After much hype and press coverage the Apple iPhone was released to an eager audience, who had been primed for months. While many of the more prominent phone review specialists were eager to talk down and criticise the Apple iPhone, it is surprisingly hard to actually ignore. For once we have a product which has evolved and is able to give the market consumers what they want. The look and feel of the phone oozes class, and it is obvious that a lot of thought and work has gone into the design of the handset.
The Candy-bar style handset comes in with dimensions of 61 mm x 115 mm x 12 mm and weighs in at a respectable 135gr. This quadband phone covers GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 and 1900, offering uninterrupted usage all around the world. Disappointingly there is no 3G facility, which would really have been the icing on the cake. The battery power is a little better than you would expect for a handset with such services, with 300 minutes talktime.
The main touch screen display is a useful 320 x 480 pixel resolution, which holds up well in direct sunlight. The two main elements of this phone are the 2 megapixel camera (since release we are now seeing 5 megapixel cameras coming to the market) and the music functionality which is based upon the world famous iPod. Apple have somehow managed to incorporate the main ingredients of a top of the range mobile with a very impressive music facility, and made it work - much to the dismay of many critics who were not so sure. However, it is a little disappointing not to see an inbuilt FM radio, although this is no great loss overall.
As you would expect from any of today’s top of the range handsets, the Apple iPhone offers an array of messaging services which include SMS, MMS, email as well as an internet browser which is both very quick and easy to use. The inbuilt memory capacity is in the region of 8192 MB although eager eyed consumers will notice that there are no external memory ports. However, the Apple iPhone does offer both Bluetooth and WiFi for excellent quality data transfer - very popular with both the business end and personal ends of the mobile phone market.
It is obvious from first glance that Apple have used every measure of their experience in the iPod market to put together a quality offering. The design is both smooth and sleek and navigation could not be simpler, for both the phone and music functionality. Apple have now set the benchmark for future handsets in this area of the market and while they may have a clear run in the short term, their competitors will not stand still for too long.
It will be interesting to see who actually steps forward to take on Apple in the music / mobile area of the market, and how they perform. The bar has been raised by the Apple iPhone handset, but this is only the start of the story with more action expected in due course.
