.jpg)
A Smartphone in Retrospective
NEIRAD enilno edition
Load printer friendly version
A phone that can play music, get directions, send email, and browse the web; the iPhone is the most revolutionary cellular device of the decade. Some people find that the phone meets all of their needs and is the perfect mobile phone to have. Others feel that the phone is lacking the basic necessities of a “smartphone”. But the question is the iPhone the right phone for you?
The display on the iPhone is stunning. The screen is extremely bright, which, in times of need, has a great use as a flashlight for seeing in the dark. The chrome border around the screen, gives the iPhone a very modern and flashy look. The phone is a fairly large phone, but it fits very well in your hand. The icons on the home screen are simple to use. The “pinch” zoom feature is extremely helpful when browsing the Internet and also while you are scrolling through photo albums.
The new “App Store” is very handy. It allows users to browse, download, and install all different types of new programs. Users can now download applications such as Facebook and a wide variety of games such as “Tap Tap Revolution”, a game very similar to the popular “Guitar Hero”. The maps are easy to use and the new GPS is very useful if you are lost or just need directions. As for the music part of the iPhone, it acts just like a normal iPod with all the same features. All of these features make the iPhone one of the most user-friendly cell phones on the market today.
Yet, the iPhone does have a few problems that plague its reputation. First off, the battery on the iPhone, especially the new 3G model, is not very effective and it drains much more quickly than the older model due to the high power demands of the 3G network. The battery also cannot be removed, so a person always on the go will be unable to swap a charged battery in for a dead one. The iPhone also lacks a video camera, which is a standard feature on most cell phones. The iPhone cannot send or receive picture or video messages. Instead, you have to go to a computer and go to a certain Web site, to enter in some information, and then you can finally view the message. The iPhone does only have a touch screen, so for all the button lovers out there that need to hear the sound of buttons clicking as they rapidly text their friends, this phone may not be the best choice. The phone also drops calls often and the service of AT&T in general has a lot of dead zones.
The iPhone is extremely helpful in consolidating almost all of your favorite music and photos into one place. It is easy to listen to your music on the phone and flipping through photos is a breeze. Browsing the Web is as easy as it is on your home computer and with the new App Store there are many more activities you can do on your phone. These include games from car racing to the classic pong as well as apps such as Facebook and AIM that allow you to access your favorite social sites with one tap of a finger. If you have been waiting to buy an iPhone until it dropped in price, or ran on faster cell networks, you might want to take the plunge if you can live with the weaker battery life; lack of an actual keyboard and lack of picture messaging. The new price of only $199 is very appealing. The iPhone’s features definitely outweigh the problems. Even one year after it has come out, no other phones have come close to rivaling it, and it is expected that no phone will for a very long time.
