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Yesterday I was one of the lucky early recipients of the iPhone 4. This was an upgrade from a 3GS, so not a major upgrade (or so I thought), but it had enough new features to make me want to upgrade now.

After unpacking the device and performing the first sync (an hour long process to restore the 3GS’s over 11GB of photos, videos, and apps), the first thing that really struck me was the display. The Retina Display, one of the main factors in my decision to get the iPhone 4, is everything that Apple claims it to be. When I first powered up my original iPhone I was wowed by the wonderful display. The Retina Display blows it away. Yesterday on Twitter I likened it to going from VHS to Blu-ray. If you have been around technology long enough, you will remember the first time you saw printed output from a 300dpi laser printer. If you are like me, you were amazed by the crispness of the print out. Seeing this display not unlike that. There truly is no pixelation. The text is amazingly smooth. Video looks nearly HD quality.

Next I tested out the processor, the other big reason for my purchase, by launching the first-person-shooter Brothers In Arms: Hour of Heroes. Though not the most recent game, it is one I have experience with on my 3GS and therefore made a good comparison. On the 3GS it took about 30-45 seconds to launch and in intense battle scenes game play slowed and became choppy. On the iPhone 4 the game launched in 4 seconds! And I did not run into a scenario in which the game slowed. It is now actually playable.

I did a few tests with photos and video, but not in the most ideal situations so they are not examples worth posting. The LED flash made a huge difference with photos, but cast a blue light during video. I will conduct some better camera tests later (as well as Face Time) under better circumstances, but right now it does not seem like the camera will be a replacement for my digital point-and-shoot.

On the negative side the new square, flat design, while visually appealing to me, is very uncomfortable. The rounded corners and back of the 3GS fit my hand wonderfully and was a pleasure to hold. This new design is much less comfortable, especially when holding for longer periods such as shooting video or playing a game. Perhaps I will get used to it over time, but on first impression this would seem to be yet another device in which Apple chooses form over function.

Also, regardless to what they claim about reception it is most certainly not improved for me, and apparently has gotten worse for others. This may not be a fair statement for me to make considering that we get abysmal coverage at home and home is the only place in which I have tested the device so far, but regardless I have not seen an improvement. In fact there was a time yesterday where the iPhone 4 and 3GS were setting next to each other and the iPhone 4 had 1 bar while the 3GS had 5 bars.

Overall I am quite happy with the iPhone 4. The display and speed are amazing. If only it were more comfortable. Maybe I can get ahold of one of those top secret 3GS style cases that Apple was using to test the device in the field when they lost it earlier this year?