Apple's iPhone: The next style icon?

The US$499 iPhone has innovative functions such as a multi-touch screen and visual voicemail.

The trendy new cellphone will be available in stores in the United States next Friday. By GRACE CHNG

Apple executives practise 'omerta', the mafia code for keeping silent. No information is released before a new product hits the stores.

So when Apple chief Steve Jobs demonstrated the iPhone on Jan 9 during this year's Macworld event in San Francisco, he was breaking new ground.

Since then, Apple has said nothing except for a short statement last month that the iPhone will launch on June 29.

Already, one million inquiries have been received by Apple's telco partner, AT&T.

But both Apple and AT&T are not taking orders for the US$499 (S$768) for the 4MB model and US$599 for the 8MB version.

Queues are expected at Apple and AT&T retail stores when the product rolls into the stores in the United States in 10 days' time.

The iPhone is a GSM-based smartphone. It can do Web browsing, send and receive e-mail notes and do text messaging. Of course, it is an iPod too.

Plus, it has a multi-touch screen and visual voicemail.

Digital Life had the opportunity to do a snap review of the iPhone - all of 10 minutes - at this year's MacWorld.

The phone is sleek, and weighs a mere 136g, much like other cellphones. It fits snugly in the palm and feels good.

No conventional keys grace the device except a button that, when pressed, returns the user to the main menu.

The 3.5-inch screen is large with a resolution of 160ppi.

Three wow things

There are many features in this gizmo but three wow factors stood out.

First, the multi-touch screen is breathtaking. It works on the touch of bare skin. No stylus needed.

Scrolling involves a touch-drag-lift motion. Scroll quickly down, lift your finger up and the list continues 'spinning' before coming to a stop.

To zoom in and out of a photo, use a pinching motion of the thumb and the index finger.

Impressive too is the visual voicemail, which allows you to go directly to the messages most important to you without your having to listen to the ones earlier in the queue. A useful feature which Apple claims is an industry first.

Lastly, there is the user interface. If you tilt the phone to landscape mode, the display follows suit. Bring the phone up to your ear to receive a call, the touch screen switches off so that you do not accidentally hit a call button.

Attention to details like these - a hallmark of Apple's design process - hits the sweet spot of simplicity.

However, the onboard 'soft' qwerty keyboard makes text messaging difficult. Although it has predictive text, that takes getting used to.

The phone is not 3G-enabled, which would put off the geeks, although Apple said at MacWorld that it is planning such a version.

Who will buy it? Certainly, die-hard Mac fans. And also people who are frustrated with the more difficult-to-use smartphones of today.

While the iPhone's features were industry-leading in January, there are already a bunch of devices today like the Nokia N95 and the HTC Touch which have closed the gap in design and ease of use.

These models are now available here while Apple's iPhone will be sold in Asia only next year.

It is a good bet that the iPhone that finally hits the region will be an advanced model of the current one. Perhaps one with 3.5G.

GPS: What are the limitations?

The maps on the small screen of a phone may take some getting used to, but you can zoom in and out to look at locations in greater detail. -- PHOTO: NOKIA

IF YOUR GPS software is not very sophisticated, it may take you to the precise spot you want to go, but where there is no access.

For instance, you may end up on a highway next to a building, say Gateway West, but not to the carpark or main entrance that you wanted.

Also, the GPS system will not work inside tunnels, so there will be a temporary loss of reception.

What if I miss a turn?

THE GPS SOFTWARE will recalculate an alternative route and prompt you accordingly in a matter of seconds.

Is my screen too small?

IT TAKES A bit of getting used to initially, but the program allows you to zoom in and out, so you are able to see the whole map on the display and then zero in on the area that you want.
Some software packages allow you to switch between 2-D and 3-D views.
The 3D view is great when driving as the elevated viewpoint lets anticipate the road conditions.

How do I get started?

A good place to get started is at www.malsingmaps.com. Navigate to the Help/FAQ/Wiki section and start from there.
There are also forums there, and after you get more familiar, you can post questions to the members who are more than ready to help.
Other places to visit: MapKing queries (www.eastgear.com) and Agis (www.asiagis.com).

- By M.K. Wong

750 Palm Treo V

Smartphone 750 palm treo with useable qwerty keyboard

Hooray for the Palm Treo 750: it has a qwerty keyboard instead of the normal cellphone keypad.

The keyboard is small enough to be considered compact, yet it is easy enough to use for larger and pudgier fingers like mine to thumb out messages.

Speaking on the phone does take a bit of getting used to, though. When I answered calls, my ear - pressed against the screen - accidentally started up applications that I had no intention of using. Butthis problem can be solved during an active call by choosing an option to deactivate the screen.

Audio wise, the Palm Treo 750 could do better: although the sound clarity was loud and crisp for calls, I could hardly hear the default ring tones and alarms when walking about in the city area, even at the loudest volume setting. The ability to quickly swap to silent mode with a switch at the top of the phone is pretty nifty, though.

The camera function seems to have been added in as an afterthought. The 1.3-megapixel camera may be sufficient for taking good quality still pictures, but for some reason, when it attempts to take video, the resulting footage ends up a little grainy.

Compared to the BlackBerry series, or the more mainstream Nokia phones, both of which have similar offerings, the main draw and strength of the Palm Treo 750 is the Windows Mobile 5.0 platform.

It allows it easy synchronisation with my computer via Microsoft Activesync 4.0 using the provided USB cable. Applications like Microsoft Office and Windows Media Player are installed on the smartphone as default, so there is no need to convert files to a compatible format whether it is being moved to or from the smartphone to the computer.

- By Eugene Loh, a freelance writer.

FINAL SAY

The Palm Treo 750 is obviously targeted at the working professional as its functions are most suited to those who need access to the Internet and work files on the go. Those who use such functions only occasionally, and those on a tight budget should skip it.

LCD PC MONITOR

"Input Signal Out of Range" appeared on the LCD Monitor.

CRT monitor is fast phasing out, many LCD TVs and LCD Monitor can be easily found in the market place.

Lately, one of my friend purchased a LCD Monitor to replace his CRT Monitor. After fixed it, and power 'on', he found that there is no signal or screen is blank, but with a warning phrase read, 'Input Signal Out of Range'.

How to Rectify Such Problem

It is very easy, in a few steps you could rectify such problem.

1. Reconnect back the CRT monitor to the PC.
2. After booting up the window, proceed to the control panel and click on the displace option.
3. Change the resolution to a more generic and accepted resolution like 800 by 600 pixels. This should get you the picture when you hook up the LCD Monitor.
4. After you get your picture in the LCD, you can go back to the displace properties to adjust the resolution the match the LCD Monitor specification.

This type of problem is usually due to the frequency and resolution settings configured for your graphic card and CRT monitor were outside the range of the LCD can handle.