Hardware and software tests of the iPhone 4 and iOS 4 have started to show up, and there are a few surprises. Those brand-new iPad owners looking jealously at the fancy new iPhone can relax, though: The iPad is still the fastest piece of Apple mobile hardware out there.
MacRumors has run the numbers using benchmark Geekbench and Checkup apps for iOS, and although the tests were complicated by the fact that not all the test software runs on all the platforms, the iPad came out tops, closely followed by the iPhone 4, with the iPhone 3G coming in last.
This is a little mysterious, as iFixit, the King of the Teardown, has already ripped open the iPhone4 to reveal that it does indeed use the same 1-GHz A4 processor as the iPad, and also has double the RAM (512 MB vs. 256 MB). We strongly suspect that the chip is being underclocked inside the iPhone to both keep things cooler in the tight confines of its case and to conserve battery life.
The iFixit teardown reveals some other surprises. The battery is not soldered in place, making it easy to replace. Very easy, in fact, as the two screws on the bottom edge release the back glass-plate panel, giving instant access to the battery. Not so good is the new bonded display. It may be tougher, and make the pixels look closer to the surface, but the glass, LCD and digitizer are all one unit, meaning cracked screens will be a lot more expensive to replace.
But what of older hardware? Well, if you have the older 3G, you might not want to upgrade the OS. Flickr user Adrian Nier has posted a side-by-side video of two iPhone 3Gs, one running the new iOS4 and the other still on iOS 3.1.3. In the video, he tests the startup time and the camera, loads a web page (the now-traditional NYT, of course), and accesses the settings. Surprisingly, the phone running 3.1.3 is significantly, obviously faster. See for yourself: