The first thing i wanted to talk about was the new iPhone, the 4S. And just Apple in general.
I think its fair to say it was a massive loss when we lost Steve Jobs earlier in the year. The man was just a pure genius and pretty much carried one of the worlds biggest, and most influential brands on his own back. But what a legacy he left behind!! - iMac. iPod. iPhone. iPad. Apple.
This brand (in my opinion) is the most important in the world right now. If it hasn't already, it will change the way humans communicate, interact, exercise, socialise, organise and entertain.
The iPod for starters, came on the scene with a pretty big bang. Kicked the walkman out of the market and changed the way we all listened to and got hold of the one thing we all love. Music.
The iPod has really taken the back seat with the new arrivals from Apple but it should never be forgotten because it is a little box that really did change and break so many rules.
On a more recent note. The iPad. When this little invention popped up 2 years ago, I really wasn't sure about it. Basically a small touch screen that was a little bit better than an iPhone, yet not really a laptop. So wheres the market? Well yet again, how right were Apple! Touch screen tablets are absolutely everywhere and very much the current trend.
Now to the main event... the iPhone.
For starters, the first touch screen that actually worked! But yet again, another Apple product that did, does and will continue to change how we communicate, and for what is ultimately a phone, also change how we do so much more!
But I'm going to go all out on this one because I have an iPhone myself and now, I don't know how I could live without it.
There have been a number of technological developments in the last 20 years that have allowed many products to advance in many aspects. One of the best and most influential and important products has been Apple’s iPhone.
In terms of how products used to work using mechanical moving parts, these have been more or less entirely replaced by electronic components. This means that products last longer and require less maintenance to keep working and one of the noticeable features of the iPhone is that although its casing is made of a few components, it does not open. This is because all of the parts inside never need to be maintained in any way and this allows for the iPhone to be a much physically stronger product. Another advantage of electronics replacing mechanics is that the components do not suffer any ‘wear and tear’.
Consequently the parts are much less likely to break and need any sort of repairs. Finally and most importantly, electronics require much less components to do as many, if not more, jobs than mechanics. This means the iPhone is an everyday, handheld product that can do more tasks than any other product like it before. One of the amazing results of technology allowing designs to be made of fewer components is the iPhones main body. It is made of one solid piece of stainless steel that is CNC-machined. Storing every component inside the iPhone is one of the jobs that this part does, whilst also acting as the both of the phones antennas and also acts as a aesthetically pleasing feature on the outside of the phone.
Miniaturisation is the reason for all components gradually getting smaller, yet becoming more and more powerful. In 60 years we have developed and advanced our computers from weighing 30 tonnes and taking up 120sq.meters to weighing just a few kilograms and being able to sit on our laps. If the development of the size is anything to go by, the power that todays pc’s and laptops have compared to the first computer is nothing short of outstanding. Todays computers can carry out numerous tasks at once and do it in a matter of seconds. Apple’s iPhone is even more impressive, dealing with any possible task in fractions of a second. Operating these tasks is Apple’s innovative A4 processor. This is a component that is amazingly small, powerful and surprisingly power-efficient. With it, the iPhone 4 can easily perform complex jobs such as multitasking, editing video, and placing FaceTime calls; all while maximizing battery life. The battery is another eye-opening feature of the iPhone because it is relatively small yet lasts for hours on end. Miniaturisation has also allowed Apple to develop a display that is made of pixels 78 micrometers across, a size unnoticeable to the human eye.
As part of the A4 processor, microprocessors are the main outcome of Digitalisation. This is the gradual replacement for analogue operations and by using binary code (a series of 0’s and 1’s), this has enabled these microprocessors to interpret information in less than one millionth of a second with great accuracy. This information can also be transferred electronically to anywhere in the world without any loss of data. Digitalisation has allowed the iPhone to develop by the phone having a built-in digital camera, and by being compatible with e-mail, web browsing and picture messaging. The iPhone deals with all these tasks with great ease and can send, receive and view any information that a computer can.
The improvement in software over the last 20 years has been vast. Computer programs can be written to perform any task and small changes can be made to products without having to change any of the hardware. Recently the software on the iPhone has been upgraded, to OS4.2, which is the most powerful and complex software on a handheld device, whilst being so simple to operate for the user. The software allows the user to download any of the hundreds of thousands of applications for the phone and use that application within a few minutes. The software allows the iPhone to be personalised in hundreds of ways and make the phone very unique to each of the millions of owners worldwide.
As a combined effort from many great minds working at hundreds of companies for the last 20 years, the greatest technological developments in human history has allowed what some say is the greatest day-to-day product of all time to come to life. The iPhone is a small, powerful, simple to use and quite beautiful product that will never be forgotten in technology history.
