Overview

In his Macworld Expo 2008 keynote
address, Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced the latest Apple laptop:
MacBook Air. Stunningly thin and lighter than any Apple laptop ever
made, yet missing ports and expandability expected of laptops, the
MacBook Air has been a topic of intense discussion in the Mac community.

Soon
after he returned to Apple, a decade ago, Jobs simplified the Mac
product offerings to just four product lines, defined by a two-by-two
matrix of Professional vs Consumer, Desktop vs Laptop. The "pro" models
have been more powerful, expandable and upgradeable than the "consumer"
models, and carry a hefty price premium. Design has also been a
differentiator — consumer Macs have been more informal and even
whimsical, while pro Macs have ranged from stolid to striking but
always sleek and refined.

The MacBook Air is not a
traditional Apple pro model, lacking the requisite raw power and
expandability. Yet, at $700 more than the basic MacBook (which is much
faster), it's clearly not positioned as a consumer laptop, either.

In
the general PC market, the MacBook Air falls into the "ultralight"
category (and can run Windows, like its non-Mac competitors). The Air
weighs just three pounds, which is a pound lighter than the Newton
eMate 300 and 1.2 pounds lighter than Apple's original lightweight, the
PowerBook Duo 210.

Apple says they designed the MacBook
Air's "form factor" — its shape and size — and then figured out how to
fit a computer into it. Though this seems backwards vs. most computer
development, it's typical for Apple, and strikingly similar to the
design process for the groundbreaking Sony VAIO 505 ultra-small laptop,
introduced in 1997.

MacBook Air takes a different
approach from most ultralight laptops, though. Instead of shrinking all
dimensions, Apple's designers focused on just one: thickness. The
MacBook Air's footprint is fully as large as the MacBook, but it's just
three-quarters of an inch thick at it's thickest point. In profile,
MacBook Air is a wedge, just 0.18 inches thick at its narrowest.

The
large footprint provides the space for a 13.3", 1200x800-pixel display,
a full-size keyboard, and an oversized trackpad. Unlike the retired 12"
PowerBook, which was barely as wide as its keyboard, MacBook Air offers
a larger palm rest area, and we've already discovered this makes for a
remarkably comfortable work surface when holding MacBook Air in the lap.

MacBook Air fits nicely into a standard business folio

Trading
power for size, the MacBook Air is the slowest of Apple's current
laptops, however. It uses an ultra-compact 1.6-GHz CPU, developed by
Intel especially for Apple. The Air also omits the MacBook Pro's
dedicated graphics processor and video memory in favor of Intel's
slower, but smaller integrated graphics controller, which steals 144 MB
of system memory. And Apple uses a tiny hard drive, similar to an
iPod's, instead of a standard 2.5-inch laptop drive.

All of
this compact but low-speed hardware means the MacBook Air won't be
winning any Photoshop or Final Cut Studio contests any time soon. So if
it's so slow, one has to ask, will it sell?

Almost
certainly. The PC industry has been turning out ultra-light notebook
computers that are significantly slower than their bigger cousins for
years. Most are niche products, commanding high price tags and fat
profit margins, with loyal customers. Enduring examples include IBM's
ThinkPad 200 and ThinkPad X Series and the Sony VAIO 505 series.

First Impressions

Opening the MacBook
Air's box is a treat. Unlike the utilitarian Styrofoam packing of other
MacBooks, it literally presents the Air to you on a tray.

The
packaging is clearly inspired by iPhone's, in both look and function.
Instead of corrugated cardboard and a hinged lid, the Air's box is made
of stiff single-ply cardboard, and the top lifts off entirely. Inside,
instead of a stiff Styrofoam shell, MacBook Air is presented on a
simple, lightweight plastic tray. The inside of the lid is covered in
light foam padding. Underneath the tray are neat compartments for the
45-watt power brick and extension cord, video adapters, documentation
and software restore discs.

Like the original iPod's
unfolding cube box used in 2001, and like the iPhone box today, the
MacBook Air's packaging is an experience that says you're about to
touch something special.

Inside the MacBook Air box

Sleek
elegance is the first impression of the MacBook Air, and touching it is
pure pleasure. It's the most visually and tactilely compelling Mac
laptop since the black PowerBook G3 series.

And
everything about the MacBook Air exudes precision. The screen opens
more smoothly than any Apple laptop's in recent memory. Interior edges
are crisp and defined, but without the painfully sharp edges that
plague the polycarbonate MacBooks. Curved bevel edges are reminiscent
of the recently updated iPod Classic's face, and the up-curved bottom
makes picking it up off a table shockingly easy.

The
MacBook Air is remarkably sturdy, too. Closed, it doesn't twist at all;
it's much more resistant to torsion than a 15" PowerBook G4 or MacBook
Pro. Opened, the screen can be slightly twisted, but the base is rock
solid. The Air seems to have a monocoque design, stiffened by the
bottom curves and lacking the interior frame found in other Mac laptops.

Those
same curves make the Air supremely comfortable to use when sitting
tailor-style, and heat build-up doesn't seem to be a problem. The left
rear gets warm but not uncomfortable, even when the processor is busy
enough to turn on the cooling fan.

Keyboard feel is as
expected — indistinguishable from the MacBook keyboard — but the
backlit keys are black instead of white. A light sensor near the iSight
camera adjusts both display and keyboard brightness to match the
environment.

The MacBook Air's display is extremely bright.
Like the LED-backlit MacBook Pro we reviewed last year, the Air's
screen is distinct and colorful even in direct sunlight. At the same
size as the MacBook's 13.3" display, we expected the MacBook Air's
display to be identical, but it is far superior — brighter and clearer
with a wider viewing angle. Like many laptop displays, it looks a bit
yellow when viewed far off-center, but the effect is much less
pronounced than on the MacBook.

The oversize trackpad is
nice, but the button is shallower versus previous MacBooks and MacBook
Pros. Click-feel is nice and solid in the center but slightly soft at
the far left and right sides.

The trackpad's Multitouch
feature, adapted from Apple's iPhone, is fascinating. Watching an image
rotate in Preview, with the twist of two fingers, is startling. Pinch
and open gestures zoom images smoothly, though it requires a bit slower
motion than the iPhone. A three-fingered swipe backs up (or forward) a
step in a web browser or in the Finder, or among photos or PDF pages in
Preview.

But the "navigation" gesture confused our iPhone-trained fingers; instead of moving the object of the manipulation in the direction of the swipe, it moves the viewport.
This is consistent with traditional Mac/Windows behavior, but exactly
opposite the iPhone and iPod Touch. Anyone who uses both the MacBook
Air and the iPhone should soon develop separate reflexes for each
device, though; after a few days, we switched back and forth without
conscious effort.

Features

"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."

Antoine de Saint Exupéry, 1939, Terre des Hommes

Apple
appears to have taken the poet and aviator Antoine de Saint Exupéry to
heart... the Air dispenses with many of the ports and features of the
MacBook Pro and even of the less expensive MacBook. There is no CD/DVD
drive, no FireWire or Ethernet port, no microphone jack, no S-Video.
MacBook Air has just three ports, hidden in a drop-down hatch on the
right side: a headphone jack, a single USB port, and a micro-DVI port
are its sole concessions to the wired world.

Two other
limitations are also important. The MacBook Air's memory is
non-expandable; its 2 GB worth of memory chips are soldered onto the
logic board and there is no provision for more. And its battery, unlike
every other Apple laptop ever made, cannot be replaced with a spare
when it runs out of power.

On the wireless side, MacBook
Air does include both 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless networking,
and Apple promotes a "Remote Disc" feature that enables you to use
another Mac or PC as a wireless CD/DVD drive. More on that below....

Performance

With a 1.6-GHz, Core 2 Duo
processor and a 4200-RPM hard drive, nobody expects the MacBook Air to
be a speed demon. So we were pleasantly surprised by its general
responsiveness. While disk-intensive operations, such as starting up
applications, were noticeably slower than on a MacBook Pro, routine web
browsing, email, and word processing tasks were quick. PowerPoint 2008
ran transitions and builds in its dual-screen Presenter Tools mode with
no slow-downs at all.

Geekbench scores, which test pure
processor performance, show the 1.6-GHz MacBook Air to be about 80% the
speed of a 2.0-GHz "Late 2006" Macbook.

When we moved a
VMware virtual machine from an iMac Core Duo to the MacBook Air,
Windows XP fired up and ran fine. It took a bit longer to start up than
usual but otherwise was quite usable.

Issues

Conclusions

MacBook Air is a pleasure both
to behold and use. It's quick enough for web, email, office
applications, watching movies, and wasting time on YouTube. It slows
down if you push memory usage past its 2 GB of built-in RAM, when slow
virtual memory on disk comes into play, and launching applications
takes longer than on a MacBook or MacBook Pro with its slow disk. The
Air will run Aperture, but without a full-strength graphics controller
or a faster drive, MacBook Air lacks the horsepower needed for
applications such as Final Cut Studio.

MacBook Air is
neither a speedy, expandable "pro" laptop, nor an inexpensive, rugged
"consumer" laptop. In light of the traditional Jobs product matrix,
it's not entirely clear who the target buyer is, but we expect the Air
to appeal to two groups of customers.

Business users who
travel frequently will find the MacBook Air's three-pound weight and
slim profile highly appealing. Its video port easily drives a
projector; its spacious keyboard makes note-taking a breeze; and its
bright, clear screen is highly usable. Saving two and a half pounds of
weight over a 15" MacBook Pro may not sound like much, but if you carry
a laptop everywhere, it's a noticeable difference. We think the MacBook
Air will find a home as an "accessory" Mac in the business market, with
an iMac on the desk and the MacBook Air in the bag. But MacBook Air's
non-swappable battery is a gross oversight that may limit its appeal to
frequent fliers.

We also expect the MacBook Air to appeal
to well-heeled consumers who don't need stellar performance but who do
value style (not to mention Air's superior display). Just $300
separates the black MacBook from the sleek MacBook Air.

Those
who bought the 12" PowerBook a few years ago might consider the MacBook
Air, if their storage and performance requirements are limited.

Although
the MacBook Air has much to criticize — battery and hard drive foremost
— its benefits are compelling. A bright, clear, full-size display and
backlit keys make it usable without the squinting and crunched fingers
that characterize most ultralights. It's so thin, and so light, that it
slides into a bag and makes hardly a bulge; even with its power brick
and video and USB-Ethernet adapters, it seems hardly to add any weight
to the load.

And MacBook Air's industrial design is a
stunning union of form and function. The curved bevels make it look
even slimmer than it is, yet create a super-stiff chassis, which
doesn't flex or bend, and make it easy to pick the computer up off a
table one-handed. Its wedge profile makes typing easy, and it settles
into the lap comfortably.

And the Air is lighter than any
Mac laptop ever made before, including the legendary PowerBook Duo. Not
since the black PowerBook G3 series have we used such a tactile
machine; not since the PowerBook 500 series has an Apple laptop so
enthralled us.

At the end of the day, the MacBook Air isn't
about speed, features, or bang-for-the-buck. Its value is simply this:
it's both beautiful and a pleasure to use.

Review By : Macintouch

From the moment Apple announced its iPhone
at Macworld 2007, the tech world hasn't stopped asking questions.
Because Apple has kept many iPhone details under wraps until very
recently, we've been forced to speculate. Until now. Is the iPhone
pretty? Absolutely. Is it easy to use? Certainly. Does it live up to
the stratospheric hype? Not so much. Don't get us wrong, the iPhone is
a lovely device with a sleek interface, top-notch music and video
features, and innovative design touches. The touch screen is easier to
use than we expected, and the multimedia performs well. But a host of
missing features, a dependency on a sluggish EDGE network, and variable
call quality--it is a phone after all--left us wanting more.
For those reasons, the iPhone is noteworthy not for what it does, but
how it does it. If you want an iPhone badly, you probably already have
one. But if you're on the fence, we suggest waiting for the
second-generation handset. Even with the new $399 price for the 8GB
model (down from an original price of $599) and $499 for the 16GB
model, it's still a lot to ask for a phone that lacks so many features
and locks you into an iPhone-specific two-year contract with AT&T. We'll be more excited once we see a version with--at the very least--multimedia messaging and 3G.

Design

On with the review: the iPhone boasts a brilliant display, trim
profile, and clean lines (no external antenna of course), and its lack
of buttons puts it in a design class that even the LG Prada and the HTC Touch
can't match. You'll win envious looks on the street toting the iPhone,
and we're sure that would be true even if the phone hadn't received as
much media attention as it has. We knew that it measures 4.5 inches
tall by 2.4 inches wide by 0.46 inch deep, but it still felt smaller
than we expected when we finally held it. In comparison, it's about as
tall and as wide as a Palm Treo 755p, but it manages to be thinner than even the trend-setting Motorola Razr.
It fits comfortably in the hand and when held to the ear, and its 4.8
ounces give it a solid, if perhaps weighty, feel. We also like that the
display is glass rather than plastic.

Display
The iPhone's display is the handset's design
showpiece and is noteworthy for not only what it shows, but also how
you use it. We'll start off with its design. At a generous 3.5 inches,
the display takes full advantage of the phone's size, while its 480x320
pixel resolution (160 dots per inch) translates into brilliant colors,
sharp graphics, and fluid movements.

Menus

In true Apple style, the iPhone's menu interface is attractive,
intuitive, and easy to use. In the main menu, a series of colored icons
call out the main functions. Icons for the phone menu, the mail folder,
the Safari Web browser, and the iPod player sit at the bottom of the
screen, while other features such as the camera, the calendar, and the
settings are displayed above. It's easy to find all features, and we
like that essential features aren't buried under random menus. Fluid
animation takes you between different functions, and you can zip around
rather quickly.

Much has been made of the iPhone's touch screen, and rightfully so.
Though the Apple handset is not the first cell phone to rely solely on
a touch screen, it is the first phone to get so much attention and come
with so many expectations. Depending on what you're doing, the touch
screen serves as your dialpad, your keyboard, your Safari browser, and
your music and video player. Like many others, we were skeptical of how
effectively the touch screen would handle all those functions.

Touch screen

Fortunately, we can report that on the whole, the touch screen and
software interface are easier to use than expected. What's more, we
didn't miss a stylus in the least. Despite a lack of tactile feedback
on the keypad, we had no trouble tapping our fingers to activate
functions and interact with the main menu. As with any touch screen,
the display attracts its share of smudges, but they never distracted us
from what we were viewing. The onscreen dialpad took little
acclimation, and even the onscreen keyboard fared rather well. Tapping
out messages was relatively quick, and we could tap the correct letter,
even with big fingers. The integrated correction software helped
minimize errors by suggesting words ahead of time. It was accurate for
the most part.

The Apple iPhone features a virtual QWERTY keyboard.

Still, the interface and keyboard have a long way to go to achieve
greatness. For starters, when typing an e-mail or text message the
keyboard is displayed only when you hold the iPhone vertically. As a
result, we could only type comfortably with one finger, which cut down
on our typing speed. Using two hands is possible, but we found it
pretty crowded to type with both thumbs while holding the iPhone at the
same time. What's more, basic punctuation such as periods or commas
lives in a secondary keyboard--annoying. If you're a frequent texter or
an e-mail maven, we suggest a test-drive first.

We also found it somewhat tedious to scroll through long lists,
such as the phone book or music playlists. Flicking your finger in an
up or down motion will move you partway through a list, but you can't
move directly to the bottom or top by swiping and holding your finger.
On the other hand, the letters of the alphabet are displayed on the
right side of the screen. By pressing a letter you can go directly to
any songs or contacts beginning with that letter. But the lack of
buttons requires a lot of tapping to move about the interface. For
example, the Talk and End buttons are only displayed when the phone is
in call mode. And since there are no dedicated Talk and End buttons,
you must use a few taps to find these features. That also means you
cannot just start dialing a number; you must open the dialpad first,
which adds clicks to the process. The same goes for the music player:
since there are no external buttons, you must call up the player
interface to control your tunes. For some people, the switching back
and forth may be a nonissue. But for mutlitaskers, it can grow
wearisome.

Criticisms aside, the iPhone display is remarkable for its
multitouch technology, which allows you to move your finger in a
variety of ways to manipulate what's on the screen. When in a message,
you can magnify the text by pressing and holding over a selected area.
And as long as you don't lift your finger, you can move your
"magnifying glass" around the text. You can zoom in by pinching your
fingers apart; to zoom out you just do the opposite. In the Web
browser, you can move around the Web page by sliding your finger, or
you can zoom in by a double tap. And when looking at your message list,
you can delete items by swiping your finger from left to right across
the message. At that point, a Delete button will appear.

Thanks to the handset's accelerometer (a fancy word for motion
sensor), the iPhone's display orientation will adjust automatically
when you flip the iPhone on its side while using the music and video
players and the Internet browser. Also, a proximity sensor turns off
the display automatically when you lift the iPhone to your ear for a
conversation. All three are very cool.

The January 2008 update added new customization options for the
iPhone's home screen. By pressing and holding any icon, all of the
icons on the display will start to wiggle. You then can move the icons
around and rearrange them at will. By moving them to the right, you can
also access a second menu page, and you can add or remove on the "dock"
at the bottom of the display. It's clear that with this new feature,
Apple is readying the iPhone for more applications, particularly as the
company prepares for the upcoming SDK. To stop the icons from wiggling,
just press the Home button.

Exterior features

The iPhone's only hardware menu button is set directly below the
display. It takes you instantly back to the home screen no matter what
application you're using. The single button is nice to have, since it
saves you a series of menu taps if you're buried in a secondary menu.
On the top of the iPhone is a multifunction button for controlling
calls and the phone's power. If a call comes in at an inopportune time,
just press the button once to silence the ringer, or press it twice to
send the call to voice mail. Otherwise, you can use this top control to
put the phone asleep and wake it up again. You can turn the iPhone off
by pressing and holding the button.

The Apple iPhone speaker is located at the bottom of the phone.

Located on the left spine are a volume rocker and a nifty ringer mute
switch, something all cell phones should have and which is a popular
feature of Palm Treos. On the bottom end, you'll find the speaker, a
microphone, and the jack for the syncing dock and the charger cord.
Unfortunately, the headset jack on the top end is deeply recessed,
which means you will need an adapter for any headphones with a chubby plug. Is this customer-friendly? No.

Unfortunately, the Phone does not have a battery that a user can
replace. That means you have to send the iPhone to Apple to replace the
battery after it's spent (Apple is estimating one battery will keep its
full strength for 400 charges--probably about three years' worth of
use). The cost of the replacement is $79 plus $6.95 shipping. No, you
don't really need a removable battery in a cell phone, but like many
things missing on the iPhone, it would be nice to have, especially for
such an expensive phone. And just what are you supposed to without a
cell phone during the replacement period? Contrary to earlier reports, the SIM card is removable
via a small drawer on the top of the iPhone, but other AT&T SIM
cards will not work in the iPhone. That's especially troubling, as it
completely defeats the biggest advantage of using a GSM phone with a
SIM card. Some people have multiple phones and like to change the SIM
card between their different handsets. Also, you can't use the SIM card
to import contact information from another handset.

Features
The iPhone's phone book is limited only by the
phone's available memory. Each contact holds eight phone numbers;
e-mail, Web site, and street addresses; a job title and department; a
nickname; a birthday; and notes. You can't save callers to groups, but
you can store your preferred friends to a favorites menu for easy
access. You can assign contacts a photo for caller ID and assign them
one of 25 polyphonic ringtones. We should note, however, that there's
no voice dialing and you can't use MP3 files as ringtones. Other basic
features include an alarm clock, a calculator, a world clock, a
stopwatch, a timer and a notepad. There's a vibrate mode but it's a tad
light.

The calendar offers day and month views, and you can use the calendar
as an event reminder or a to-do list as well. The interface is clean
and simple, though inputting new appointments involves a lot of
tapping. There's no Week view, however. We were able to sync our
Outlook contacts and calendar and our Yahoo! e-mail address book with
no problems.

Bluetooth and wireless
The iPhone offers a full range of
wireless functionality with support for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
connectivity. The Wi-Fi compatibility is especially welcome, and a
feature that's absent on far too many smart phones. When you're
browsing the Web, the iPhone automatically searches for the nearest
Internet hot spot. Bluetooth 2.0 is also on board, which delivers
faster transmission and a longer range than Bluetooth 1.2. You can use
Bluetooth for voice calls, but you don't get an A2dP stereo Bluetooth
profile--another item that's not necessary but would be nice to have.

Though Apple CEO Steve Jobs has explained the iPhone's lack of
3G support by saying the chipsets take up too much room and drain too
much battery, we'd like the option anyway. Yes, the Wi-Fi network is
great when you can get it, but AT&T's EDGE network just doesn't cut
it for all other surfing. EDGE Web browsing is so slow, it almost ruins
the pretty Web interface. More on this in the Performance section.

Messaging and e-mail
For your messaging needs, the iPhone
offers text messaging and e-mail. As on many smart phones, a text
message thread is displayed as one long conversation--a useful
arrangement that allows you to pick which messages you'd like to
answer. The January 2008 update added the ability to send a text
message to multiple recipients. It was a welcome addition, but truly,
that capability should have been there from the start. If you use
another function while messaging, you can return to pick up that
message where you left off. We just don't understand, however, why
Apple doesn't include multimedia messaging. Sure, you can use e-mail to
send photos, but without multimedia messaging you can't send photos to
other cell phones--pretty much the entire point of a camera phone.

The iPhone's e-mail menu includes integrated support for Yahoo,
Gmail, AOL, and Mac accounts. You can set up the phone to receive
messages from other IMAP4 and POP3 systems, but you'll need to
sweet-talk your IT department into syncing with your corporate exchange
server. It's rumored
that Apple will update the iPhone to support ActiveSync but Apple
hasn't confirmed that as of this writing. Yet the iPhone does offer a
way to connect with your VPN. You can read--but not edit--PDF, JPEG,
Word, and Excel documents. Worse: you can't cut and paste text when
composing messages.

iPhone's iPod
Sandwiched between all the iPhone's features
lives Apple's most amazing iPod yet. The display, interface, video
quality, audio quality--all of it is meticulously refined and
beautiful. Unfortunately, it's trapped within a device that will cost
you more than $1,000 a year just to own. CNET recently reviewed a Rolls-Royce
that had a top-notch umbrella hidden inside its passenger door. Buying
the iPhone for its iPod feature is a lot like buying that Rolls-Royce
for its umbrella. Regardless, the iPhone is an exciting glimpse into
what Apple hopefully has planned for its sixth-generation iPod. Apple
has redeemed itself following the Motorola Rokr E1 debacle.

The Apple iPhone's music player lets you view album art.

On paper, the iPhone's iPod doesn't offer any features not already on a
fifth-generation iPod:
podcasts, videos, music, and playlists are all here, and content
management with iTunes is identical. The difference rests entirely in
the iPhone's interface. We've used other MP3 players that use touch
interfaces, such as the Archos 704, iRiver Clix and Cowon D2, but the iPhone's unique integration of multitouch technology and a graphic user interface put it in a category all its own.

From an iPod perspective, Apple's biggest triumph with the iPhone is
the fact that it has returned album artwork back into the music
experience in a way that goes beyond a token thumbnail graphic.
Physically flipping through your music collection in the iPhone's Cover
Flow mode really brings back the visceral feel of digging through a CD
or record bin. It's a tough feeling to quantify, but the real music
lovers out there will appreciate how well the iPhone reconnects their
digital music to a form that is both visually and physically more
vivid. Even iTunes users who may already be jaded about using the Cover
Flow mode on their personal computer will be surprised at how the
experience is changed by using the iPhone's intuitive touch screen.

Truth be told, there is one feature that is new to the iPhone's
iPod--the integrated speaker. While the iPhone's speaker sounds thin
and is prone to distortion, it works in a pinch for sharing a song with
a friend. Apple was also smart enough to manage its speaker volume
independent of the headphone volume, so if you're listening to the
speaker full-blast and then decide to plug in your headphones, you
won't be deafened.

The bad news is that the iPhone's iPod leaves out the ability to
manually manage the transfer of music and video content. Unlike any
previous iPod, the iPhone does not allow an option for manually
dragging and dropping content from an iTunes library directly to the
iPhone device icon. Instead, the iPhone strictly uses defined library
syncing options for collecting and syncing content from your iTunes
library to the device. This should work out fine for most people, but
for a device with limited memory the inability to manually manage
content seems like a misstep. Our 8GB iPhone was already a quarter full
after only a few hours of testing, giving us the impression that users
will need to be vigilant at grooming their iPhone library. An external
memory card slot is another one of those "nice to have" features.

The iPhone's music sound quality seems right in line with our
experience using the 5G iPod. All the same EQ presets are available,
only now they are found on the iPhone's main Settings tab. The included
iPhone earbuds did a passable job for casual listening in a quiet
environment. Unfortunately, the iPhone's recessed headphone jack
prevented us from using many of the test headphones we're familiar
with. We were just barely able to squeeze the plug of our Etymotic ER6i
earphones into the jack to do the comparison.

Watching video on the iPhone is not quite as luxurious as a Creative Zen Vision: W or Archos 504,
but its wide screen and bright contrast beat the fifth-generation iPod
by a mile. As with previous iPods, video playback is automatically
bookmarked so that playback resumes where you left off. And because the
iPhone is a phone, it includes an airplane mode that will keep the
music player activated while turning off the call transmitter. Thanks
to the January 2008 update, you can also browse movies by chapter as
well as view subtitles. Other changes include the lyric overlays on
music tracks, support for the new iTunes movie rentals, and the ability
to redeem iPhone gift cards from the device using the wireless iTunes
store.

The Apple iPhone's video player really takes advantage of its wide screen.

Safari browser
The Safari browser really sets the iPhone
apart from the cell phone crowd. Rather than trudging through
stripped-down WAP pages with limited text and graphics, the browser
displays Web pages in their true form. It's a completely and
surprisingly satisfying experience to see real Web pages on a screen of
this size. Our only regret is that the browser does not support Flash
or Java. To pan around a page, just swipe your finger across the
display, and the page moves accordingly. Tap your finger on a link to
open a new page and double-tap your finger to zoom in and zoom back
out. You can use the arrows on the bottom of the display to move back
and forth, while a multifunction button at the bottom of the display
lets you open new pages and flick among them.

The Apple iPhone comes with the Safari Web browser.

Google search is the iPhone's default search tool, but you can use
Yahoo search as well. When searching for information or typing URLs,
you use the onscreen keyboard. It's just like typing an e-mail except
that the spacebar is replaced with Web-appropriate language like ".com"
and a slash. That's a nice touch.

The January 2008 update brought the ability to add bookmarks to
the home screen in the form of icons. The process is easy enough--when
viewing your favorite site, just tap the bookmark icon and you'll find
an "add to home screen" option. You can add multiple icons (thanks to
the new second menu page), move them around, and delete then. It's
useful as it will save you a few clicks later.

Thanks to the accelerometer,
you can tip the phone on its side for a more comfortable landscape
view. It doesn't matter which direction you rotate the phone, as it
will work either way. It's also nice that the onscreen keyboard appears
in landscape mode when using the browser. Most Web pages looked great
on the screen, but visually busy pages like CNN.com can be too crowded.
And because you can zoom in only a set amount, some text can still be
too small to read clearly. You can store bookmarks and sync your
favorite pages from your PC, but it works only for Internet Explorer
and not Firefox.

YouTube
You can activate the iPhone's integrated YouTube
player straight from the main menu via a colored icon. Videos are
organized using many of the same criteria as on the YouTube site,
including Featured Clips, Most Viewed, Top Rated, and Most Recent. You
can read the information attached to a video, such as the date posted
and the poster's name, but you can't read comments. It doesn't appear,
however, that the YouTube connection updates in real time. We uploaded
a video of our own, and it didn't show up until a few hours later.

The Apple iPhone has a built-in Google Maps application.

Widgets
The iPhone has a widget for accessing Google Maps.
You can see the satellite view--nice--and get turn-by-turn directions
between two points, with traffic information. We tried mapping routes
from CNET's offices to various places and received accurate directions.
As the iPhone lacks standard GPS, it couldn't provide location
information for the first six months of its life. But with the January
2008 update, it gained the ability to tell you approximately where you
are. When you tap the new icon in the lower-left corner of the touch
screen, a circle will show where you should be on the map. But rather
than connecting to a satellite, it finds you by connecting to nearby
Wi-Fi hotspots and cellular towers and pinpointing their location (sort
of a backdoor locater). You then can find directions using your
pinpointed location.

When I gave it a go, the location service was off by several
blocks on my first attempt. Though even standard GPS systems aren't
perfect, the margin of error was still too big. Also, the area that the
circle covered was much too expansive (when I tried to zoom in, the
circle disappeared). Fortunately, the second time I tried the location
service it was much more accurate. Also, I like that the circle covered
a smaller area. Yet it's worth noting that the functionality won't work
when you're away from wireless civilization, which typically is a time
when location services come in really handy. Also, the lack of audio
instructions will limit its usability while driving.

The next mapping feature is pretty cool. By pressing the new icon on
the lower-right corner of the touch screen, you can drop a pin wherever
you like on the map. You can move the pin around, save it as a
bookmark, and use it as a location for determining directions. The map
interacts well with the calling functions; you can find a point of
interest and ring it in just a few taps.

Additional widgets point to stock information and weather reports. You
can program your own tickers and get information like a share gain or
loss and see the chart of a share price over time. The weather function
gives you a six-day forecast for your choice of cities. For more
options, there is already a selection of third-party iPhone apps. No games are included on the handset

Visual voice mail

One of the most intriguing features on the iPhone is the much-touted
visual voice mail. iPhone's voice mail works much like a text-message
folder in that it displays the caller's name or phone number and the
time. What's even more fantastic, however, is that you can listen to
the message instantly by pressing the individual message--you don't
have to call your voice mail first.

The Apple iPhone has a 2-megapixel camera on the back.

Camera
The iPhone's 2-megapixel camera offers a spiffy
interface with a graphic that resembles a camera shutter. You're
offered no camera editing options, which we didn't expect. That means
you can't change the resolution, choose a color or quality setting, or
select a night mode. There's no flash either, and with no self-portrait
mirror, those vanity shots are going to be tricky. The camera performed
well in our tests, however. Photo quality
was excellent with rich, bright colors and distinct object outlines.
White looked a bit too soft, but we approve overall. On the downside,
you can't shoot your own video, which is disappointing on a phone at
this price.

As we said earlier, the photo menu is attractive and easy to use,
particularly due to the pinching motion. You can also flip between
photos by swiping your finger across the display. When selecting a
photo, you're given the option of assigning it to a contact, using it
as wallpaper, or e-mailing it to a friend.

Call quality

We tested
the quadband (GSM 850/900/1800/1900) Apple iPhone in San Francisco
using AT&T service. Call quality was good for the most part, but it
wasn't dependable. Though voices sounded natural, the volume was often
too low, and the microphone has a sensitive sweet spot. When we moved
the phone away from our ears ever so slightly, the volume diminished
noticeably and we had to move the phone back to just the right place to
hear clearly. The volume wasn't so bad that we weren't able to hear a
friend who was in a crowded bar, but it just could be better. The
speakerphone was also too quiet though conversations weren't too
muffled.

CNET users have also reported volume problems, and a few people
we called said they heard a slight background hiss. We didn't hear the
hiss on our end, but more than one of our friends said they noticed it.
Automated calling systems were able to understand us, but only if we
were in a quiet room. On the whole, the call quality stayed the same in
most environments.

Browser speed
Our first test with the Safari browser was over
CNET's internal Wi-Fi network. Web pages loaded in 5 to 10 seconds,
though sites with heavy graphics took longer. It was a smooth
experience overall, though it not quite as zippy as we had hoped. We
thought that could be due to CNET's network, but it seemed to be more
or less the standard. Pages took about the same time to load on a home
network and just a couple seconds longer in a cafe. When not using
Wi-Fi, you're stuck with AT&T's EDGE
network, which is just too slow to render the lovely Safari interface
enjoyably. With speeds in the 50-to-90Kbps range, it reminded us of a
dial-up browser. In other words, it's pretty intolerable. CNET Labs
tested the speed of the EDGE network against the Wi-Fi connection by
comparing repeated results of the download time for a 9.4MB file. After
two days of testing, EDGE resulted in an average download time of 15
minutes, 41 seconds for the file; Wi-Fi on average required a mere 1
minute, 11 seconds. In the end, our test results indicate that the
iPhone's Wi-Fi connection is 13 times faster than using EDGE, although
results will vary depending on location. We can only hope Apple adds 3G
soon, especially since AT&T has a robust UMTS/HSDPA network.

Music downloading

We tried purchasing music through the wireless iTunes store, which was
announced in September 2007 (originally we knocked the iPhone for not
allowing wireless downloads). You'll need Wi-Fi to use it (sorry, EDGE
isn't sufficient), but on the whole it was a satisfying experience. You
can view featured songs and the top 10 tracks by genre. If you have
specific music in mind, you also can search by song name. We found our
track quickly, and we liked that results surface as you're typing. Once
we selected our chosen song, it downloaded in less than a minute, and
it appeared directly in our iTunes folder.

Activation

Activation was easy using iTunes 7.3. Our computer recognized the
iPhone right away, and the activation system started automatically.
After a few prompts, it asked us if we wanted to automatically sync
contacts from Yahoo and Windows mail and contacts from Outlook. It also
asked us to if we wanted to sync Internet bookmarks but, as we said
earlier, it won't import Firefox bookmarks. The integration with
AT&T's account service is also seamless. We were able to select a
plan and indicate whether we were a current AT&T customer. It even
asked us if we wanted to port a current cell phone number. In all, it's
much better experience than dealing with AT&T.

It's important to note that the iPhone is little more than an
expensive paperweight until it's activated. You can make emergency
calls, but you can't use any other functions, including the iPod music
player. What's worse, if you cancel your AT&T contract, the iPhone
becomes a paperweight again.

Battery life

The Apple iPhone has a rated battery life
of 8 hours talk time, 24 hours of music playback, 7 hours of video
playback, and 6 hours on Internet use. The promised standby time is
10.4 days. When we tested the iPhone with the Wi-Fi function turned
off, we got about 7 hours, 45 minutes of talk time. When we tested it
with the Wi-Fi activated, we came away with 4 hours less. Video time,
however, clocked in at an impressive 7.3 hours. Music-only time was
also satisfactory. We got 28.4 hours of music playback time on a single
charge. Just keep in mind that it's rare you'll be using just one
feature for hours on end. As such, your battery life will vary widely
as you switch between functions. Large color screens such as the one on
the iPhone tend to be battery drainers, so you'll most likely need to
charge your handset every couple of days. According to the FCC, the
iPhone has a digital SAR rating of 0.974 watts per kilogram.

Review By : Cnet.Com