It is ridiculous that I am writing about a device that is still at least five months away from market, but that's the sort of spell that Apple is able to cast on the general public. People have actually approached me wondering when I was going to write an iPhone article. (By people, I mean one person may have mentioned it in passing.)
I digress.
Apple claims that the iPhone will be the next big thing to come out of their Cupertino headquarters, following in the footsteps of the fabled Macintosh and the omnipresent iPod. The iPhone, in Apple-speak, is a convergence of a video iPod, a cell phone and an "internet communicator." All of this capability is enclosed in a thin silver-and-black slab with only a single "Home" button on its face. The front of the device is dominated by a large touch-sensitive display, and while its design might not be entirely captivating, the real draw of the iPhone is its revolutionary interface and sophisticated applications.
The phone is operated completely by touch. No finagling with a stylus needed. Touch the screen to click, drag across to scroll. Nothing crazy there, but Apple takes user-friendly to a new height with its zooming features -- to zoom in or out on a photo or Web page the user simply pinches or widens two fingers on the screen. Also, turning the device sideways will flip the display from portrait into landscape mode, an especially useful feature when looking at photos, watching videos or surfing the web.
Listening to music on the iPhone is just like using an iPod. It's better in some ways, since the phone allows users to browse by album art, a feature similar to the Cover Flow feature in iTunes. Movies and TV shows bought from iTunes or downloaded from the web can all be viewed on the phone, and to browse the internet, the iPhone has both Wi-Fi and EDGE cellular wireless internet.
Apple has done more than just shoehorn an iPod and wireless internet into a cellphone--it has rethought the way many phone features work. Text messages, for example, will be a threaded by conversation that resembles instant messaging. You'll also no longer have to remember to press seven to delete voicemails; Apple has created visual voicemail so you can listen to only the messages you want and press actual buttons to delete things. The touch screen allows users to easily access features such as three-way calling, without having to dig through a maze of menus, and it features a 2 megapixel camera -- it would hardly be a cell phone these days without one.
There is also Bluetooth for wireless headsets, and even a proximity sensor that turns off the screen when the iPhone is held close to the user's ear to conserve battery life.
All this may sound great, but the outlook is not entirely peachy. For starters, the iPhone will be ridiculously expensive. The 4GB model will sell for $499; the 8GB goes for $599. It will be available exclusively through Cingular starting in June. These prices are astronomical considering the 4GB and 8GB iPod nanos cost $199 and $249, respectively, and smartphones with similar features, but none of the Apple cachet, cost between $100 and $350. And it remains to be seen how easy it will be to type on the iPhone's virtual keyboard (that lacks real keys).
While the iPhone is an impressive amalgam of features and technology, the jury is out on how successful it will be. It could take another generation or two before it becomes a universal sensation like the iPod.
