THE SENSITIVE SIDE OF IPHONE:

Responsive Sensors Detect Your Needs

No one can accuse Apple's iPhone of being insensitive. In fact, iPhone takes sensitivity to a whole new level. It's all in the touch. 

With its 3.5" widescreen multi-touch display and innovative software, the iPhone interface has revolutionized mobile technology. You won't find rows of clunky, unsightly mechanical buttons on the iPhone. Oh no, iPhone puts  every task, literally, at your fingertips. Simply touch... and magic happens.

At the heart of iPhone's true innovativeness is Apple's ultrasensitive, gesture-based input system. With a flick of the finger, you can glide through a web page, dial your mother, compose an email message, zoom in on a photo, or send an SMS.

A Quick Rundown of iPhone Gestures

Drag: Controlled scroll up and down through lists

Flick: Quickly scrolls up and down through lists

Stop: While scrolling, tap and hold to stop the moving list

Swipe: Flick from left to right to switch panes (Safari, weather, iPod)

            and delete items (mail, SMS)

Single Tap: Select an item

Double Tap: Zoom in and out (all apps), zooms in (maps)

Two-Finger Single Tap: Zoom out (maps only)

Pinch / Unpinch: Zoom in or out on photos, maps, and web pages

The less than stellar success of Apple's Newton handwriting-recognition interface and Palm's original Graffiti writing system convinced most mobile device manufacturers that tiny, chiclet-like keyboards were the best way to input text. But iPhone raises the bar once again, replacing a physical keyboard with a virtual touchscreen keyboard.

For accomplished Blackberry thumb typists, the keyboard may require a bit of getting used to. If you're the sort who painstakingly taps every single letter and backspaces to delete mistakes, you're in for a surprise. For the swashbuckling typist who has the courage to ignore mistakes and keep on typing, iPhone's predictive keyboard really shines. iPhone's software monitors each finger press, analyzes the surrounding keys, consults its built-in dictionary, and intuits what you meant to type. And over time, iPhone boosts its auto-correcting accuracy by learning the kinds of words you type.

But iPhone's sensitive touch doesn't end there. The iPhone includes a trio of ultra-responsive sensors -- orientation, light, and proximity --  which help it interact with the user and the world at large. These intelligent sensors possess an almost uncanny knack for knowing what you want to do next. 

If you rotate iPhone's display from portrait to landscape, or vice versa, iPhone's accelerometer detects the rotation, and automatically rotates the contents of your display. You will immediately see your photo or web page in its proper landscape aspect ratio.

Step out into the bright sunlight and iPhone's ambient light sensor automatically adjusts the display's brightness to the ideal level for the current ambient light. Initiate a call, and the display automatically fades to black to conserve battery life. The ambient light sensor switches off the display at around 0.75-inches from your ear and switches back on at around an inch from your ear.

Lift iPhone to your ear and the proximity sensor immediately turns off the display and puts the phone on standby, which not only saves power, but also prevents you from accidentally interacting with the screen while iPhone is pressed against your ear.

iPhone manages to blend power-saving features with user efficiency and intelligent functionality. A few hours of using your iPhone may convince you that your iPhone knows what you want before you do.

The humans in our lives should be so sensitive.