Making a call with iPhone is as simple as tapping a name. You won't need to re-enter all your contacts because iPhone syncs with the address book you already use on your computer - Address Book or Entourage on a Mac, or Outlook or Outlook Express on a PC. If you keep your contacts on the web using Yahoo! Address Book, iPhone can sync with them, too. To get ready for iPhone, organise your contacts in one of these applications and make sure they're up to date with the latest phone numbers and email addresses. If you have a lot of contacts on your current SIM card, make sure to migrate them to the address book on your computer. You can also enter contacts directly into iPhone.

Using its built-in calendar, iPhone lets you check your appointments with the flick of a finger. iPhone uses iTunes to sync with the calendar application you already use on your computer - iCal or Entourage on the Mac, or Outlook on a PC - just like it does with your contacts. If you don't already use one of these applications to manage your appointments, now is a great time to start, so you'll be ready to sync when your iPhone arrives. If you choose not to use a calendar program, that's OK. You'll be able to enter appointments directly into the iPhone calendar.

iPhone offers the best-ever email application on a mobile phone. So now your phone can display rich HTML email with graphics and photos alongside the text. iPhone will even fetch your latest email every time you open the application and automatically retrieve your email on a set schedule, just like a computer does. iPhone works with the most popular email systems - including Yahoo! Mail, AOL, Google Mail and .Mac Mail. If you're not already using one of these services, now would be a great time to get an account. iTunes will make email setup on iPhone easy by automatically syncing the settings from email accounts stored in Mail on a Mac or Outlook on a PC. Don't worry if you're not on one of these email services; iPhone also works with almost any industry-standard POP3 and IMAP email system.

iPhone has a 2-megapixel camera and a gorgeous 3.5-inch display, so it's a great way to enjoy and show off your digital photos. iPhone uses iTunes to sync your photos from iPhoto on a Mac or Adobe Photoshop Elements, Adobe Photoshop Album or any picture folder on a PC. You can carry thousands of photos on iPhone, but you can start by creating an album or two with 50 to 100 of your favourite photos, so that when you first sync your iPhone, you'll be ready to quickly show off some of your best shots.

iPhone has a beautiful, 3.5-inch widescreen display that allows you to easily enjoy the music, TV shows and videos you have in your iTunes library. If you already use iTunes, you can start getting ready for iPhone by creating a playlist of a few hundred of your favourite songs. If you don't have iTunes, now is a good time to download it and start a music and video library. That way, when you sync your iPhone with iTunes, you'll be able to take your favourite music, TV shows and videos with you wherever you go.

To set up your iPhone, you'll need an account with Apple's iTunes Store. If you already have an iTunes account, make sure you know your account name and password. If you don't have an account, you should set one up now to save time later. To set up an account, launch iTunes, select the iTunes Store, and click the Sign In button in the upper right corner of iTunes. Sign in and you're ready to go.

iSummary

  • Text messaging
    Are presented chronologically in a mailbox format similar to Mail, which places all text from recipients together with replies. Text messages are displayed in speech bubbles (similar to iChat) under each recipient's name. The iPhone does not support instant messaging, MMS, multi-recipient SMS, or copy/cut/paste capability.
     
  • Camera
    The iPhone features a built in 2.0 megapixel camera located on the back for still digital photos, but not video recording. It also includes software that allows the user to upload, view, and e-mail photos. The user zooms in and out of photos by "unpinching" and "pinching" them through the multi-touch interface. The software interacts with iPhoto on the Mac.
     
  • Multimedia
    In iPod mode, Cover Flow is activated when the iPhone is tilted into landscape.The layout of the music library differs from previous iPods, with the sections divided more clearly alphabetically, and with a larger font. Similar to previous iPods, the iPhone can sort its media library by songs, artists, albums, videos, playlists, genres, composers, podcasts, audiobooks, and compilations. The Cover Flow, like that on iTunes, shows the different album covers in a scroll-through photo library. Scrolling is achieved by swiping a finger across the screen.

    Like the fifth generation iPods introduced in 2005, the iPhone can play video, allowing users to watch TV shows and films. Unlike other image-related content, video on the iPhone plays only in the landscape orientation, when the phone is turned sideways. Double tapping switches between wide-screen and fullscreen video playback.
     
  • Web connectivity
    The iPhone has built-in Wi-Fi, with which it is able to access the World Wide Web (through a wireless network) via a modified version of the Safari web browser.

    The web browser displays full web pages as opposed to simplified pages as on most non-smartphones. The iPhone also has Bluetooth 2.x+EDR built in, which only works with wireless earpieces that use Bluetooth technology, but does not support A2DP or common Bluetooth file transfer (OBEX).

    An agreement between Apple and Google provides for access to a specially modified version of Google Maps—in map, local list, or satellite form, optimized for the iPhone, which also provides optional real-time traffic information. Google's ownership of YouTube means that viewing videos on the website can be achieved on the iPhone through a specialised application built into the system.
     
  • E-mail
    The iPhone also features an e-mail program that supports HTML e-mail, which enables the user to embed photos in an e-mail message. PDF, Microsoft Word, and Microsoft Excel attachments to mail messages can be viewed on the phone. Yahoo! is currently the only e-mail provider offering a free Push-IMAP e-mail service similar to that on a BlackBerry for the iPhone; IMAP and POP3 mail standards are also supported, including Microsoft Exchange. With the correct settings, the e-mail program can check many IMAP or POP3-enabled web based accounts such as Gmail, .Mac mail, and AOL.
     
  • Interface
    The iPhone has a touch screen interface. The display responds to three sensors: a proximity sensor that shuts off the display and touchscreen when the iPhone is brought near the face to save battery power and to prevent spurious inputs from the user's face and ears, an ambient light sensor that adjusts the display brightness which in turn saves battery power, and a 3-axis accelerometer, which senses the orientation of the phone and changes the screen accordingly. Web browsing and music playing support three orientations, while videos play in only one widescreen orientation.

    A single home hardware button below the display brings up the main menu. Subselections are made via the touchscreen. The iPhone utilizes a full-paged display, with context-specific submenus at the top and/or bottom of each page, sometimes depending on screen orientation. Detail pages display the equivalent of a button to go up one menu.

    The iPhone has three physical switches on its sides: sleep / wake, volume up / down, ringer on / off. All other multimedia and phone operations are done via the touch screen.
  • Input
    For text input, the device implements a virtual keyboard on the touchscreen. It has automatic spell checking and correction, predictive word capabilities, and a dynamic dictionary that learns new words. The predictive word capabilities have been integrated with the dynamic virtual keyboard so that users will not have to be extremely accurate when typing—i.e. touching the edges of the desired letter or nearby letters on the keyboard will be predicatively corrected when possible.

    The iPhone interface enables the user to move the content itself up or down by a touch-drag motion of the finger, much as one would freely slide or flick a playing card across a table with a finger. Similarly, scrolling through a long list in a menu works as if the list is pasted on the outer surface of a wheel: the wheel can be spun by sliding a finger over the display from bottom to top (or vice versa). In either case, the object continues to move based on the flicking motion of the finger, slowly decelerating as if affected by friction. In this way, the interface simulates the physics of 3D objects, giving it a real world feel.

    The photo album and web page magnifications are examples of multi-touch sensing. It is possible to zoom in and out of web pages and photos by placing two fingers (e.g. thumb and forefinger) on the screen and spreading them farther apart or closer together, as if stretching or squeezing the image. As can be expected from multi-touch sensing, the two fingers don't have to be from the same hand.

Full Technical Specification

  • Size and weight
    Height: 4.5 inches (115 mm)
    Width: 2.4 inches (61 mm)
    Depth: 0.46 inch (11.6 mm)
    Weight: 4.8 ounces (135 grams)
  • Features:
    Capacity: 4GB or 8GB flash drive
    Display: 3.5-inch (diagonal) widescreen multi-touch display
    480-by-320-pixel resolution at 160 dpi
    Support for display of multiple languages and characters simultaneously
    Operating system: OS X
    GSM: Quad-band (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
    Camera: 2.0 megapixels
    Audio: Frequency response: 20Hz to 20,000Hz
    Audio formats supported: AAC, Protected AAC, MP3, MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 1, 2, and 3), Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV
  • Wireless data:
    Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) , EDGE, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
  • Video
    Video formats supported: H.264 video, up to 1.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Low-Complexity version of the H.264 Baseline Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; H.264 video, up to 768 Kbps, 320 by 240 pixels, 30 frames per second, Baseline Profile up to Level 1.3 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats
  • Headphones
    Stereo earphones with built-in microphone
    Frequency response: 20Hz to 20,000Hz
    Impedance: 32 ohms
    Power and battery
    Built-in rechargeable lithium ion battery
    Talk time: Up to 8 hours
    Standby time: Up to 250 hours
    Internet use: Up to 6 hours
    Video playback: Up to 7 hours
    Audio playback: Up to 24 hours
    In the box
    iPhone (obviously!)
    Stereo Headset
    Dock
    Dock Connector to USB Cable
    USB Power Adapter
    Documentation
    Cleaning/polishing cloth