iPhone 4 arrives Down Under - without antenna issues

[truenorth]

Got my iPhone 4 on Friday 30 July w00t! Lined up for > 3 hours at Optus on George St. Sydney.

First impressions: the 4 is a giant leap from the 3GS. The resolution on the Retina Display is so noticeable you'd be blind not to notice. I played with my 3GS a bit last night and after being spoiled by the 4, I was shocked at how low the res is on the old unit.

One more new feature that's no less than awesome: FaceTime. It's video calling between people using an iPhone 4 and both on wifi (no support for calls on 3G yet). The video and audio quality is more than ample. And with two cameras on the 4, you can switch from beaming an image of yourself to that of anything on the opposite side, e.g., your apartment, the view of a scenic site you're visiting, the kids playing with the dog in the yard. One has to experience it to understand my excitement.

Now what about AntennaGate? What AntennaGate? I have tried and tried - and gave up - but for the life of me I could not replicate the antenna problem. The so-called 'Death Grip' just failed to arrive Down Under. Stephen Fenech, National Technology Writer for The Daily Telegraph, writes,

"I've been using the iPhone 4 for nearly a week to make calls, send and receive emails and surf the web from various places around the city and suburbs.

Is the antenna an issue? No it's not. Have I dropped calls? No, I have not."

For the full article, see New iPhone 4 - the verdict is in. Stephen also includes a video of his review of the 4.

The new A4 processor - the same one that powers the iPad - brings noticeable oomph to the iPhone. Performance is faster. It also makes multitasking, a new feature on the new iOS 4, snappier.

I have yet to play with the new 720p (yeah, baby!) HD video recording, but the new 5 megapixel camera is a welcome improvement from the so-so resolution that had competitors snickering pre-4.

I attached here a photo I took with the iPhone 4 of the chaos at the Apple Store in Sydney, people lined up from the outside. (This is my first post with an attachment; I don't know where the photo is going to display.)

Now you don't have to carry your iPhone AND a camera. My daughter and I went to the Sydney Aquarium a couple of weeks ago and we only had my 3GS. We're gonna have to go back and re-shoot stills and videos of penguins, sharks and our favourite, the dugong! If only we had the iPhone 4 then.