iPhone 4 - review

By Nigel Wood, UK
for www.touchgen.com

Published: June 24, 2010

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The iPhone 4 has landed. Is it all it’s cracked up to be? Is it worth upgrading?… and more importantly, is it good for gaming?

The first thing that strikes you when you get it in your hand is its build quality. Steve Jobs mentioned in the unveiling that it has the build similar to that of an old Leica camera… and it certainly has that quality feel to it. Sculpted from a band of stainless steel and finished both front and back with glass, it feels very solid! The 3GS wasn’t an ugly device by any stretch of the imagination, but when placed side by side with the iPhone 4 it looks plasticey, bulky and cheap by comparison. Strangely, its solid feel makes it seem heavier than the 3GS, but they are in fact similar in weight. The new iPhone 4 is now a few millimetres thinner and is flush flat on the back, unlike the curved back of the 3GS. I am one of the few people who actually liked the curved back of the 3GS, as it was comfortable in the hand, and when in your pocket you new which way round it was when answering a call, something I have failed to do since using the iPhone 4. Having said that, the more slab-like shape of the iPhone 4 allows for a better grip with one hand compared to the tapered edge of the 3GS, and so hopefully will ensure less dropping incidents… and cracked screens!

The major selling point of the new iPhone is the retina display. It’s the stupidest name for a display I have ever heard. I understand why they call it that, based on the fact that the human retina cannot make out individual pixels on the high definition screen, but it has caused tons of confusion from consumers who think it has something to do with retina scanning security… in fact I met someone in line for the iPhone 4 who thought just that. Name aside, there is no denying that it does look gorgeous. Even text messages look great. Basically the new screen is four times the resolution of the 3GS, which brings it almost up to snuff with the iPad’s resolution, but in a screen about six times smaller. This allows for not only super sharp text, but HD video and of course great looking games. Websites look great too, even when zoomed right out you can still read the tiny text, while on the 3GS it would be unreadable. The screen is not only sharper, but it is brighter, eliminating viewing problems in direct sunlight. The black levels are richer too, with any blacks looking like they meld into the black of the casing. In games, particularly dark ones like Doom Resurrection, this is most apparent.

The video and photo capabilities are the next major update in the phone. The paltry 2 mega pixel of the 3G and 3 mega pixel of the 3GS have been upped to 5 mega pixels. And while this isn’t huge compared to other smart phones, the quality of the photos taken look fantastic thanks to some technical trickery from Apple (something about photons, but I won’t bore you). A front facing camera has also been added allowing, what Apple have dubbed ‘facetime’, the ability to enter into video calls, albeit with iPhone 4’s and over wifi only. The best feature though is the ability to record HD (720p) using the video capture, something useful to me when I forget my full HD camcorder. Check out the results below of a lunchtime stroll with my greyhound. I even edited it and published it direct from the iPhone 4 using the recently released app ‘iMovie’ (sold separately)

So, with TouchGen predominately an iPhone gaming site, how does it perform as a gaming handheld?

I mentioned earlier that I liked the curved back of the 3GS. However, the iPhone 4 is far more comfortable for playing games. Despite being thinner than the 3GS, the iPhone 4 has more surface area around the edge of the device, this allows you to rest your finger easier and grip it better for long play sessions, particularly when using two hands for racing or for first person shooter-style virtual thumbsticks.

Developers are slowly but surely updating their games to look great on the iPhone 4. It’s not really necessary as the games are upscaled to fit and look perfectly fine. But for graphics whores like myself, seeing the games run at the increased resolution is real eye candy. Take Firemint for example, they have released free updates for both Flight Control and Real Racing which detects the device and renders the high resolution when needed. This is most apparent in Real Racing which looks gorgeous on the iPhone 4, possibly even better than the iPad version. Geometry looks incredibly smooth and runs at a solid 60 frames, and not only that but another added feature of the iPhone 4, the Gyroscope, is put to good use here for more precise steering. Overall a great example of an iPhone 4 update. Check out the side by side screenshots below.

Eventually, as the 3GS slips away and the iPod Touch is updated to the A4 processor, the iPhone 4 tech will become the defacto standard (until of course the next one that is). When that happens, developers will be confident enough to release games that not only up the resolution, but also take advantage of the processing power for bigger and better 3D worlds, richer textures and better motion controls.

In conclusion then, the new iPhone 4 is a worthy successor to the 3GS… it looks gorgeous, performs flawlessly and betters it in almost every way… as you would expect! However, for many people the new features are more of a luxury than a necessity. For that reason the iPhone 4 should be considered a high end device, and unless you need those new features either to aid your everyday needs or to purely show off, then the – now entry level – 3GS should suffice.

5-stars

Review disclosure: Any games reviewed on this page may have been provided to us by the developer for the purposes of this review. Note: the resulting review score is never impeded by this fact, all opinions are that of the TouchGen reviewer and not the developer. This is in keeping with our O.A.T.S oath. Read more about O.A.T.S here

5 Comments on "iPhone 4 - review"

Nathan Mustafa on Thu, 24th Jun 2010 9:51 pm

I may just buy someone’s old 3gs and use it as a new iPod

ltcommander.data on Fri, 25th Jun 2010 2:47 am

Do the 3GS pictures in the Real Racing comparison have AA enabled? I’d be interested in seeing how 480×320 with AA compares to 960×480 without AA on the Retina Display. If the former is fairly comparable to the later, then 3rd and 4th gen devices could just share the same game code.

Eric on Fri, 25th Jun 2010 5:54 am

I wonder if PowerVR SGX535 found in the iPhone 4 and iPad run at the same speed?

Nigel Wood, UK on Sat, 21st Aug 2010 2:42 pm

In hindsight my ‘performs flawlessly’ comment was a little erroneous LOL

Austin on Sun, 22nd Aug 2010 6:42 am

To hell with my 3G. I gave in and spent 99 bucks on the 3GS. I don’t need the iPhone 4 right now, maybe next year. I will definitely say that the 3GS running iOS 4 is like heaven compared to hell on the 3G, got the Topo Frame Case with it. When the iPhone 4S/5 comes out year after next then I’ll probably get that. but as Nigel said himself, the 3GS should suffice, and indeed it has, even for a hardcore gamer like me.

iPhone 4 - review

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