News
iPhone Guided Tour shows new features, power button
Freshly debuted on the Apple.com web site, the new iPhone Guided Tour (also called Apple iPhone Welcome) features on-screen narration by Apple’s Bob Borchers through various features of the phone, including new ones.
Sleep/Wake (Power) Button: Found on the unit’s top right, next to the SIM card slot, the “Sleep/Wake Button” turns off the iPhone’s screen and disables its touch controls. While the phone can still receive calls, play music, and see its volume adjusted via the side volume buttons, the screen goes completely dark and is no longer touch-sensitive. The same button is held down for several seconds to turn iPhone’s power completely off, and a slider appears on screen to confirm that you want to do so.
Phone: Borchers explains that the alphabet letters found on iPhone’s scrollable lists are, in effect, letter-specific scroll bars that you drag your finger through and stop at a letter of your choosing. When you press the Home button during a phone call to return to iPhone’s main menu, a green bar at the top of the screen appears to keep you informed of how many minutes and seconds your call is taking. Like Safari, the phone has a list of favorites that can be customized with the specific numbers you prefer to use for people of your choosing, making calls to these people easier than scrolling through larger lists. Calling is as straightforward as was previously demonstrated, but the video spotlights context-sensitive in-call menus that make switching between two callers (“swap”), merging calls, and adding a call (keypad/contacts) easy.
iPod: The top of the songs list now has a shuffle button, as does the top of each artist’s collection of songs in your library. Double-tapping on videos in progress toggles between widescreen (16:9) and fullscreen (4:3) aspect ratios, while a single tap brings up on-screen controls. The “More” icon at the bottom of iPhone’s iPod screen provides you with the option to customize the device’s list of default one-click categories, including icons for Albums, Podcasts, Audiobooks, Genres, Composers, Complications, Playlists, Artists, Songs, and Videos. Any icon can be dragged from the list to replace one of the icons already at the bottom of the screen.
iPhone Stereo Headset: In addition to the microphone mounted at neck level to help you talk on the phone, the iPhone Stereo Headset includes a button below the microphone for one-press control of the phone, or the iPod’s media playback. A single press pauses or plays back music, as well as answering or ending a call; music fades in and out as appropriate. Two presses advances a track in the music.
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1
The iPod’s display is not 16:9 widescreen, but rather 1.5:1. This means that neither “widescreen” videos or “fullscreen” videos will take up the entire real estate of the screen unless the user zooms in, as “widescreen” movies are usually 1.85:1 (usually called 16:9) or 2.35:1. It’s a common mistake (as this article also claims) to think that the screen is 16:9 just because Apple has been calling it a “widescreen” iPod.
Posted by iPhone Info on June 23, 2007 at 12:54 AM (PDT)
2
The article’s obviously referring to the aspect ratio of the content, not the screen. Double-tapping on the screen doesn’t transform the screen, but rather what’s on it.
Posted by Jeremy Horwitz in East Amherst, NY, USA on June 23, 2007 at 6:56 AM (PDT)
3
It is widescreen since its wider than full screen [even though it’s not 8:5 widescreen]
Posted by Patrick on June 24, 2007 at 10:47 AM (PDT)
4
The point was not how you choose to define “widescreen” (which is why it was put in quotes in the original comment), but rather to point out that neither “fullscreen” TV shows or “widescreen” movies will take up the entire real estate of the screen unless they are zoomed in (cropping off content). This is rather unfortunate, because Apple could have easily made the screen with an aspect ratio of 16:9 so that many movies and all HDTV shows could be displayed at a maximum size with no need for zooming or cropping.
Posted by iPhone Info on June 24, 2007 at 10:23 PM (PDT)
5
“It’s a common mistake (as this article also claims) to think that the screen is 16:9 just because Apple has been calling it a “widescreen” iPod.”
The article never said this. You did.
Apple does not make video-ready product screens with 16:9 aspect ratios; instead, it typically goes with something closer to 16:10. The major reason is that its computers have benefitted from having extra top and bottom real estate for menu items to control the movie or provide information about battery life, etc. Since they’ll take up the entire 480 pixels of the screen’s width, there’s no need to zoom or crop, and you’ll still have an image that’s significantly larger and more detailed than the 5G iPod’s.
Posted by Jeremy Horwitz in East Amherst, NY, USA on June 25, 2007 at 7:04 AM (PDT)
6
The iPhone screen is 320x480, or 1.5:1. Extrapolated to your numbers, it would be 15:10, not 16:10. Regardless, the point is that neither 4:3 or 16:9 video fills up the screen completely in their native aspect ratio. You either have black bars on the sides (with 4x3 content) or black bars on the top and bottom (with 16x9 or 2.35:1 content). NO VIDEO that Apple sells on their iTunes store will display natively without “boxing” of some sort. Yes, you can “double-tap” and “zoom” the video in so that it does take up the entire face of the screen, but then you’re missing part of the picture (sometimes a significant part, depending on the OAR). This has been clear in the keynote that Steve Jobs made back in January (as he demoed a clip from “Pirates”) as well as on the currently-downloadable “Welcome” video on the Apple site where “Cars” is used as a demonstration. Note how much of the picture gets cut off when the video is zoomed in to fill the screen.
My point was simply that had they made the screen 16:9 in ratio, many movies and (current) TV shows would naturally fill the entire screen with no letterboxing, thus getting the most resolution from the device possible. As it stands, you’re either wasting screen space with black bars or losing part of the picture. That’s the only point I was trying to make, which seems to be lost on a lot of people (everyone will realize soon enough when they get their iPhones). Of course the video will be larger than that of an iPod; the screen is twice the size.
Posted by iPhone Info on June 26, 2007 at 7:32 AM (PDT)
7
My iPhone shuts down periodically on it’s own. I tried holding the sleep wake button and menue button. It froze up. What gives?
Posted by james on November 26, 2007 at 4:10 PM (PDT)