Multitasking entails some trade-offs, and home screen folders are limited to 12 apps. AT&T reception continues to be spotty, and you'll need a case for the best calling reception. Also, we'd prefer a 64GB model.
The bottom line: With the iPhone 4, Apple again shows that it is a powerful player in the smartphone wars. It won't be for everyone, the call quality and reception vary if you don't use a case, and AT&T's network remains a sticking point, but the handset's striking design, loaded feature set, and generally agreeable performance make it the best
If Apple hasn’t convinced you already that it is capable of creating some of the most beautiful consumer electronics products on the planet, consider for a moment the G4 Cube, a decade-old computer that was quite literally museum-ready upon its release. Suspending the entire box-shaped computer above the surface of a table in a clear plastic frame, the Cube was a masterpiece of industrial design, a departure from what had come before, and ultimately, a flop. The plastic cracked during normal use, the high price tag kept it out of reach for people who wanted to own it anyway, and the company discontinued it after only a year. Yet many people, including us, still think of it fondly as a brilliant concept that wasn’t quite ready for prime time.
Due to its more aggressive pricing, Apple’s new mobile phone iPhone 4($299/32GB) will unquestionably sell in numbers that would have kept the G4 Cube around for years, but it’s the product of the same bold, brilliant, and sometimes reckless design philosophy that has made so many Apple products lustworthy, yet destined for early repair or replacement. Like the Cube, it achieves its physical beauty by making novel use of a delicate material—this time, twin panes of glass—held together with a metal internal frame that notably includes its wireless antennas. Fresh out of the box, iPhone 4 sparkles with a minimalist sleekness that some have compared to the work of vaunted German designer Dieter Rams, though it simultaneously evokes durability concerns that even its plastic predecessors couldn’t match, and creates issues that Rams might call antithetical to a few of his famous principles of good design.
