the iPhone – “A guided tour” or “Why you shouldn’t buy one”

Apple published a video featuring a 25-minute guided tour of the iPhone. I must say I’m amazed on how basic this phone operates, of course Apple promotes this product as if it would be groundbreaking, but is it really?

Let’s start with pointing out the good stuff with this phone. It has a very cool multi-touch screen and a user friendly operating system. The multi-touch screen (which basically is a normal touch screen but with the ability to handle multiple “finger touches”) is something we’ll see in many devices in the coming years, in fact MT-screens will be available in most high-end phones & PDA’s next year. Apple has, as always worked alot with the intuitive OS and they’ve actually come up with some cool features (watch the movie below to get my point) which I’m sure the industry will try to copy. It’s a great phone if all you want to do is making calls and listening to music.

iPhone is a revolutionary product and combines three products into one:

1. It’s a great mobile phone
2. The best iPod we’ve ever created
3. and it delivers the internet in your pocket with the best e-mail, web browsing, search and maps applications EVER on a mobile phone

Now that we’ve pointed out the good stuff, how about the bad stuff? We’ll, the iPhone is not a bad phone. It’s just very basic. The camera (which apple didn’t feature in the video) is pretty lame, as well as most other hardware specs. I really couldn’t find anything groundbreaking there except for the level sensor (which flips the picture to landscape-mode when you turn the phone). The Nokia N95 also features a level sensor, but unfortunately Nokia didn’t use it in the same way as Apple.

What’s really bothering me is Apple’s false marketing. They say they deliver the best e-mail, web browsing, search and maps applications EVER on a mobile phone. Is this a joke? I mean sure, the Safari browser is pretty good, but features nothing new really (come on, you guys really think bookmarks is ground breaking?). Most high-end mobile phones today feature a decent browser. The iPhone comes with support for some 3rd party e-mail clients such as Yahoo Mail, gMail and AOL, all easily integrated in most mobile devices by using 3rd party applications. They also promote their search functionality which basically means they’ve integrated Google search which can be used in pretty much EVERY mobile device with a decent browser. When it comes to maps, the statement gets ridiculous. The iPhone does not have a built-in GPS, it doesn’t even support a network cell positioning system. Shame on Apple for fooling all those newbies!

Some of the movie highlights:

• iPhone ships with a stereo headset with built-in microphone. The integrated button lets users answer and end calls easily. It can also be used to control audio and video playback.
• If a call comes in while music is playing, the volume will fade out and the iPhone will pause the music. A single click on the headset button will answer the call. A second click will hang up and fade the music back in right where it left off.
• iPhone can be locked by pressing the Sleep/Wake button. Once locked, iPhone will still receive calls and allow users to play music and adjust the volume. However, nothing will happen if the user accidentally touches the screen.
• To completely power off iPhone, press and hold the Sleep/Wake button for a few seconds. Then, drag the red on-screen slider to confirm.
• Users can change the order of iPhone lists, such as favorite phone numbers, by drag-and-drop.
• iPhone’s visual voicemail feature allows users to scroll through recordings in real time using an onscreen progress slider.
• If already on a call when second call comes in, iPhone’s on-screen software allows users to ignore the second call or place the first call on hold while taking the new call. A handy onscreen “swap” option then provides an easy way to alternate between the two callers. Similarly, a “merge calls” option will merge the two calls into a conference call.
• When listening to a specific song in iPod mode, iPhone offers an on-screen button that will display a playable listing of all tracks from that same album.
• iPhone will automatically switch to CoverFlow mode when the device is positioned in landscape view under iPod mode.
• Movies play only in landscape view.
• Hot buttons at the base of the iPod mode software interface can be custom configured like toolbars in the Mac OS X Finder.
• Photos taken with iPhone can be used as wallpaper, emailed, or assigned to a contact in the handset’s address book.
• Mail includes built-in readers for viewing PDF, JPEG, Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel files. It also features the same action sounds as the current version of Mail running on Mac OS X Tiger.
• Tapping on a phone number included in an email will automatically call that number.
• It does not appear as if “Maps” will determine your current location using AT&T’s wireless network.
• Maps includes a “Traffic” button that provides an update on current driving conditions. Green lines on the map indicate traffic is flowing smoothly while yellow and red lines mean problems ahead.
• You can turn off iPhone’s network features so it can be used safely on an airplane.
• iPhone comes pre-loaded with an assortment of ringtones.

Via Apple