Come for the Ride!

It’s been four years since the original iPhone was released and the phone we’ve wanted from the get-go is finally here.

Honestly I can’t believe it took four years for the technology to catch up to our imaginations but thanks to at&t and it’s massive buckets of FAIL, we’re still not where we COULD be with this phone. As a side note, I guess I just don’t understand why if we’re supposed to be the world’s leader in technology that we are so behind on little things like cellphone technology. But I digress…

Apple Store with black curtains up!

With regards to the new iPhone, one thing Steve Jobs finally got me to do that I haven’t done since Halo 2 was to fight the mob and wait in line on release day to get this in my hands. Maybe it was the crazy marketing hype. Maybe it was the sexy form factor. Maybe it was the fact that this was the phone I imagined I’d have from the first time I could start imagining a cellphone without a keyboard. Whatever it may be… Apple managed to get me out of bed at 3 in the morning. Go visit a mall at 4:30. Break the law by sneaking inside the mall, hiding in the bathroom for a good 20 minutes to avoid the security guards. (Seriously WTF is wrong with me?) Get into an argument with the said security guard about where the line was forming after starting the line in front of the Apple store. Threatened to be arrested by the APD for trespassing; twice! Then being escorted outside where I ended up behind 50+ people who were waiting in one line – and then being told our line wasn’t the official line so I got bumped again to 450+ in the “official” merged line. All this just for a phone that I basically already have in the form of 3GS?

Now that I’ve typed this – it DOES sound crazy.

The line at Lenox mall

An Apple employee's crowd control shoes

So 3+ hours of waiting later, I finally got my phone from Apple and finished the process luckily before the west coast stores opened. I did not want any type of delays from more at&t FAILS and I think I dodged a few bullets last night. So was the prize worth it? HELL YES!

Click to see the full size pic.

The marketing hyped “retina display” (a.k.a. print quality dpi) really does look great and is noticeable between the two iPhones. On the right, you’ll notice the “slide to unlock” text shows up much more like e-ink than the version on the left. The pictures are also a lot more vivid on the iPhone 4. More pixels = more colors per inch, and less ambient light protruding through. While I wouldn’t say the old phone is less clear, it just looks a bit more washed out in comparison.

The improved camera with flash is also a welcome bonus. While it will never replace my Canon DSLR, having that LED flash now opens up so many more opportunities for me to leave the Canon at home during social gatherings. Also, now that I can push out HD video, maybe I’ll get into more of that in addition to photography. (I still can’t get used to the idea of filming a video w/ a DSLR.)

As for the other 100+ modifications that were added in the hardware and the new iOS4, it will take me awhile to figure it all out to see if I even recognize them all. As fanboi as it sounds, I do love carrying this Apple branded tri-corder around. Assuming the phone companies will stop fighting for the laziest network ever award once the exclusivity with at&t is over, I’m excited to see how fast things will improve in the years to come as networks push for more features instead of less. For now, I’m just happy to have one of modern day’s gold brick in my possession.