What’s THE big deal?
Obviously the first thing that captures the imagination is it’s sleek lines, wide-screen display, the excitement of a touch screen and its touted superiority over the original iPhone.
Some cosmetic changes have been made to the exterior in the new version. The rear panel has been changed from metal to plastic, while the external buttons have gone from plastic to metal. The move to plastic is good, given the new iPhone has so many radios, frequencies, and antennae needs. The metal ring around the camera lens is actually the new GPS antenna.
Smoother sides mean the phone’s dimensions have undergone a tiny change, it no longer fits into the speaker docks made for the original iPhone—a dock will now have to be bought separately from an Apple Store. Also, the phone vibrates when the screen is tapped, making it impossible to be used as a tabletop computer any longer.

While the dimensions of the 3.5-inch, 480x320 resolution screen are identical to the original, the new display is brighter and the daylight viewing better. iPhone has the world’s most advanced touch screen. Scrolling, dialling, panning, zooming, touching and pinching are all actions you can do to get around your photos, maps, movies, music and of course, your phone calls. In addition to desktop-class email and web browsing, the new MobileMe and Exchange applications push emails to your phone as soon as they’re received, just like BlackBerry.

The camera on the other hand, hasn’t been upgraded at all and is the same 2 MP. It still doesn’t have video capture, flash, auto-focus, optical zoom or video recording. The only saving grace is that the pictures, once taken, can be expanded or shrunk or moved around by literally squeezing them on the screen.
Music and movies are controlled by the “iPod” programme, which is wonderful if the user is familiar with the iPod—iTunes may be a bit tricky for those used to getting music on their phones through Bluetooth transfers or memory cards, especially since there is no external memory option, and the Bluetooth feature does not permit data transfer as it is configured to only allow hands-free calling. Also, since the iTunes music store is not available to Indian users, the lack of an FM radio certainly rankles. All the music and videos that you want to get onto your phone have to be done through the iTunes.

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