7) Email
PDAs have long supported POP/IMAP mail and the iPhone is no different. The client can handle HTML mail with images and it also features built-in readers for such popular attachments as PDF, JPEG, Word and Excel. Image attachments are shown in-line with the message, while other attachments are accessed by clicking on their icons. Zoom in on a document with a pinch and drag to pan.
8) Weather & Stocks
The Weather app on the iPhone works like a Widget in that information is derived from the network. The weather app itself isn't particularly thrilling; nor is the financial program that Apple has installed named Stocks. But these two applications show what the iPhone will be capable of in the future. Palm and Windows Mobile PDAs are more than just digital diaries thanks to the range of add-ons that you can install on them. Currency converters, games, instant messaging software, etc. Apple might have locked down the OS so that new applications can't be installed. But there's plenty of mileage in Safari apps.
9) Google Maps
Google is behind the Maps app on the Apple iPhone. Open it, tap in the address, city name or, if in the States, the Zip code, to bring up the location. Zoom by double-tapping or 'pinching' with thumb and finger, explore the area by dragging and take a look at how it appears from space by switching to Satellite view. Zooming out needs a single tap, but with two fingers.
Favourite places can be bookmarked, and it's also possible to search for a specific location, such as a restaurant, by entering the business type and area. Any matches will show up as 'pins' on the map, which can be tapped to reveal details of the establishment. Further, you can bring up directions on how to get there by setting a start point in order to view the ideal view, including indications of local traffic conditions.
Other phones can access Google Maps. None have it built-in, however...
10) YouTube
Content from YouTube can be streamed to the iPhone. A tap on the icon brings up lists of popular videos, along with your own favourites. Turn the iPhone on its side to watch a selection and tap to see it in full-screen mode. Among the on-screen controls is the means to send a video link to a friend via email.
The iPhone isn't a revolution as such. Modern PDAs and phones can perform many of the same functions with a bit of fiddling. And that's the problem. Just as Apple turned the MP3 market upside down with a beautifully-designed and intuitive music player, so the iPhone points out the embarrassing flaws in rival PDAs and phones. Good design is often undone by poor user interfaces. And vice versa.
Apple's triumph (as far as the iPhone is concerned) is that it's made something so desirable, so iconic, that people will camp out in the street for one. It makes the P990 look like a brick; the Treo look like a relic from the 1990s. Apple has made owning a big PDA/phone sexy again.
Words by: Karl Foster and Dean Evans
