After years of false starts, Apple has finally cracked its long-awaited iPhone - and once you get over the fact that there isn't a button in sight, it's a looker.
The ultra-slim phone (11.6mm) is controlled by a 3.5inch touchscreen display with a proximity sensor turning off the controls when it's near your face. As with the iPod Nano, it comes with 4GB or 8GB of storage and iTunes, but also Bluetooth, automatic WiFi, a 2 megapixel camera and quad-band GSM radio.
If that's not geeky enough for you, the iPhone will also run OS X with support for Google Maps, Safari and Widgets (blogging). In the States, a partnership with Yahoo will also give all customers free push IMAP email. Apple estimates 5 hours of battery life for talk or video with 16 hours in music mode - not exactly long compared to some of the phones on the market, but then is more of a Swiss Army Knife than phone anyway.
What proved to be an extra surprise at its launch yesterday was the use of The Beatles to soundtrack what the phone could do. This goes someway to suggest that their backcatalogue might be released on iTunes this year which could do crazy things for the charts. As HMV spokesman Gennaro Castaldo said earlier in the week, if that happened a "top 10 made up entirely of their music would be almost guaranteed".
The 4GB iPhone will start retailing in June in the US for $499 on a two-year contract, 8GB for $599 and is expected in the UK towards the end of the year. Given Apple's penchant for slapping on the price tag over here, we're estimating the standard model to start at £300.
To see more pictures of the iPhone and its capabilities, click here.
What do you think? Excited, or will it just break? Let us know.
11:06 AM | 10/01/2007
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