Steve Jobs has pronounced the iPhone “ the best iPod we ’ve ever made . ” And if one were to judge an iPod ’s worth by the hanky panky of its presentation and the rank wow of its interface , he ’s spot on .
But , with the iPhone , Apple has released an iPod that ’s markedly different from previous iPod manakin — one that tote up slick eye - candy and a expectant display , but also lack some favour features of previous good example iPods . Just how well does the iPhone deliver on Jobs ’ title ? permit ’s take a look .
Much like an iPod
The iPhone put up many of the same features found on an iPod . They include :
audio frequency and video recording : Like a received iPod , the iPhone appears in iTunes and can be configure to sync music , audiobooks , podcasts , TV shows , music videos , and movies . In regard to syncing it works almost exactly like aniPod nanoorfifth - propagation ( 5 G ) iPod . Just select the iPhone in iTunes ’ Source list and configure the Music , Photos , Podcasts , and Videos tabs to select the content that will be synced to your iPhone .
As with an iPod , in the Music tab , you may choose to sync all songs and playlist or just selected play list . In the Podcasts and Video tabs , you may ask iTunes to sync all your podcasts , movies , and television receiver shows or select just a selection — for object lesson , the three most recent unheard / unwatched podcasts , TV show , or motion-picture show . you’re able to also direct it to sync specific podcasts , TV display , and movie only — for model , the three most late new installment of the Macworld Podcast and the third season ofLost .
Because the iPhone ’s store infinite is limited and video recording can apace squander much of that place , those who are accustomed to the expansiveness of a 5 G iPod ’s drive will belike expend more time carry off how their media is synchronize .
Photos : Like a color - display iPod , the iPhone can synchronise photos . On a Mac it will sync from your iPhoto or Aperture library ( or selected record album within that library ) as well as from your Pictures folder or a folder of your choosing . Unlike with an iPod , you could reckon exposure in portrait or landscape painting mode on the iPhone . Simply rotate your telephone set to landscape orientation to view photograph in widescreen — the iPhone will flip your images mechanically .
impinging , calendar , and more : The iPod ’s PIM features are among the most underutilized on the twist . With a mobile earpiece , however , experience this data with you is crucial . iTunes takes Contact , Calendar , Mail Accounts , and Web web browser syncing and gather them into a single Info tab . Just as with an iPod , you have the option to synchronize all contacts , selected groups of impinging , and all calendar or take calendars . Modern with the iPhone is the power to sync selected Mail accounts and all Safari bookmarks .
The bulk - dominance feature Sound Check can be establish on the preferences screen on the iPhone .
Sound Check : Just as with an iPod , the iPhone descend with Sound Check — the feature that makes loudness more uniform from one cut to another . To switch it on , go to the iPhone ’s options silver screen , intercept the iPod entry , and in the iPod screen tap the Off shift next to the Sound Check entry . Off will change to On . observe that just like with an iPod , Sound Check will work only if you ’ve first turn it on in iTunes . You do this in the Playback check of iTunes ’ Preferences window .
Audiobook speed : The iPod can play audiobooks quicker or slower than normal and so can the iPhone . If you ’re in a hurry or necessitate to take life a little easier by slowing down , go to preferences / iPod , wiretap the Audiobook Speed entry , and , in the resulting Audiobook Speed screenland , rap Slower , Normal , or Faster .
EQ : Here ’s another iPod feature found on the iPhone . To change the timbre of the music — make it bright , bassier , or punchier , for model — opt configurations / iPod , dab EQ , and choose one of the 22 included leveling presets .
bulk Limit : The iPhone ’s corroboration warn about the dangers of blare high - volume music at your eardrum . If you ’re plan to lay an iPhone on your nearest and dearest and that person likes their music loud , look at setting a volume demarcation line . trip to configurations / iPod , pat Volume Limit , skid your finger’s breadth across the volume slider to mark a desirable volume , and tap Lock Volume Limit . A computer keyboard will appear that asks you to figure and confirm a four - digit code . This locks the iPhone at this volume . To alter the mass point of accumulation , press Unlock Volume Limit , which now appears on this screen , and enter the four - digit code when prompted .
tap on an album cover or the Info clitoris record you the contents of each album .
Listening : The iPhone sounds as good as any iPod you ’ve ever owned . Mine plays through the portable speaker unit system I ’ve connected it to via the Dock connector port on the bottom of the earpiece — though the iPhone tells me that the attached peripheral is not supported and offers to alternate the iPhone into Airplane mood to avoid father audio preventative . Like the late screen - carry iPod , it supports gapless playback so you could feel dependable asking it to play the B-complex vitamin - side of The Beatles’Abbey Roador Brian Wilson’sSmilewithout interruption .
What’s new
As the first wheel - less iPod , the iPhone ’s touch - screen interface is the most obvious newfangled feature , but extra features lurk within .
master interface : When you tap the iPod entree on the iPhone ’s principal screen , you ’re taken to the last iPod screen you access — a Now Playing screen or the Playlists sieve , for object lesson . array along the bottom of the iPhone are Playlists , Artists , Songs , Videos , and More image . The first four icon are ego - explanatory . Tap each to take in playlists , artists , song , and videos .
tapdance the More icon , and you ’ll see entries for Albums , Audiobooks , Compilations , Composers , Genres , and Podcasts . These entries are similar to what you find on an iPod . Tap them to access these specific screenland .
Just as you could interchange the commands that appear on an iPod ’s main covert , so too can you switch the icons that look at the bottom of the iPod area . Simply tap the More icon and , in the More sieve , wiretap the Edit clitoris at the top - left wing of the screen . A Configure blind will pass over up from the bottom and display ikon for Albums , Podcasts , Audiobooks , Genres , Composers , Compilations , Playlists , Artists , Songs , and Videos . To substitute one of these ikon for one that appear at the bottom of the screen , just tap and hold back on an picture and dredge it over the icon you want to replace . Tap Done when you ’re done .
An first rudiment on the right side of the iPhone ’s screens helps you speed up your birdsong and artist searches .
To walk back through the screen hierarchy , tap the left - pointing arrow icon at the top - left wing of the screen . ( On the Now Playing screen this really is an pointer picture . On other screens , this pointer bears the name of the premature screen so you know where you ’re go . )
Cover Flow : Cover Flow — the landscape view that displays record album covers and podcast art rather than textbook — is one of the iPhone ’s jazzy Modern features . When in the iPod region , just turn your iPhone to landscape orientation and Cover Flow appear . swoop up your finger to the right hand or depart to move from binding to handle .
Tap on an record album cover once or tap the Info button at the bottom - right of the screen , and the cover flip around to show you the content of the album ( or as much of the record album as the iPhone holds ) . rap once on a podcast ’s graphics , and it too flip and display a list of episodes for that podcast . rap on a selection in this view and it begins playing .
you could toss back to the front natural covering by tapping the Info release , tapping the detail ’s title cake , or — in the case of podcasts — double - tapping the vacuous area in the list of podcast sequence .
Seeking : The iPhone shun the hunt features found on the latest display - bearing iPods . Instead , in a screen that include a spate of entries , you ’ll ascertain the first principle arrayed along the right-hand side of the screen . Tap on a letter to quick move to that location in the list — roentgen for Joni Mitchell ’s “ River , ” for example , when you ’re on the Songs blind .
make - in loudspeaker system : iPod do n’t have built - in speakers . The iPhone does . You ’ll find its speaker on the bottom edge of the iPhone , on the left side . And no , that speaker is n’t just for headphone yell . It will act as anything that make noise on your iPod , including medicine and a video ’s audio track .
The Now performing screen
Less like an iPod
Because of the iPhone ’s wheel- and button - liberal interface , iPod elements such as the Now Playing screen have had to be reworked to adapt a touch - screen . While some of these features are happen on an iPod , they do n’t wreak the same elbow room .
Now play : The Now performing screenland is where you control the iPhone ’s music playback . It has three layers . The main Now Playing covert shew the album cover , play control ( premature , Play , and Forward ) , and volume skidder .
To toggle between Play and Pause , just tap on the Play or interruption icon . To fast forward or rewind through a cartroad , tap and have got on the appropriate push button . To get on to the next track , tap once on the Forward clit . To move to the beginning of the presently playing data track , tap on the late push button . To jaunt to the previous cart track , tap doubly on this button . To adjust bulk , tap on the silver ball in the volume slider and drag your fingerbreadth to the unexpended or right to decrease or increase volume , respectively .
Tap once on the Now playact screen and you make controls for shift on Repeat and Shuffle play , and a playhead and timeline that details the length of the playing cut and where you are in the cut . you may tap and confine on the playhead and move it to the right or left to move forward or back in the track . lastly , if you double - pat in the Now Playing screen or tap the Playlist picture in the upper - rightfield nook , the book binding flips to bring out the album ’s data track .
In this screen you could not only take tracks by tap on them , but also rate the currently take track . At the top of the windowpane , you ’ll find five dose . To delegate a four - star rating , for example , just tip the quaternary dot ; four genius will appear . you may also wipe your finger from side to side to sum or bump off stars . As with any other iPhone CRT screen that display a list longer than the screen can adapt , wipe your finger up across the display to scroll down the list .
Except for within the Configure screen in the More screen , you always have the pick to move immediately to the Now Playing screen by exploit that same - named clitoris in the upper good street corner of the iPhone ’s blind . Audio track will continue to play even when you ’ve moved to a different area of the iPhone ( unless you ’re making a call , of course , or perform some other audio - centric task ) .
you may pause playback when using the let in headphones / microphone by squeezing the headset ’s mic clit once . To restart playback , press again . Press double speedily to move to the next strain in the playlist . When ascertain euphony playback from the iPhone ’s display rather than the headset , you must move to the Now toy CRT screen to hesitate playback or rick the iPhone so it change over to overcompensate Flow view and beg the Pause image that appears in the bottom exit corner of the screenland .
TV playback : The iPhone has a gloriously across-the-board exhibit for such a small-scale gadget , and Apple ’s not about to waste it by allowing you to view videos in portrayal orientation . No , once you rap an entry in the Video screen door , the video recording plays back in landscape view .
Video playback control on the iPhone
you could get at the TV ’s gambol ascendency by tapping once on the sieve . Like the music controls , these controls include old , Play / Pause , and Forward release . A bulk slider appear below . Above , you ’ll see a timeline and the await flatware ball that indicates where you are in the picture . Time indicator on either side item the video recording ’s current playback position and the remaining time , respectively . you’re able to tap and drag this slider to move to a novel locating in the video . Tap a double - arrow button to the side of the timeline to toggle between Full- and Widescreen video view . ( you’re able to also toggle between these two views by twice - tapping the sieve . )
When you tap and keep on the Forward or Previous buttons , the video will fast - forward or rewind , respectively . The longer you hold back , the quicker the video skip ahead or back . When you tapdance and free the Forward button , you move to the video ’s next chapter ( if it has chapters — if there are no chapter , nothing happens ) . Similarly , pink and release the former clit to move back a chapter .
To be postulate back to the television screen , tapdance the Done button in the upper - leave corner of the video concealment .
On - The - Go play list : On an iPod you could create a special play list at once on the gadget by pick out an particular — a song , artist , or record album — and clicking and carry on it . This adds the selected item to the On - The - Go playlist . The iPhone offers a similar on - the - go feature but , because it lacks a click - wheel , thing are implement differently .
To make an On - The - Go playlist on the iPhone , while in the iPhone ’s iPod expanse exploit the Playlists ikon at the bottom of the iPhone silver screen . Tap the On - The - Go entry that appear at the top of the Playlists screen . pat Playlists , Artists , or Songs at the bottom of the screen . When you pink Playlists , you ’re present with a list of all the playlist on your iPhone . Tap a playlist and in that play list ’s CRT screen , you may choose to add together all the playlist ’s Sung dynasty or choose individual song by tap the Plus ikon next to the song . If you tap creative person , you ’ll see a list of all the artists on your iPhone . Tap an artist ’s name and you ’ll see a list of all that artist ’s albums on your iPhone . tip an album title of respect and , again , you ’re offered the option to sum up all songs or you could pick out individuals Song to total . ( If you have just a individual album by that artist , no record album entree will appear — only the songs on the record album are listed . ) And if you rap Song , you may opt to add all songs or append single songs .
likewise , if you tap the More button , you could take tracks by Album , Audiobook , Compilation , Composer , Genre , or Podcast . Just as with the Playlists , Artists , and Songs screens , you’re able to choose everything in the tilt or single racecourse .
Editing an On - The - Go playlist on your iPhone
When you ’ve configure the On - The - Go play list to your liking , tap the Done button at the top - rightfulness of the On - The - Go screen . afterward , if you adjudicate to edit this play list , tap the On - The - Go playlist in the Playlists screen and wiretap Edit . To exonerate the playlist of its contents , tap Clear Playlist . To remove case-by-case caterpillar tread , wiretap the Minus icon to the left field of the track you want to erase and then tap the Delete clitoris that appear . To reorder the playlist , just tap and check on an entry and drag it up or down the play list . To add other tracks , pink the Plus button in the upper - leave quoin of the windowpane and proceed as you did when creating the original list — choosing categories from the bottom of the windowpane and add playlists , artist , songs , or categories of content from the More screen .
make : Unlike on the iPod , the iPhone ’s Shuffle command is mix into playlists rather than as part of a primary menu . Whenever you get at a list of rails — in an artist ’s or playlist ’s screen , for example — you’ll see a shuffling ingress . Tap it and the contents of that lean will mix . To shuffle all the tracks on your iPhone , tap the Songs icon at the bottom of the screen in the iPhone ’s iPod area , and tap Shuffle .
No manual management : The iPod put up you the alternative to care media manually . With this option turned on , you could add mental object to the iPod simply by selecting something in your iTunes library — a track , album , play list , or video , for example — embroil it to the iPod ’s picture in iTunes ’ Source inclination , and the media is copied to the equipment . Not so with the iPhone . The only way you may add medium to the iPhone is by using iTunes ’ synchronise ascendancy . This mean that if you have multiple computers , it may be time to imagine about consolidating your media on a single information processing system as you wo n’t be able to total one record album from this Mac , move the iPhone to another Mac , and tally a dissimilar album . If you examine to synchronise the iPhone with the other figurer , the medium you contribute from the first computer will be rub out and replaced by the synced media from the presently tethered computer . ( iTunes warns you before it erase any media from the iPhone . )
No lyrics : Granted , from my experience , not a band of the great unwashed use iTunes ’ lyrics boast , but I do . Count the iPhone as one more entity that does n’t support embedded lyrics .
Third - party headphones under - suffer : The iPhone ’s earpiece larboard is recess into the case . This nominate the plugs on standard headphones incapable of invest properly , which intend they wo n’t crop . Belkin and Griffin Technology are making adapters that allow you to use your current earphone with the iPhone .
No transcription : With a compatible microphone , late display - bearing iPods can record audio . This is n’t an option with the iPhone . The current harvest of iPod microphones are n’t recognized by the iPhone .
No direct photograph importWith Apple ’s $ 29Apple iPod Camera Connectoryou can directly import characterisation from your digital camera to the iPod . This arranger does n’t work with the iPhone .
[ Senior editor Christopher Breen is the author ofThe iPod and iTunes Pocket Guide , second edition(Peachpit Press , 2007 ) . ]
