The Apple iPhone Experience

From the day the rumor mills started churning Apple having an iPod phone till this very moment, everyone -- in the tech world initially and then the rest of the world -- has been raving about the iPhone. People who have the dough just want to own one -- and those who don't, wish they could.

Will people stop calling mobile phones mobile phones -- calling them iPhones instead? (Just like they started calling every MP3 player an iPod.) But why do I bother you about such metaphysical questions? Instead, let me tell you what I felt about "THE" phone over the couple of days that I got to use it. But before that:-

The Talk

Presently, the iPhone is available in just 10% of the world. The other part (90% of the world) -- comprising the have-nots -- is equally hooked: the iPhone is all over the net, on every channel, on everyone s mind. It looks like the marketing is as much for the grey sales of the phone as for those specific countries where it sells legally.

The Technology

So, here's what I felt about the phone, having used it for quite some time. Well, as much as it awed me it got me heartbroken too. The interface of the iPhone is too good to be true. It has a complete touch-interface with interactive touch-sensitivity -- and you just can't have enough of it. Just a few buttons on the phone: the Power ON/OFF button, volume control, and finally, the only button on the face of the phone. It does just one thing: it gets you back to the main screen (as the "Windows + D" combination on your PC keyboard gets you back to the desktop).

There are lots of patented technologies involved that make the touch-sensitivity of the iPhone so great. It has Multi-touch, Accelerometer, and Proximity Sensor. I'll tell you what each of these does.

The Multi-touch of the iPhone can detect more than a single touch at a time on its screen. The technology involves layers of sensitivity. There's the touch panel and an electric field below it. Above the touch panel is a protective shield, and under the electric field is the LCD. The touch panel detects the touches, and the electrical field sends out electric signals, which are eventually processed to to provide the actual output. This sort of a thing is still under development from like "Minority Report" times for actual desktop replacements. The skill used to actually make this happen has taken a lot of development. Coming back to the iPhone: it can detect multiple touches. This smart tech doesn't end here; it's made even smarter with another technology -- the Accelerometer.

The Accelerometer detects the rate at which you move your finger across the screen. It's something very similar to mouse acceleration on your PC. The moment you drag your finger across the screen at a certain speed, the OS detects the speed and actually travels almost that quickly through the many frames. You slide your finger across the screen slowly, and it moves just a couple of frames. Slide it faster, and it moves through at least ten frames: Faster equals more frames and vice versa. Now that's smart!

The screen also has a proximity sensor. This smart technology detects if the screen is being approached by your finger or face. The moment you take the phone close to your face while on a call, it automatically sends the screen into standby; and the moment you take it off your ear, the screen again lights up. A brilliant way to save battery. If that weren't enough, the accelerometer even detects which way you're holding the phone and automatically changes the orientation of the screen.

There's a spring unit in the phone, which supports the Accelerometer. It consists of 4 springs on each side and a piece of solid in the center. The solid puts weight onto the spring on whichever side is down. Gravity is what basically helps (if you couldn't figure out what I just said). Of course, getting used to all this will take time, but -- overall -- it'll expose you to an all-new experience you never knew you could have from a phone.

Don't take your eyes off the screen yet: there's still this to talk about: the "other" reality.

The Other Reality

Now, the iPhone isn't the first phone and music player combination. And for that matter, the Sony Ericsson Walkman -- if not a pioneer -- is by far the best. But the iPhone is Apple's first shot at making a phone. Nevertheless, given the way Apple develops its products, I expected more. What I mean is I wanted it better than UIQ Symbian -- and the iPhone certainly is better. In terms of music quality, it's just like any other iPod. But come to the basics: the phone supports basic SMS. And I liked the way the iPhone arranges SMSes -- just like a chat messenger. (This is there in the Palm Treo 750 as well.) But on the iPhone, I just couldn't forward an SMS!

Next up is its Bluetooth. It's a Bluetooth v2.0 alright, but you can't use it to transfer files! Ok, I accept that Apple doesn't want to encourage piracy, but what if I want to send or receive a video file that either my friend or I captured on this or some other phone? Not possible! You can use the Bluetooth only for voice communication to a headset.

Another shortcoming: the iPhone can capture still images but not videos. I could have even done with ancient QCIF (which Sony Ericsson doesn't seem to grow out from) -- but nothing here.

Ok, let's go back to the phone and music player combination. Most phones that place themselves in such a category try to keep things standard. You either have an enhancement, or a part of the accessory realizes the standard. I'm talking about the iPhone's headphone jack: it requires an adaptor to plug in the headphones.

That brings me to the next thing: transferring music to the iPhone. To do so, you require the latest iTunes to sync the iPhone with your PC. Doesn't seem much of a problem, does it? Well, no, if you re doing the sync on just 1 PC. But suppose you want to do that on 2 PCs, say your home and office PC. It just won't let you do so with more than 1 PC. Now, for an iPod, it may be fine, but for a phone? Not happening.

Final Words

If Sony Ericsson keeps it smart and Nokia keeps it simple, then Apple has made it native. It isn't difficult to figure out your way with an iPhone. The rub is that the iPhone doesn't let you do some basic things that everyone is accustomed to do on mobile phones.

The iPhone is a unique product. Others like the Meizu M8 and the LG Prada have made replicas (well, almost) of the iPhone, but they aren't the pick in the market as of now. So, I'm inclined to believe that the iPhone will rule the phone arena just like the iPod does the MP3 arena.