5 ms·

Considering smartphones didn't exist until 2007, I think lots of tech actually do consider 10 years to be the dark ages.

pmlnr 9y ago
They did. Even the article mentions the Palm Treo, then there were the Nokia Communicators, etc. The iPhone was far from being the first smartphone, but it was the first to break the nerd-wall and sell to the masses.
- digi_owl 9y ago
  The first iphone was not even a smartphone, it was a featurephone with a fancy UI. Only with the 3G could they start claiming it was a smartphone. Sadly didn't stop boneheads like a NYT writer to try to relabel it as a "superphone" because smartphone was apparently by then too pedestrian for something Apple made...
  - kuschku 9y ago
    This is indeed correct – the first iPhone with iOS 1 did not have any apps, or ways to install apps. The very defining feature of a smart phone are the apps, though. EDIT: Due to downvotes, here’s Apple’s own page advertising how iOS 2 (introduced with the iPhone 3G) adds apps to the iPhone: https://web.archive.org/web/20080912112138/http://www.apple.com/iphone/softwareupdate/iphone2.html/ https://web.archive.org/web/20080912112138/http://www.apple....
    - extra88 9y ago
      Of course it had apps, just no 3rd party apps. Email, texting, contacts, calendar, and by far the best web browsing experience made the very first iPhone plenty smart. Jobs pretended you didn't need 3rd party apps, everything could be done on the web; of course Apple always intended to allow 3rd party apps.
      - kuschku 9y ago
        The whole point of a smartphone are third party apps. LG had more than a dozen phones with touch screen (resistive) at that time that had "apps" but no third party apps (except for JavaME apps). The game changer (as the linked site from Apple states as well) was an App Store allowing direct access to third party apps. And that's what created another modern tech revolution.
        extra88 9y ago
        > The whole point of a smartphone are third party apps. No. The point of a smartphone is to expand the scope of what can reasonably be done so they it can be considered more like a computer than a dedicated device with a narrow, defined set of capabilities. Jobs was right that the quality of the iPhone's browser was sufficient to raise it to that level. Of course having 3rd party apps raises it to another level. It would have been a death sentence if the iPhone proceeded for too long without them while competitors developed a robust app ecosystem but that was never the plan.
      - realusername 9y ago
        > mail, texting, contacts, calendar, and by far the best web browsing experience made the very first iPhone plenty smart Back then pretty much every high end phone had that... The IPhone wasn't anything special at that time. The IPhone really took off then they allowed 3rd party apps.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
wernercd 9y ago
Cell phones have only existed since the 80's... "smart phones" have existed since the 90s - back in a day when Palm, Nokia, Windows and Blackberry ruled... http://www.nicolasnova.net/pasta-and-vinegar/2015/6/28/some-smartphone-evolution-diagrams http://www.nicolasnova.net/pasta-and-vinegar/2015/6/28/some-... 10 years ago? As far as cell phones go? Most definitely the "Dark Ages"... Considering we are moving into a time frame when watches are starting to have cell connectivity: https://www.lifewire.com/smartwatches-with-cellular-connectivity-4107839 https://www.lifewire.com/smartwatches-with-cellular-connecti... Where are we going to be 5 years from now? 10? 20? Compare the Treo and BlackBerry to the current iPhone X, Note 8, etc...
- digi_owl 9y ago
  > Compare the Treo and BlackBerry to the current iPhone X, Note 8, etc... And i see screens with more colors and pixels, but other than that not much new. It is still calendars and messages that rules.
  - floatboth 9y ago
    "more pixels" is quite an understatement. From 320x240 and 640x480 to 1920x1080 and beyond (Sony made a 4K phone!). But from EDGE to LTE, from weak single core processors to 64-bit 4/6/8 core beasts, from no GPU to what would be considered desktop grade back in the day, from shitty 3gp 144p videos to hardware accelerated 4K H.264/5/VP8/9… Yeah, people still do messages, but messages now include high quality multimedia edited on device. Also, web surfing rules. Opera Mini on J2ME and others sucked, it was nothing like the modern mobile web.
    - digi_owl 9y ago
      And here i still find myself preferring OMini set for single column, as it also strips out all the "modals" and JS bloat found on this "modern" web of yours. As for editing videos or such on a mobile device, bah humbug. The interface is not there in any more than the most rudimentary way. If anything it has regressed unless one happen to have a Galaxy Note, as fingers simply do not offer the precision.
rospaya 9y ago
I had a touchscreen phone that could hold hours of video or hundreds of songs, send instant messages, browse the web, get apps, use WiFi... In 2004. In 2005 you could alreday get GPS, more versatile hardware and better accessories. The much maligned N-Gage had a true multitasking OS with internet and apps in 2003, except Americans never got along with Nokia or Symbian OS.
- microcolonel 9y ago
  It also had smooth (and more comfortable, due to love handles and buttons) realtime gaming with graphics a cut above the PS1. https://youtu.be/s3xsSwjQ1oA https://youtu.be/s3xsSwjQ1oA

pmlnr 9y ago

They did. Even the article mentions the Palm Treo, then there were the Nokia Communicators, etc. The iPhone was far from being the first smartphone, but it was the first to break the nerd-wall and sell to the masses.

digi_owl 9y ago
The first iphone was not even a smartphone, it was a featurephone with a fancy UI. Only with the 3G could they start claiming it was a smartphone. Sadly didn't stop boneheads like a NYT writer to try to relabel it as a "superphone" because smartphone was apparently by then too pedestrian for something Apple made...
- kuschku 9y ago
  This is indeed correct – the first iPhone with iOS 1 did not have any apps, or ways to install apps. The very defining feature of a smart phone are the apps, though. EDIT: Due to downvotes, here’s Apple’s own page advertising how iOS 2 (introduced with the iPhone 3G) adds apps to the iPhone: https://web.archive.org/web/20080912112138/http://www.apple.com/iphone/softwareupdate/iphone2.html/ https://web.archive.org/web/20080912112138/http://www.apple....
  - extra88 9y ago
    Of course it had apps, just no 3rd party apps. Email, texting, contacts, calendar, and by far the best web browsing experience made the very first iPhone plenty smart. Jobs pretended you didn't need 3rd party apps, everything could be done on the web; of course Apple always intended to allow 3rd party apps.
    - kuschku 9y ago
      The whole point of a smartphone are third party apps. LG had more than a dozen phones with touch screen (resistive) at that time that had "apps" but no third party apps (except for JavaME apps). The game changer (as the linked site from Apple states as well) was an App Store allowing direct access to third party apps. And that's what created another modern tech revolution.
      - extra88 9y ago
        > The whole point of a smartphone are third party apps. No. The point of a smartphone is to expand the scope of what can reasonably be done so they it can be considered more like a computer than a dedicated device with a narrow, defined set of capabilities. Jobs was right that the quality of the iPhone's browser was sufficient to raise it to that level. Of course having 3rd party apps raises it to another level. It would have been a death sentence if the iPhone proceeded for too long without them while competitors developed a robust app ecosystem but that was never the plan.
    - realusername 9y ago
      > mail, texting, contacts, calendar, and by far the best web browsing experience made the very first iPhone plenty smart Back then pretty much every high end phone had that... The IPhone wasn't anything special at that time. The IPhone really took off then they allowed 3rd party apps.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]

wernercd 9y ago

Cell phones have only existed since the 80's... "smart phones" have existed since the 90s - back in a day when Palm, Nokia, Windows and Blackberry ruled... http://www.nicolasnova.net/pasta-and-vinegar/2015/6/28/some-smartphone-evolution-diagrams http://www.nicolasnova.net/pasta-and-vinegar/2015/6/28/some-... 10 years ago? As far as cell phones go? Most definitely the "Dark Ages"... Considering we are moving into a time frame when watches are starting to have cell connectivity: https://www.lifewire.com/smartwatches-with-cellular-connectivity-4107839 https://www.lifewire.com/smartwatches-with-cellular-connecti... Where are we going to be 5 years from now? 10? 20? Compare the Treo and BlackBerry to the current iPhone X, Note 8, etc...

digi_owl 9y ago
> Compare the Treo and BlackBerry to the current iPhone X, Note 8, etc... And i see screens with more colors and pixels, but other than that not much new. It is still calendars and messages that rules.
- floatboth 9y ago
  "more pixels" is quite an understatement. From 320x240 and 640x480 to 1920x1080 and beyond (Sony made a 4K phone!). But from EDGE to LTE, from weak single core processors to 64-bit 4/6/8 core beasts, from no GPU to what would be considered desktop grade back in the day, from shitty 3gp 144p videos to hardware accelerated 4K H.264/5/VP8/9… Yeah, people still do messages, but messages now include high quality multimedia edited on device. Also, web surfing rules. Opera Mini on J2ME and others sucked, it was nothing like the modern mobile web.
  - digi_owl 9y ago
    And here i still find myself preferring OMini set for single column, as it also strips out all the "modals" and JS bloat found on this "modern" web of yours. As for editing videos or such on a mobile device, bah humbug. The interface is not there in any more than the most rudimentary way. If anything it has regressed unless one happen to have a Galaxy Note, as fingers simply do not offer the precision.

rospaya 9y ago

I had a touchscreen phone that could hold hours of video or hundreds of songs, send instant messages, browse the web, get apps, use WiFi... In 2004. In 2005 you could alreday get GPS, more versatile hardware and better accessories. The much maligned N-Gage had a true multitasking OS with internet and apps in 2003, except Americans never got along with Nokia or Symbian OS.

microcolonel 9y ago
It also had smooth (and more comfortable, due to love handles and buttons) realtime gaming with graphics a cut above the PS1. https://youtu.be/s3xsSwjQ1oA https://youtu.be/s3xsSwjQ1oA