1 - iPhone
So the iPhone didn't cooperate with me photo-wise... but I'll try to get some up soon.
Anywho, I'm going to start off with the phone. Here Are the favorites menu, Recents, Contacts, Keypad, and Voicemail features. At first glance it looks like maybe a music player. But no. This is the amazing contacts window. with the iPhone's smart touch screen, it literally lets you scroll through your contacts. Scroll faster, and it will gain more momentum, and carry the contacts farther. And scroll softer, It'll move it less. Moving on to the keypad, it's pretty much just a phone. It lets you call any number just like a regular phone. Also, the starting ringtones are extremely annoying. so i recommend you download itunes, make a ringtone from a song you've bought from apple and then pay two dollars and fifty cents to put it on your phone. wait a minute... that three fifty for a single ringtone... not to mention the massive monthly bill... texting fees, etc. just plan on paying a lot for this little toy...
Oh and one of my favorite parts, the voicemail. Ever tired of that annoying robot that tells you "1 new message... 4 saved messages... first new message!" well apple, you've done it again making everything manual, yet a lot more convenient... with visual voicemail!. You can see the number that left a message, the time it was left and, if you "tap" the little arrow on the side of the contact you can view more info, text message or add the number to your contacts.
Open the mp3 player, and you'll instantly recognise the interface. it looks exactly like the contacts window except instead of your friends names and phone numbers, it has the name of an artist, a playlist, an album, a song title, or even more. And flip it on it's side for coverflow, a fun little application where you can scroll through albums and play music. And, the best part, it has external speakers so you can listen to music without putting in earbuds. Okay the speakers aren't the best. But they're not too bad.
And on the iPhone's... dock sort of thing, you have mail. which doesn't really fit with the others since mail comes from the internet... which is also there. What it should of been named is mail viewer or mail shortcut.. but mail will have to do. I just have to note, one very annoying part of the iPhone is the putting it's self to sleep obsession. I'll be looking at it, and the screen will go dark, and unless you tap the screen it will go to sleep. Then you'll have to hit it's home button and "slide to unlock". Anyway... where was I?... Ah! Right, mail. Mail looks pretty good, and works well too. You can preview your messages, Make a new message or sent mail, trash - just everything you'd expect from Mail.
And last but not least on the iPhone's dock, is Safari. I really like this web browser. It's easy to figure out, It has tabs, bookmarks, and no flash. Unfortunately the iPhone is NOT equipped with flash player or flash! So you can't play that new online game everyone is talking about on an iPhone... yet. 8O Yet? Well, I only say that because iPhone is bound to evolve. V2, 3, 4. Also among other things, It's running mac os X... It isn't open source, so if you try to create an application for iPhone, Apple will shut your phone down. But not to worry, because apple said "you can always buy a new one."
It's texting is amazing, it's touchscreen keyboard is amazing, although it's for fingers only. If you want to use a stylus, buy a nokia n800. Youtube on the iphone is fun, although I wish it would load more videos faster. I don't understand why they have stocks... but it looks good so i guess it's pretty cool... the other apple-made apps are interesting, but could still be touched up a little. Over all though, it is a great little piece of hardware.
Overall grade: 97
So, should you buy one? Or should you wait? or buy one of it's contestants? Well, as far as my opinion goes, I'd like to see what happens in future versions. And the price is high... (399.99) Although considering all the features, I think it's worth it. But if you're seriously considering it, check out these two links (both! they go together)
link 1
link 2
coming up next: iPod nano, Chumby, One laptop per child laptop and more!
