iPhone

red dot: best of the best
red dot award: product design 2008

The touch of communication
The forms for technology have become ever more versatile: today’s mobile phones are accessories that are pleasing to the touch and offer innumerable functions in only one device. The iPhone however is treading new paths, because it combines three products – a mobile phone, a widescreen iPod and an internet-ready handheld computer all in one handy device – thus creating an entirely new type of product. The iPhone’s language of form is similar to that of the iMac. It features a clear layout and rounded-off edges that lend it a fresh and gentle appearance. Changes to volume, muting the ringer and putting an incoming call through to voicemail can be done easily by using the buttons on the top and side of the iPhone. One of the most impressive innovations of the iPhone, however, lies in the approach of how its 3.5” multi-touch screen is operated. It allows users to control the iPhone with just a tap, flick or pinch of their fingers and one can even “leaf through” the menus: one simply has to swipe the finger gently across the screen in order to open a list for example. Due to this ease of use, the iPhone also turns into a highly interesting entertainment console that reinterprets the experience of listening to and enjoying music. The iPhone comes with 8 GB of flash memory for innumerable MP3 files, and if music lovers want to watch video clips they simply have to rotate the iPhone to landscape format and the built-in accelerometer to automatically recognises this and adjusts the layout of the display. The iPhone thus not only lends multimedia communication a new ease of use, it gives a new attitude to life.