iPhone: The world in the palm of your hand

I mentioned in my introductory post that if Apple was going to break into the smartphone/PDA market, it would have to be with a technology that is both transformative and disruptive. The new Apple iPhone, set to ship this coming June, is poised to be that rule breaker. 

The one key thing that sets Apple products apart from the pack is their fundamental simplicity, a hallmark of the company's products from the first graphical user interface of the original Mac in 1984 to the click-wheel of 2001's iPod.  Apple now intends to grab some of the smartphone market, again, by keeping it simple. 

Only 11.6 mm thick, the device sports a single large screen, 3 1/2 inches diagonally across, and a single "home" button at the bottom. Press it, and the bright 160 ppi screen comes to life, as seen in the image above. From there, virtually anything you want to do, from a simple phone call, to listening to your music collection, to watching a film you just downloaded from the iTunes Music Store, is only a few finger-taps away. 

Over the last two and one-half years, the iPhone team has been developing a completely new user interface allowing for better interplay of hardware and software. But at its core is something Apple fans are already very familiar with: Mac OS X. Yes, thanks to OS X under the hood, this device is capable of desktop-class applications and networking. 

The iPhone automatically syncs with iTunes on your PC to import/play songs and movies. But through iTunes, it can also be set up to import your notes, e-mail, and bookmarks.

Its proximity and ambient light sensors know when you're using the phone, and pause other functions (like music or movies) until you're finished, preserving battery life.

The cell phone supports GSM and EDGE, as well as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and the software moves seamlessly from one environment to the other without you even noticing it. The phone will merge two calls into a 3-way conference call by pushing one button.

The iPhone also includes a speaker, a microphone, an iPod connector, and a 2-megapixel camera. The built-in imaging software works like iPhoto. You can open view your pics in slide show mode, and go from one to the next by swiping your finger across the touchscreen. You can expand or shrink your images on the screen by touching the screen with both thumb and forefinger and simply pinching or pushing your fingers apart. You can also zoom in on an image by merely tapping it twice.

Your e-mail and phone lists are scrolled the same way, by stroking your finger up or down on the screen. The text messaging feature will look familiar to anyone using iChatAV, the QWERTY keypad only pops up on demand, and disappears again when you'd rather watch "Pirates of the Caribbean." Another interesting feature: If you rotate the display 90 degrees, the unit senses it and changes the display to landscape mode.

Internet capabilities include the Safari browser, rich HTML e-mail, any IMAP or POP3 mail service, Google Maps, widgets, and full-size web pages.

Steve Jobs' iPhone demo ended with Jobs talking to a friend, finding a specific image from his local drive, and e-mailing it to the caller all at the same time, without losing a word of conversation. Then, with the Safari browser, he went to Fandango to find a film they could see later at a local theater. When the call was complete, iPhone went back to an iTunes song that had been playing before the call originally came through.

Jobs claims that the iPhone's battery will last for 5 hours using the phone, browser and/or video, and up to 16 hours of straight audio playback.

Cingular (whose service wasn't exactly rated as top-notch by CR's readers) is Apple's exclusive partner for the cellular services. That makes this a GSM-only phone, and means it won't offer the high-speed EV-DO Internet access that Sprint and Verizon customers take for granted (and, unfortunately, it doesn't offer Cingular's high-speed HSDPA service either).

Extra accessories include a 1-button activation Bluetooth headset, and iPod-style headphones, which include a switched-mike on the cord.

The iPhone will be priced at $499 for a 4GB model, and $599 for 8GB. 

I would imagine that, because the cell phone industry shipped more units than all other digital devices combined last year (including gaming consoles, music players and desktop and laptop PCs), a whopping 957 million altogether, Apple figured it was high time to make a play in such a huge market, only 1 percent of which would make the initiative very successful for the company. Jobs even went so far as to highlight this fact in a slide, pointing out that garnering such a share by 2008 would mean 10 million units shipped; not a bad goal, considering it took Apple over 18 months to sell its first million iPods.

— Thomas A. Olson 

Thomas Olson, the Publishing Systems Administrator for Consumer Reports' Editorial, Design, Production and Pre-Press groups, has been a Mac enthusiast since 1984.

Comments

[Aaron Rader]

No GPS just a program like mapquest. If you lose signal and are in the middle of getting directions, you are lost. Blackberry is offering a phone with full GPS mapping that works off of satellite so you will be fully tracked as you drive. I would of thought the iphone would have been equipped with GPS, it is not. Typing in appointments off the touch screen keyboard is slower than having a full qwerty keypad. I would wait for Apple to come up with a better version.

[A. Alexxandar]

I am not impressed with iPhone, now knowing it has no voice commands. Why? I believe, my pocket PC offers more (Excel, Word, internet, media player, et cetera. I agree with many who have ask why the iPhone has no voice command feature. I will not purchased an iPhone until it contains some tpye of voice command feature. With my current phone, I can say "What's on my calendar?," and my phone will return, "To date no items." (Otherwise, it voices the appointment.) It also vocally tells when the battery is low; unless i have the volume on off mode. My phone will also warn me of upcoming appointments. Another feature, I can tell my phone to play music. I can even specify the musician or the song, or a certain track from a cd if available. The best feature of my phone is the ability to to tell my phone to dial a number or call a certain person. These features are invaluable.
Mr. Jobs and developers, you should select a few working class professionals like myself test your products. I live in the real world and need practical devices to expedite my ventures.

[Scratchy]

I cannot imagine the screen holding up. I am careful with my 2 year old ipod and can barely read the screen...

[bob]

Part of this discussion concerns the iphone as a "PDA"
After researching several web "reviews" - has anybody actually touched a working iphone? - and Apples' advertisements linked above - it appears that the iphone may not really be much of a modern PDA - it can not read - much less edit - MS Office applications - like Excel or Presentations - required by most businesses / government agencies. Other concerns include - standby battery life - does it have to be charged everyday / every other day?
It looks fast and the human interface seems wonderful but no high speed internet? Just too may questions to make this a viable option - at least not yet.

[Dave]

Im worried about the touch screen feature, with buttons your can feel around your cell without having to look down, if you are driving or otherwise engaged you have to look at the screen to see what your have touched this can be reduce multi tasking

[Alex Holl]

I love u iphone? Cha-ching

[Tim]

I think that the iPhone looks ver sophisticated and technologically advanced obviously but I'm worried about ordering one with out any consumer reports and with out knowing what kind of glitches that it may have. Any thoughts or comments?

[Thomas Olson]

We can certainly dream. I would wait for iPhone Version 2 or 3 before expecting this, however. ;^)

[Friedrich W.Altenhain]

I would like to point out that a customer would expect

of course a high speed access and a 10 megapixel Camera

(which is already on the market in South Korea) in

combination with a very good lens. Maybe that the

new Leopard software would also be nice to have for

this kind of a price. Not to talk about an 80 GB storage.