APPLE iPHONE 4

I watched Steve Job's live event which unveiled the iPhone in a whole new avatar. I got this mobile for few months before I can switch on to a new one. So let me just share my experience with what Apple claims to be the best mobile device ever.

It’s likely down to the combination of Apple’s A4 processor and, according to teardown reports, twice as much RAM (512MB) as the 3GS. There’s also 802.11n Wi-Fi, though it only works on 2.4GHz networks with a lower maximum speed than those running on the 5GHz band.

Aside from that, it’s the new design of the iPhone that’s most striking. Beyond the front face, it’s a marked departure from the ergonomics of all three previous generations, as it’s flat on all sides and edges. Only the corners are curved.

iPhone 4's edges aren't sharp, though. The glass front and back are slightly inset from the metal frame. It’s 3mm thinner, but it doesn’t feel like it fills the curve of your hand as well as the older ones, unless, perhaps, you have exceptionally small ones. And there’s the rub: it took mere minutes to appreciate the curved back when it debuted on the iPhone 3G. It’s a shame to see the previous design almost entirely abandoned.

The improved camera is a good thing given that's one of the major new features, FaceTime video calls would fall flat on its backside if the camera quality was awful. So far, we’ve taken part in call, which has to be done over Wi-Fi, and what struck us was the elegance of turning on FaceTime and switching between the front and rear camera mid-call.

Steve Jobs claimed there was no set-up required. He was right. You just tap the FaceTime button on screen and the iPhone tries to establish the video call with the other person. If they’re not using an iPhone 4, it rejects gracefully and your voice call continues uninterrupted.

By now you’ve probably seen reports of issues with the signal indicator when the phone is touched on the left and right sides and the bottom-left corner of its metal frame. It’s easy to reproduce. That’s how we held our 3GS, but so far we haven’t experienced any dropped calls because of it, even when it fell to one bar, nor did call quality appear to suffer.

The sound quality in every call we’ve placed has been remarkably good. It seems the second, noise-canceling mic on the top of the phone does its job well, but we’ll be putting it through more extensive testing in different environments over the next few days.

Beyond hardware changes, the most important update to Apple’s phones could well turn out to be the new operating system.For consolidating your home and work emails, iOS 4’s best feature is the unified inbox, which is standard on iPhone 4 and available on old models once updated via iTunes. It lets you see all of your incoming mail in one folder, no matter which account they’re from.

Being able to gather apps into folders was rapidly becoming a necessity for us. But you can get these features on your 3GS and if you’ve got one of the older ones with plenty of capacity for your needs, you may want to think long and hard before you decide on splashing out or waiting another year to see what Apple pulls out of its hat. We expect you’ll love it if you’re coming from the original iPhone or iPhone 3G, though.

The final verdict is that those who are Apple fans will love it but this isnt a revolutionary product at all. Its just an evolution.