The iPhone is a multimedia and Internet-enabled quad-band GSM EDGE-supported mobile phone designed and sold by Apple Inc. The iPhone's functions include those of a camera phone and a multimedia player. It also offers Internet services including e-mail, text messaging, web browsing, visual voicemail, and local Wi-Fi connectivity. User input is accomplished via a multi-touch screen with virtual keyboard and buttons. Apple has filed more than 200 patents related to the technology behind the iPhone.
The iPhone has been available since June 29, 2007 in the United States from Apple Retail Stores, the Apple Online Store, and from AT&T Mobility, formerly Cingular Wireless, for a contracted price of US$499 for the 4 GB model and US$599 for the 8 GB model.
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Features
Apple has released a video explaining many of iPhone's features through a series of demonstrations.[2]
Touch screen
The 3.5 in liquid crystal display (320×480 px at 160 ppi) HVGA touch screen topped with optical-quality glass[3] is specifically created for use with a finger, or multiple fingers for multi-touch sensing. Because the screen is a capacitive touch screen, no stylus is needed, nor can one be used.[4][5] The requirement for bare skin to be used has caused concerns for users in areas with winter climates; gloves worn would then have to be removed to use the touchpad.[6][7]
For text input, the device implements a virtual keyboard on the touchscreen. It has automatic spell checking, 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 predictively corrected when possible. The keys are somewhat larger and spaced further apart when in landscape mode (currently, only using Safari). Reviewers, writers and analysts have pointed out several areas in which the iPhone falls short. The virtual keyboard has been considered its chief weakness and a risk for Apple.[8] David Pogue of The New York Times and Walt Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal both tested the iPhone for two weeks and found learning to use it initially difficult, although eventually usable. Pogue stated use was "frustrating" and "text entry is not the iPhone’s strong suit" but Mossberg considered the keyboard a "nonissue." Both found that the typo-correcting feature of the iPhone was the key to using the virtual keyboard successfully.[9][10]
The iPhone varies from common desktop interfaces by using a direct manipulation model of scrolling. Where a typical desktop GUI achieves scrolling by using a scroll-arrow to push a view-window down and thus the content itself up (or the reverse, clicking up to move content down), the iPhone interface enables the user to move the content itself up or down by a touch-drag-lift motion of the finger, much as one would slide a playing card across a table. Additionally, the speed desired for scrolling is computed based on the speed and acceleration with which the drag motion is performed.
Scrolling through a long list works as if the list is pasted on the surface of a wheel: the wheel can be "spun" by sliding a finger over the display. After the finger is lifted from the display the wheel continues to "spin" for a short moment before coasting down. In this way, the iPhone seems to simulate the physics of a real object, which, it is thought, should give a natural feel to the whole process.
The user interface also features other visual effects, such as horizontally sliding sub-selections and co-selections from right and left, vertically sliding system menus from the bottom (e.g. favorites, keyboard), and menus and widgets that turn around to allow settings to be configured on their back sides.
The photo album and web page magnifications are examples of multi-touch sensing. It is possible to zoom in and out of objects such as web pages and photos by respectively "unpinching" and "pinching" them, that is, placing two fingers (usually thumb and forefinger) on the screen and moving them farther apart or closer together as if stretching or squeezing the image. This scaling is done uniformly and proportionally based on the image in question so there is no distortion of the image itself, as would be the case if the image were actually stretched or squeezed.
One disadvantage of multi-touch with regards to AJAX web sites is that there is no mechanism for 'hovering' over a UI element. That is, there is no separate paradigm for indicating interest or focus on a portion of a web control other than clicking on it.
Other inputs
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,[11] 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 "Back" 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.
Phone
The iPhone allows conferencing, call holding, call merging, caller ID, and integration with other cellular network features and iPhone functions. For example, a playing song fades out when the user receives a call. Once the call is ended the music fades back in.
The iPhone includes a Visual Voicemail feature in conjunction with AT&T which allows users to view a list of current voicemail messages on-screen, without having to call into their voicemail. Unlike most other systems, messages can be listened to in a non-chronological order, by choosing messages from an on-screen list. AT&T modified their voicemail infrastructure to accommodate this new feature designed by Apple.
SMS messages 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.
Camera
The iPhone features a built in 2.0 megapixel camera located on the back for still digital photos. 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
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. A two-fingered tap is used to switch between the video's true wide-screen aspect ratio (with black bars on the top and bottom of the screen) and a zoomed mode (to fill the iPhone's screen).
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 iPhone is also able to connect to the web through AT&T's EDGE network, but is not able to utilize AT&T's 3G/HSDPA network; Steve Jobs mentioned at the Keynote presentation that 3G support would be a future feature of a new version.[5] The use of the EDGE network instead of 3G has been criticized by analysts. When the user is not in a Wi-Fi hot spot, the iPhone's network connection will use the older EDGE network, which, before the launch, reviewers found that the EDGE network was "excruciatingly slow," with the iPhone taking as long as 100 seconds to download the Yahoo! home page for the first time.[9] Immediately before the launch the observed speed of the network increased to almost 200 kbit/s.[12] This is probably due to the new "Fine EDGE" upgrades AT&T has been making to their network prior to the launch.[13] There has also been some criticism stemming from the iPhones inability to download iTunes content wirelessly.[14]
The web browser displays full web pages as opposed to simplified pages as on most non-smartphones. The iPhone does not support Flash or Java technology.[8][15] Web pages may be viewed in portrait or landscape mode and support automatic zooming by "pinching" or double-tapping images or text. The iPhone also has Bluetooth 2.x+EDR built in. It works with wireless earpieces that use Bluetooth technology.
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. During the product's announcement, Jobs demonstrated this feature by searching for nearby Starbucks locations and then placing a prank call to one with a single tap.[16][17] Google's ownership of YouTube means that an application for viewing videos on the website can be achived on the iPhone through a specialised application built into the system.
The iPhone also features an HTML e-mail program, 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.[18] 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.[19] The iPhone will sync e-mail account settings over from Apple's own Mail application, Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Entourage, or can be manually configured using the device's Settings tool. 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.[20]
OS X
Apple has confirmed that an optimized version of the Mac OS X operating system (without unnecessary components) runs on the iPhone, although differences between the operating system (OS X) running on Macs and the iPhone have not been officially explained. As iPhone's CPU is an ARM processor, the version of OS X that runs on iPhone differs from the desktop version in that it is written for the ARM instruction set architecture (ISA) instead of the x86 and PowerPC ISAs that the Mac version of OS X is written for.
The operating system takes up about 700 MB of the device's total 4 or 8 GB storage.[9] It will be capable of supporting bundled and future applications from Apple.
Apple intends to offer a smooth method for updating the iPhone's operating system, in a similar fashion to the way that Mac OS X and iPods are updated, and touts this as an advantage compared to other cell phones.[21]
Widgets, similar to the ones available in Mac OS X v10.4's Dashboard, are included on the iPhone. They include Stocks and Weather widgets.
The iPhone's version of OS X includes the software component "Core Animation" which is responsible for the smooth animations used in its user interface. Core Animation has not yet been released for Macs, but will be part of Mac OS X v10.5.
The build of OS X on at least one iPhone is "OS X 1.0 (1A543a)", as seen in a crash log for the MobileMail application.[22][23] The application apparently runs as the superuser.[24]
Applications
There are several applications located on the "Home" screen. The YouTube application streams videos over Wi-Fi and/or EDGE after encoding them using QuickTime's H.264 codec, to which YouTube has converted about 10,000 videos. They are expected to convert the entire catalog by Fall 2007. As a result, the YouTube application on iPhone can currently only view a certain selection of videos from the site.[citation needed] Also, because YouTube displays videos using Flash, the iPhone can only view videos through the YouTube application as opposed to accessing the website using Safari.
At WWDC 2007 on June 11, 2007 Apple Inc. announced that the iPhone will support third party "applications" via the Safari web browser, that share the look and feel of the iPhone interface. The applications must be created in Ajax or JavaScript to maintain device security.[25] The iPhone cannot install full programs from anyone but Apple.[26] Steve Jobs has referenced full programs being created by parties other than Apple[27][28]
Analysts also claim that iPhone lacks any type of firewall, which some experts claim is posing a data security risk.[29] It is not confirmed by Apple or by independent analysts that used the actual device for tests that it doesn't have a firewall. Daniel Eran writes: "Dulaney doesn't know if the iPhone has a firewall, has no reason to suggest that its installation of OS X wouldn't offer a firewall, and offers no reasons why a mobile device would need a firewall anyway."[30]
Battery
The iPhone features a built-in rechargeable battery that is not intended to be user-replaceable, similar to existing iPods. Once the battery reaches the end of its life time the phone will need to be returned to Apple and replaced for a fee.[9] The cost of replacing the battery is US$79 and US$6.95 for shipping.[31] The battery is stated to be capable of providing up to seven hours of video, six hours of web browsing, or eight hours of talk time (depending on configuration). The battery life for music playing is stated to be 24 hours.[3] The battery also allows for up to 250 hours of standby time. Apple's site says that the battery life "is designed to retain up to 80% of its original capacity after 400 full charge and discharge cycles."[32]
The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, a consumer advocate group, has sent a complaint to Apple and AT&T over the fee that consumers have to pay to get the battery replaced.[33] In addition, the scheme and pricing was not made known to buyers until after the product was launched.[34]
Other
The iPhone's headphones are similar to those of current iPods, but also incorporate a microphone. Calls can be answered and ended by squeezing a bud, toggling the microphone. The 3.5 mm TRS connector for the headphones is located on the top left corner (as seen from front upright). Wireless earpieces that use Bluetooth technology to communicate with the iPhone are sold separately. The headphone jack is recessed and as a result many standard stereo headphone jacks require an adapter to work correctly, although some users have successfully modified existing jacks by cutting away several millimeters of rubber at the base of the jack to allow them to fit.[citation needed]
The loudspeaker is used both for handsfree operations and media playback.
The SIM card is located in a slot at the top of the device,[2] and the device is activated through iTunes.[35]
Absent features
iPhone lacks a number of other handheld features that have not already been mentioned and are common in competing devices, including 3G support, voice dialing, voice recording, instant messaging, memory card slot, MMS, A2DP (allowing for stereo sound to be sent to an audio device by Bluetooth), common Bluetooth file transfer, GPS capability, text copy and paste, native games, and support for MP3 files as ringtones.[36][37][38]
Platform support
The iPhone is compatible with Mac OS X version 10.4.10 or later, and Windows XP or Vista. For each, the user must download the latest version of iTunes, iTunes 7.3. The iPhone is not compatible with any 64-bit version of Windows such as Windows XP x64 or any 64-bit edition of Windows Vista.[39]
Software updates
Apple has confirmed that software updates can be distributed to the iPhone device via iTunes.Security patches as well as new and improved features, such as a mobile chat client, Flash support, and voice recording, may be released in this fashion.
Pricing and availability
The initial U.S. release is offered in two configurations with two different prices: a 4 GB model for US$499 and an 8 GB model for US$599. In a deal concluded through secretive discussions which began in February 2005, AT&T Mobility is the exclusive carrier of the iPhone in the United States and will remain so until 2009 or later.[43][44] The iPhone may be purchased with a two-year service plan with AT&T[45] with plans ranging from US$59.99 to US$219.99 per month,[46] or pre-paid month to month at a slightly higher rate.[47]
Apple received FCC approval for the iPhone on May 17, 2007.[48] Jobs announced that the iPhone will first be available in late June 2007 in the U.S.,[49] during the fourth quarter 2007 in Europe (O2 have reportedly been awarded the contract for the UK), September 2007 in South Africa, and in 2008 for Asia, Mexico, and probably the rest of the Americas.[51] New television commercials for the iPhone began to air on June 3, confirming a release date of June 29, 2007.
Apple also announced that its goal is to capture 1% of the global mobile phone market, which would be approximately 10 million units being sold in the first full calendar year of iPhone availability. For comparison, Jobs announced that the Apple iPod commands 62% of the U.S. market share for MP3 players.
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