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Other PDAs > News > Apple Giving Guided Tour of iPhone Apple Giving Guided Tour of iPhone
By James Alan Miller
Nothing revelatory is revealed in Apple's video-showcase, which is called simply enough "iPhone: A guided tour," and is narrated by a guy named Bob. But the video does give the most in-depth look at the device yet; taking viewers through many of the iPhone's features and functions as a phone, iPod and Internet device.
First, you've got the multi-touch user interface in all its flicking and dragging glory. The connector, speaker and microphone are located on the bottom, volume button and silent ringer switch on the left side, and the sleep/wake button and headset jack at the top of the iPhone.
The stereo headset that ships with the iPhone has a microphone and a button to begin and end calls as well as control music and video playback—a single click pauses or resumes and a double click skips to the next track, for example. Music fades when a call comes in, pausing audio. A single click of the button answers a call. And when you click to hang up the music begins where it left off. You're shown how to wake the iPhone up—press the sleep/wake button and drag the slider that appears on the display to the right; the slider prevents the iPhone from being accidentally turned on while it's in your pocket. This brings up the iPhone's home screen, which gives you one-touch access to the device's 16 bundled applications. Lock the iPhone by pressing the sleep/wake button. You can still receive calls, listen to music and adjust the volume, but the screen is disabled. Turn of the iPhone by pressing and holding the sleep/wake button for a few seconds, then confirm by dragging a red slider on the screen. Towards the bottom of the screen are the buttons to access the iPhone's main features: phone, mail (apparently with Microsoft Office attachment support after all), Safari Web browser, which is supposed to render pages just like they appear on a desktop computer, and iPod functions. Beneath these icons is the home button; pressing it at any time brings you back to the home screen, where you can easily switch back to the application you came from or launch another.
There's also Visual Voicemail, which enables you to listen voicemail in the order you want, YouTube, Google Maps, SMS, a stock tracker, weather applet, iChat, one-touch calling, the ability to merge calls with a couple of taps, etc.
Interestingly, with the virtual QWERT- keyboard (a make or break feature for the millions of people who are attached to their BlackBerry-like hard-keyboards), Apple recommends you start using it by "typing with just your index finger," and getting comfortable before moving on to your thumbs.
The narrator of the video adds, "In about a week you'll be typing faster on the iPhone than on any other small keyboard, especially if you trust the intelligence of the keyboard." So Apple's predictive software appears to be key to the keyboard's success. The software suggests words while you are typing, listing options in a little window. The video tour goes into many more details on how to use the iPhone as a mobile phone, iPod (music & video, which play in landscape/horizontal mode), camera, and Internet/e-mail device. For instance, rotating the iPhone horizontally when in iPod mode changes the interface to CoverFlow mode, which shows the album cover of the song you're listening to. So head over to Apple's video tour for the best view yet of the iPhone's interface and applications. It's the closest most of us will get until Friday. Related Links:
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