Hey guys, it’s Greg with Apple Explained and welcome to Tech Flashback where we travel
back in time and review what used to be the latest and greatest tech products.
Now let’s turn back the clock to 2007 and take a look at the revolutionary Apple iPhone.
Today we’re taking a look at the new iPhone.
It retails for $499 or $599 in 4 or 8GB models and it includes a 2-year contract with AT&T,
who is the only cellular provider available for iPhone.
You can buy the iPhone from an Apple store or AT&T store, and I decided to get mine from
the Apple Store, of course.
The black sleek box features an embossed photo of the iPhone with a concave home button on
the front, metallic Apple logos on the top and bottom, and the word iPhone with its storage
capacity on either side also in a metallic finish.
The backside describes what’s included in the box, requirements for activation and iTunes
syncing, and device identification numbers.
After we lift the lid we’re greeted by the iPhone itself, cradled in a clear piece of
plastic formed to fit the iPhone perfectly and the inside of the lid is lined with soft
black foam for extra protection during transport.
The iPhone has a smooth anodized aluminum finish and the curved edges make it very comfortable
to hold.
But before we get into the details, let’s see what’s in the box.
First thing we see is a black cardboard envelope holding an instruction manual called Finger
Tips, where it explains important functions of the iPhone and it’s operating system.
Next is a detailed product information guide and finally two white Apple stickers.
Beneath that we get a bunch of accessories including a wall adapter with prongs that
are not only foldable, but also removable so we can attach extension cables or other
international adapters.
We also get a useful dock accessory that charges your iPhone while sitting upright on your
desk.
There’s a 30-pin connector on the back and a line out port that allows you to connect
external audio sources like speakers.
The dock also has speaker vents so when the iPhone is docked, sound from the internal
speaker is redirected outward to maintain clarity.
Next we get a pair of Apple earbuds, similar to the iPod’s, but these feature an in-line
microphone for phone calls.
And just like the iPod, we get a 30-pin USB connector for charging and syncing.
As for the device itself, it’s a completely new smartphone concept that no one has ever
seen before.
No keyboard, no stylus, just a big multitouch screen.
Now this screen is not plastic, it’s made from Corning gorilla glass and houses a capacitive
touch screen that perceives contact with your finger by a disruption in electrical currents
rather than a resistive touch screen, which perceives contact by pressure applied to a
certain area.
This capacitive screen responds immediately to the slightest tap and makes interacting
with the phone very natural and even enjoyable.
The first thing you’ll see after waking the iPhone is this lock screen.
you have to deliberately slide your finger across the screen to unlock.
This feature was added to prevent pocket dialing and seems to work well since I didn’t have
a problem with that at all.
The iPhone doesn’t have nearly as many buttons as other smartphones, but there is a single
home button below the display that takes you to the home screen from anywhere you’re
at.
It’s easy to forget the home button is even there when you’re so focused on exploring
the touch screen.
But going back and forth between screen tapping and button pressing becomes second nature
in no time.
Housed above the display is an earpiece which doesn’t get as loud as I’d like especially
in noisy outdoor environments.
There’s also a proximity sensor which turns off the display when it’s held to your ear,
and turns it back on when you pull the phone away.
This prevents accidental inputs from being registered during phone calls.
There’s also an accelerometer that knows which way you’re holding the phone and adjusts
the screen content accordingly.
This is a really cool feature that I’ll demonstrate later.
Along the top we have a power button.
When you hold down the power button, you can slide to turn the phone off completely, which
is similar to shutting down a computer.
But while using iPhone throughout the day, it would be quite inconvenient to start it
up and shut it down again just to check the time.
That’s why you can quickly press the power button to put the phone in sleep mode.
This conserves battery life while enabling an instant-on display.
Next there’s a mini SIM card tray that you can eject with a paperclip.
As you can see there’s already a SIM card installed since this phone is locked to AT&T
so I won’t have to replace it anytime soon.
There’s also a recessed headphone jack which could be frustrating since only the included
Apple headphones are directly compatible.
Although you can use an adapter to connect other headphones.
On the left side we get a mute switch that’ll silence incoming calls and texts but it still
delivers vibrations to alert you.
There’s also a volume rocker with a crevice in the center so you can differentiate between
volume up and down.
On the bottom you’ll find openings for the iPhones speaker, 30-pin connector, and microphone.
And since the iPhone shares the same 30-pin connecter as the iPod, you should be able
to use most iPod accessories for the iPhone as well.
The back is cased in beautiful anodized aluminum with a black plastic section at the bottom
that allows the iPhone’s wifi, bluetooth, and cellular radio signals to pass through.
We also get a 2MP camera and although it doesn’t have flash or video recording, it does take
some nice photos with great color reproduction and decent resolution but definitely suffers
in low light conditions.
There’s also an Apple logo with a mirrored finish instead of the backlit logo that we’re
used to seeing on Apple’s notebooks.
Now let’s take a look at this beautiful screen, like I said before this is a capacitive
touch screen that requires contact with your skin to work.
it has a resolution of 320 by 480 and at 163 pixels per inch, it’s the sharpest display
Apple has ever made.
It’s bright and colorful and looks great even in outdoor settings.
There’s also an oleophobic coating on the glass that adds a certain amount of smudge
resistance.
This allows fingerprints to be wiped away easily rather than smeared across the screen.
Unfortunately this coating will wear down over time.
Apple designed the iPhone’s interface to accommodate touch so a stylus isn’t necessary
although typing on the software keyboard does take getting used to.
One neat feature of the keyboard is predictive text where is tries to guess what word you’re
typing before you’ve finished typing it.
This is similar to what we’ve see on T9 keyboards and it seems to work just as well.
Mobile browsing is very enjoyable on the widescreen display especially with pinch to zoom and
automatic page reorientation thanks to the iPhone’s accelerometer.
It’s also very convenient to have a quality web browser with you on the go supported by
AT&Ts EDGE network.
Apple chose the EDGE network over 3G since it’s easier on battery life, but loading
websites can be painfully slow at times.
Now this device is completely sealed off and not designed to be taken apart, so you can’t
swap out the battery yourself.
In fact, the iPhone’s 3.7v Lithium Ion battery is soldered to the logic board so it definitely
isn’t user replaceable, but you can have the battery replaced at an Apple Store for
$85.95.
As for battery life, Apple says you can expect up to 8 hours of talk time, 7 hours of video
playback, 6 hours of web browsing, 24 hours of music playback, and 250 hours of standby
time.
The iPhone also houses a custom Samsung ARM 11 processor at 412 MHz which received a Geekbench
score of 135.
There’s also 128MB of onboard RAM and includes wireless standards for Bluetooth 2.0 and 802.11b/g
for wifi.
Alright guys, I hope you enjoyed that review of the original iPhone.
Apple ended up selling 6.1 million units and replaced the original iPhone with the iPhone
3G on July 15th, 2008.
Obviously a lot has changed since then including the competition.
Before the iPhone’s release in 2007 smartphones looked a lot like this.
RIM dominated the market with the Blackberry and After the iPhone’s release in 2007 competitors
were sent back to the drawing board as they scrambled to develop smartphones that could
compete in the same class as the iPhone.
Eventually they did catch up and the smartphone industry was flooded with touch screen devices.
Some were decent, while others were just garbage.
But the effect iPhone had was immeasurable.
It began the touch screen era in tech.
An era we’re still in the middle of today, with touch screens showing up in tablets,
laptops, cars, airplanes, watches, video game systems, and even restaurants.
It was probably the most influential piece of technology I’ll see in my lifetime.
Today the iPhone is one Apple’s most successful products.
But what if I told you the iPhone wasn’t the first mobile phone Apple developed?
Back in 2005 Apple partnered with Motorola to create the Motorola ROKR. Apple provided
the iTunes software that ran on the phone but the product was a failure, experiencing
poor sales and complaints about device performance.
Perhaps the ROKR helped convince Steve Jobs that the mobile phone market was ripe for
disruption.
At that time Steve’s touch screen tablet project was quickly shelved and replaced by
something called Project Purple 2.
The code name for an effort to implement touch screen technology onto a mobile phone.
Now there are some things that might surprise you about the original iPhone.
For example, you couldn’t set a custom home screen wallpaper, only the lock screen wallpaper
was customizable.
There was no front facing camera and the rear facing camera did not have autofocusing.
The Texting app couldn’t send photos or videos, and in order to update the iPhone’s
software or install files you had to do it through iTunes on your computer.
Also, most original iPhones that you find today are in pretty rough condition.
That’s because the smartphone accessory business didn’t explode until many months
after the iPhone was released.
So many people were using these things without any protection, including the one I have here.
So I hope you guys enjoyed this close look at the original iPhone and if you enjoyed
the video don’t forget to leave a like, thanks for watching and I’ll see you next
time.