Hot Main Features Of The iPhone

Apple has put together the must-have tech gadget for 2007. What the future holds in store as far as actual market saturation is anyone's guess. Some people have said the iPhone is nothing more than a trumped up iPod or cellphone. In reality it its somewhere between the two. This is one case where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

So what are the parts that make up the iPhone? There are three main features that Apple combines into the hand held device. It is a cell phone, iPod, and internet browser all rolled into one. On top of that is the coolness factor of integrating it all with a touchscreen in lieu of buttons. Here is a brief overview of the three main iPhone features.

Cell Phone

As the name iPhone implies there is a cellphone as part of the product. So, you buy an iPhone and then select a cellular provider, right? Right. As long as you want to choose AT&T's Cingular service you'll be fine. Because until 2009 that is your only choice. And to get full use of everything the iPhone has to offer you will have to pay in the $60 to $120 range for a base plan. If you can afford it, the iPhone is a pretty cool gadget to have.

iPod

Coming from Apple and having the 'i' as the prefix gives a clue to the buyer that an MP3 player may be included. It is recommended to get your music from iTunes right now. There are many iPhone download subscription sites that have popped up. Most of these have you pay a flat fee of around $50 to have unlimited lifetime downloads. Some even claim to be free. Some of these are safe, but some may include spyware or adware when you download.

Internet Browser

The iPhone incorporates a full-fledged version of the Safari browser. With a 3.5 inch viewing screen it may be hard to see the pages in detail. Not to worry, Apple allows the user to touch the screen to zoom in on any part of the page. This makes it easier to read small print and view graphics in finer detail. There is a small learning curve to getting proficient at doing this but once it is mastered web browsing is a breeze on the iPhone.

The browser includes a full email client. Without any buttons to press that means no keyboard. Some people think this means they can only read their emails, which is helpful but not very practical. Not to worry. The iPhone's touchscreen also has a keyboard that pops up when needed. It displays a QWERTY keyboard that you tap on to enter information. In addition, the iPhone's Safari web browser has the benefit of allowing you to easily transfer your bookmarks from your current browser.

Those are the three main features of the iPhone. In truth, none of them are that revolutionary, and all three have been incorporated into smart phones to some degree, but the iPhone does it so well that it is hard to resist it once you've tried it.