My new iPhone showed up in the hands of a sweaty FedEx guy (it’s 100 degrees here today) right around 1PM and I’ve been playing with it ever since. The short version of this post, like so many other iPhone 4 posts, is this: The iPhone 4 is exactly what a smartphone should be – fast, (reasonably) flexible, and functional.

The first thing I noticed out of the box is the build. It feels so much more solid than the 3GS in your hand. It feels thin but heavy, like you’re holding something important, which is about how it should feel. Gone is the plastic from the back of the 3GS and in its place is a solid piece of glass – the same piece that graces the front. The volume buttons feel sturdy, as does the hold switch (a welcome change from the 3GS hold switch, which feels like it’s on the verge of breaking every time I flick it). I also love that the phone now sits flat on my desk.

The next thing to catch my eye was the screen. Dear god it is beautiful. You can appreciate the difference between the two immediately, but you really start to understand the difference when you look at the smaller details. When I installed iOS 4 on my 3GS I was excited, but I was a little underwhelmed by some of the display features. In folders, for instance, many of the app icons look blurry and out of focus. Not so on the iPhone 4. Icons look just as crisp within the folder as they do on any of your app screens.

The iPhone 4 is fast. A lot faster than the 3GS it seems, most likely because of the RAM upgrade from 256MB to 512MB. That’s especially nice with the fast app-switching in iOS 4. The faster processor also allows you to pull off the 720p video recording that now comes standard. Video looks great, as do stills, running through the new 5 megapixel camera, which added a flash.

Call quality has been improved with the addition of a noise-canceling secondary microphone. I haven’t yet been able to test FaceTime but as soon as I can I’ll post some more impressions.

If you’re on the fence about the new iPhone, get to an Apple store and play with one. Though I knew I wanted one, I couldn’t appreciate the new feature set until I actually saw it. Now, I’m in love.

Photo from fOTOGLIF