It’s just one week until the launch of the iPhone and to mark the final seven days of waiting, Apple has released a Web-based “guided tour” designed to further whet the appetites of Macheads around the world.
The video is, in typical Apple minimalist style, called simply “iPhone. A guided tour.” The iPhone supposedly puts “three great products into one.”
It’s a great mobile phone, the best iPod we’ve ever created, and it delivers the Internet in your pocket with the best e-mail, Web browsing, search and map applications ever on a mobile phone.
It’s good to see Apple has cranked down the hype but the video does give the in-depth look that we’ve all been craving.
“The iPhone is a revolutionary mobile phone.”
The iPhone’s 16 applications launch with one-touch from the main menu screen. The video touts the device’s one-touch calling and its full integration with Safari and other Mac apps.
The iPhone also seems to offer better multitasking, allowing a user to easily run other applications while on a phone call.
With “visual voicemail” users can listen to any voice message, in any order, at anytime. Users just point and click which message to access. I have to admit, this looks really cool.
The “merge calls” feature allows users to create conference calls with just a couple of taps.
“The best iPod we’ve ever created.”
The iPod offers an upgraded interface for accessing audio tracks and videos. The addition of a touch-screen seems to be the big upgrade here.
In terms of video, the device’s biggest advantage is the ability to watch videos in either landscape or theatrical ratio (i.e. letterbox).
“The Internet in your pocket.”
The Safari browser seems to work pretty much the same way as it did in January when Jobs showed first showed off the iPhone. Google seems to be really integrated into the browser. The one new feature is tabbed browsing, which I have never seen on a mobile device.
On the e-mail front, the iPhone supports most consumer e-mail systems including Yahoo and Gmail. The iPhone can also access attachments like Word documents.
The virtual keyboard, though, still looks weird to me. The keyboard includes “intelligence” that is supposed to correct your data entry. We’ll see how that really works.
As for text messaging, the iPhone renders text messages as complete threads (i.e. similar to the way Gmail renders e-mail messages).
The iPhone’s weather widget looks really useful, letting users track multiple cities with the ability to flick between them with one simple swipe on the touch screen.
Google Maps also looks impressive. It offers both map and satellite views, as well as the ability to bookmark locations.
The integrated phone dialing makes functions like making restaurant reservations but navigation looks cumbersome.
Without integrated GPS, users still have to input their starting address. While you can bookmark your starting addresses, this is still a cumbersome process, especially if you’re on the road and away from home or your office.
“Touching is believing.”
Obviously, you will not be able to tell if the iPhone really does all of this until you can get your hands on one. Until then, check out the video for more features.
- Yahoo Mail Adds Mobile Text, Microsoft To Its Mix | August 27, 2007
- Samsung F700 review | October 10, 2008
- The Real Web Kills The Apple iPhone | June 28, 2007
- Apple iPhone Hacked To Run Nintendo Games | August 7, 2007
- Apple iPhone Will Not Offer The Full Web | June 20, 2007
Even with all its’ impressive features, I don’t think I’ll be buying one anytime soon. Call me cheap if you’d like, but for me the price tag is still too high to justify me buying one simply for the “cool factor”.
What I would like to see, however, is an updated full screen video iPod with the same touch-screen navigation and ability to watch videos in either landscape or widescreen mode that the iPhone has. That is definitely something that I would be willing to pony up the money for.
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