Archive for October, 2009

The iPhone and What it Does

The iPhone is a cell phone that includes all the features of an iPod. Apart from playing music and video, the iPhone’s capabilities include:

  • Making phone calls, including conference calls.
  • Checking your voicemail messages either in the order received or out of order
  • Connecting to the Internet either via the call network or via a wireless network connection.
  • Browsing the web with the safari browser
  • Sending and receiving e-mail messages via your existing e-mail account
  • Taking pictures with the built-in camera -and sending them immediately via e-mail if you so wish.
  • Watching videos from YouTube
  • Getting maps, weather reports, stock quotes, and other handy information
  • Running application you download from Apple’s App Store – everything from productivity-enhancing business tools to brain-bending study tools and entertaining games.

The advantages and disadvantages of Flash Memory

Except for the iPod classic, which uses a hard drive, all iPods and the iPhone use flash memory chips for storage.
Flash memory has two main advantages:

  • Flash memory is shockproof, so the iPod won’t skip unless you damage it badly enough to prevent it from playing.
  • Flash Memory uses far less power than a hard disk – around 1/30 of the amount a hard drive takes – so the iPod or iPhone can run a good time on a smaller battery than it would otherwise need.

The disadvantage of flash memory is that it is still much more expensive per gigabyte than hard disks. This is why there is such a vast difference in capacity between the iPod classic(120GB) and the next-most capacious iPod, the iPod tough(32 GB)

iPhone tips

If you change your mind about turning the iPhone off, tap the Cancel button, or do nothing. If the iPhone decides that you’re not paying attention, it dismisses the “slide to power off” screen automatically.

The iPhone can demand a password each time it wakes up, if you like.

You can’t use any other company’s SIM card in the iPhone – it’s not an “unlocked” GSM phone (at least, not officially; there are some unauthorized ways). Other recent AT&T cards work, but only after you first activate them. Insert the other card – it fits only one way, with the AT&T logo facing up – then connect the iPhone to your computer and let the iTunes software walk you through the process.

Geeks may enjoy knowing that the screen is 320 by 480 pixels.

On the iPhone 3G, you can use any standard headphones with the iPhone – a welcome bit of news for audiophiles who don’t think the included earbuds do their music justice. But on the original iPhone, the molding around the iPhone’s audio jack prevents most miniplugs from going all the way. You must be able to get your headphones to fit by trimming the plastic collar with a razor blade – or you can spend $10 for a headphone adapter (from Belkin.com, among others) to get around this problem.

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Knowing an iPhone

iphone

iPhones

iPhone is one of the most incredible handheld devices. Of course, the iPhone is one heck of a wireless telephone, but it’s actually four awesome handheld devices in one. In addition to being a killer cell phone, it’s a gorgeous widescreen video iPod, a decent 2-megapixel digital camera (original iPhone and iPhone 3G) or 3-megapixel camera/camcorder (iPhone 3GS), as well as the smallest, most powerful Internet communication device yet.

The iPhone has many best-of-class features, but perhaps its most unusual feature is the lack of a physical keyboard or stylus. Instead, it has a 3.5-inch super-high-resolution touchscreen (160 pixels per inch if you care about such things) that you operate using a pointing device you’re already intimately familiar with: your finger. And what a display it is. We venture that you’ve never seen a more beautiful screen on a handhelf device in your life.

iPhone has another feature that can knock your socks off – built-in sensors. An accelerometer detects when you rotate the device from portrait to landscape mode and adjusts what’s on the display accordingly. A proximity sensor detects when the iPhone gets near your face, so it can turn off the display to save power and prevent accidental touches by your check. And a light sensor adjusts the display’s brightness in response to the current ambient lighing situation.

The iPhone as a phone and digital camera/camcorder
On the phone side, the iPhone synchronizes with the contacts and calendars on your Mac or PC. It includes a full featured QWERTY soft, or virtual, keyboard, which makes typing text easier than ever before – for some folks.

Granted, the virtual keyboard takes a bit of time to get used to. But we think that many of you eventually will be whizzing along at a much faster pace than you thought possible on a mobile keyboard of this type.

The 2-megapixel (iPhone and iPhone 3G) or 3-megapixel (iPhone 3GS) digital camera is accompanied by a decent photo management applications, so taking and managing digital photos (and videos on iPhone 3GS) is a pleasure rather than the nightmare it can be on other phones. Plus, you can automatically synchronize iPhone photos and videos with the digital photo library on your Mac or PC. Okay, we still wish the iPhone camera took better photos and shot better video but it is still much better than most other phone cameras.

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