The iPhone Revolution

What is an iPhone? The iPhone is essentially a smart phone, offering extra features such as web browsing, email handling, music and video playback, as well as a host of other useful extras. The iPhone is produced by Apple who make Mac computers and who introduced the iPod (a music playing device that has revolutionized the music industry). What, then, is so special about the iPhone when there are plenty of other smart phones on the market that offer similar features?
The crucial difference between the iPhone and other smart phones on the market is that the iPhone is both easy and enjoyable to use whereas the others are difficult, fiddly, and complex. The iPhone utilizes a uniquely simple yet useful touch-screen navigation system instead of regular buttons, making it intuitive and refreshingly enjoyable to manipulate.
	Nearly everything you do on the iPhone involves simple touches and dragging on its large and richly coloured screen. It is hard to imagine a more user friendly navigation system on a device that is so small and does so much. It is in this respect above all others that the iPhone is truly a revolutionary product.
Advantageous features of the iPhone include the following; • Intuitive touch-screen user interface and navigation • Large, bright, high res screen • Exceptionally user-friendly software. • Impressive built-in storage capacity, measurable in several gigabytes. • Built in compatibility with iTunes. • Wi-fi and Bluetooth connectivity as standard. In the above listed areas the iPhone stands out amongst other smart phones. Needless to say, it has a wealth of other features that might be considered standard nowadays, but even in these more typical features the ease of use the iPhone facilitates sets it apart. More standard features include a built in camera, calendar, calculator, image browser, documents viewer (allowing you to view PDF and word documents), video playing software, maps, etc, etc. One extremely useful feature of the iPhone allows users to simply tap any web address, email address, or telephone number and the iPhone will open the web browser or email client or dial the number in response. There are a number of things that an iPhone cannot do but these are software limitations and we can only expect upgrades in the future to address many of them (see limitations panel on the right). The biggest limitation, of course, is the closed operating system which prevents the installation of third party software. But Apple have a point when they explain this by saying they would rather see the iPhone do the limited things it does extremely well, rather than opening it up and letting potentially unstable applications clutter the device and destabilize it. Generally speaking, where the iPhone has limitations we can expect Apple to address them in the interests of users and bring improvements and upgrades in when it makes sense to do so. The iPhone is too special to be neglected and, as with the rest of Apple products, like the iPod, its evolution in a positive direction is arguably in the safest and most innovative hands in the business.

Limitations of the iPhone (at the moment)

Below is a list of things that you cannot do on the iPhone as it currently stands. It is likely that many of these issues will be addressed positively as Apple updates the software on the iPhone over time and the product evolves, as you would expect it to.

Note that all of these issues could, quite easily, be addressed by software; and, although the iPhone does have hardware limitations that have been widely commented upon, the general view is that the device itself in terms of its physical appearance and makeup represents a unique and unrivaled success story for Apple in this field.

Focus on the limitations of the iPhone or any new technology should never be interpreted as criticism. Most technological products, just like living creatures, evolve and improve over time -- it is hard if not impossible to think of any new technology that was inaugurated in a state of absolute perfection.

Things You Can't Do With an Iphone

• Picture and video messaging

• Voice Dialing

• Voice Memos

• Video Capture

• Call Recording

• Play Ipod Games

• Copy and Paste Text

• Change Ringtones

• Undo Your Last Action

• Play Flash, Real Player, Java, RSS or WMA files

• Communicate With Printers etc using Bluetooth

• Chat, using MSM or Yahoo Messenger

• Edit Documents, like word, Excel, or PDF

• Run Skype

• Listen to Stereo sound with Bluetooth Headphones