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Goona

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Mar 11, 2009
2,268
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We've been hearing ever since the iphone was launched that it's not a smartphone, is it considered a smartphone now and if so when did it?
 
Yes. There is no industry standard definition of smartphone, but I consider it the smartest phone. The iPhone is a genius phone.
 
From a smarthone I expect that it's a decent allround solution primarily for work. That means:
-a good calendar
-memos/to-to lists
-better than avarage contacts handling (with sync to the computer)
-Email
-opening word/excel files (editing is a plus but you probably won't use it too many times, still I found it useful in several situations)
-multimedia (video and music)/camera isn's as important, but it's a plus

and as sad as it is: copy and paste to be able to copy contacts/appointments from one location to another like email, calendar or whatever.


:eek: Well if the iPhone is not a Smartphone then what is? and why?

:rolleyes::apple:

I look at it as a great multimedia and mobile internet device plus phone! Which now also offers everything a company could need. But it was on the smart side since the beginning, though not perfect from the beginning (if there is something like perfect)
 
NO:

Its locked down,

Sorry no slingbox? if it cant do that, its not a smart phone to me...

No mms?

No tethering?

(sure these things are mostly att's fault, but other att smart phones can do all of that.... )
 
NO:

Its locked down,

Sorry no slingbox? if it cant do that, its not a smart phone to me...

No mms?

No tethering?

(sure these things are mostly att's fault, but other att smart phones can do all of that.... )

So by your definition the iPhone is a smartphone in the however many countries support mms and tethering at launch? But not here?

Hrm...
 
I think it's one of those cases where "you know it when you see it" :)

At first, the iPhone was more like a "feature phone", like the Instinct. It had some neat built-in apps, but the user couldn't add more of them.

Once it got an SDK, a place to get apps, and there was more than one model using the apps (e.g. iPhone 2G, iPhone 3G and iPod touch), then it magically became a "smartphone".

Perhaps it would be "smarter" if the user had more control, as with themes and what apps they want to add, but so it goes.

----

A more recent question is, who's it a smartphone for?

I used to say it was the "smartphone for people who didn't know they needed one".

Now I hear people calling it "the smartphone for dumb people". (Because Apple won't let it have advanced options that might be too "difficult" for casual users). Which seems a bit too rude.
 
There is no industry-standard definition. Some see a smartphone that has PDA like tasks, some say it's a phone that operates on an OS that can be put on multiple devices or that it has an OS at all, some think a smartphone is a phone with PC-like attributes. I suppose it all depends.
 
It's a smart phone but it's not "working hard for your productivity" smart phone. Quite a few business related functions are missing. (prerequisite for smart phone)
 
Now I hear people calling it "the smartphone for dumb people". (Because Apple won't let it have advanced options that might be too "difficult" for casual users). Which seems a bit too rude.

I feel like 'It's a smartphone by Apple' is probably as accurate a moniker as anything else. What the Mac brings to the personal computer, the iPhone brings to the smartphone space. Less flexibility, sure, but it does what it does with aplomb.
 
The iPhone wasn't a smart phone at first because it didn't support third party native apps.

With 2.0 they released the App Store, and it was then officially a smartphone.
 
The iPhone wasn't a smart phone at first because it didn't support third party native apps.

With 2.0 they released the App Store, and it was then officially a smartphone.


actually....alot of poeple were running thirdparty apps and the installer before apple came up with the SDK. the fact that many developers had already jailbroken and started adding their own homebrew apps slightly opened Apples' eyes.

I remember when i had my first ipod touch, i jailbroke it right away...after a couple months and some trips, i had not used it in a while.....next thing i know, my buddy tells me that there is an "official" app store and a new firmware..i was in shock
 
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