14 DAY TRIAL // I've never thought that I'd ever see a handheld device which I could describe as ?too cool to be true?. However, it seems that that time has come, and the device I'm talking about is one everyone's been expecting for a long time now, namely the new and hot mobile phone / iPod replacement / mobile communications device from Apple, the iPhone. Yes, the company from Cupertino has worked over 2 years on it, but the end result is a truly magnificent one, albeit it didn't meet quite everybody's expectations (no 3G, and a few other relatively ?minor? flaws).
The first thing that draws the attention to this device is its absolutely huge display (3.5 inches, 9 centimeters), which sports a 320 by 480 resolution at 160 ppi, quite enough to let you enjoy the movies you've purchased from iTunes. Moreover, in order to improve the movie experience, the iPhone features touch controls for play-pause, chapter forward-backward and volume. And this leads me to yet another of the handheld's extraordinary qualities - the input method. Thus, the new phone is all about touching, actually multi-touching, since all the controls are on-screen, and thus the menu navigation is as easy as possible.
And no wonder they've made the navigation system very user-friendly, since the iPhone lets you do....well, almost anything you might think of. Thus, it allows the user to browse through the voicemail inbox (Visual Voicemail), send SMS messages (via a full QWERTY soft keyboard), take photos with the built-in 2 megapixel camera, listen to your music (iPod-style), check your e-mails and even browse the Internet via the Safari application. And yes, you can also make phone calls with it.
The iPhone also features a pack of sensors, which - in my opinion - are some of the coolest features the thing has to offer. These sensors, namely an accelerometer, a proximity sensor and an ambient light sensor, allow the phone to react to certain changes in the surrounding environment. For example, it detects when the user has rotated the device from portrait to landscape, then automatically changes the contents of the display accordingly, it adjusts the display?s brightness to the appropriate level for the current ambient light, and it shuts down the screen when not in use in order to save power.
After this very short presentation, here's a list of the most important technical specifications made available by Apple for its iPhone:
- dimensions: 115 x 61 x 11.6mm; - weight: 135 grams; - battery: Li-Ion, internal, rechargeable; - battery life: up to 5 hours talk / video / browsing, up to 16 hours audio playback; - display: 3.5 inches touchscreen, 320 x 480 resolution; - operating system: OS X; - storage capacity: 4 GB, 8GB; - quad-band GSM connectivity: 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz; - data transfer: Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) + EDGE + Bluetooth 2.0; - 2 Megapixels camera.
The fabulous iPhone will also have quite a fabulous price, since it will be available for $499 and $599, respectively (the 4 and 8 GB models), but only with a 2 year subscription at the Cingular US mobile phone carrier. Only 1 thing to say. I'd pay that money. It's worth every penny.
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