 Introduction
The long awaited Apple 'iPhone' has been released. Years of speculation have been set at rest. The phone was christened iPhone when it was little more than a concept in the minds of the manufacturers. However, Cisco systems objected to the use of the name iPhone on the ground that they owned the trademark to the name iPhone as they had named their Voice over IP telephones as iPhone. The dispute is not resolved and Cisco has filed a lawsuit against Apple for the use of the name.
The release date of this phone is scheduled June 2007 and will be available from Apple Store and Cingular wireless at a launch price of US $499 for 4GB storage and US $599 for 8GB storage. Apple has filed more than 200 patents with regard to the technology used in the phone.
The Apple iPhone was conceived at a time when Apple engineers were investigating touch screens. The device has much in common with Apple's earlier touch screen portable model the Newton MessagePad. The device is all-screen and the form factor is attributed to the creative genius of Jonathan Ive. Jobs is convinced that Apple should not have entered the Tablet Pc and traditional PDA market. He points out in D:All Things Digital that mobile phones will be very important means of information access in the future and cell phones will have to be created with excellent synchronization software. Hence the phone has focused on iTunes and iPod software.
The phone is a thin 11.6 mm device with a 3.5-inch, 480x 320-touch screen display and multi touch support. It has a proximity sensor to turn off the screen close to the face.The two mega pixel camera with 4GB or 8GB storage; Blue tooth 2.0 with EDR and A2DP; WiFi that engages in range, a multimedia touch screen with virtual keyboard and buttons and quad band GSM Radio with EDGE are features that make thephone worth possessing
.The most interesting factor in this phone is that the OS X supports Widgets, Google Maps, Safari, iTunes with CoverFlow. Yahoo partnership will give this phone a hook up with the free push IMAP email. The phone also has a five-hour battery life for talk or video and sixteen hours of music. It is not intended to be user replaceable. No standby time has been specified as yet.
Receiving messages or sending SMS using the iPhone is very simple. The predictive QWERTY keyboard automatically corrects mistakes and is a pleasure to use. Frequently made call lists can be used to construct a favorites list by merely touching the name or number. No stylus is needed. Your finger will do. Calls can also be easily merged to create a conference call.The Visual Voicemail feature allows the user access directly to the message he wants to listen ignoring the others in the queue.
The control buttons of the phone can be configured to suit the needs of the user. The phone can be unlocked by sliding a finger from left to right at the bottom of the screen. The device also has a virtual keyboard enabled by the touchscreen. Automatic spell checking and predictive capabilities are inbuilt.
A Zooming user interface has been provided to zoom in and out of objects by "pinching" and "unpinching" them using the thumb and forefinger. The direct manipulation model for scrolling requires the user move the document up or down by physically pushing the document with a finger.
The proximity sensor, the ambient light sensor and the accelerometer sensor are new in this phone. The proximity sensor shuts off to save battery life when the phone is brought close to the ear. he ambient light sensor adjusts screen brightness and saves power and the accelerometer sensor senses orientation of the phone and adjusts the screen accordingly.
Conference calls, call holding, call merging, caller ID and integration with other iPhone features are all made possible in the iPhone. If music is playing when a user receives a call, the music will fade and the call can be attended to. The music will flow back seamlessly once the call has ended. The layout of the music library is like the Cover Flow of iTunes and has different album covers with alphabetically listing and larger font. Email messages can be chronologically received as in a mailbox. However, files cannot be downloaded from the iTunes store. The iPhone 2 mega pixel camera has a video feature that allows the user upload, view or email photos.
Internet access is through the WiFi via a Safari browser. The technology to connect to the Internet using Cingular's EDGE network will also be possible. Full web pages are displayed on the screen and these pages can be viewed in portrait or landscape layout. The built in Bluetooth works with wireless earpieces that use Bluetooth 2.0 technology for file transfer.
Basic Features
Slim light model with touch screen facility and QWERTY keyboard.
Bluetooth Wireless technology and WiFi technology
Touch screen facility that autorotates from portrait to landscape display
GPS Services support2.0 Mega pixel Digital cameraFull PC synchronization
Speakerphone and standard 2.5 mm Headset Jack or a 3.5 mm Headset Jack
Voice-activated dialing, voice memo, To do lists, Alarm, Calculator, Calender, and Vibrate features
Long battery life
Phone book capacity limited to available memory.
Conference calling capabilities
Email messaging features.
Streaming multimedia support with Video capture and playback and iTunes interface for audio.
Polyphonic ringtones and custom ringtones.
Two handed gaming experience
Full HTML web experience with GPS location based services. |
