Decided to pay a visit to the Apple Store in Ginza and have a chat with one of their "Geniuses" about the White Balance issue. I prepared in advance a few comparison snaps from the 4 and the 3GS, and the gentleman was immediately convinced there was indeed a problem and prepared a new unit. Naturally, given the number of complaints being made about the camera, and the number of times I'd heard the story of having the unit replaced several times only to have the exact same problem each time, I was a little concerned. He explained that early production runs occasionally have small (or sometimes entire) batches of problematic units, but Apple normally iron out the problems fairly early, so if the problem persists I can keep changing it until I find one I'm happy with – the warranty lasts for 1 year.
So on arriving home with my new iPhone 4, I decided to test it under the same conditions I'd tested the previous unit with.
The white balance under the warmer lighting isn't perfect (and I wouldn't expect AWB to be perfect, especially not with a sensor that size), but despite the difference being subtle, the qualitative difference is quite remarkable. This feels more like a camera I can use indoors, and am reasonably happy now, but still feel it's falling short of the mark.
However, there remains a serious problem. Many iPhone users will be unfamiliar with the concept of white balance adjustments, and despite indoor shots coming out bright orange, it's not far fetched to assume that many will not realise they're using a faulty unit. If Apple can identify the fault and fix it in a subsequent update then great, but failing that, they're seriously letting their customers down here.
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