Apple iPhone Review - Display & Audio

iPhone's display is a giant 3.5" in size and features a somewhat non-standard widescreen resolution of 320 x 480 pixels. The display also packs a whopping 160 dpi (dots per inch), making it one of the overall highest resolution displays you're going to find on a mobile device. It's a winner, plain and simple. Text is big and bold and smooth on the display, graphics are crisp and colorful, and images are rich with detail. The multi-touch functionality is sensitive and accurate, and my only complaint with it is that I sometimes hit the wrong link when viewing a page in the Safari Web browser without zooming in before clicking.

Watching videos in widescreen mode is terrific, too - I rarely use my full-size iPod for video playback, but for the review's sake I loaded the iPhone up with a full length movie and a few TV shows for a recent flight from Oakland to Washington, DC. On the way to DC I watched three half-hour tv shows and on the way back I watched a feature length film and another TV show, and the overall experience was fabulous. While watching a movie on a three-and-a-half inch screen can't compare to watching it on a full-sized HD display, in the close confines of coach class it's more than serviceable. And then there's the undeniable cool factor of turning the video off, tucking the phone in your pocket, and pulling it back out once the plane has landed to check your messages. iPhone is certainly not the first device to feature such "convergence" of a phone and media player, but when it comes to the media player part of the equation it's entirely in a class by itself. Sony Ericsson and Nokia, in particular, make some music phones that sound very good and are pretty easy to use. Apple now makes one that adds "really, really fun" and "stellar display" to the mix.

The display also serves as your primary form of interfacing with iPhone, and generally speaking it works very well. Apple built a ton of eye candy into the various interfaces and menus, and while a few things here and there irk me - like the analog-style scrolling wheels used to set calendar reminders - in general the animations are either enjoyable or at least don't get in the way. The biggest point of concern for many users centers around iPhone's virtual QWERTY board.

I was very skeptical of iPhone's touchscreen keyboard, particularly after having less than stellar experiences with touchscreen keyboards on other handsets like the Motorola E6. My first day or two trying to tap out emails and SMSs on iPhone were pretty frustrating. I dove right in with two thumbs and tried typing with the same speed and "technique" I use on BlackBerrys and other smartphones with physical QWERTY keyboards. It didn't work so well. But after a few more days I'd started to get the hang of it. As Apple says, it helps to trust their text correction software - it's quite sophisticated and quite good, and while it lacks the multiple choices and on-screen user dictionaries of other handsets, it's accurate enough to support Apple's "simple is better" design mantra. The one area I keep running into trouble with, though, is "made up words." For instance, I seem to use "Ha ha ha" a lot in messages. iPhone always things I mean "Us us us." Grrr.

Don't get me wrong - iPhone's touchscreen keyboard is still nowhere near as reliable as its physical counterparts on handsets like the Nokia e61i or almost any of the BlackBerry devices. If you're a heavy, heavy email user you may simply find iPhone unacceptable. But I've found the keyboard to be surprisingly useful for moderate daily use (Email, SMS, Web, and Calendar management), and with a little patience I can get through the occasional longer message just fine. The press-and-hold activated magnifying glass is handy for correcting errors, and Apple's first iPhone software update adds a BlackBerry style shortcut for "double tap space bar" equals "space plus period," which is super handy for transitioning between sentences.

I tested the quad-band GSM iPhone on T-Mobile's network in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, and also during trips to Washington, DC and San Diego, CA (and in a few airports along the way). Note that I had unlocked my handset for use on T-Mobile, but this is not supported in any way by Apple - iPhone is officially meat for use on AT&T in the United States.

Audio quality during phone calls was generally okay, with voices coming through clearly on both ends but not always loudly on my end. Complaints regarding too-low volume of the phone's earpiece and speaker abounded during the first few months after the handset's release, and the first Apple software update addresses this issue (I did not install the update prior to writing this review). The phone's integrated speakerphone, headphone jack and Bluetooth connectivity allow for several hands-free calling options, all of which worked quite well though, again, earpiece/speakerphone volume needed to be set near it's loudest setting for normal use. I was able to pair the handset with mono headsets, and also used both the included earbuds - with inline mic and single-button control for handling calls and music - and standard stereo earphones (in conjunction with the phone's built-in mic) for calling.

Without getting back on my soapbox about it, I have to wonder what Apple was thinking when they designed iPhone's recessed headphone jack. On the one hand it accepts standard 3.5mm connectors, but on the other hand it's recessed and so the plastic shielding on most plugs is simply too thick to fit into the port. The cynic in me says Apple wanted to force a "Made for iPhone" ecosystem similar to the one they created for iPod accessories - they get a cut every time a third party stamps "Made for iPod" on their packaging. In any case, my Etymotic er-6i earphones fit perfectly into the jack but virtually every other earphone or audio cable I've tried does not (save, of course, for the included earbuds - but they don't do iPhone's music player sonic justice). So there are three options: 1)Shell out for some Made for iPhone earphones; 2)Shell out for an unsightly adapter that basically extends the audio jack to allow for use with any standard cable; 3)Trim the plastic shielding around the connector on your favorite earphones' cable so it fits. Option three is the cheapest, and it generally works quite easily if you've got a sharp knife and a relatively steady hand. Still, it's a solution to a problem that simply should not exist.

Music stored on iPhone may be played back via a built-in mono speakers or through the headphone jack, but not via Bluetooth. Music may also be routed through the line out jack on the dock included in iPhone's box - the setup is basically the same as using an iPod with a line-out capable dock. The lack of stereo Bluetooth support doesn't bother me personally, but as a reviewer I again wonder what Apple was thinking leaving it out. With my Etymotics phones wired up, music sounds great on iPhone - it really is the best iPod ever made, save for the fact that 4 or 8 GB isn't nearly enough storage space to let me give up my iPod just yet. iPhone supports AAC, mp3, and a few other audio formats - but not the Windows-standard WMA (which is no surprise). Stereo soundtracks for video content are also supported - the audio portion of the movie and TV shows I watched on the handset also sounded terrific.

Music played over the internal speaker is clear, if not terribly loud, but ringtones tended to be on the quiet side. Apple now offers customizable ringtones for sale via their iTunes Music Store - two dollars gets you a song and the legal right to make a custom ringtone using a snippet of that song via iTunes software on your Mac or PC. Third party applications allowed me to load my own ringtones onto the handset for free, though again, those apps aren't supported by Apple and don't work with the latest iPhone software update.

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