Apple's iPhone 4 remains smart phone gold standard

The iPhone has had an enormous impact in the three years since Apple's original smart phone exploded onto the scene. Its touch screen established that a physical keypad or keyboard were no longer de rigueur for cell phones. Its dazzling browser proved you don't have to compromise the way you experience the Web on a mobile device. And the App Store popularized third-party add-on programs on a handheld computer -- more than 225,000 apps and more than 5 billion downloads.

Even its most strident critics -- folks frustrated by AT&T's dropped calls, people who never cozied up to a multitouch display -- must concede that the iPhone is the smart phone by which others are measured.

The new iPhone 4 I've been testing -- along with the major refresh of the mobile operating system software at the core of recent models -- demonstrates again why Apple's handset is the one to beat, even as it faces fierce competition from phones based on Google's Android platform, among others.

Apple announced the iPhone 4 at its developers conference earlier this month. After customary hype, iPhone 4 hit stores Thursday. Judging by 600,000 early orders, iPhone 4 was a runaway hit, with some analysts saying the company might have already sold upwards of 1.5 million of them.

Buyers don't appear to be disappointed. The killer feature is what Apple calls FaceTime video chat. The promise that you and the person you're talking to on a phone can gaze into each other's eyes dates back to when LBJ occupied the White House. No one has really nailed video calling the way Apple has nailed it here, with limitations. FaceTime is as simple as making a voice call. To help accomplish this neat stunt, iPhone 4 adds a front-facing camera that complements the more traditional, improved, camera on back.

There are other iPhone 4 features worth crowing about: high-definition video recording, super-crisp display, a handsome and thin stainless steel and glass design. Apple says the glass is strengthened to be 20 times stiffer and 30 times harder than plastic. To reinforce the point, an Apple executive dropped it in front of me. The phone was undamaged. Inside is the power-efficient A4 processor, used in the iPad.

The latest mobile operating system

As part of the latest mobile operating system, called iOS 4, you get bolstered e-mail features, a better way of organizing apps, and multitasking. The software is compatible with iPhone 4, 3GS and 3G, though not all features work across all the devices.

Multitasking, which lets you run more than one application at a time, is a catch-up feature that works on the iPhone 4 and 3GS only. Apple claims to have come up with a multitasking approach that avoids draining the battery or system resources.

Critics still have reasons to whine. Apple's dissing of Adobe Flash means you'll still come upon Web video sites that don't make nice with the iPhone. I had a few dropped calls. The battery still isn't user-replaceable.

FaceTime: This gleeful feature promises that grandparents can meet the newborn from afar, and business travelers can look in on the kids from the road.

The caveats

Now the caveats: Both you and the person you're talking to need iPhone 4s, though Apple hopes to make FaceTime a standard to permit video calling across numerous devices.

The iPhone 4 sports a 5-megapixel autofocus camera with a 5x digital zoom and -- first for an iPhone -- an LED flash. I took several decent pictures in low light but had some grainy results, too. Close-ups taken with the 5x digital zoom (an iOS 4 addition) were so-so.

The iPhone 4 can take high-definition video footage

The iPhone 4 can take high-definition video footage, up to what techies refer to as 720p. And the tap-to-focus feature, previously used on the 3GS for still images, can also be employed when you're capturing video.

iBooks : Apple introduced iBooks with the iPad. It's brought the app and its virtual iBookstore to the iPhone through iOS 4. Books you buy in the iBookstore land on a handsome depiction of a wooden bookshelf; Apple says more than 60,000 books are available.

Multitasking: You'll need an iPhone 4 or 3GS to take advantage of multitasking. The beauty is that you don't have to shut down an app when you want to launch another.

Audio apps such as Pandora continue to play music while you surf or check e-mail. Navigation apps continue to update your location while you listen to music. You'll also be able to receive calls from VoIP providers such as Skype, even when the app isn't open.

Battery: Apple improved the battery life on the iPhone 4. It uses a larger battery, for one thing. Still, pounding it pretty hard, I sometimes reached low-battery warnings late in the day, so having chargers where you work as well as where you live isn't a bad idea.

Pro -- FaceTime video calling. Handsome thin design. Better battery life. High-definition video recording. Supersharp display. Multitasking, folders and other enhancements through iOS 4. Generally good voice quality.Con -- Battery can't be removed. Memory can't be expanded. No support for Adobe Flash video sites. For FaceTime to work, both parties need to be using the new iPhone and have Wi-Fi access. Occasional dropped calls.Cost -- First-time iPhone buyers in the United States or those eligible for an upgrade -- AT&T has relaxed upgrade requirements -- pay $199 for a 16-gigabyte iPhone 4 or $299 for 32 GB. Both come in white or black, and you'll have to sign up for a two-year contract with AT&T. Apple is also selling an 8-GB version of the iPhone 3GS, for $99 with contract.    AT&T has two data pricing options. You get 200 megabytes of data for $15 a month, which AT&T says is enough for 1,000 e-mails without attachments, plus 150 e-mails with attachments, plus 400 Web pages, 50 photos uploaded to social-media sites and 20 minutes of streaming video. An extra 200 MB costs $15.    A $25, 2-gigabyte monthly plan would let you handle 10,000 e-mails sans attachments, plus 1,500 with attachments, 4,000 Web pages, 500 uploaded photos and 200 minutes of streaming video. AT&T claims 98 percent of smart phone users use less than 2 GB a month.     An extra $20 monthly buys tethering, or the ability to use the iPhone as a broadband modem for devices. Regrettable exception: You can't use the iPhone as a modem for an iPad.    All this is on top of your regular voice minutes: $40 a month for 450 anytime minutes, to $70 a month for unlimited minutes. Text messages are extra: $5 a month for 200 messages, $15 for 1,500 or $20 for unlimited messages.