iPhone 4 reviews are beginning to go live around the internet and impressions so far are resoundingly positive, though as usual AT&T takes some heat.

Josh Topolsky of Engadget says iPhone 4 is the “best smartphone on the market right now”:

We’re not going to beat around the bush — in our approximation, the iPhone 4 is the best smartphone on the market right now. The combination of gorgeous new hardware, that amazing display, upgraded cameras, and major improvements to the operating system make this an extremely formidable package. Yes, there are still pain points that we want to see Apple fix, and yes, there are some amazing alternatives to the iPhone 4 out there. But when it comes to the total package — fit and finish in both software and hardware, performance, app selection, and all of the little details that make a device like this what it is — we think it’s the cream of the current crop. [link]

Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal thinks “the new iPhone keeps Apple at the top of the class”, even while wishing it wasn’t bound to AT&T:

Just as with its predecessors, I can’t recommend this new iPhone for voice calling for people who experience poor AT&T reception, unless they are willing to carry a second phone on a network that works better for them.

For everyone else, however, I’d say that Apple has built a beautiful smartphone that works well, adds impressive new features and is still, overall, the best device in its class. [Link]

David Pogue of The New York Times starts off by saying “new iPhone arrives; rivals beware”, though he thinks the technically inclined might prefer them anyway:

[Android devices are] more complicated, and their app store not as good, but they’re loaded with droolworthy features like turn-by-turn GPS instructions, speech recognition that saves you typing, removable batteries and a choice of cell networks.

If what you care about, however, is size and shape, beauty and battery life, polish and pleasure, then the iPhone 4 is calling your name. [Link]

Ed Baig of USA Today says iPhone 4 lives up to the hype, especially FaceTime:

As with previous iPhones, the latest model breaks new ground. FaceTime video calling on the iPhone 4 is one of those cool “seeing is believing” features, and it arrives on top of several across-the-board enhancements. And iOS 4 is a mostly terrific software upgrade.

Cutting through the hype, Apple has given longtime diehards, and first-time iPhone owners, plenty to cheer about. [Link]

Boy Genius goes for first impressions in point form, among them:

-The size and weight just feel right. - [The screen] is stunning - The industrial design is really solid, you feel like you are holding a luxury item. - Speed. Oh it’s fast. [Link]

Xeni Jardin of Boing Boing says she would buy it:

The fourth incarnation of Apple’s iPhone is an incrementally improved, familiar device—not a new kind of device, as was the case with the recent introduction of iPad. Yes, the notable features with iPhone 4—both the device and the iOS4, which came out yesterday in advance of the iPhone itself—are mostly tweaks. But what tweaks they are: Apple’s focus on improvement is as much key to the quality of its products as innovation. But there’s one flaw it can’t completely eliminate: the unreliable quality of calls placed over AT&T, which remains the iPhone’s only U.S. carrier. [Link]