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With other journalists in the room still waiting to have their turn with the iPhone, I quickly went back to the Home screen--the Home button gets you back here from anywhere almost instantly--and into Maps. Google provides the mapping service widget. A map of the local San Francisco area swiftly appeared and a red push-pin marker dropped from the top of the screen to mark the location, although we're not sure if that was a bookmark or if the iPhone was approximating our location with triangulation from mobile phone towers--something to check on the show floor later.

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Orientation changes as expected when the iPhone is tipped on its side, allowing you to see Web sites, videos, maps and photos in landscape mode. Multi-touch is a fantastic feature for zooming in and out and panning. Apple isn't mentioning how much system memory is onboard, but we didn't notice much of a lag between menus or applications--mind you we didn't push the iPhone's multi-tasking abilities to the extreme.

We were unable to demo the synching process with iTunes, and are disappointed that Wi-Fi can't be used for synching or for direct communication with other iPhones, the latter being one of the major selling points for Microsoft's Zune. Joswiak claimed an advantage of the wired connection is that it's faster and that it charges the device at the same time.

Will the iPhone be a success? Undoubtedly it will be in the US if comments by Macworld attendees are any measurement, but a lot could happen between now and the time it takes for the iPhone to launch in Australia, which representatives from Apple Australia could not narrow down from Steve Jobs' "2008 in Asia".

NOTE: A Review of the PDA Cell Phone Product With Games and Gadgets: This Mobile Wireless Cellular Product Should Compare in Price to the Samsung Mobile Camera Phone 

Addressing the iPhone's lack of 3G connectivity at a time when HSDPA services are flourishing internationally and the impact of future WiMAX technology, Joswiak said that Apple "made some choices that make sense today". Reports of poor battery life could potentially have hurt Apple if it chose to go with 3G from the get-go. Certainly the iPhone is an amazing device and credit must go to Apple for its seamless integration of hardware and software. But what impact will the iPhone's Wi-Fi limitations, closed system, wide and long design, and lack of next-generation mobile technology have on sales?

Apple iPhone

By Kent German and Jasmine France, CNET News.com

10/01/2007

URL: http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/mobilephones/0,39051200,61980298,00.htm

Heads exploded in the tech world after Apple CEO Steve Jobs finally announced the long-awaited Apple iPhone during his Macworld 2007 keynote in San Francisco. The iPhone, as Jobs proudly dubbed the device to thunderous applause (take that, Linksys), will be three devices in one: A cell phone, a widescreen iPod with touch controls, and an Internet communications device. Cellular operator Cingular is the lucky carrier (apparently the companies have patched up their relationship following the Motorola ROKR bust) in the US. We haven't gotten to hold an iPhone yet, but we're just as excited as the next person to finally write down our first thoughts, and we won't sleep until we get our hands on one. Check back near the product's US June release date for our full review.

Availability

As has been widely rumored for months, Cingular (soon to be AT&T) will be the sole iPhone carrier in the US. Both Apple and Cingular stores will sell the phone starting in June. Europe will get it in the fourth quarter, and Asia will have to wait until next year. Finally, the U.S. gets something first!

Good thing we have a few months to save our pennies. The 4GB model will cost US$499 with a two-year contract and US$599 for the 8GB version (also with a two-year contract). Again, that's a bit high when compared to other carrier-supported music phones such as the Sony Ericsson W810i, particularly since you're locked into a contract with one carrier.

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Design

To be successful, an Apple phone has to sport an iconic Apple design--the ROKR's dull design did it no favors. Fortunately, Apple fulfilled our expectations this time with a smooth design and an innovative interface. Say good-bye to traditional cell phone buttons--this phone is all touch screen, all the time.

With only one hardware control (a "home" key), iPhone's real estate is dominated by a huge, 3.5-inch display. From what we call tell, the device looks beautiful with a resolution of 320x480x160 pixels per inch (the highest iPod resolution yet, according to Jobs). The videos and photos look great, and we love that the "smart" screen shifts automatically to a landscape orientation when you start to play a video. One giant touch screen controls the phone, and no stylus is needed ("Yuck," Jobs said). Use your fingers to type messages and e-mails on an onscreen keyboard--Jobs promises onscreen typing will be faster than on a standard smart-phone keypad, but we'll believe that theory when we actually get a device in our hands. (And speaking of yuck, what about all that finger grease?) But we admit the scrolling feature looks especially promising as Jobs had only to slide his finger across the display.

Of course, such a large display makes for a large phone: iPhone measures 114.3 x 61 x 11.7 mm. No, it won't slide into smaller pockets, but it joins the similarly sized Palm Treo 750, and its weight (136g) is mostly standard for a handset of this size. Of course, the slim profile is noteworthy as well. We're a tad surprised Apple has jumped on the thin phone bandwagon, but trim design, after all, is the cell phone trend of the day. As Jobs made clear, iPhone is thinner than both the Motorola Q and the Samsung Ultra Messaging i600.

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Features

Though we're pleased Apple made it a quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900) world phone, we're disappointed the iPhone's data support tops out at 2.5G EDGE networks. Considering the multimedia-friendly feature set, the omission of any 3G compatibility is a bit bizarre, particularly since operators are increasingly offering UMTS and HSDPA.

We wouldn't normally spend much time on voice mail, but Apple pulled a new trick out of its hat with Visual Voicemail. Rather than forcing you to call your voice mail and waiting to browse through multiple messages to hear the one you want, Visual Voicemail displays all the messages you have in a list, similar to an e-mail in-box. All you have to do is select the message you want and listen away.

It's tough to truly evaluate the iPhone's capability as a music and video player without some hands-on experience, but a cursory look at the product shots and details gives us some idea; that, and the fact it's closely related to the highly rated iPod music player. In short, the iPhone is sure to offer an easy-to-use media playback interface, and the breadth of content offered by iTunes (its compatible service) ensures you'll never be wanting for music or video files. Of course, the touch-screen interface will take some getting used to for users who are accustomed to the iPod's Clickwheel.

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The iPhone, which will be offered in 4GB and 8GB capacities (flash memory), doesn't have any restrictions on how much of that memory you choose to fill up with media content--no 100-track limit, as is the case with the Motorola ROKR. The convergence device also takes a step away from its iPod brethren by offering a built-in mic for audio recordings. And unlike most cell phones, the iPhone offers a standard 3.5mm audio jack, which will work with all mainstream stereo headphones. There's no FM radio but that's nothing new from Apple.

One thing is for certain: The 3.5-inch wide-screen display is much better for full-length movie-viewing than the 5G iPod's comparatively paltry 2.5-inch screen. And Apple's new partnership with Paramount really helps to fill out the movie category in iTunes. If there's anything we have to complain about, it's that the video player isn't offered as a standalone device, sans the phone capability, (which is sure to mark up the premium on the price). Of course, if that happens, we'd like to see something above the max 8GB of memory. iTunes content and video load on the phone is via a USB computer connection--unfortunately, as far as we know there are no wireless downloads--and the iPhone comes with an iPod connector.

What Are Some Operating System Features of the iPhone?

Beyond the music player, the iPhone runs on Mac OS X and promises a 2.0-megapixel camera, a photo-management tool that rotates the display for landscape photos (like with videos), support for Google Maps, conference calling, a speakerphone, and text and multimedia messaging.

Personal Organizer Applications

We imagine there will be personal organizer applications as well, but Jobs kept mum on such fine details. Connectivity options also look promising with stereo Bluetooth (thankfully), Wi-Fi (a huge plus), POP3 and IMAP4 e-mail, and a Safari Web browser. The free push Yahoo e-mail app looks especially cool since we won't have to wait for syncing with a PC.

Special Sensors of the iPhone

The iPhone also comes with some unique sensors that detect how you're using the phone and change the display accordingly. A proximity sensor knows when you bring the phone to your ear and then dims the screen and shuts off the touch screen. The ambient light sensor adjusts brightness and saves power, and the accelerometer knows when to switch between landscape and portrait orientation.

NOTE: Iphone cards and apple iphone memory cards reviews are at iphone.com and freenet forums from Canada.

Sensors. A proximity sensor turns off the iPhone’s display and the touch sensor when you bring the phone to your ear to prevent accidental button activations. There’s also an ambient light sensor that adjusts the screen’s brightness depending on the surroundings (think of the MacBook Pro), and an accelerometer that senses when you turn the iPhone from one orientation (landscape or portrait) to the other—more on that later as well.

 NOTE: A Review of the PDA Cell Phone Product With Games and Gadgets: This Mobile Wireless Cellular Product Should Compare in Price to the Samsung Mobile Camera Phone

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Outlook

After months of iPhone speculation, we were sick of the device even before it came out. But now, well, we have to admit it's quite lovely. The vivid display is especially attractive, and we like the sleek, minimalist design. The touch screen may involve a learning curve, but we're excited to try it out. The iPod functionality will no doubt draw many, and in particular, we're glad to see world phone support, the Yahoo e-mail app, stereo Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

On the downside, we were hoping for wireless iTunes music downloads. And it's too bad Apple stopped short of 3G support. Also, we're hoping that Apple introduces a standalone touch-screen iPod without the phone element as not everyone will want a convergence device. And here's the biggest caveat: Phones are only as good as the calls they make, so we'll have to wait for our final assessment once we get a review product. As for battery life, Apple is promising five hours for calling or video and 16 hours in music mode.

Overall, however, and despite the high price, we predict an iPhone success. The iPhone will garner interest simply because it exists, and as such has great potential to move music phones into the mainstream. Nokia's Xpress music phones and Sony Ericsson's Walkman handsets present a strong challenge on some level, but Samsung's new Ultra Music probably stands to take the biggest hit if the two devices go head-to-head.

iPhone combines three products — a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod with touch controls, and a breakthrough Internet communications device with desktop-class email, web browsing, maps, and searching — into one small and lightweight handheld device. iPhone also introduces an entirely new user interface based on a large multi-touch display and pioneering new software, letting you control everything with just your fingers. So it ushers in an era of software power and sophistication never before seen in a mobile device, completely redefining what you can do on a mobile phone.

Apple Inc.’s much-ballyhooed iPhone was unveiled this week after 30 months and millions of dollars in top-secret development. But the sleek new iPod-cellular phone combination could wind up costing the company a lot more.

Cisco sues Apple for trademark infringement: ruh roh!

Cisco Systems Inc., the world’s largest networking equipment maker, sued Apple in San Francisco federal court on Wednesday, claiming that Apple’s iPhone violates its trademark.

Cisco is asking the court to forbid Apple from using the name “iPhone,” which Cisco has held a trademark on since 2000 and used to brand a line of its own Internet-enabled phones that began shipping last spring and officially launched three weeks ago.

Cisco said Apple approached the company several years ago seeking to use the name, and the two Silicon Valley tech giants have been negotiating ever since to hammer out a licensing agreement.

But Cisco said the talks broke down just hours before Apple’s chief executive, Steve Jobs, took to the stage Tuesday at the annual Macworld Conference and Expo to introduce the multimedia device.

Apple’s iPhone is a touch-screen-controlled cell phone device that plays music, surfs the Web and delivers voicemail and e-mail. The product still needs FCC approval.

While Jobs was holding court in front of thousands of Apple devotees, Cisco had given Apple lawyers until the end of the business day to finalize the contract.

The deadline came and went, and Cisco filed the lawsuit Wednesday seeking injunctive relief to prevent Apple from copying Cisco’s iPhone trademark.

“We certainly expected that since they had gone ahead and announced a product without receiving permission to use the brand, that meant that the negotiation was concluded,” said Mark Chandler, Cisco senior vice president and general counsel.

Apple argues it’s entitled to use the name iPhone because the products are materially different.

Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris called Cisco’s lawsuit “silly” and said there are already several other companies using the name iPhone for products like Cisco’s that use the increasingly popular Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP.

“We believe that Cisco’s U.S. trademark registration is tenuous at best,” she said. “Apple’s the first company to use the iPhone name for a cell phone. And if Cisco wants to challenge us on it, we’re very confident we will prevail.”

Cisco executives argue that, despite the current dissimilarities between the Cisco and Apple iPhone, both phones could take on new features or work on different networks than they do today.

Erik Suppiger, networking specialist at Pacific Growth Equities, said that argument is sound in an era of “convergence,” when the Internet is increasingly used as a telephone network.

“I’d envision that Cisco would be inclined to add cellular functionality to its iPhone. I would not be surprised to see them add additional memory for supporting whatever media functions you might want, either — they’d be logical extensions,” Suppiger said. “The phones may not overlap right now, but they would over the foreseeable future.”

The lawsuit may be more than just a semantic scuffle.

Cisco has been on an aggressive acquisition binge in the past year, and CEO John Chambers has been ambitious about building the company’s brand name and producing more consumer electronics — not just the esoteric networking gear that chief information officers purchased at great expense.

The lawsuit could be an attempt to embroil Apple into a legal morass because Cisco is set on developing a competing product, said Eve Griliches, program manager at Framingham, Mass.-based research firm IDC.

“Cisco is a very, very smart company, and anything they can do to slow Apple out of the gate might give them an advantage at the negotiating table,” Griliches said. “Chances are both companies knew this lawsuit was going to happen — the real question is, what’s really behind it?”

But not everyone agrees that the lawsuit is strategic or even productive for Cisco, the most richly valued company in Silicon Valley with a market capitalization of more than $174 billion.

“Bottom line is that you’d think Cisco had a better use of its time and money than suing Apple over a word,” said Samuel Wilson, analyst at JMP Securities.

Apple says Cisco lawsuit is "silly"

Oh no they didn't! By now you already know it's on, and the latest round in the iPhone v. iPhone dance-off comes from Apple spokesman Steve Dowling, who was quoted as saying the Cisco lawsuit is "silly" and that several companies are already using the term iPhone for VoIP products. He called Cisco's trademark "tenuous at best" and noted his company was the first to ever use the name for a cellphone. He goes on to boast that Cisco is gonna totally get served: "if Cisco wants to challenge us on it, we're very confident we'll prevail." Oh yeah -- Apple to Cisco: let's see you dance, sucka!

Cisco pushes Apple for permission to use iPhone trademark

The push email is all set. The Multitouch screen has been perfected. But there's still a bit of unfinished business remaining for Apple Inc.'s new iPhone: getting permission from Cisco Systems to use the name iPhone. It turns out that Cisco holds the trademark on "iPhone", the name Cisco's Linksys division gave to a wireless phone it introduced in mid-December. According to Cisco, it and Apple have been through some extensive discussions recently, and "it is our belief that Apple intends to agree to the final document. We expect to receive a signed agreement today (Tuesday)." An Apple spokesman didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.

Why Apple's iPhone Will Succeed

Will Gabrielski submits: I have read article after article, on this site included, about the reasons why the iPhone will fail to ship Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL - News) forecast of 10 million units in 2007. Having spent a lot of time covering wireless and working under one of the Street's top ranked wireless analysts for some time, I believe most of the negativity is baseless.

First, people gawk at the price. Uh, the iPhone is priced competitively with most other smart phones and has a $200 to $300 MP 3 players embedded. The iPod, which has 70% plus market share in Apple's target market for the iPhone, in the US, shipped about 20 million units in the fourth quarter alone, so it wouldn't take too much cannibalization for an iPod replacement cycle alone to drive strong unit sales.

Also, Cingular will likely subsidize the cost of the phone by at least $150. Carriers love the idea of adding higher ARPU customers that use data plans and extensive SMS and MMS services, so subsidies should be expected. This means the phone will likely cost consumers about $350 to $450, or inline with the new Treo 750v at Cingular and the soon to be launched Blackberry 8800.

Second, Cingular has about 60 million subs. The average replacement rate on these subs is about 1.5 to 2 years. At the mid-point, the company will sell about 35 million phones in 2007 to existing customers. Given the large installed base of iPod users, their replacement rate, iPod cannibalization, and the potential for churn at other carriers looking to change to Cingular to grab an iPhone, it's not too hard to get to 10 million units.

Third, Apple will likely announce at least one more phone this year, possibly at the lower end with a modified OS with a longer battery life that is geared more towards iPod users than pure wireless customers. This will eliminate some of the pricing questions as the phone will be priced competitively with the Pearl from Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM - News).

Fourth, Apple's first offering includes Wi-Fi, making it one of only a handful of phones sold in the US with such capabilities. This will, among other things, make it possible to browse the web at home or in hot-spots at higher speeds than Cingular's 2.5G network.

Fifth, the current iPhone does not support 3G. The company said it is sold on EDGE because it is more widely deployed right now. Cingular will continue to build out its 3G network this year, as will other carriers, and the company will likely release a web-browsing friendly UMTS based phone before year end.

Sixth, it's still not clear to me whether or not Apple will sell the phone in its retail stores, but this is another channel. Apple stores have higher average sales per square foot than most luxury retailers, which I extrapolate to mean that Apple customers that make their way into retail stores are not shy about opening their wallets for cutting edge technology.

Seventh, a virtuous cycle of higher iPhone shipments leading to higher Mac shipments will likely get underway this year as the iPhone runs Mac OS X thus creating a platform for interoperability that rivals no other wireless/PC platform on the market. The end result will be great comfort among consumers looking to switch to Apple for their computing needs.

I have written in the past about my expectation for potentially 30 million iPhones to ship in 2007. I stand by this despite the negativity.

iPhone Release Countdown Widget

About iPhone Release Countdown Widget

Countdown widget for the June 2007 release of the Apple iPhone. This widget counts down to the first of June, 2007.

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"It is our belief that Apple intends to agree to the final document." Not so much. We're not quite sure what broke down in talks between Cisco and Apple, but they ain't playing friendly no more. Cisco just announced that it has filed a lawsuit in Northern California to prevent Apple from infringing upon its registered iPhone trademark. The word yesterday was that Apple and Cisco had been involved in "extensive discussions," and that they were expecting Apple to sign up for whatever final agreement they proposed. "Cisco entered into negotiations with Apple in good faith after Apple repeatedly asked permission to use Cisco's iPhone name," says Mark Chandler of Cisco. "There is no doubt that Apple's new phone is very exciting, but they should not be using our trademark without our permission." Obviously all we've heard so far is Cisco spin on the situation, but so far it sounds like they're being fairly reasonable with Apple on this -- it is their own dang trademark after all. So what gives, Apple?

The iPhone: What you need to know

Our inside look at what to expect from Apple’s smart phone-iPod combo

Steve Jobs prefaced his introduction of the iPhone to the world by saying, “This is a day I’ve been looking forward to for two-and-a-half years.” And it’s safe to say that Mac users have been pining after such a product for at least as long.

Apple touts the iPhone as an iPod, a mobile phone, and an Internet communications device all wrapped up in one. Perhaps it’s not a huge surprise from a company that’s taken a large consumer electronics focus with the iPod (and even dropped “computer” from its name) but the iPhone is clearly big news.

Although it won’t be available until June, and Apple plans to share more details about the iPhone in the coming months, we got our hands on one for a short while, and here’s an in-depth look at what we know so far—focusing on the new device’s capabilities as a phone, Internet-enabled device, and widescreen iPod.

The phone

Like most of the Palm OS-, Windows Mobile-, and Symbian OS-based smart phones on the market, the iPhone has a touch-sensitive screen. But that’s pretty much where the similarities end.

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The iPod

As an iPod, the iPhone’s functionality is similar to that of a fifth-generation (5G) model. In addition to playback of the standard array of music-file formats, the iPhone can display photos as well as play video. There are several key differences.

Like what?

Like navigation, for starters. Notably absent from the iPhone is the iPod’s famous Click Wheel; to navigate through your media and control playback, you use the iPhone’s touch-sensitive screen. To find a particular song, for example, you tap on the Music item, tap on the Songs item, then move your finger up or down the screen to scroll the song list up or down; a flick of your finger down the screen gives the scroll momentum to scroll more quickly. If you don’t want to scroll through all your music to get to a certain section, you can also tap your finder on any letter of the alphabet from the list displayed on the side of the screen to jump directly to items beginning with that letter. (Because of the small size of the letters, however, accurate jumps were somewhat difficult to achieve during in our brief time with the iPhone—but we did bypass a lot of scrolling.)

Once you’ve found the song you’re looking for, tap the track’s name to start it playing. Even with the different method of control, the menu system and media-browsing system are recognizably iPod.

Tell me about the screen.

Gladly. When turned horizontally, the iPhone is the first iPod to offer wide-screen viewing. (The built-in accelerometer comes in handy here, since it recognized when you’re turned the iPhone and adjusts video accordingly.) The screen measures 3.5 inches diagonally, with physical dimensions of 2.9 by 1.9 inches. That's not quite a cinematic 16:9 aspect ratio (it's more like 3:2), but it's wider than the current iPod aspect ratio. A double-tap on the iPhone's screen will toggle between a zoomed-in view, in which the video fills the screen, and a letterboxed view, with black bars at the top and the bottom.

Apple has taken advantage of the iPhone’s impressive screen to add other media capabilities as well. For example, album art display is much larger than on current iPods. And when browsing music with the iPhone oriented horizontally, the iPhone provides an optional CoverFlow mode just like in iTunes 7—drag your finger across the screen to flip through album covers to find music.

Sounds great—will other iPods soon add that widescreen capability?

Apple may have unveiled the iPhone six months in advance of its release, but that doesn’t signal a shift in the company’s long-standing policy about future plans for products—it doesn’t reveal them. That said, we’re hoping that this design becomes part of the next iPod, perhaps with the cellular components replaced by a large hard drive but with Bluetooth for wireless headphones and WiFi for direct-to-iPod purchases from the iTunes Store. When will that happen? Only the higher-ups at Apple could tell you with any certainty. And they're not talking.

Tell me more about the iPhone’s screen. Won’t it scratch easily?

Indications from Apple are that the iPhone’s display is more scratch-resistant than that of the iPods. The screen itself is a 3.5-inch, touch-sensitive display, which has a resolution of 320-by-480 pixels at 160 pixels-per-inch.

So if there are no buttons, how do I make calls on the iPhone?

Well, that’s where the rubber meets the road, isn’t it? As Jobs said during his keynote, “What’s the killer app [for the iPhone]? The killer app is making calls. It’s amazing how hard it is to make calls on phones.” Having used various smart phones in the past, we can attest to that frustration.

I thought the iPhone had a hard drive.

No, like the iPod nano, the iPhone includes 4GB or 8GB of flash-based memory, much more compact when compared to the considerably more spacious 1.8-inch hard drives found in 5G iPods. Although using flash memory helps prolong battery life, the iPhone’s small storage capacity is an interesting limitation for a device with video-viewing capabilities. (Full-length movies easily top 1GB, meaning you shouldn't expect to carry too many on an iPhone.) There’s also no slot for expanding the iPhone’s internal memory with extra flash cards.

Are there any similarities between the iPod and the iPhone?

The iPhone retains the 30-pin dock-connector port present since the third-generation iPod, which means that many existing dock-connector-based iPod accessories may work with the iPhone right away. However, others will need to be redesigned. One big issue with the iPhone is that, as a cellular phone, it's broadcasting wireless signals that the iPod never did. That means that some accessories will need to be redesigned with shielding, so that they don't pick up radio interference from the iPhone.

Since it uses the dock connector, we’d guess that you’ll be able to charge it from a computer’s USB port or using an AC adapter.

You mentioned charging the battery. What kind of battery performance can I expect from the iPhone?

One of the problems with converged devices such as smart phones is battery life—with so many great functions, it’ll be easy to run down the battery without even noticing. Apple told us the iPhone will contain a single battery (which, like the iPod, you can’t remove or swap) to power all aspects of its operation. The company also says the battery will last up to five hours for talk, video playback, or Internet browsing, and up to 16 hours for audio playback. (The iPod nano, for comparison, is rated for up to 24 hours of audio playback, and the 80GB iPod can play up to six-and-a-half hours of video.) In any event, you’ll need to exercise some good judgment if you want to ensure that you have enough juice left for your phone once you’re done listening to music, browsing the Web, or watching video.

The last word:

The iPhone breaks new ground for Apple, but it also takes its cue from the expertise Apple garnered and lessons it learned from the iPod—one of the most successful consumer electronics products in recent memory. In the coming months, Apple will probably parcel out additional bits of information about the iPhone (and when Apple brings it to Europe in the fourth calendar quarter of 2007, and to Asia in 2008). But one thing is already clear: Apple has again done what it seems to do best—take a product that exists and give it the polish and attention to detail it deserves.

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Apple’s iPhone. So how is the iPhone different? Instead of a small keyboard that’s a standard part of the bottom of most smart phones, the iPhone has no keyboard at all. Instead of a bevy of buttons on the front to navigate and control features, the iPhone has a single Home button on its front and just a few others on the sides—everything else is controlled via changeable, onscreen buttons and icons. Instead of a stylus, the iPhone uses your finger. And instead of a scaled-down operating system to power it, the iPhone runs a version of OS X.

OS X? Which version?

Apple isn’t saying, although when we asked a company executive if it was a weird, not-really-OS-X version of OS X, he replied: “This is OS X.” To be more specific, it’s a version of OS X that’s been optimized for the iPhone hardware. But Apple’s statements lead us to believe that the iPhone runs a mostly recognizable version of OS X under the hood.

So here’s how the iPhone tackles phone-calling: A click on the Home button takes you to the main window, at the bottom left corner of which is the Phone app. A tap on that with your finger activates the iPhone’s calling features. All this—and more—is possible thanks to Apple’s patented Multi-Touch technology, which in addition to letting you tap on icons also lets you use your finger for fairly accurate typing that ignores unintended touches as well as certain multi-finger gestures (more on that later).

To make a call, you can type a number on the virtual keypad that appears at the bottom on the screen, or chose a number from your list of contacts, favorites, or recent calls. The iPhone lets you put a party on hold, and merge two calls together into a conference call, with one touch of the screen.

What about ringtones?

Jobs demonstrated one ring tone during his presentation— and the iPhone will ship with several of them. But we don’t yet know whether you can assign different rings to different people (as many other phones allow) or use your iTunes music as ring tones.

What other calling features will the iPhone sport?

There are two we saw on display during the keynote.

Voice mail. The iPhone takes a modern approach to voice mail. Instead of dialing in to a voice mail system and listening to all your queued up messages one by one, the iPhone's Visual Voicemail feature displays a list of current voice mails, including the name of who sent them and when they were sent. When you tap on any one of them, that message plays. You can also choose to save or delete them, one at a time. The entire effect is not unlike an e-mail client for voice mail.

What are the iPhone’s tech specs?

The 4.5-by-2.4-by-0.46-inch (115-by-61-by-11.6-millimeter) iPhone has no external antenna and weighs 4.8 ounces (135 grams). It will come in two versions: a 4GB, $499 model and an 8GB, $599 model. Those capacities are the iPhone’s total storage for all applications, photos, music, and videos.

The iPhone a quad-band GSM phone, which means it’ll work in the U.S. as well as many other parts of the world. (GSM—Global System for Mobile Communications—is the dominant standard in most of the world, but in the U.S. only Cingular and T-Mobile use it.) For wireless data, it can work with e-mail and connect to the Internet using AT&T/Cingular’s EDGE network or with the phone’s built-in 802.11b/g Wi-Fi. The iPhone also includes Bluetooth 2.0/EDR capabilities. But it isn’t clear yet if Bluetooth will be just for headsets or if you’ll be able to use it for syncing data with your computer, or whether you’ll be able to sync via Wi-Fi. One thing Apple did tell us is that you won’t be able to use the iPhone as a wireless Bluetooth modem for a laptop on the road, for example (at least that’s the current plan). Jobs also noted that Apple will release models with third-generation (3G) wireless data capabilities in the future—3G networks are faster than AT&T/Cingular’s EDGE network.

Wait—AT&T/Cingular? Does that mean I have to use Cingular as my iPhone service provider?

Yes. Both iPhone models will require a two-year contract with AT&T (formerly known as Cingular), the exclusive U.S. carrier. Apple has no plans to release a version of the iPhone without a service contract or one that is unlocked. Both models will be available beginning in June from Apple Stores and from AT&T/Cingular.

So there’s just the one Home button on the iPhone’s front. What other switches and features does the phone’s case have?

On the front of the iPhone, just above the screen, is a small slit for a speaker -- the one you'll hold to your ear when you're talking. The back of the iPhone sports a camera lens for its two-megapixel digital camera. On one side are a pair of volume control buttons and a switch that lets you toggle between an audible ring and silent operation (no word on if the iPhone will vibrate). The top has a 3.5-millimeter headset and audio jack, a card for the phone's SIM card (which identifies you to the cellular network), and a sleep-wake toggle button. On the bottom, there’s a loudspeaker (for audio playback and speakerphone), a microphone, and a 30-pin iPod dock connector (just like the one on dockable iPods).

And for travelers, there’s a selection in the iPhone’s settings called Airplane Mode. Activating it turns off all the radios inside the iPhone (cellular, Bluetooth, and WiFi), making it safe to use the iPod and PDA features while in flight.

What about accessories? Will they be as numerous as the iPods’?

Not at first, but give it time. Near the end of his Macworld Expo presentation, Jobs mentioned just two accessories: stereo headphones with integrated microphone, and a Bluetooth headset that pairs automatically with the iPhone and goes to sleep to preserve battery life. Without a doubt, we’ll see other innovative iPhone add-ons—not just from Apple, but other third-party developers as well.

The Internet-enabled device

Steve Jobs made it clear that the iPhone belongs in the smart phone category, as a product that does much more than just make and take calls.

Like what?

Like this:

E-mail. One of the most important features of a smart phone is its ability to send and receive e-mail. The iPhone tackles mail head-on with an HTML e-mail client supporting rich HTML and inline images, and resembling OS X’s Mail app. It works with POP3 or IMAP e-mail accounts, lets you choose a split-view approach (with your inbox on top and selected message on the bottom), includes standard e-mail folders, and parses phone numbers in e-mail messages for quick phone dialing. In addition, Apple has partnered with Yahoo to provide free Blackberry-style “push” IMAP e-mail—which automatically notifies you whenever you have new mail, without your having to manually check—to all iPhone customers. Of course, that may mean you’ll need to switch to a Yahoo e-mail address to reap the benefits of that feature.

SMS Messaging. The iPhone also includes a full SMS text-messaging client that looks nearly identical to iChat. Unfortunately, the version of the software that Apple showed didn’t let you connect to the AIM instant-messaging network; it worked only with SMS messages. Many cellular phone plans charge a premium for text messages, although it’s unclear whether that will be true of the AT&T/Cingular calling plans available for iPhone users.

PDA. Another component of any smart phone is its PDA capabilities—storing and displaying your contacts, phone numbers, appointments, notes, and so on. Like many smart phones, the iPhone looks to be quite capable of tackling all this and more. There’s an iCal-like Calendar app for appointments, and a Contacts section within the Phone application where you’ll find contacts’ phone numbers, addresses, and the like. So how do you get all your contacts and appointments onto the iPhone? Fear not—you won’t have to input everything by hand (or, as the case may be, by finger). The iPhone will sync data, using the familiar iPod-syncing interface within iTunes, with a Mac or PC just like an iPod does. Presumably, that means the iPhone can sync with OS X’s Address Book and iCal apps on the Mac, as well as contacts with Outlook Express or calendars and contacts with Outlook on Windows PCs. There’s also a Notes application on the iPhone, but Jobs didn’t say much about it, and it was non-functional on the iPhone we played with.

The iPhone’s main interface—note the buttons for phone, e-mail, Web browsing, and music along the bottom and links to assorted widgets and apps at the top.           Widgets As miniature apps, Apple’s Dashboard widgets seem like a great match for the iPhone. Jobs showed two that he said will be on the iPhone—Stocks and Weather. The Stocks widget can display multiple stock quotes as well as show percentage changes. The Weather widget can have multiple windows for different cities, and you move between them by swiping your finger across the screen. These widgets auto-connect to the Internet to update.

There may be more Widgets once the iPhone launches. Or Apple (or third-party developers, if they’re allowed) may offer additional widgets at some point.

Web Browser Unlike other smart phones, which run browsers that are anything but full-featured, the iPhone includes a version of Safari. Apple calls it ;“the first fully-usable HTML browser on a phone”—it can load standard Web pages (not scaled-down WAP versions) complete with images and formatting. You can navigate around a page by dragging your finger to scroll and “pinching” (drawing two finger together or apart on the screen), or double-tapping will zoom in or out on a section. You can even open multiple Web sites at once, and move between them at will. Rotating the iPhone automatically switches its screen to landscape mode.

Google Maps Apple worked closely with Google on several aspects of the iPhone. The Safari browser includes a Google search bar (like the standard Safari), but the phone also includes a Google Maps application. With it, you can map out destinations, search for local businesses, save and access favorites, and view satellite imagery of mapped locations. (Google Maps isn’t exclusive to the iPhone—the company makes a free app for Palm Treos, for example, that provides similar functionality.)

All this sounds like a lot of data entry. How do I type on a buttonless phone?

Use the onscreen keyboard. Both the e-mail and chat modes use this feature for text input. Although the keyboard doesn’t offer tactile feedback, making error-free input more difficult than a hardware keypad, the iPhone features automatic error detection and text prediction—even if you do make a mistake, the software will often fix it before you notice. In our brief hands-on time with an early iPhone, we found that single-finger typing actually worked quite well. (Although the iPhone doesn't offer tactice feedback for typing, it does offer visual feedback -- when you press a key, it enlarges, as if it's rising up to meet your finger.)

What about the camera on the iPhone? What can I do with that?

The iPhone camera’s 2-megapixel sensor is small by digital-camera standards, but impressive for a mobile phone. The camera uses the screen for (very large) image framing, and the phone’s software includes a photo-management application that lets you browse your photo library or view individual photos in full-screen mode. This app takes advantage of the touchscreen by letting you “swipe” images left or right to cycle through them, or pinch images to zoom in or out (as with the version of Safari on the iPhone). There's no word on whether the iPhone will also be able to capture video.

How about third-party apps?

It’s unclear. Although the iPhone runs a version of OS X, developers won’t necessarily be able to modify their apps for the iPhone and release them into the wild. In an interview with the New York Times after the keynote, Jobs said the Apple will “define everything that is on the phone.” Similar to the iPod’s games, other companies will be able to create software for the iPhone, but Apple will be the gatekeeper (such as with the Google and Yahoo software that will be included on the iPhone).

Our best guess is that third-party developers will be able to write software for the iPhone, but not with the freedom that they currently enjoy when it comes to Mac development. Apple may allow more freedom for the installation of simple widgets, while tightly restricting the release of full-blown applications. We envision a model similar to those you see on gaming platforms, in which third-party developers can create software, but it must be approved and controlled by the hardware manufacturer (in this case, Apple) before it's released to the general public. In the end, we think the iTunes Store will most likely be the only place where you'll be allowed to buy iPhone software.