iPhone 4 launches today (My experience)

The new iPhone 4 went on sale in the UK today at 0800 hrs in Poole, Dorset. Thats a massive 5-8 hours ahead of our friends across the Atlantic. Apple say that the new iPhone is smaller and lighter than the older 3GS version and that the stainless steel body of the handset will act as an antenna to help improve reception of mobile signals.

Other features include folders, multi-tasking and HD camcorder, LED flash and a ‘retina’ glass display. It’s also much stronger and more durable than its previous versions making this the largest leap in smart phone technology since the conception of the 3G.

In anticipation of the launch event even I was up at the crack of sparrows this morning and I’m not an early morning person. I drove down to my local O2 store to do the upgrade 1.5hours prior to the early store opening and there were already at least 30 people there queuing patiently.

Armed with a mug of coffee and a credit card in hand we all waited for the glorious arrival of perhaps the most anticipated gadget of 2010. Listening to various conversations from the queue it became obvious that a lot of other stores had also piggybacked on the early opening and some stores opening even earlier. Some of the people there decided to cut their losses and switch networks just to get their mitts on the new iPhone 4 but what became obvious is that the other stores were greatly under supplied.

One Vodafone store had under 10 handsets available and the Orange store had under 10 customers so I doubt even they had the supply to match demand. O2 on the other hand openly stated they had at least enough handsets to cover the first 50 people in the line. It was a pretty impressive sight to see so many people biting their nails and sipping coffee all with a unanimous purpose.

As soon as the first person emerged from the O2 store with his “got it” bag a tremendous applause arose, well done him!! However it seemed that each transaction was taking a lot longer than expected and the queue barely moved in the first hour of store opening. At this point I had to cut my losses and come write this blog post.

Since then it has been interesting seeing the online chatter about the new iPhone and people finding minor flaws such as ‘yellowing in the Retina display’ and signal reductions when the user grasps the phone around the sides, like you do when making a call…convenient! This could be due to the metal conduction of the signal meaning the user becomes an extension to the antenna signal!! However news reports are in that Apple have launched a new range of accessories such as the iGlove to make use of the new iPhone 4 and retain signal strength.

Is the iPhone 4 a market leader? I think so…certainly some of the features are more advanced than the other available products such as Android and Blackberry but the hardware issues could well be holding apple sales back.

For the moment though I think I’ll hang on until Apple fix the current issues and bring out the next batch, hopefully the white one will be available soon as well