January 9, 2007 10:55 AM PST
Yes, Virginia, there is an iPhone from Apple
It's so pretty!
(Credit: Engadget)Pinch yourself, Apple freaks. It's not a dream. The wide-screen, touch-enabled, media-playing iPod smart phone from Apple is here, and yes, it's called the iPhone. Read our play-by-play here.
Specs time:
- Cingular, quad-band GSM/EDGE phone
- Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, but no 3G
- 11.6mm thick: that's thinner than all those other anorexic smart phones
- 2-megapixel camera
- iPod connector, mic input, and speaker jack
- Proximity sensor: when it's close to your ear, the touch screen and display shut down
- "Smart" screen knows which way to orient images depending on how you hold it; widescreen playback for videos
- Highest-resolution Apple screen of all time
- Mac OS X operating system
- Touch screen interface, no stylus
- Full-on applications--more PC-like than mobile device-like
- "Visual voice mail"
- Safari Web browser
- Google Maps: includes satellite and traffic data
- POP3 and IMAP e-mail capabilities: real e-mail, not mobile version
- Widgets!
- Seamless integration between EDGE and Wi-Fi
- Flash memory
- 5 hours of talk, video, and browsing time; 16 hours of audio playback
- 8GB model, $599 with a two-year contract
- 4GB model, $499
- Shipping in June
Listening to music on the iPhone
(Credit: Declan McCullagh/CNET Networks)By the way, Linksys might be ticked.
Caroline McCarthy, a CNET News staff writer, is a downtown Manhattanite happily addicted to social-media tools and restaurant blogs. Her pre-CNET resume includes interning at an IT security firm and brewing cappuccinos. E-mail Caroline.
- Topics:
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Audio and video,
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Media,
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Mobile
- Tags:
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Macworld 2007,
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Apple,
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iPhone
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What is really the iPhone innovation? It brings nothing, the concepts are all the same, not even a SIP connection on board, maybe a nice screen to scratch, but more than that?
wouldn't sell at all if it didn't conform to most people's conception of a
phone.
Basically the innovation falls into two categories. First, and most mudane, is
designing in synergy that consolidates the concepts underlying a phone and
how it is used into a simple transparent package. Should have been done
already, a few have come close in some areas, but [apparently] nothing like
this.
The second area is the use of multi-input touch screen, which responds to
multiple simultaneous contacts to enable a simple platform for gestures and
manual control which may lead to a more direct interaction with information
and processes than the traditional glovebox design we are used to.
My interest was largely in the second area - I think what we may have seen
demonstrated on Tuesday is the future of the GUI interface for computers in
general - this is what Microsoft should have produced to power the tablet,
instead of just creating a virtual glove-box interface.
But we'll see.
If it will access regular WIFI networks, it may be just what the doctor ordered.
Can anyone blame them for extracting a premium from the early adopters? Don't want to pay $499? Wait 6 months.
In additon, a quick review by a journalist pointed out another problem--the tocuscreen provides no iPod style tactile feedback. You must look at the phone to do anything.
Finally, WiFi is provided onboard, but I think it'll get blocked by Cingular so users don't bypass Cingular's profitable Internet "feature," which I don't use on my current Cingular phone because of the cost.
are non-plussed by THIS late comer.
Cisco obtained the iPhone trademark in 2000 after completing the acquisition of Infogear, which previously owned the mark and sold iPhone products for several years. Infogear's original filing for the trademark dates to March 20, 1996, Cisco said. Linksys, a division of Cisco, has been shipping a new family of iPhone products since early last year. Last month, Linksys expanded the iPhone family with additional products.