Spring Break
Get in touch with Apple's newest tech toy, the iPhone
Issue date: 9/20/07
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Apple's announcement of the iPhone at this year's Macworld convention led to unprecedented media coverage on the device. Designed with new multi-touch user interface, a 3.5" widescreen display, Cover Flow, and visual voicemail, it looked like Apple was going to be a dominant force in the already saturated mobile phone market. But is the big tech story of the summer really worth it?
The two-year phone service contract with AT&T kills it for most of us. (Unlocking it is an option, but that's not for the faint of heart.) A good deal of the iPhone is just eye candy, but despite that, it's arguably the easiest to use and best-designed smartphone on the market.
Design and style
Three words: simple and elegant. The front of the iPhone is pretty much just a 3.5-in glass-covered touch screen. The back of the phone has a scratch-resistant aluminum coating, which is a big improvement over the classic shiny scratch-resistant iPod backs. The device is a bit longer than the fifth generation iPod, but thinner so it fits nicely in your pockets. Despite its thin size, it feels really solid in your hand.
One annoyance I found, however, is the headphone jack. It's recessed from the surface, so only the Apple earbuds fit in the jack. To use most other headphones, you'd have to shell out $10 for an adapter that's easy to lose. The battery in the iPhone is non-replaceable, so that might be a problem somewhere down the line.
User interface and software
The multi-touch user-interface is very easy to use. To navigate the iPhone, you simply have to tap, drag or flick your finger on the touch screen. As far as applications goes, Safari is by far the best mobile browser out there. It does load full web pages, but there's no Flash or Java support (so YouTube won't work).
Other applications like Mail, Calendar and Maps are intuitive and work as designed. Apple's decision to close off the iPhone so you can't add more third-party applications really limits the iPhone's potential, but there are ways around that if you try hard enough.
The two-year phone service contract with AT&T kills it for most of us. (Unlocking it is an option, but that's not for the faint of heart.) A good deal of the iPhone is just eye candy, but despite that, it's arguably the easiest to use and best-designed smartphone on the market.
Design and style
Three words: simple and elegant. The front of the iPhone is pretty much just a 3.5-in glass-covered touch screen. The back of the phone has a scratch-resistant aluminum coating, which is a big improvement over the classic shiny scratch-resistant iPod backs. The device is a bit longer than the fifth generation iPod, but thinner so it fits nicely in your pockets. Despite its thin size, it feels really solid in your hand.
One annoyance I found, however, is the headphone jack. It's recessed from the surface, so only the Apple earbuds fit in the jack. To use most other headphones, you'd have to shell out $10 for an adapter that's easy to lose. The battery in the iPhone is non-replaceable, so that might be a problem somewhere down the line.
User interface and software
The multi-touch user-interface is very easy to use. To navigate the iPhone, you simply have to tap, drag or flick your finger on the touch screen. As far as applications goes, Safari is by far the best mobile browser out there. It does load full web pages, but there's no Flash or Java support (so YouTube won't work).
Other applications like Mail, Calendar and Maps are intuitive and work as designed. Apple's decision to close off the iPhone so you can't add more third-party applications really limits the iPhone's potential, but there are ways around that if you try hard enough.
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