Back in 2007 the original since apple interduced the original iPhone, the way we think about phones has changed radically. It is fair to say that Steve Jobs and Apple have re-invented the mobile phone as we know it now. Proof of the influence of the new theme of phones can be seen by the way that all major manufacturers have adapted the Touch Operating system rather than just adding a layer of touch over a normal mobile OS, like they used to.
Smart Phones
Before the interdiction of the iOS, all smart phones were based on either Symbian, Windows Mobile or Blackberry’s RIM. All three of them used to be stereotyped as a business man’s phone and weren’t generally favoured by an Average user thanks to the extra-horrible and clunky interfaces that had to be navigated by the trackpad or a joystick in some cases. and these mobiles also used to be chunky with not-so-aesthetically pleasing looks but they did however offer features that other mobile OS’s could only dream of. Mainly eMail clients which businessmen’s lives depended upon.
If you compare them to what we call “smart phones” nowadays, it is fair to say Apple was a godsend to the mobile phone industry. If it weren’t for them, we’d still probably be using one of them phone if we need a smart phone or not have a smart phone. Although they did kick start the new generation of smart phones, they do have some serious competition now. Their main rivals being Google with it’s Android mobile OS and Blackberry with their RIM, and joining in with the time is Microsoft using their very successful Windows 7 idea to make a mobile OS which they claim is easy and fun to use as Windows 7.
Although all of these OS’s are taking their base idea from Apple itself we can’t really call this “Stealing” because that’s just the way all industries work, but Credit to apple for the numerous inventions they added to the phone and.. this can only improve competition and eventually benefit the user.
iOS
The re-invention of the mobile phone, the dawn of the smart phone era. The iPhone came out with numerous innovations that every other mobile company just couldn’t think of. This mobile is definitely aimed at the teen market (like most apple products) but did catch everyone’s attention because of it’s ease of use and usability it offered. and who can say no to a good app store? To be fair, i do think the iOS is the most elegant and easiest to use mobile OS at the moment although android is very very close. The iPhone itself changed the smart phone platform by the number of innovations they made
- Touch oriented operating system
- First ever capacitive display
- First ever multi touch display
- Slide to unlock (copied by almost everyone else) as opposed to the usual @hold to unlock’
- Dedicated physical mute toggle switch
- Centralised app store
- First ever fully featured mobile browser
- first to have Threaded messaging (Messages look like a conversation)
- Ability to purchase music straight through your phone
Although Apple does control the user experience a LOT by not giving as much freedom as say.. Android, they do make sure that what ever feature they give on the phone works the best it can – and if it’s not a 100% complete, you just don’t get it on your phone. You might when it’s finally “perfected” by Apple themselves.
Examples we know of are
- Multi-Tasking for 3rd party apps – Because Steve thought that if it’s not done properly the battery will suffer
- Video calling – We all know it’s very glitchy over a 3G connection and no body uses it, so Steve’s philosophy is “if you want someone to use something, it has to be usable”. So he made it available via Wifi only (just so that we can’t have glitchy video conversations)
Yes i know, you can say other phones do these features acceptably but i do like the way apple cares about their products at this level. and using an iPhone as we all know is a pleasant experience. i don’t think anyone who has bought one hates it or regrets is.
Even if you are an Apple hater reading this (i’m not a fanboy btw) you must give credit to apple for inventing all these which we can now enjoy on other handsets as well.
Android
Android is Google’s answer to the iOS. and the best thing about Android is that it’s open source, which mean any manufacturer can take it – Tweak it – and use it on any device they want. Although this gives the user a variety of choices to go with it also means that the Android App Store (Market) is going to be fragmented with applications made for specific devices, which might not work on others. Otherwise the Android does give the user a lot of freedom with their devices, something which iPhone users aren’t given. You can tweak android to your liking and make it just right for you. Also the open source means developers can add their own technology onto devices hence giving you more choice over your phone (such as HTC Sense or Touchwiz). From what i can see, Android is the fastest Evolving OS and the fastest growing App store as well. With most apps being free. The way i see it, it’s just as user friendly as an iPhone (it’s the iphone but you can add widgets on your screens – User interface-wise)
i like sense better but it’s a matter of preference.
RIM
I am no expert on blackberries. I’ve used a few although never owned one, To be frank, i’m not a big Fan of them. Personally i think that blackberries are over hyped. The reasons i’m not a big fan is because of their clunky interfaces that need updating and the fact that it’s not very touch oriented (yet!) and App store is no where near as good as Android or iOS. Although BB OS 6 has been announced it still doesn’t convince me that it’s going to be a match for Either Android or iOS. Although, i still think that businessmen might prefer this to other smart phones because of their amazing email capabilities which is one of BBs main selling point, Other selling point is BBM (Blackberry Mobile) which many users tend to love. Personally i think that Android and iPhone have different application on the store that do the same job just as good but oh well. As we all can see, recently people have gone on a “BB Hype” and lots of teenagers are buying blackberries. Some love it and some hate it. Mostly the ones who buy it say they buy it because they want BBM. Personally i think they buy it just to get in with the trend, the more people buy it the more trendier it is to have one, but hey! don’t quote me on this. To date, to me – Blackberries are businessmens phones whose lives depend on emails and it makes me wonder sometimes when i see a 14 year old carrying a blackberry, why o why would you need all those email capabilities? (i’m 18 btw) because in my generation or probably in my age group – email is not very popular, we all have it but rarely use it as a means of communication. There are other means such as Facebook, MSN or just texting so i don’t see what’s so good about a blackberry to someone of my age but if you see, then by all means buy one.
for some reason blackberry seems to think that dancing to Black eyed peas while checking your email is really cool. Either this is some kind of attempt to appeal more to the teenage market or does it just add some fun to your dull ass business life?
Symbian
The pioneer of the smart phone OS. Nokia made a hit with this OS when they first announced this very powerful mobile OS that took their N Series mobiles phones into the future and it was also adapted by other manufacturer such as samsung. Although this OS is dying now due to trendier competition we must give them credit for what they have done. They still are available on the N series Nokia’s but users would much rather have an Android or iPhone or even BB because of the trendiness and app support and ease of use. The recent announcement of and open source symbian called symbian^3 (trendy name?) might be the revivial that nokia desperately needs and after checking it out i must say they are catch up with the times.
i don’t have much information on windows mobile 7 yet because here in the UK it’s hard to find a device to try it out not so i can’t give you my opinion on it yet. but why not check this out? Credit to that youtuber and i’m just advertising his video.
As things stand now, if i had to go with a smart phone. It’d either be an iPhone or an Android based device such as Samsung i9000 or HTC Evo 4G, more likely Evo because samsung has been bad with their software in the past (at-least in the ones i bought from them S8000 Jet and i8910 Omnia HD – which were meant to be their pinnacle at the time)
i currently use the HTC Desire and that phone is very very good. It’s cheaper than the iPhone 3GS and runs android with HTC Sense. i know many other people who own one and all of them are very impressed so it’s highly Recommended.
