Apple reinvents the mobile phone
Thursday January 11, 2007
By CHRIS CHONG
Apple Computer has finally taken the wraps off its worst kept secret ever — the iPhone.
Touted as a combination of a video iPod, a mobile phone and an Internet communicator, the iPhone sports a widescreen 3.5in LCD and is encased in an ultra-sleek body that's no more than 11.6mm thick.
The iPhone has been in development for over two years and has some features that set it apart from any other smart phone in the market, Apple said.
The first is an intelligent multi-touch screen interface that takes advantage of multi-fingered gestures and is able to filter out accidental touches.
The second is that the iPhone runs on a special version of Mac OS X and benefits from the same graphics, networking and multimedia functionality of its desktop counterpart.
Together, these two features allow the iPhone to employ an elegant, highly intuitive user interface and software that is claimed to be at least five years more advanced than anything else in the smartphone market.
To illustrate this point, advanced versions of Apple's Safari web browser, Mail application and Google Maps were demonstrated on the iPhone during its unveiling.
These versions were highly optimised for use on a small screen and include seamless zooming functions.
On the issue of connectivity, the iPhone has quad-band GSM support for calls and EDGE, 802.11b/g WiFi and Bluetooth 2.0 for data transmission.
The good news for music fans is that it's a full-fledged iPod too, with either 4GB or 8GB of Flash memory storage and both video and audio playback capabilities.
After a full charge, its battery will be good to up to five hours for making calls, viewing videos or web browsing and up to 16 hours for music playback.
The iPhone will be available in the United States in June and in Europe by the fourth quarter.
Apple said it will hit Asian markets in 2008.
As a indication to how much it may cost here, prices for the iPhone in the United States are US$499 (RM1,846) for the 4GB version and US$599 (RM2,216) for the 8GB version.
The pricing includes a two-year contract with Cingular, which is the exclusive service provider for the iPhone in the United States.
Prices for other markets have not been announced yet.
Article taken from www.thestar.com.my |
