MARCO THE WIZARD?

[With the passing of Dennis Turner, author of TTP's Dennis The Wizard column, last June, TTPer Mark Gilligan – known to denizens of our User Forum as "Marco" – has stepped up to the plate. For those of you who have met him at a TTP Rendezvous, you know Marco is one of those fellows for whom it is impossible not to like.  We at To The Point are so appreciative of his support. Let us know what you think of his explaining the iPhone.  Thanks, Marco!]

This article will attempt to inform you about the relatively new device from Apple called the iPhone.

Some would call it a smart phone, a Palm/Treo-like PDA phone. This is not exactly true, although the iPhone does have the capability to store different types of information, like multiple email accounts, stock data, movies, pod casts and sms messages.

It also has an interactive calendar, a photo storage area, and a 2 megapixel camera. There is a weather button available and of course an alarm clock and calculator button. A web based browser called Safari is also included along with an iPod button to store digital audio and visual. An iTunes button is included for connection to Apple's iTune store.

Originally priced at $599.00 dollars, the 8Gigabyte model was reduced to $399.00 several weeks ago. This drop in price opened the floodgates for new buyers, including myself for a superior price point.

As a phone it functions very well, holding the phone to the ear as some like, it has a decent speaker for speakerphone function and also Bluetooth capability. (In case all are not familiar with Bluetooth, it is the acronym for a mobile device such as an earpiece or headset to communicate wirelessly with the phone. Most devices will communicate up to thirty feet away, barring any cell wave blocking interferences.)

One very convenient capability is the ability to have multiple email accounts. I have five active on my IPhone. There is also (Virtual Private Network) VPN, so dialing into a private intranet can be accomplished or into a Windows exchange account like a Blackberry does.

As mentioned, the phone has an iPod button that holds Playlists, Artists, Songs, Videos and More. More can include Albums, Audiobooks, Compilations, Composers, Genres, and Podcasts.

Yes, if you subscribe to Rush Limbaugh you can download his podcasts from the iTunes store for free with your Limbaugh subscription! ITunes is Apples' music store, which can be accessed from a free application provided from Apple for Windows and Macintosh computers.

One of the cool functions for the frequent traveler is the ability to select "Airplane mode" which disables the phone and its "Wifi" functions. Oh yes I did forget to mention wi-fi.  With access to a wi-fi network, your speed of transmission will accelerate much beyond the ATT EDGE network. If you have wi-fi in your home office, then accessing the web via Safari or retrieving email is a snap.

Also very cool:  you can store movies on this phone as well as sporting events that can be purchased from the iTunes store. The recent World Series cost me $6.99 and I probably will be watching that on my way to LA this weekend. $24.99 bought me the season of Patriots football.

Here is how it works. A day or two after the game has been played; an email is sent out from the iTunes store, where the video was purchased.  Connect to iTunes, sign into your account and your purchased downloads begin.

There is a sync capability between the phone and the iTunes account. A cable is provided to connect via USB 2.0 to your PC and the iPhone syncs just like your iPod can. You have ability to sync email, songs, contacts, movies, podcasts and photos stored on iPhoto application.

There are limitations. Your only legal provider in the US is ATT/Cingular. This is known as a locked phone. Even though it has a removable sim chip, there are currently no other legal carriers in the USA.

Enterprising entrepreneurs tried to come to the rescue, unlocking the iPhone and added additional applications to it.  Apple retaliated by releasing a firmware update that added additional features to the legal iPhone and blocked the unlocked iPhone from functioning, essentially rendering it a $399 or $599 brick, depending on when you purchased it.

The reason it became a brick was after the open source unblessed update, it is very near impossible to get the original firmware back.  The war continues.

The iPhone uses the GSM Quad band, which is the global standard. The US is still playing catch up with Korea, Japan and Europe for mobile network bandwidth capability. Their network speeds are far greater than we currently have. Hopefully this will be short lived.

The buttons on the iPhone are digital touch sensitive except for the "Home" button and a "mute" on the left side as your holding it towards you, It also has a volume up-down switch and on the top a on-off switch. When you press the home button to awaken it from a standby mode you are presented with an arrow sensitive slide switch to turn it on for accessibility

Some of the amazing details of the phone are in its graphic touch sensitivity adjustments. For instance, when looking at a web page if the fonts are too small, you just take two fingers to the middle of the screen and sweep outward with light pressure. The screen automatically zooms in. This is really great if you have an image to view and you want to see more detail. One can zoom in and out with just the movement of your fingers.

When viewing photos or a group of albums you can slide to the next image with the sidewards swish of one finger. When viewing movies, podcasts or photos plus web surfing, moving the device 180º will rotate the image or video to its new viewing position. An incredible amount of engineering was put into the design of this little beauty.

I believe we have just seen the beginning of this device. With hardware and firmware updates this will be the one to beat for quite a while, just as the iPod is. The screen is optical quality glass instead of plastic. This gives superior viewing but is subject to breakage, if abused. I have dropped mine getting out of a vehicle and was fortunate, it didn't even scratch it.

I could go on and on but will stop after this. When viewing the weather you have the ability to input multiple cities. One just has to slide the finger across the screen to see the weather in Houston, San Francisco, Miami, Boston and anywhere else you might want to view.

Not bad for a new company intro into the established cell phone market and as of now they have sold approximately 1.5 million. Yes, it works overseas, but right now at the slower US download speeds.

For additional information from Apple and a 360º view visit here.

                        Technical Specs for iPhone:

            .            Screen size: 3.5 inches

            .            Screen resolution: 320 by 480 at 163 ppi

            .            Input method: Multi-touch with on-screen predictive QWERTY keyboard

            .            Operating system: OS X

            .            Storage: 8GB

            .            GSM: Quad-band (MHz: 850, 900, 1800, 1900)

            .            Wireless data: Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) + EDGE + Bluetooth 2.0®

            .            Camera: 2.0 megapixels

            .            Battery: Up to 8 hours of talk time, 250 hours of standby, 6 hours of Internet use, 7 hours of video playback or 24 hours of audio playback

            .            Dimensions: 4.5 x 2.4 x 0.46 inches / 115 x 61 x 11.6mm

            .            Weight: 4.8 ounces / 135 grams