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Let's also not forget about Windows Mobile. The first smartphones powered by it (marketed as "Pocket PCs which also happen to be a phone") started coming out in

by gbl08ma 12y ago

Let's also not forget about Windows Mobile. The first smartphones powered by it (marketed as "Pocket PCs which also happen to be a phone") started coming out in ~2002, with touchscreen and everything. I own a collection of phones with this OS, including a HTC Wallaby (the phone that the XDA-developers community was originally about), and even that old thing supported true multitasking, mobile data (GPRS), the best Internet Explorer they could put on such things at the time (it was Microsoft, after all), media player, handwriting recognition (inspired by the Palm devices, I believe)... in many ways it allowed one to do "smartphone tasks" well before Android or the iPhone came out. In fact, UX aside, when the iPhone came out, the Windows Mobile users I knew weren't impressed, because in terms of "technological possibilities" there was no news. I used another more recent HTC device (Blue Angel), second-hand, for a couple of years as my main phone, from 2011 to 2013 IIRC. With WiFi and Bluetooth, decent web browsers available (Opera Mini and Mobile, plus some WebKit forks/wrappers), Google syncing through ActiveSync, for a long time upgrading to a newer phone and OS was not a priority. I only stopped using it for a Android phone two years ago (with the "appification" trend, a web browser is sadly no longer enough). Coincidentally, the Blue Angel was an early Android target[0], and people have made it run versions up to 2.3 (at which point it's too slow to be usable by today's standards). I doubt that Android owes much to WM, after all it was a closed-source OS and certainly there wasn't any motivation to do things the "Windows way". It's important to point out that platforms like WM and Symbian existed well before iOS/iPhone OS and Android even had their names decided, and failures apart, the idea of "smart phone" was not the result of solely Apple or Android Inc./Google. Unfortunately, even in many tech circles this is not the idea that prevails. I also own a Symbian-powered Nokia phone (without touchscreen, forgot the model), and I have no doubt it is a "real" smartphone OS. I can confirm it allows for all that you described and certainly even more in the newer devices with touchscreen. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mu-Yy0phw7U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mu-Yy0phw7U

stormbrew 12y ago
> the best Internet Explorer they could put on such things at the time (it was Microsoft, after all) Say what you will, the IE on my HTC Windows CE-based phone (I forget the model) was actually better than its contemporary IE in supporting standards correctly.
- digi_owl 12y ago
  And you could always buy a copy of Opera Mobile if IE didn't get the job done.
digi_owl 12y ago
Yep, sometimes it feels like a lost decade in terms of mobile technology. I seem to have misplaced the url, but there used to be a video on Youtube from a mobile tech trade show where Nokia was showing off using one of their phones as a mobile office. We are talking Symbian, bluetooth keyboard and mouse, and video out to a TV. And this was when Android barely had bluetooth keyboard support (and you needed to use special OSKs to get anything but an American layout), and they had been doing it for years already.
vinceyuan 12y ago
I began developing apps for Windows CE 2.11 in 2001 (then, Windows CE 3.0, PocketPC, and Windows Mobile). Its name changed many times but it's still a mini Windows. I did like it at that time. I was not impressed by iPhone until I really put my hands on it. WM is good, but iPhone is revolutionary.
ix5 12y ago
To go further down the rabbit hole, there's also http://www.osnews.com/story/26838/Palm_I_m_ready_to_wallow_now http://www.osnews.com/story/26838/Palm_I_m_ready_to_wallow_n... Thom makes a point to dig up where a lot of the concepts of that era drew their inspiration from. I especially like the comparison with the speed and ease of pen and paper. It is a great read, and I recommend studying the history of Palm in order to understand mobile device history until 2007.

by gbl08ma 12y ago

stormbrew 12y ago

> the best Internet Explorer they could put on such things at the time (it was Microsoft, after all) Say what you will, the IE on my HTC Windows CE-based phone (I forget the model) was actually better than its contemporary IE in supporting standards correctly.

digi_owl 12y ago
And you could always buy a copy of Opera Mobile if IE didn't get the job done.

digi_owl 12y ago

Yep, sometimes it feels like a lost decade in terms of mobile technology. I seem to have misplaced the url, but there used to be a video on Youtube from a mobile tech trade show where Nokia was showing off using one of their phones as a mobile office. We are talking Symbian, bluetooth keyboard and mouse, and video out to a TV. And this was when Android barely had bluetooth keyboard support (and you needed to use special OSKs to get anything but an American layout), and they had been doing it for years already.

vinceyuan 12y ago

I began developing apps for Windows CE 2.11 in 2001 (then, Windows CE 3.0, PocketPC, and Windows Mobile). Its name changed many times but it's still a mini Windows. I did like it at that time. I was not impressed by iPhone until I really put my hands on it. WM is good, but iPhone is revolutionary.

ix5 12y ago

To go further down the rabbit hole, there's also http://www.osnews.com/story/26838/Palm_I_m_ready_to_wallow_now http://www.osnews.com/story/26838/Palm_I_m_ready_to_wallow_n... Thom makes a point to dig up where a lot of the concepts of that era drew their inspiration from. I especially like the comparison with the speed and ease of pen and paper. It is a great read, and I recommend studying the history of Palm in order to understand mobile device history until 2007.