The most important feature of the iPhone is its newfangled multi-touch screen. This screen quashes the necessity for any mechanical button to appear on this gizmo. In simple terms, the touch screen allows you to use your bare fingers to operate it unlike other smart phones that either sport mechanical keyboards or require the use of a stylus. Just by tapping on the screen with your bare skin, you are able to go through its menus, dial numbers, compose SMS or e-mail messages and use the entire functionality of this gadget. Its 3.5-inch screen displays a virtual keyboard for the purpose of inputting text. Although most people are skeptical about typing with a virtual keyboard, it should be known that Apple has predicted this difficulty and provided the iPhone with features such as automatic spell check, word prediction, and a customizable dictionary that allows its users to add new words. More than this, it addresses the issue of typographical errors common to touch-screen usage through its self-correction capabilities.



When it comes to scrolling, no wheel is found at the side of the iPhone. Instead, the functionality of the multi-touch screen allows its user to scroll up or down just by dragging a finger towards the desired direction. The speed by which it is programmed to scroll is proportional to that of the dragged finger.

Apart from this, the multi-touch screen also enables many other functions such as multi-touch sensing which is commonly used for magnifying or reducing either photos or web pages. Using this, the user can manipulate the size of some objects by simply placing two fingers at either side of the object and then moving them either father apart or closer together. This will not distort any images because they are scaled and resized according to its original dimensions.

In addition to this gadget's smart features, it allows unrestricted web access through the Mac OS X operating system and the Safari web browser. This allows it to be used just as any other Apple computer actually making it smarter than any other smart phone in the market today.

One of the major complaints regarding the iPhone has to do with the life of its battery. It is said that because of the complicated technical features of this gadget, the battery is easily drained. Many say that the battery used is second-rate and has a long way to go with further development. Another major complaint is on the data network that it uses. The iPhone operates with AT&T's Edge which is quite sluggish especially when compared with the present day's highly developed networks. However, Apple claims that this should not prove to be a major drawback since the iPhone was designed to be notorious in receiving broadband connection through Wi-Fi hotspots. Furthermore, it is said that the iPhone is not open to third-party software developers.

More criticisms accumulate as the iPhone's absent features are scrutinized. With the increasing appreciation for 3G technology, it truly is surprising that the iPhone does not support it. MMS functions, even, are not provided. Even voice dialing or voice recording cannot be done with this handheld. Moreover, when it comes to messaging, users would have to adhere with traditional emails and SMS because it still does not have an instant messaging function. Copy and paste functions are also missing. Going even further, it is difficult for its users to understand why such a multimedia device does not have a memory card slot. Although it is said that it should have sufficient built-in memory, users of other smart phones and mobiles of higher models believe in the convenience of external memory. Even its Bluetooth capabilities are restricted as it does not support A2DP or even regular file transfers. Some minor complaints also include the lack of exclusive games and inability to set alert tones using MP3 files.

In conclusion with a weath of features, the iPhone may be one of, if not the best, handheld mobiles available in the market today. It truly has become the 2007 gadget of the year. However there is still a lot of space for improvement.