The Apple iPhone is an internet-connected multimedia smartphone with a flush multi-touch screen and a minimal hardware interface. Lacking a physical keyboard, a virtual keyboard is rendered on the touch screen. The iPhone's functions include those of a camera phone and portable media player (equivalent to the iPod) in addition to text messaging and visual voicemail. It also offers Internet services including e-mail, web browsing, and local Wi-Fi connectivity. The first generation phone hardware was quad-band GSM with EDGE; the second generation also adds UMTS with HSDPA.

Apple announced the iPhone on January 9, 2007. The announcement was preceded by rumors and speculation that circulated for several months. The iPhone was initially introduced in the United States on June 29, 2007 and is in the process of being introduced worldwide. It was named Time magazine's Invention of the Year in 2007. On July 11, 2008, the iPhone 3G was released and supported faster 3G data speeds and Assisted GPS.

Screen and interface

The 9 cm (3.5 in) liquid crystal display (320×480 px at 6.3 px/mm, 160 ppi) HVGA touchscreen with scratch-resistant glass is specifically created for use with a finger, or multiple fingers for multi-touch sensing. Because the screen is a capacitive touchscreen, bare skin is required; a stylus or a normal glove prevents the necessary electrical conductivity.

Almost all input is given through the touch screen, which understands complex gestures using multi-touch. The iPhone's interaction techniques enable the user to move the content itself up or down by a touch-drag motion of the finger. For example, zooming in and out of web pages and photos is done by placing two fingers on the screen and spreading them farther apart or bringing them closer together. Similarly, scrolling through a long list in a menu works as if the list is pasted on the outer surface of a wheel: the wheel can be "spun" by sliding a finger over the display from bottom to top (or vice versa). In either case, the list continues to move based on the flicking motion of the finger, slowly decelerating as if affected by friction. In this way, the interface simulates the physics of a real 3D object. There are other visual effects, such as horizontally sliding sub-selections and co-selections from right and left, vertically sliding system menus from the bottom (e.g. favorites, keyboard), and menus and widgets that turn around to allow settings to be configured on their back sides.

The display responds to three sensors. A proximity sensor shuts off the display and touchscreen when the iPhone is brought near the face 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. Photo browsing, web browsing, and music playing support both upright and left or right widescreen orientations, while videos play in only one widescreen orientation, with the home button to the left.

A software update allowed the first generation iPhone to use cell towers and Wi-Fi networks to locate itself despite lacking a hardware GPS. The iPhone 3G includes A-GPS but also uses cell towers and Wi-Fi for location finding.

A single "home" hardware button below the display brings up the main menu. Subselections are made via the touchscreen. The iPhone utilizes a full-paged display, with context-specific submenus at the top and/or bottom of each page, sometimes depending on screen orientation. Detail pages display the equivalent of a "Back" button to return to the parent menu.

The iPhone has three physical switches on its sides: wake/sleep, volume up/down, and ringer on/off. These are made of plastic on the original iPhone and metal on the iPhone 3G. All other multimedia and phone operations are done via the touchscreen. The iPhone 3G features a full plastic back to increase GSM signal strength. It also comes in white exclusively for the 16GB model.

Audio

The iPhone's headphones are similar to those of most current smartphones, incorporating a microphone. A multipurpose button in the microphone can be used to play or pause music, skip tracks, and answer or end phone calls without touching the iPhone. The 3.5 mm TRS connector for the headphones is located on the top left corner. The headphone socket on the original iPhone is recessed into the casing. The recess is narrow when compared to many headphone jacks, making them incompatible without the use of an adapter. The iPhone 3G has a flush mounted headphone socket.

Wireless earpieces that use Bluetooth technology to communicate with the iPhone are sold separately. It does not support stereo audio.

The loudspeaker is used both for handsfree operations and media playback, but does not support voice recording.

Composite or component video at up to 576i and stereo audio can be output from the dock connector using an adapter sold by Apple.

Battery

The iPhone features a built-in rechargeable battery that is not user-replaceable, similar to existing iPods, but dissimilar to most existing cellular phones. If the battery prematurely reaches the end of its life, the phone can be returned to Apple and replaced for free while still in warranty, one year at purchase and extended to two years with AppleCare. The cost of having Apple provide a new battery and replace it when the iPhone is out of warranty is, in the United States, US$79 and US$6.95 for shipping.

Since July 2007 third party battery packs 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. This is not the case with the iPhone 3G as it uses a different battery fitted with a connector.

The original iPhone's battery was stated to be capable of providing up to seven hours of video, six hours of web browsing, eight hours of talk time, 24 hours of music or up to 250 hours on standby. Apple's site says that the battery life "is designed to retain up to 80% of its original capacity after 400 full charge and discharge cycles", which is comparable to the iPod batteries.

The iPhone 3G's battery is stated to be capable of providing up to seven hours of video, six hours of web browsing on Wi-Fi or five on 3G, ten hours of 2G talk time, or five on 3G, 24 hours of music, or 300 hours of standby.

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. Though the battery replacement service and its pricing was not made known to buyers until the day the product was launched, a similar service had been well established for the iPods by Apple and various third party service providers.

SIM card

The original iPhone's SIM card slot shown as open, with ejected SIM card.

The SIM card is located in a slot at the top of the device, which can be ejected with a paperclip or a SIM card ejection tool which is included with the iPhone 3G. In most countries, the iPhone is usually sold with a SIM lock preventing the use of SIM cards from different mobile networks.

Storage

The iPhone was initially released with two options for internal storage size; either a 4 GB or 8 GB flash drive (manufactured by Samsung) model was available. On September 5, 2007, Apple announced they were discontinuing the 4 GB models. On February 5, 2008, Apple announced the addition of a 16 GB model to the iPhone lineup. The iPhone does not contain any memory card slots for expanded storage.

Included items and accessories

Both the iPhone and the iPhone 3G came with a series of included accessories and items when purchased.

Items common to both versions

• Documentation
• Stereo headset with microphone
• Dock connector to USB cable (standard USB cable for connection)
• Cleaning/polishing cloth

Original iPhone

• Dock
• Standard USB power adapter

iPhone 3G

The iPhone 3G, with a black plastic back and chrome volume control buttons

• SIM ejector tool
• Mini USB power adapter (North America)
• Standard USB power adapter (Everywhere except North America)