reticulating's photostream

Port and starboard.

The speaker is still on the left. The microphone is still on the right.

Making the two look like left and right stereo speakers may work great visually, but violates all kinds of affordances in the user experience.

The chrome frame around the first three generations of iPhones (2g, 3G, 3GS) was the most vulnerable part of the chassis exterior to scratches, far above the optical glass front surface and aluminum or plastic rear surfaces. The 4th generation iPhone (4) addressed this issue with its aluminum antenna frame along the edge acting as the silver frame replacement for the chrome frame. Then they decided to make the back of the iPhone 4 out of glass - optical glass, but glass nonetheless.

The volume buttons on the first three generations of iPhones (2g, 3G, 3GS) were unlabeled, as were all exterior buttons. The iPhone 4's introduction of plus (+) and minus (-) symbols on the volume up and down buttons respectively was the first step away from that approach and towards explicit labels. Each successive generation also became less subtle about the unified volume up/down button, by first making the groove between the two halves more obvious, and then later splitting the volume button altogether into two distinct up and down buttons.

The first generation iPhone (2g), the third generation iPhone (3GS), and the fourth generation iPhone (4). The straight edges of the face of the iPhone 4 give the illusion of a larger black bezel around the screen, notably above and below the screen.

The curvature in the first three generations gave the illusion that the bezel disappeared earlier. The second and third generations (3G and 3GS) had much more gradual curves in the back, making the phone look thinner when viewed from the front and sides.