What Hi Fi Sound and Vision
11 JUN 2008
Apple iPhone
Once in a while a gadget comes along that rewrites the rulebook, and the iPhone does so in spades
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Unless you've been living on Mars for the last few months, the iPhone hardly needs much introduction.
It's the most talked-about gadget on the planet, and finally hit these shores on November 9. At a stroke, it smashed the barriers between MP3/MP4 player, mobile phone and PDA in a way that no rival device had managed before.
Of course, the iPhone had unfair advantages. Like all iPods, it enjoys plug'n'play sync with iTunes, the world's biggest music store, and uses the same universal dock as all other 'Pods.
As if that were not head-start enough, the touch-operated interface has to be experienced to be believed. You operate everything with a prod or sweep of your finger across the screen, from flicking through photos to dialling a number to switching between playlists.
The built-in browser makes all rival attempts at mobile web surfing look and feel painful. Web pages are rendered as you see them through your desktop browser, and zooming in on text is a intuitive and pulling apart your thumb and forefinger on the 3.5in screen.
Sadly, the iPhone lacks 3G and is only available with an O2 contract for now, but we'll forgive the lack of choice and absolute speed – it's still one of the most brilliant gadgets we've tested this year.
The user interface is sublime, and being able to carry your tunes, surf the web, watch video and make calls all on one device is brilliant. The 320x480 screen easily handles 16x9 videos, and the 160 pixels per inch make it a pleasure to watch on the go.
It's a great music player (although we would strongly suggest upgrading from the famous white Apple in-ear phones; they really don't do the iPhone's sonic capabilities justice), and is a joy to use as a phone.
The Apple is not without flaws. The on-screen keyboard can be hit and miss (it pretty much demands dainty fingers), the 2 megapixel built-in camera is hardly cutting edge, and we miss the zip of a 3G connection.
But you only need to use the Apple for five minutes to forgive its technological shortcomings; at last, here's a single device that's as talented as it is beautiful.