Apple has a history of leading the industry through new, experimental features. From touchscreens and visual voicemail, accelerometers and mobile apps the other phone manufacturers have been left to scramble behind. This time it’s a different story. With a wrap-around antenna, a video calling app, and built-in gyroscope the iPhone 4 certainly has unique tricks to offer, but their value is so uncertain no one’s planning to copy them anytime soon. Instead the new iPhone pushes forward with three powerful, core updates; better screen, better camera, better battery. In fact the screen, in my opinion, is the best in the industry.

Design

For the first time the iPhone looks different. The contoured plastic is gone and in its place there is a thinner body with a sharper edge. Looking this time isn’t as important as touching. Both the back and front are now glass, affectionately cool to the touch, and chemically-treated to have the same rock-hard properties of Sapphire.

Growing up in my father’s machine shop I learned which materials offer the best sensory experiences. There’s the taste and scent of metal, the look and feel of glass, and the presence and beauty of wood. As malleable as plastic is, it simple doesn’t rate. Compare an antique computer to an antique chair and you’ll see what I mean.

Apple’s lead industrial designer Jonathan Ives has a knack for creating products that you have to hold in your hands to “get” and by replacing the plastic we know with a mixture of glass and steel he’s created a form factor that is more tangible and inventive.

Reception

One key aspect of the iPhone’s new design is a band of metal wrapped around the very perimeter edge. In an aim to increase radio reception, the band is used to house the phone’s antennas, a novel idea, but it has lead to a heated debate as to whether this makes it more receptive to interference from the electromagnetic fields created by our bodies.

I’ve tried to find a real world issue here and cannot. No matter where I’ve travelled within Toronto, running an iPhone 4 on the Bell network, I can’t find a location or situation where the iPhone 4 suffers a noticeable and sudden loss of signal. I’ve also explored the issue using both the previous iPhones , several BlackBerry devices, a number of Android-powered handsets and have found nothing of consequence.

Radio signals involve both a transmitter and a receiver and the system is designed to work even when there is interference. A weak transmitting signal can still be picked up by a strong receiver, and a strong transmitting signal can still reach a weak receiver. Even if the iPhone 4 does drop a few bars, the network’s signal strength will compensate.

To suffer an issue both sides would have to be very weak, something that is possible in the United States where networks are stretched across large areas and some spots may fall through the cracks, but unlikely here in Canada where networks are concentrated just like our population. It would still be the exception, not the rule, and a circumstance that could impact other smartphones just as easily as the iPhone 4.

No matter what the case, I can’t warn against an issue I’m not experiencing or witnessing.

Retina Display

The iPhone 4’s screen displays text better than any other device I’ve seen. To look at the pages of books, e-mails, and even websites is like putting on a new pair of subscription glasses. Apple’s new “retina” technology delivers a resolution that brings out the fine detail of lines and fonts. It’s better than the e-ink screens of today’s digital book readers and better in my opinion than Samsung’s Super AMOLED screen technology, used in the upcoming Galaxy S smartphone. Of all the iPhone 4’s features, the retina display is the one that delivers the newest experience.

Camera

In the past I’ve described the camera as one of the iPhone’s weaknesses, not because it took poor photos, on the contrary it has done quite well with a 2 MP and 3 MP camera, but because it made for a poor stand-in for a digital camera. Now, with 5 Megapixels, that’s changed.

The iPhone 4 takes beautiful photos and the increased resolution means that the digital 5x zoom performs better. Apple says a number of improvements to the camera sensor mean that it performs better at low-light photography. That’s true but not noticeably enough to crow about it. Instead casual shooters will find better help from a built-in flash, it may not be Xenon as some phones offer, but is blindingly bright and if needed, can be easily turn off.

FaceTime

A second, VGA-quality camera is now hidden next to the earpiece on the front of the iPhone 4 and again it takes better pictures and video than you’d expect. The idea is to use it with Apple’s own video calling application called FaceTime, and like many Apple apps is very easy and intuitive to use.

Video calling was first introduced in North America by Rogers Wireless several years ago and it never really took off and I don’t think Apple will change that any time soon. Their version isn’t true video calling, you can only place calls to another iPhone 4 and only if a Wi-Fi network is available.

When you have those rare conditions met, yes, it’s very easy. Simply dial the number as you normally would, select the FaceTime option, and everything switches over to Wi-Fi with impressive video quality and each video feed presented in slick little on-screen boxes.

The best part is the ease with which things switch, from the initial change from cellular to Wi-Fi, from holding the phone in portrait or landscape, to switching between the front camera showing your face to the rear camera showing the world around you. You may not use it much, but if the need arises it’s effortless.

iMovie

With a better camera comes the ability to record video in 720p High Definition which makes it a handy stand-in for Flip and other pocket camcorders. While Apple has never felt the need to provide photo-editing features, with the leap to HD Video they’ve come up with a portable version of iMovie.

Sold separately as an app for $4.99, iMovie is the one feature I’ve had very limited access to. It allows you to explore clips through a zoomable timeline, expanding them by simply spreading your fingers on the screen, to join two clips together by dragging-and-dropping, and include sound files, photos, themes, and animated transitions. Similar to the desktop version you can adjust or trim each component by clicking and dragging.

While Apple has done an impressive task of applying touch controls to the desktop program, trying to actually complete a movie project from start to finish on the iPhone’s 3.5” screen strikes me as something that will require a lot of patience.

Battery Life

With new hardware comes an improvement in battery efficiency. From the beginning of the day, the iPhone 3GS can last in my hands until just after 5pm. Now with the iPhone 4 I can wait until after supper to charge. A bump of an hour or two may not seem like an exciting feature, but at the end of the day it can make all the difference.

Three-Axis Gyro

With this new sensor the iPhone 4 can detect not just that you’re holding it in a different position, but specifically how and in which direction. In theory it could lead to some interesting uses, but for now is limited to only a handful of experimental apps, making it a feature that is present, but not used. When Apple first demonstrated the technology, they used a Jenga-like wood block puzzle program. It’s too bad they can’t release that.

Better Screen, Better Camera, Better Battery

I’m somewhat amazed that we’ve reached the point of talking about the iPhone in the plural sense. This is now the fourth iPhone and in about six months we’ll surely be discussing a fifth. We’re now talking about one phone in a series. Because Apple carries forward all that is successful from the earlier versions, and the new one has some significant upgrades, it’s easy to recommend the iPhone 4 for new buyers, but harder to those looking to upgrade from the 3G or 3GS. The really new features, the gyroscope and FaceTime, are they worth getting? They might grow into popular use, but by then we’ll have an iPhone 5.