With the release of the Apple iPhone, multimedia communications has evolved to an amazing level. The Apple iPhone has all the features you would expect from a modern cell phone; you can make calls, conference, merge and hold.

You can text message and add custom made ringtones to individualize the call alert for all your friends and family. But that is only the beginning of the useful and entertaining functions this state of the art communications device can perform.

The iPhone originally held a four-gigabyte memory card. That has subsequently been discontinued in favor of eight gigabytes and soon the iPhone will be available with a huge sixteen gigabytes of onboard memory. One must pick the size they need when they purchase their iPhone as there are no add-on memory card expansion slots. Software updates and security patches for the operating system are delivered through the iTunes interface.

The Apple iPhone can hold an entire library of music and as an improvement over the old iPods, can be cataloged alphabetically by title, artist, genre, playlists and more. With an iTunes account you can create your own custom ringtones from the songs you have purchased through iTunes.

Like iTunes, the iPhone allows scrolling through a cover art gallery of songs in your library as well. If you get a phone call while listening to your tunes, the iPhone will automatically fade the song out and fade it back into play on the completion of your call without missing a beat.

Using an adapted Safari web browser, the iPhone will allow internet access through a local WiFi connection. Web pages can be displayed in either portrait or landscape orientation and you can switch between the two by merely rotating the iPhone in the direction you wish to have your web page shown.

The iPhone does not support Flash or Java but a specially created program will allow the viewing of YouTube video on the iPhone. The Apple iPhone will accept streaming video and you can watch television show feeds through your iPhone. The iPhone can access Google Maps for ease in finding directions and locations from wherever you may be.

There are only a few physical buttons on the iPhone. Most of the command input takes place on the skin sensitive touchscreen display. The technology that runs this touchscreen allows multi-speed scrolling, hover, magnification and menu command entry all through various finger commands.

Being electrically sensitive, you can not use a stylus or a gloved hand to utilize the touchscreen of the iPhone but only bare skin or special gloves that are electrically conductive. The touchscreen is a three and a half inch liquid crystal 160 pixel per inch HVGA screen.

The headphones for the Apple iPhone also have a built-in microphone and has a multi-function button that allows you to play, pause and skip your music tracks as well as answer and hang up the phone without having to touch the iPhone itself. The onboard speaker can be used for phone calls and media files but it does not include voice recording. Wireless “Bluetooth” earpieces can be obtained for the iPhone but must be purchased separately.

There is a built-in two megapixel still photo camera included in the iPhone package and the ability to insert the pictures into the email function. With the variety of features that are included in the iPhone one will hardly miss that there is not a video camera built-in. Apple routinely creates new features and functions for the iPhone and these widgets and web applications can be found on their website through the Safari browser links.