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Apple offers 25-minute iPhone guided tour

Apple on Friday posted a video to its website offering prospective iPhone buyers a 25-minute guided tour of the handset. We've compiled a listed of interesting tidbits revealed in the step-by-step demonstration.

View the video

The guided tour is available via Apple's iPhone website, which continued to see additional refinements on Friday.

Notable mentions:
  • iPhone ships with a stereo headset that features a microphone and integrated button that lets users answer and end calls easily. It can also be used to control audio and video playback.
  • If a call comes in while music is playing, the volume will fade out and the iPhone will pause the music. A single click on the headset button will answer the call. A second click will hang up and fade the music back in right where it left off.
  • iPhone can be locked by pressing the Sleep/Wake button. Once locked, iPhone will still receive calls and allow users to play music and adjust the volume. However, nothing will happen if the user accidently touches the screen.
  • To completely power off iPhone, press and hold the Sleep/Wake button for a few seconds. Then, drag the red on-screen slider to confirm.
  • Users can change the order of iPhone lists, such as favorite phone numbers, by drag-and-drop.
  • iPhone's visual voicemail feature allows users to scroll through recordings in realtime using an onscreen progress slider.
  • If already on a call when second call comes in, iPhone's on-screen software allows users to ignore the second call or place the first call on hold while taking the new call. A handy onscreen "swap" option then provides an easy way to alternate between the two callers. Similarly, a "merge calls" option will merge the two calls into a conference call.
  • When listening to a specific song in iPod mode, iPhone offers an on-screen button that will display a playable listing of all tracks from that same album.
  • iPhone will automatically switch to CoverFlow mode when the device is positioned in landscape view under iPod mode.
  • Movies play only in landscape view.
  • Hot buttons at the base of the iPod mode software interface can be custom configured like toolbars in the Mac OS X Finder.
  • Photos taken with iPhone can be used as wallpaper, emailed, or assigned to a contact in the handset's address book.
  • Mail includes built-in readers for viewing PDF, JPEG, Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel files. It also features the same action sounds as the current version of Mail running on Mac OS X Tiger.
  • Tapping on a phone number included in an email will automatically call that number.
  • It does not appear as if "Maps" will determine your current location using AT&T's wireless network.
  • Maps includes a "Traffic" button that provides an update on current driving conditions. Green lines on the map indicate traffic is flowing smoothly while yellow and red lines mean problems ahead.
  • You can turn off iPhone's network features so it can be used safely on an airplane.
  • iPhone comes pre-loaded with an assortment of ringtones.