| Right off this comment gave me pause in the review: "It’s kind of incredible when you think about it. Competing phone-makers have had more than a year (a lot more considering the leaked photos of the iPhone 4 prior to its release) to best this design, and yet no one really has. As frustrating as it is to say this, no other phone on the market comes close to this level of craftsmanship, materials, or considered design." This is a very personally subjective statement. To me the phone's design is a brick with rounded corners, I was rather disappointed when it launched. I've never really thought there was a lot of 'design' to the iPhone 4. I agree it's clean but really, is there much to 'best' design wise? I personally find it ergonomically uncomfortable and awkward. Interesting he then follows with: "The iPhone 4S may not be the most resilient phone in the world (I’ve broken two original iPhone 4s in accidental drops), but it probably is the most beautiful." Perhaps other phone designers haven't copied it because glass front and back and an exposed antenna aren't things that they might want to copy? The fact that the reviewer has broken two only adds to that. I'm sure everyone thinks differently on this subject but that's exactly my point... that a comment like this really doesn't belong in what should be a generally objective review. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The rest of the review I thought was well done though. Edit, and yes, I fully expect the Karma hit for criticizing a design aspect of an Apple product. :) Just my 2c. |
As for the design, I guess it's a matter of taste, but I prefer phones with rounder corners. The rounded shape also feels better in hand than the squarish one.