Fast Company published a two-page spread breaking down the key components of the iPhone; it’s so simple that even a “cave man” can understand.

First up is the touch screen. Why use a stylus when we’re all born with the best stylus ever? Using our very own God-giving fingertips, we can control everything from scrolling to zooming in and out of the screens. Unless you’ve been living under a rock or locked away behind a cave, touch screens have been around since the 1990s. The Nokia N800, which is currently available can recognize whether you’re using your stubby fingers or a stylus, and automatically resizes its on-screen menu as well as the keyboard. That’s one pretty darn smart screen.

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So we’ve heard about the iPhone’s new visual voice mail. But what exactly does that mean and where is this technology being used? Visual voice mail efficiently allows you to view a list of voice messages and decides which ones to listen to in any order. Apple and AT&T is the first to implement such a feature into any cellphones that I’ve seen. However, the feature already exists in VoIP phone services such as Vonage. Another variation of this feature is available through CallWave Visual Voicemail (a free download) sends copies of your messages to your email. This allows you to listen and respond to them in the order you choose. Basically, any email-capable phone with support for WAV files can replicate this Visual Voice Mail. It’s a nice 3rd- party solution, but sounds too cumbersome for my taste. Thanks but no thanks.

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Desktop-style Internet is one of a few key features on the iPhone. User can expect to see Web pages on Apple’s Safari as they were designed to be seen. Then again, Opera’s browser is already available on 50 million mobile devices, offering similar features such as desktop-style browsing since the late 1990s. The latest version features zoom, touch scrolling, tabbed browsing, and widgets just like the iPhone.

Apple says that its photo management is the coolest photo management app ever.  Yep, I’ll believe it because I got to see it in action. Photos can be browsed in libraries using your finger touch and attach to emails on the fly. According to John Stalkweather, there are around 35 3rd-party photo management applications for Windows Mobile with price ranging anywhere from $25 for the so call award-winning Resco Photo Viewer to the SplashPhoto ($30) which handle tens of thousands of images; offers true image editing and email images.

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The iPhone’s accelerometer is just too cool for its own good. Rotating the iPhone from portrait to landscape will automatically rotate the screen and vice versa. The proximity sensor turns of the display when held near your face; and the ambient light sensor adjusts the brightness automatically. Sure, you can find these features in digital cameras, motion sensors on the Ninetendo’s Wiimote and the BlackBerry 8700g, but no other mobile phone company has thought of or has the capability to bring all the pieces together into one phone.

The sum of all parts makes up the whole iPhone. You get the best iPod Apple ever created, an Internet device and one sweet phone all wrapped up into a sexy package that oozes sex appeal. Apple’s claim that the iPhone is literally five years ahead of any other mobile phone is a hard pill for other phone manufacturers to swallow. What are Samsung, Nokia and others have in their arsenal to battle against the iPhone? Nokia announced the E90 Communicator and N95, while Samsung will soon release the Ultra Smart F700, expected this summer in Europe an Asia, sporting a similar look and feel as the iPhone.

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Source: Fast Company May 2007 (pg. 96-97) / Click to view slide show