After all the hype and ballyhoo, Apple's iPhone has finally arrived. Even though the phones weren't selling out during the launch weekend, they will soon--not because of the early adopting geeks, but because of its mainstream appeal. Once word of mouth starts spreading, the iPhone has the potential to revolutionize the cell phone like the iPod did the MP3 player.

The iPhone is just so darn slick and easy to use. The touchscreen handles everything, from manipulating the main menu to resizing photos to choosing which voicemail to listen to. And it's intuitive. As soon as you pick up the device, which is about the size of a deck of cards, you're able to make your way around as if you've owned it for a month.

The sharpness of the 320x480 resolution screen impressed us the most while watching downloaded video clips from iTunes, but it's not half bad for watching YouTube streaming video either. Videos are played horizontally by default, but the Web browser and picture viewer let you swap portrait or landscape views just by tilting the device. This feature worked smoothly and almost instantaneously.

Even with most of the front of the device taken up by a shiny screen, the iPhone feels like it can take some heavy use and not show any wear and tear. We pressed pretty hard on the device and carried it around in our pocket with keys and no scratches or other damage was evident.

With all this praise, we're not saying there aren't limitations with the iPhone. The 3.5-mm headphone jack might necessitate buying an adapter before you plug in your favorite ear buds, for one. The tilting feature only works in certain applications (not in e-mail, unfortunately). And the screen picks up smudges pretty quickly, of course.

But overall, the iPhone does everything it says it will do. The 2-megapixel digital camera is very easy to use and takes impressive shots for a cell phone (although there's no zoom or video capture). The iPod has the beguiling ability to flip through your music collection by album covers. And it integrates everything from your contacts to your e-mails to your Web browsing.

There's no built-in GPS, but you do get Google Maps that gives you up-to-date traffic info and an easy-to-use interface for finding local venues and then mapping out directions. You can also view PDFs and Word Docs as e-mail attachments, although you can't edit them.

Finger or thumb typing on the iPhone took a little getting used to, although it has pretty good predicting and correcting tools when you mess up a word. You can call a contact just by pressing their name (there is no voice dial, unfortunately), and the ability to see all your voice mails individually means you can easily prioritize which one to listen to first. While listening to a message, you can back up a few seconds by sliding the time bar, letting you easily relisten to an address or other pertinent info.

The iPhone's not cheap, retailing for $399. You also have to sign up for a two-year contract with AT&T Wireless with plans starting at $60 a month. Even so, we predict there will be quite a few early adopters signing up right away, and even more folks down the road as the populous gets a good look at the ease and intuitiveness of Apple's iPhone.


Pros: Very easy to use, everything's integrated
Cons: Expensive, some limitations

Warranty
1 year, limited