tells me that's how. BTW, the display is the equivalent of a 960x640 on your desktop so what you see is essentially a high res yield and page loads are superfast. And resident memory, after a full days use I just checked and still had 120Mb of Ram available. On the 3G model that number was usually down around 4Mb by the end of the work day and had to be refreshed.

I was in the computer/design/manufacturing business for 20 years, and this is by far the most amazing piece of technology I have ever seen or imagined. Even the battery life is 3x better than the previous model, and thats a good thing cause its integrated but a full charge should yield and entire days work of calls, emails, surfing the web, SMS messaging, and play. I no longer need my laptop cause there's nothing I cant do with the iPhone, and that includes sending faxes, editing Excel or Word documents, and even printing. A flash for the 5MP camera, an HD video camera, and even real time video conferencing over a wireless network, and Bluetooth that unlike the 3G model is actually compatible with everything you throw at it, including Garmin GPS....just amazing. This thing even has 2 mics with noise suppression so calls are clearer on the other end. Man, Apple hit this one out of the park.

BTW, with all the apps, music, and videos I've got loaded on this thing I've still got 10GB of flash memory remaining. I cant imagine why anybody would need more storage, and the 32GB model isn't any faster and doesn't have any more features. You'll need iTunes on your desktop to get the most out of this phone and iTunes can be a little intimidating at first but its worth the trouble, and all the instruction you need can be found on the web or Youtube for transferring photos, videos, music, apps, etc.

Update 12/09/10: I've been reading up on the "antenna problem" with the iPhone 4 and have this to say..... It is easily cured by slapping on a hard case or shell on the phone, which eliminates the issue I see some people complaining about. I have personally never experienced this issue because I left the AT&T store with a protective shell on my phone which virtually everybody I've ever seen with an iPhone has anyway. Very simply you CANNOT replicate the reported "death grip" problem with a shell around the outer frame. Cant be done. And BTW, I don't know if its due to network improvements or what but lately I'm getting 4Mbps download speeds so if anything I'm happier with my purchase now than I was 4 months ago. Zero complaints, and that's something most smartphone users of other OEM products can't say.

Not that Smart, Its beauty is only skin deep! A vehicle with all luxury but smooth drive, November 14, 2010
Story in short ->
1. The first moment I see this stunning beauty iPhone 4: I said WOW! I am totally in disbelief mode how one can make so beautiful thing. I am in total love with the lady.
2. After living with this lady for some days: How could God (Apple) create so beautiful with ugliest heart! I mean beauty is sometime very deceptive but not that much.
3. I am still in love with this stunningly beautiful lady: I return first iPhone 4 and try another iPhone 4. Still hoping for best.
4. I got same replica of this lady. (God cannot create the exact replica of most beautiful things but Apple can)
5. After living with this lady only for few days: I am more than happy to part my ways with this stunning beauty. Let me tell you, in my whole life I have never been so happy to part my ways with so beautiful lady.
6. Now I am in totally hate of this lady to the extent I even don't want to the face of this lady. I say: Hey Beautiful lady please go back to Apple's beautiful store, museum or in REEL life (MOVIE). You have no place in my REAL life.
Interested in full version of the story? Please go head and read.

My first review ever (FYI I am 35+ of age and bought many products). I have never written any review for any product so far. THE SOLE PURPOSE OF WRITING THIS REVIEW IS TO SAVE YOU YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY. SO HERE GOES THE ONE OF MOST HONEST REVIEW OF THE GREAT IPHONE 4 WITHOUT BEING MESMERIZED BY THE SHEER BEAUTY OF THE PHONE.
SO READ THIS REVIEW IF YOU DO CARE OF YOUR MONEY ELSE YOU ARE MORE THAN WELCOME TO BUY IPHONE 4 AND HAVE YOUR EXPERIENCE OF YOUR OWN.
I received my iPhone 4 almost 17 days back from AT&T on 12th Oct 2010. From the first day itself it started showing me all of its true colors.
Pros:
1. As everybody says great display (Retina display).
2. Great and simple and nearly perfect touch user interface.
3. Hands down the most beautiful phone with best built and finishing.
4. 5MP HD camera.
Cons:
1. `ANTENNAGATE' -> From the moment we started using it we had that notorious 'antenna' problem. Everybody including us so much pissed with the voice quality suffered because of this issue that we preferred not to talk at all. Sometime the voice was so low at both ends that it was not audible at all. Even after putting the bumper on the phone did not solve the problem entirely. Sometime though rare we noticed the above antenna symptoms again. I PROUDLY SAY "I WAS ABLE TO PRODUCE THIS PROBLEM ON ALL FOUR IPHONE 4 I HAD COME ACROSS". ON ALL THE IPHONES THE SIGNAL BARS WENT TO 2 FROM 4-5. Many videos can be found on youtube.com for the same (JUST CHECK THEM OUT THEY WILL FEEL YOU GREAT HORROR MOVIES IPHONE 4 BEAUTY LOVERS). This issue was not blown out of proportion as against what Steve Job's claimed.

There are some very important things to note here about this so called `most appreciated company' Apple and one of its best product iPhone4:
(i) SEE THE CHANGING COLORS OF APPLE/APPLE CEO STEVE JOBS:
(First) No such problem ->
(Second) Not that big problem ->
(Third) Others are having the same problem (Did you hear it before? Or at least others don't give trouble when you hold them in your normal style) ->
(Fourth) Take the bumper ->
(Fifth) Avoid holding in that position.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs said `avoid holding that way'. Apple Please tell us why should customer amend their `normal' way of holding the phone that too after having paid so much price? Instead should not Apple should have taken the moral responsibility of this mistake and recalled it?

Apple/Steve should be ashamed of when they asked to asked customer to change the way of holding the phone. But how Steve could do that? Then he will no longer be the best CEO of the so called best company? (It would have incurred the loss right?) Most ridiculous asking so far I guess. Why there should be any restriction on the most basic thing `holding the phone'. It's like one electronic switch company saying please press the button in certain way else ...'

(ii) This antenna problem comes into the play when most of the right handed people hold the phone their most natural way. It seems that so big and quality conscious company has even failed to do even a simple usability and quality testing. Shame on you Apple!
2. BATTERY -> Battery would run only for 24 hours at max without using battery consuming features. So all claims of this many hours for standby, video, internet etc. looks false.
3. TURNED OFF ITSELF -> On 17th day my iPhone 4 turned it off on its own though it was fully charged.
4. NO ADOBE FLASH SUPPORT -> Though `Adobe flash' is universal standard for web this iPhone 4 still does not support it. Great Mr. stubborn Apple!
5. SPEAKER VOICE NOT GREAT -> Speaker voice not that loud and not acceptable for this so called great smart phone. Many Other phones outperform iPhone 4 in this area.
6. VERY POOR SIGNAL RECEPTION AND CALL QUALITY -> Call voice quality average and not that great what one would expect from this phone. MY BLACKBERRY CURVE 8310 WITH THE SAME ATT NETWORK WOULD WORK EVEN IN UNDERGROUND PATH STATION AND THIS GREAT IPHONE 4 DOES NOT EVEN WORK INSIDE WALMART WHICH IS QUITE OPEN WITH THE SAME ATT NETWORK. POOREST SIGNAL RECEPTION. THE T-MOBILE NETWORK WITH THE BASIC PHONE (WHICH I USED TO HATE A LOT EARLIER) SEEMS WORK BETTER THANKS TO IPHONE 4. SO IN SHORT THE WORST COMBO IS WORKING BETTER WHEN COMPARED TO BEST COMBO (ATT AND IPHONE 4)
Another couple shared the same thing with me. They told me that Blackberry Torch with worst network (T-Mobile) was having better reception than the dead combination iPhone and ATT.
7. BAD 3G EXPERIENCE -> I noticed couple of other things with respect to 3G. When I keep 3G and cellular data on, the signal bars are very low where regular network is giving full bars and I was not able to access the web at all even in prime city locations. Not sure whose problem it is: Apple or service provider.
Once I turned the cell data on and the bar became from four to one and then zero, after that my iPhone went into Searching mode forever though I turned off the cell data plan. As usual I restarted the phone and it worked. Looks like another bug in phone's simple functionality.
8. BEAUTY IS ONLY SKIN DEEP -> This iPhone's beauty is only skin deep. Beautiful by looks only not by heart (features). If you compare it with a woman then I would say its most beautiful woman but with HIV. So you can do whatever with this stunning lady but those basic things (you know what I mean right?)
9. THE LADY WITH HIV LIKES TO BE TOUCHED AGAIN AND AGAIN -> This lady with HIV will work only when you touch it, thanks to the touch interface of it. So if want turn off the phone press the button then touch (slide). You want to turn it on; press the button and touch (slide the finger on it). Want to make a call? Touch the phone application icon and then type the number (forget the good old days when you just touch either number key or call button and you could do it). Done with you call and want to finish the call? Don't forget to touch the end button. ENOUGH?
10. EXPLOITING CONSUMERS -> Like other companies (Earlier Microsoft for example) Apple also started using malpractices and exploiting the situation because this company is now in command. Some examples :
(i) AV component cable you have to buy from Apple only. Other's cables do not work. Now imagine the price of Apple's AV component cable: $49. That's almost 1/10 of the price of the phone itself.
(ii) The iPhone cannot be (or as easily) unlocked as other phones.
(iii) I heard if you unlock the iPhone the other's carrier's SIM does not go that well (May be because of its unlocking through software not through hardware).
(IV) ON ATT AND APPLE WEB SITE YOU WILL NOT FIND ANY REVIEW OF THIS GREAT IPHONE 4. REASON: APPLE CANNOT MAKE ANYTHING LESS THAN GREAT! (HA HA HA)

SUMMARY: THIS IPHONE 4 IS EVERYTHING ELSE BUT CELL PHONE. PLEASE SPEND YOU MONEY ON SOMETHING WORTH AND MAKE SURE AT LEAST YOU ARE GETTING WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR THAT IS A CELL PHONE AT LEAST WITH GOOD RECEPTION AND CALL QUALITY.

Question to all of you ->
Now I ask you all, the phone which cannot even offer you basic things well, what you would call it smart phone? There is one car with all kind of luxuries: AC, pool, TV and whatever you can imagine but it does not drive well. The engine gives some trouble after every two hours. Will you buy that car? Are you going to live in that car? First thing for any vehicle obviously is smooth driving right? Same way most important thing for any cell phone is good signals and good voice quality. This phone lacks in those basic things. Apple, you have to get those basic things right. So when consumer reports did not suggest this phone to consumers they were absolutely right.
I am not that happy with this phone.

Update on 6th Nov 2010 ->
I tried my second iPhone 4 after returning the first. The experience is getting worse about this iPhone 4 and I have decided to return the phone. ATT exchanged my first iPhone4 with already returned by other customer (Looks like other than me there was one more wise guy in this world who returned this phone). Shame on ATT who charged me the price of new piece and sent me the refurbished one.
Bye Bye the great beautiful iPhone 4, Please go back to Apple Beautiful store or museum or in REEL life (movie) , you have no place in my REAL life or pocket which is looking for just a decent usable cell phone.

Update on 25th Nov 2010 ->
I returned the second iPhone 4 also and start using my other spare $9 phone. CAN YOU BELIEVE $9 phone is working better in terms of voice and reception quality.

SINCERE ADVICE ->->-> Please wait for next iPhone. This iPhone 4 really sucks. Apple had become very over-confident when they release iPhone 4, because they know there are many BEAUTY BLIND people who would buy this DUMB BEAUTY without even reading review for it even though they had to stand in the QUEUE.

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