Apple iPhone - Photo Gallery, Video & Reviews
The Apple iPhone is here after much scoops and spyshots. So is it really the easrthshattering. Apple iPhone we were all waiting for? Enjoy the picture gallery and Video of Apple’s iPhone.
iPhone, the long-awaited mobile phone-cum-iPod from the Apple stable is finally here. The 8GB Apple iPhone will play music, make phone calls and function as a mobile computer. With the iPhone, Apple Computer has become the first to launch a three-in-one gadget boasting of all these three functions.
The 8GB iPhone, with a 3.5 inch touch-sensitive screen, comes for $599 in US. The price of the smaller 4GB iPhone is set at $499. The touch-sensitive screen of the iPhone eliminates the need for a keypad. iPhone, claims Apple, features the most revolutionary user interface since the mouse. It has an entirely new interface based on a large multi-touch display and innovative new software that lets you control everything using only your fingers.
The iPhone is a bold attempt to marry the best in digital communications and portable entertainment, a segment so far dominated the BlackBerry. Apple, like some analysts say, has taken the best of what is already available around and added the cool factor, making for best-selling products. The iPhone is the latest in this Apple game to hit the market.
Apple hopes to sell 10 million iPhones this year. Despite the large numbers, it still amounts to only 1% of the global cell phone sales. The iPhone is expected to hit the US shops and retail outlets in June.
Though Apple’s iPod is still the undisputed leader in portable music gadgets, the product however has been facing increasing competition in the last few years. Many iPod-look-alikes have cropped up, and some of them have started chipping away at iPod territory. Also, Microsoft’s Zune music player with Wi-Fi is expected to give the iPod a serious run for its money. For Apple, innovation is a question of survival now. The iPod still commands about 75% of the music player market.
Apple Computers Chief Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone at the ongoing Macworld Conference. For a quite some time, there have been rumors that Apple is quietly planning an internet-enabled iPhone. However, when the wait got just too long, Apple-watchers had given up hopes that the iPhone will be launched any time soon. Steve Jobs has even gone on record once stating that Apple has no interest in pursuing mobile telephony. The same Apple, however, has gone for an iTunes enabled phone earlier in conjunction with Motorola.
Speaking at the Macworld Conference, Steve Jobs said "It’s the best iPod we’ve ever made. No matter what you like, it looks pretty doggone gorgeous."
With the launch of the button less iPhone, Apple has abandoned all notions being just a computer maker. Jobs said that the company will soon be changing its name from Apple Computer Corporation to just Apple, signifying the company’s shift from just a computer maker to a wider digital market.
Apple has already tied up with service providers like Cingular, Google and Yahoo to jazz up the iPhone experience. Cingular will be providing the phone service, while Google will provide search and maps. The iPhone will have search functions, including Google and Yahoo.. The Yahoo service will offer instant mail and messaging, just like on a desktop PC/Mac. It may be mentioned that the Google CEO Eric Schmidt is a director on the board of Apple.
A 2-megapixel camera and a 160 DPI color screen are built into the latest iPod phone from Apple. It is less than 12 millimeters thick. Apple claims that the iPhone can sync photos and video clips from your Macintosh or PC to the iPod mobile faster than any existing mobile phone, with far greater ease. After syncing, the photos/ videos can be emailed to anyone with a few more finger taps. The HTML-rich email client enables you to view the text emails along with the accompanying pictures and graphics.
At the debut of the iPhone, Steve Jobs made a conference call with two one of his team leaders and a Silicon Valley neighbor to show off the power of Apple’s latest iPod Phone. The iPhone can automatically sync the contact list from the Mac, PC or the internet service to the phone. It is surprisingly easy to make a conference call and to make a favorites’ list of frequently-dialed numbers. The iPhone screen graphics are also pleasant and intuitive - just like the iPod.
The iPhone also comes packed with the Safari, Apple’s web browser, besides the Apple operating system Mac OS X. The fully-functional Safari helps you read emails while you download files in the background. You can see web pages on the iPhone screen exactly the way they were meant to be seen.
Said Steve Jobs at the launch of the iPhone: "Every once in a while a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything."
With the iPhone, Apple has redefined the concept of Smartphone, by taking it to the next level. Competitors will now have a hard time keeping up with the latest iPod phone. Sensing the upcoming competition from Apple, in the last few years, Nokia has launched its range of N-series music phones, while Sony Ericsson launched its Sony Ericsson Walkman phones. Some of the most expensive in the N-series of Nokia’s music phones comes with 8GB, the same size as the iPhone. In a rather derisive tone, Jobs described the applications on the existing mobile phones as "crippled stuff."
The iPhone has a bunch of preloaded features, which may attract the consumer more. The iPhone has a simcard slot and slots for earphones. It can also be plugged into a Bluetooth headset. The iPod mobile phone also comes equipped with what is described by Apple as visual voicemail. The iPod mobile also supports Bluetooth and Global Positioning System (GPS) for satellite data.
The iPhone is designed to synchronize with iTunes software, Apple’s interface for music and video transfer sales and updates. iPhone can make calls phone calls, play and store music & widescreen video, click pictures, sends and receive email, and browse full-sized Web-pages. The iPhone can also run Apple Widgets, which comes with the Mac OS. The distinguishing feature of the iPhone is the touch-screen which replaces the stylus made by many smartphone manufacturers. The touch screen can be managed with the thumb, where you can switch from regular screen to widescreen by "pinching" the screen. You can view the images in screen in a landscape or portrait manner. The iPhone uses a patented technology called MultiTouch which detects and understands finger movements.
The high-tech iPhone touch screen comes with a proximity sensor, which can detect inadvertent finger touches. Also, the iPod cellphone has an accelerometer for its screen, which will automatically swivel the image whether you are holding the iPhone horizontally or vertically. The iPhone also boasts an ambient light sensor, which adjusts the screen display?s brightness to the appropriate level for the ambient light, enhancing user experience and saving power.
However, the name iPhone may prove to be an irritant for Apple later - Networking major Cisco has claimed in the past that it owns the trademark iPhone since 2000.
The iPhone’s twin advantages over other Internet-enabled, smartphones may turn out to be its superior music quality and preloaded Mac OS X, with Safari, which can be used for web surfing just like your computer. The Safari and iTunes are bound to convert more Windows followers to Mac faithfuls. The phone comes powered with Quad Band GSM and EDGE.
It is clear that investors in gadget companies have been surprised by the entry of the iPhone. Stocks in rival music player companies plunged, while Apple shares surged 6%. This also means that the market was completely unaware of the coming of the iPhone.
With its sharp iPhone screen, you can scroll through songs, artists, albums, and playlists with a simple finger movement. The iPhone also dramatically presents album artwork on the large display screen. The fast-moving icons make it a breeze to switch from screen to screen.
Steve Jobs, at the iPhone launch, also made a display of accessing Google Maps on the iPod mobile. With a few quick finger movements, he located the nearest Starbucks Cafe, and ordered 4000 cups of coffee before quickly hanging up - it was a prank! Jobs also displayed the iPhone’s music capabilities by playing "Lovely Rita, Meter Maid," from the Beatles’ "Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band."
The smooth screen of the iPhone makes it a pleasure type out SMS messages. The screen has a QWERTY keyboard, which is easier on the fingers. The built-in SMS application prevents and corrects errors on the go.
To begin with, only cingular service will be bundle with the iPhone. Later, other mobile service providers will need to be considered, especially if the iPhone has to sell overseas.
Despite the worldwide popularity of Apple’s iPod lineup, the little music player never became a big hit in India, because you cannot buy music online from Apple iTunes. Similarly, the iPhone may take a long time to come to India and become popular here. Many of the advanced iPhone features like Google Maps and live web pages may remain in the brochures, since fast net connectivity is a major problem here, which even frequently snaps voice conversations. Until the infrastructure to support the high-bandwidth technology phones are in place, it may still be a long way off for Apple iPhone to make a mark in India.
Besides the iPhone, Apple has also unveiled a digital gadget which can wirelessly connect the computer to the video. This device may bridge the final gap between the TV and the computer, a critical gap which has so far been seen as the missing link in the spread of online video. The Apple TV, which is a set-top device, can be used to send the signals from a computer to a television. The Apple TV is expected to hit the stores some time in February. Priced at $299, the box will beam the signals from the PC to the TV, for better and delayed viewing. The project for Apple TV was earlier codenamed as iTV. The Apple TV’s gigantic 40GB hard drive can be used to store long video programs from the Web or the cable for viewing later. Apple TV has the ability to play 720p high-def video, and supports all major Wi-Fi standards like 802.11b, g, and n.
Many iPod fans are upset with the fact the iPhone is "locked" with Cingular. This means that if I am an American iPod-loving potential customer with a different mobile operator, I should either give up the existing connection and migrate to the Cingular-enabled iPhone, or keep an extra number. Neither is an interesting prospect. The iPhone would make far greater headway in far shorter time if the subscriber could pick any operator of his choice.
Technical Specifications of iPhone
- Screen size 3.5 inches
- Screen resolution 320 by 480 at 160 ppi
- Input method Multi-touch
- Operating system OS X
- Storage 4GB or 8GB
- GSM Quad-band (MHz: 850, 900, 1800, 1900) quad-band (mhz: 850, 900, 1800, 1900) >
- Wireless data Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) + EDGE + Bluetooth 2.0
- Camera 2.0 mega pixels
- Battery Up to 5 hours Talk / Video / Browsing
- Up to 16 hours Audio playback
- Dimensions 4.5 x 2.4 x 0.46 inches / 115 x 61 x 11.6mm
- Weight 4.8 ounces / 135 grams