The iPhone is a line of smartphones designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The iPhone runs Apple's iOS mobile operating system, originally named iPhone OS. The first iPhone was released in 2007; the most recent iPhone, the 6th-generation iPhone 5, was released on September 21, 2012. The user interface is built around the device's multi-touch screen, including a virtual keyboard rather than a physical one. The iPhone has Wi-Fi and cellular connectivity (2G, 3G and 4G (iPhone 5 only)).
An iPhone can shoot video (though this was not a standard feature until the iPhone 3GS), take photos, play music, send and receive email, browse the web, send texts, and receive visual voicemail. Other functions — games, reference, GPS navigation, social networking, etc. — can be enabled by downloading apps; as of 2012, the App Store offered more than 700,000 apps by Apple and third parties.
There are six generations of iPhone models, each accompanied by one of the six major releases of iOS (formerly iPhone OS). The original iPhone was a GSM phone, and established design precedents, such as screen size and button placement, that have persisted through all models. The iPhone 3G added 3G cellular network capabilities and A-GPS location. The iPhone 3GS added a faster processor and a higher-resolution camera that could record video at 480p. The iPhone 4 featured a higher-resolution 960 × 640 "retina display", a higher-resolution rear-facing camera and a lower-resolution front-facing camera for video calling and other apps. The iPhone 4S added an 8-megapixel camera with 1080p video recording, a dual-core processor, and a natural language voice control system called Siri. iPhone 5 features the new A6 processor, holds a 4-inch Retina display that is larger than its predecessor's 3.5-inch display, and replaces the 30-pin connector with an all-digital Lightning connector.
For some years, Apple and its manufacturing contractor Foxconn have received criticism due to poor working conditions at the assembly plant in China.
HISTORY
Development of what was to become the iPhone began in 2004, when Apple started to gather a team of 1000 employees to work on the highly confidential "Project Purple". Apple CEO Steve Jobs steered the original focus away from a tablet, like the iPad, and towards a phone. Apple created the device during a secretive collaboration with AT&T Mobility—Cingular Wireless at the time—at an estimated development cost of US$150 million over thirty months.
Apple rejected the "design by committee" approach that had yielded the Motorola ROKR E1, a largely unsuccessful collaboration with Motorola. Instead, Cingular gave Apple the liberty to develop the iPhone's hardware and software in-house and even paid Apple a fraction of its monthly service revenue (until the iPhone 3G), in exchange for four years of exclusive U.S. sales, until 2011.
Jobs unveiled the iPhone to the public on January 9, 2007, at the Macworld 2007 convention at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. The two initial models, a 4 GB model priced at US$ 499 and a 8 GB model at US$ 599, went on sale in the United States on June 29, 2007, at 6:00 pm local time, while hundreds of customers lined up outside the stores nationwide. The passionate reaction to the launch of the iPhone resulted in sections of the media christening it the 'Jesus phone'. The original iPhone was made available in the UK, France, and Germany in November 2007, and Ireland and Austria in the spring of 2008.
Worldwide iPhone availability:
iPhone was available since its original release
iPhone was available since the release of iPhone 3G
Coming soon
On July 11, 2008, Apple released the iPhone 3G in twenty-two countries, including the original six. Apple released the iPhone 3G in upwards of eighty countries and territories. Apple announced the iPhone 3GS on June 8, 2009, along with plans to release it later in June, July, and August, starting with the U.S., Canada and major European countries on June 19. Many would-be users objected to the iPhone's cost, and 40% of users have household incomes over US$100,000.
Apple sold 6.1 million original iPhone units over five quarters. Recorded sales have been growing steadily thereafter, and by the end of fiscal year 2010, a total of 73.5 million iPhones were sold. By 2010/2011, the iPhone had a market share of barely 4% of all cellphones, but Apple still pulls in more than 50% of the total profit that global cellphone sales generate. Sales in Q4 2008 surpassed temporarily those of Research In Motion's (RIM) BlackBerry sales of 5.2 million units, which made Apple briefly the third largest mobile phone manufacturer by revenue, after Nokia and Samsung. Approximately 6.4 million iPhones are active in the U.S. alone. While iPhone sales constitute a significant portion of Apple's revenue, some of this income is deferred.
Three generations of iPhone, shown from behind. Left to right: original, white 3GS, black 4.
The back of the original iPhone was made of aluminum with a black plastic accent. The iPhone 3G and 3GS feature a full plastic back to increase the strength of the GSM signal. The iPhone 3G was available in an 8 GB black model, or a black or white option for the 16 GB model. They both are discontinued. The iPhone 3GS was available in both colors, regardless of storage capacity.
The white model was discontinued in favor of a black 8 GB low-end model. The iPhone 4 has an aluminosilicate glass front and back with a stainless steel edge that serves as the antennas. It was at first available in black; the white version was announced, but not released until April 2011, 10 months later.
The iPhone has garnered positive reviews from such critics as David Pogue and Walter Mossberg. The iPhone attracts users of all ages, and, besides consumer use, the iPhone has also been adopted for business purposes.
Users of the iPhone 4 reported dropped/disconnected telephone calls when holding their phones in a certain way. This became known as antennagate.
On January 11, 2011, Verizon announced during a media event that it had reached an agreement with Apple and would begin selling a CDMA2000 iPhone 4. Verizon said it would be available for pre-order on February 3, with a release set for February 10. In February 2011, the Verizon iPhone accounted for 4.5 percent of all iPhone ad impressions in the U.S. on Millennial Media's mobile ad network. The Verizon iPhone has the 'Mobile Hotspot" feature, only for Verizon iPhone since that is a Verizon feature. On March 2, 2011, at the iPad 2 event, Apple announced that they have sold 100 million iPhones worldwide.
From 2007 to 2011, Apple spent $647 million on advertising for the iPhone in the United States.
On Tuesday, September 27, Apple sent invitations for a press event to be held October 4, 2011 at 10:00 am at the Cupertino Headquarters to announce details of the next generation iPhone, which turned out to be iPhone 4S. Over 1 million 4S models were sold in the first 24 hours after its release in October 2011. Due to large volumes of the iPhone being manufactured and its high selling price, Apple became the largest mobile handset vendor in the world by revenue, in 2011, surpassing long-time leader Nokia. American carrier C Spire Wireless announced that it would be carrying the iPhone 4S on October 19, 2011.
In January 2012, Apple reported its best quarterly earnings ever, with 53% of its revenue coming from the sale of 37 million iPhones, at an average selling price of nearly $660. The average selling price has remained fairly constant for most of the phones lifespan, hovering between $622 and $660. The production price of the iPhone 4S was estimated by IHS iSuppli, in October 2011, to be $188, $207 and $245, for the 16GB, 32GB and 64GB models, respectively. Labor costs are estimated at between $12.5 and $30 per unit, with workers on the iPhone assembly line making $1.78 an hour.
In February 2012, ComScore reported that 12.4% of US mobile subscribers use an iPhone.
On September 12, 2012, Apple announced the iPhone 5. It has 4-inch display, up from its predecessors' 3.5-inch screen. The device comes with the same 326 pixels per inch found in the iPhone 4 and 4S. The iPhone 5 has the soc A6 processor, the chip is 22 percent smaller than the iPhone 4S' A5 and is twice as fast, doubling the graphics performance of its predecessor. The device is 18 percent thinner than the iPhone 4S, measuring 7.6mm, and is 20 percent lighter at 112 grams.
- SCREEN AND INPUT
The touch and gesture features of the iPhone are based on technology originally developed by FingerWorks. Most gloves and styli prevent the necessary electrical conductivity; however, capacitive styli can be used with iPhone's finger-touch screen. The iPhone 3GS and later also feature a fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating.
The iPhone has a minimal hardware user interface, featuring five buttons. The only physical menu button is situated directly below the display, and is called the "Home button" because it closes the active app and navigates to the home screen of the interface. The home button is denoted not by a house, as on many other similar devices, but a rounded square, reminiscent of the shape of icons on the home screen.
A multifunction sleep/wake button is located on the top of the device. It serves as the unit's power button, and also controls phone calls. When a call is received, pressing the sleep/wake button once silences the ringtone, and when pressed twice transfers the call to voicemail. Situated on the left spine are the volume adjustment controls. The iPhone 4 has two separate circular buttons to increase and decrease the volume; all earlier models house two switches under a single plastic panel, known as a rocker switch, which could reasonably be counted as either one or two buttons.
Directly above the volume controls is a ring/silent switch that when engaged mutes telephone ringing, alert sounds from new & sent emails, text messages, and other push notifications, camera shutter sounds, Voice Memo sound effects, phone lock/unlock sounds, keyboard clicks, and spoken autocorrections. This switch does not mute alarm sounds from the Clock application, and in some countries or regions it will not mute the camera shutter or Voice Memo sound effects. All buttons except Home were made of plastic on the original iPhone and metal on all later models. The touchscreen furnishes the remainder of the user interface.
The display responds to three sensors (four on the iPhone 4). A proximity sensor deactivates the display and touchscreen when the device is brought near the face during a call. This is done to save battery power and to prevent inadvertent inputs from the user's face and ears. An ambient light sensor adjusts the display brightness which in turn saves battery power. A 3-axis accelerometer senses the orientation of the phone and changes the screen accordingly, allowing the user to easily switch between portrait and landscape mode. Photo browsing, web browsing, and music playing support both upright and left or right widescreen orientations.
Unlike the iPad, the iPhone does not rotate the screen when turned upside-down, with the Home button above the screen, unless the running program has been specifically designed to do so. The 3.0 update added landscape support for still other applications, such as email, and introduced shaking the unit as a form of input. The accelerometer can also be used to control third-party apps, notably games. The iPhone 4 also includes a gyroscopic sensor, enhancing its perception of how it is moved.
A software update in January 2008 allowed the first-generation iPhone to use cell tower and Wi-Fi network locations trilateration, despite lacking GPS hardware. The iPhone 3G, 3GS and 4 employ A-GPS, and the iPhone 3GS and 4 also have a digital compass. iPhone 4S supports GLONASS global positioning system in addition to GPS.
- AUDIO AND OUTPUT
The 3.5 mm TRRS connector for the headphones is located on the top left corner of the device. The headphone socket on the original iPhone is recessed into the casing, making it incompatible with most headsets without the use of an adapter. Subsequent generations eliminated the issue by using a flush-mounted headphone socket. Cars equipped with an auxiliary jack allow for handsfree use of the iPhone while driving as a substitute for Bluetooth.
While the iPhone is compatible with normal headphones, Apple provides a headset with additional functionality. A multipurpose button near the microphone can be used to play or pause music, skip tracks, and answer or end phone calls without touching the iPhone. A small number of third-party headsets specifically designed for the iPhone also include the microphone and control button. The current headsets also provide volume controls, which are only compatible with more recent models. These features are achieved by a fourth ring in the audio jack that carries this extra information.
The built-in Bluetooth 2.x+EDR supports wireless earpieces and headphones, which requires the HSP profile. Stereo audio was added in the 3.0 update for hardware that supports A2DP. While non-sanctioned third-party solutions exist, the iPhone does not officially support the OBEX file transfer protocol. The lack of these profiles prevents iPhone users from exchanging multimedia files, such as pictures, music and videos, with other bluetooth-enabled cell phones.
Composite or component video at up to 576i and stereo audio can be output from the dock connector using an adapter sold by Apple. iPhone 4 also supports 1024 × 768 VGA output without audio, and HDMI output, with stereo audio, via dock adapters. The iPhone did not support voice recording until the 3.0 software update.
- BATTERY
Apple runs tests on preproduction units to determine battery life. Apple's website says that the battery life "is designed to retain up to 80 percent of its original capacity after 400 full charge and discharge cycles", which is comparable to iPod batteries.
The battery life of early models of the iPhone has been criticized by several technology journalists as insufficient and less than Apple's claims. This is also reflected by a J. D. Power and Associates customer satisfaction survey, which gave the "battery aspects" of the iPhone 3G its lowest rating of 2 out of 5 stars.
If the battery malfunctions or dies prematurely, the phone can be returned to Apple and replaced for free while still under warranty. The warranty lasts one year from purchase and can be extended to two years with AppleCare. The battery replacement service and its pricing was not made known to buyers until the day the product was launched, it is similar to how Apple (and third parties) replace batteries for iPods. The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, a consumer advocate group, has sent a complaint to Apple and AT&T over the fee that consumers have to pay to have the battery replaced.
Since July 2007, third-party battery replacement kits have been available at a much lower price than Apple's own battery replacement program. These kits often include a small screwdriver and an instruction leaflet, but as with many newer iPod models the battery in the original iPhone has been soldered in. Therefore a soldering iron is required to install the new battery. The iPhone 3G uses a different battery fitted with a connector that is easier to replace.
- CAMERA
The original iPhone and iPhone 3G feature a built-in fixed focus 2.0 megapixel camera located on the back for still digital photos. It has no optical zoom, flash or autofocus, and does not support video recording (iPhone 3G does support video recording via third-party App available on the App Store), however jailbreaking allows users to do so. Version 2.0 of iPhone OS introduced the capability to embed location data in the pictures, producing geocoded photographs.
The iPhone 3GS has a 3.2 megapixel camera, manufactured by OmniVision, featuring autofocus, auto white balance, and auto macro (up to 10 cm). It is also capable of capturing 640 × 480 (VGA resolution) video at 30 frames per second, although compared to higher-end CCD based video cameras it does exhibit the rolling shutter effect. The video can then be cropped on the device itself and directly uploaded to YouTube, MobileMe, or other services.
The iPhone 4 introduced a 5.0 megapixel camera (2592 × 1936 pixels), also located on the back, which is equipped with a backside illuminated sensor capable of capturing pictures in low-light conditions, as well as an LED flash capable of staying lit for video recording at 720p resolution, considered high-definition. iPhone 4 is the first iPhone that has the high dynamic range photography feature. In addition the iPhone 4 has a second camera on the front capable of VGA photos and SD video recording.
Regardless of the source, saved recordings may be synced to the host computer, attached to email, or (where supported) sent by MMS. Videos may be uploaded to YouTube directly.
The camera on the iPhone 4S is capable of shooting 8MP stills and recording 1080p videos. The camera can now be accessed directly from the lock screen, and the volume up button as a shutter trigger. The built-in gyroscope is able to stabilize the camera while recording video.
Beta code pulled from iOS 5 suggests that the next feature to be released will allow users to capture a panoramic photo on their iPhone.
On all five model generations, the phone can be configured to bring up the camera app by quickly pressing the home key twice. On all iPhones running iOS 5 it can also be accessed from the lock screen directly.
- STORAGE AND SIM
The iPhone was initially released with two options for internal storage size: 4 GB or 8 GB. On September 5, 2007, Apple discontinued the 4 GB models. On February 5, 2008, Apple added a 16 GB model. The iPhone 3G was available in 16 GB and 8 GB. The iPhone 3GS came in 16 GB and 32 GB variants and still is available in 8 GB.
The iPhone 4 is available in 16 GB and 32 GB variants, as well as a newly introduced 8 GB variant to be sold along side the iPhone 4S at a reduced price point. The iPhone 4S is available in three sizes: 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB. All data is stored on the internal flash drive; the iPhone does not support expanded storage through a memory card slot, or the SIM card. The iPhone 5 is available in the same three sizes previously available to the iPhone 4S: 16 GB, 32 GB, and 64 GB.
GSM models of the iPhone use a SIM card to identify themselves to the GSM network. The SIM sits in a tray, which is inserted into a slot at the top of the device. The SIM tray can be ejected with a paperclip or the "SIM ejector tool" (a simple piece of die-cut sheet metal) included with the iPhone 3G and 3GS. Some iPhone models shipped with a SIM ejector tool which was fabricated from an alloy dubbed "Liquidmetal". In most countries, the iPhone is usually sold with a SIM lock, which prevents the iPhone from being used on a different mobile network.
The GSM iPhone 4 features a MicroSIM card that is located in a slot on the right side of the device.
The CDMA model of the iPhone 4, just the same any other CDMA-only cell phone, does not use a SIM card or have a SIM card slot.
An iPhone 4S activated on a CDMA carrier, however, does have a SIM card slot but does not rely on a SIM card for activation on that CDMA network. A CDMA-activated iPhone 4S usually has a carrier-approved roaming SIM preloaded in its SIM slot at the time of purchase that is used for roaming on certain carrier-approved international GSM networks only. The SIM slot is locked to only use the roaming SIM card provided by the CDMA carrier.
In the case of Verizon, for example, one can request that the SIM slot be unlocked for international use by calling their support number and requesting an international unlock if their account has been in good standing for the past 60 days. This method only unlocks the iPhone 4S for use on international carriers. An iPhone 4S that has been unlocked in this way will reject any non international SIM cards (AT&T Mobility or T-Mobile USA, for example).
The iPhone 5 will feature the use of a nanoSIM, in order to save more space for internal components.
- LIQUID CONTACT INDICATORS
All iPhones (and many other devices by Apple) have a small disc at the bottom of the headphone jack that changes from white to red on contact with water; iPhone 3G and later models also have a similar indicator at the bottom of the dock connector. Because Apple warranties do not cover water damage, employees examine the indicators before approving warranty repair or replacement.
The iPhone's indicators are more exposed than those in some mobile phones from other manufacturers, which carry them in a more protected location, such as beneath the battery behind a battery cover. The iPhone's can be triggered during routine use, by an owner's sweat, steam in a bathroom, and other light environmental moisture. Criticism led Apple to change to its water damage policy for iPhones and similar products, allowing customers to request further internal inspection of the phone to verify if internal liquid damage sensors were triggered.
- INCLUDED ITEMS
All iPhone models include written documentation, and a dock connector to USB cable. The original and 3G iPhones also came with a cleaning cloth. The original iPhone included a stereo headset (earbuds and a microphone) and a plastic dock to hold the unit upright while charging and syncing. The iPhone 3G includes a similar headset plus a SIM eject tool (the original model requires a paperclip). The iPhone 3GS includes the SIM eject tool and a revised headset, which adds volume buttons (not functional with previous iPhone versions).
The iPhone 3G and 3GS are compatible with the same dock, sold separately, but not the original model's dock. All versions include a USB power adapter, or "wall charger," which allows the iPhone to charge from an AC outlet. The iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS sold in North America, Japan, Colombia, Ecuador, or Peru include an ultracompact USB power adapter.
Source : Wikipedia
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