They may call the UK the 51st State, but we have all come to accept that most technological consumer innovations coming out of the US take a while to reach our island these days. And so, as we heard with nervous anticipation that the Apple iPhone would finally be announced by Steve Jobs at the 2007 Macworld convention, a familiar sigh echoed around our room.

 

Over the months, we watched with envy as hundreds of people queued outside Apple stores throughout the US to be the first to put their hands on the new phone. We read the first reviews in the major US journals and websites. And we looked at the beautiful photos and online demos of the little machine and wondered. We wondered what it would finally be like in our hands and if it could really meet our high expectations. After all, this is perhaps one of the most over-hyped multimedia devices to have been released in recent years – we’ve even seen it referred to as the ‘Jesus phone’ by some over-zealous Apple enthusiasts! Can this amount of hype for a mobile phone ever be justified? And importantly, we asked ourselves, how much would it cost in the UK?

Recent years have seen a big rise in the number and frequency of new mobile phones on the market. Most recently, the emphasis on look and feel has increased, with the development of a whole segment of design and fashion phones more widely available. Mobile phones released over the years that have been popular for their design include the LG Chocolate, the PENCK phone (designed by Makoto Saito), the Motorola RAZR V3, the Serene (Bang & Olufsen together with Samsung), and the list goes on. We’ve even witnessed the birth of the ‘luxury’ mobile phone sector with the outrageously expensive Vertu phones and the limited edition Sony Ericsson Black Diamond concept phone (designed by Jaren Goh), as well as the cheaper Nokia 8800 series. Many of these have tended to be more focused on style than substance, or priced to exclude the vast majority of people.

We all agree, the look and feel of the iPhone are fantastic. Holding it in the palm of your hand and playing with the huge LCD screen makes you feel like a child unwrapping a present at Christmas. We guarantee that you won’t be able to put it down for at least one hour once you’ve taken your iPhone out of its box. So what makes your Apple iPhone run as well as it does? Let’s take a closer look at the hardware and the iPhone extras, including the headphones, the touchscreen display, the battery and charging dock. 

Setting up the Apple iPhone is a very simple affair, even if you’ve never used an iPod before. For those who have however, the setup process is very similar. You certainly don’t need to be used to using Apple products or be particularly software savvy to have your iPhone up and running in no time. One thing’s for sure, Apple have perfected the setting up process and made everything very intuitive. Once you’ve plugged in your iPhone in its dock, you’ll see a greeting screen. As a guide, it takes around 30 seconds to get your iPhone from totally shut off to fully functional. From here, all you need to do is install iTunes by following the step-by-step instructions. A few minutes (and some fifteen screens) later, you’ll be ready to start using your iPhone and change any settings you wish. We won’t elaborate much on these here because the iPhone guides are very simple to follow. What's more interesting to focus on how to use the iPhone's amazing touchscreen interface.

Getting used to the iPhone’s keyboard and layout is one of the most important things to consider when buying your new iPhone. It’s a question most people have in the back of their minds: is the iPhone’s virtual keyboard easy to use or not? We’re all completely used to using physical keyboards so you’d be forgiven for being a bit sceptical about Apple’s decision to get rid them completely. So what’s it like, and will you have any trouble getting used to the iPhone’s new touchscreen keyboard? Well, as with most things, the short answer is: it kind of depends on who you ask.