Other What was your favorite breakthrough in the evolution of the iPhone?

[lkalliance]

EDIT: At the risk of fundamentally changing the nature of the question, I've changed "biggest breakthrough" to "favorite breakthrough," as it might make for a more diverse set of responses.


In this thread I was considering another poster's suggestion that Apple would never introduce two big changes in the same year. And that got me thinking about the nature of big changes or breakthroughs for the iPhone, so I put up this poll. I would consider each of these as landmark features that fundamentally changed the usage of our iPhones. Some of these are debatable, but I think it's a reasonable list. I have left out what I think are the two indisputably most important events in iPhone evolution: the iPhone 2G (that is, the iPhone itself coming into existence) and the iPhone 3G (the introduction of the App Store). I consider both of those to be SO fundamental that they are the bedrock of the iPhone, and I've removed them here because, well, duh.

I also want to suggest that I'm considering just the iPhone universe itself...I'm not worried about whether [insert feature here] came first on Android. It's the availability of each of these features to iPhone users.

I have tried to keep these to iPhone features and not necessarily iOS features. So crucial things like iMessage, or the Control Center or Notification Center or other things...I've left those off. The one thing I've left on that might fall into that category is the Dynamic Island, which I feel has a hardware component at least.

I've included "Other" as an option, comment to let us know what you think should be on the list!

 

[lkalliance]

In poking about looking at things that might be worth including, I found this cool video.

 

[eyoungren]

Favorite breakthroughs?

AT&T implementing MMS and cut and paste. Of course, I had a HTC phone then so it was interesting to watch friends of mine struggle with this when my Touch Pro had those from the beginning.

 

[cardfan]

For me it’s the retina screen. iPhone 4 was when I never looked back. Any playing around with palm and webos came to an end.

From 3GS to the 4 is by far the biggest leap the iPhone took hardware wise. At the time it boasted the best screen on any mobile device ever. The lines for this phone were insane.

 

[calstanford]

The Plus / Max sizes for sure. Can you remember how tiny iPhone screens used to be (3.5") and how the competion was already way beyond 5". Apple lost a lot of ground against Android manufacturers before leapfrogging them with their larger screens on iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.

 

[lkalliance]

For me it’s the retina screen. iPhone 4 was when I never looked back. Any playing around with palm and webos came to an end.

From 3GS to the 4 is by far the biggest leap the iPhone took hardware wise. At the time it boasted the best screen on any mobile device ever. The lines for this phone were insane.

The iPhone 4S was Steve Jobs' last true iPhone. If memory serves, he was still with us for the 5 launch, but his tale had almost come to the end. But the iPhone 4 launch had to be his crowning shining moment: the iPhone come into its full glory as he could conceive of it.

 

[lkalliance]

The Plus / Max sizes for sure. Can you remember how tiny iPhone screens used to be (3.5") and how the competion was already way beyond 5". Apple lost a lot of ground against Android manufacturers before leapfrogging them with their larger screens on iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.

I personally wasn't thrilled about the new sizes...BUT what you say is true. And I remember there was such pent-up demand that the 6 and 6 plus obliterated all records for iPhone sales. In some ways, Apple is still trying to live up to that, to see that kind of explosive sales growth again.

 

[cardfan]

The Plus / Max sizes for sure. Can you remember how tiny iPhone screens used to be (3.5") and how the competion was already way beyond 5". Apple lost a lot of ground against Android manufacturers before leapfrogging them with their larger screens on iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.

Definitely Apple had to go there but these 1080p screens weren’t exactly breakthroughs at this point. It was more about Apple needing to transition to them (starting with iPhone 5) because of apps and iOS limitations.

I remember not liking the iPhone 6 Plus at all as it lagged. Retuned it and went back to 5S. Resolution was being downsampled.

 

[lkalliance]

Favorite breakthroughs?

AT&T implementing MMS and cut and paste. Of course, I had a HTC phone then so it was interesting to watch friends of mine struggle with this when my Touch Pro had those from the beginning.

lol, I can always count on you for cogent, informed and off-the-beaten-path responses. I wouldn't consider MMS implementation obscure or anything, but it's just not something that's going to come to most peoples minds, lol.

Cut-and-paste was huge, I agree. In the spirit of the question I was mentioning just hardware, BUT I think you're right that cut-and-paste ranks way up there. In fact, that inspires me to consider a similar poll that just concentrates on software breakthroughs. Though each of these in this poll had to have concurrent software development to work. But you know what I mean.

 

[MisterSavage]

This was actually a tough choice for me. I remember being absolutely blown away when I saw the retina display. But Touch ID caused me endless frustration with failures, especially in the winter when my skin is dry. Face ID is just so nice to deal with every day.

 

[lkalliance]

As I look over these options, I find it tough to choose, personally. I can see three here that right away make me go, oh, yeah, that was my favorite. I had to pick one, though: Touch ID.

 

[lkalliance]

This was actually a tough choice for me. I remember being absolutely blown away when I saw the retina display. But Touch ID caused me endless frustration with failures, especially in the winter when my skin is dry. Face ID is just so nice to deal with every day.

What I also remember about the retina display launch is that a lot of posters and reviewers got bent out of shape about whether it really was the finest resolution that the human retina could process, or however Apple tried to market it. At the time it struck me as really nitpicky. The important thing was...screens before looked like THIS, and screens now looked like THIS. The difference was so stunning and dramatic.

 

[arazeleternal]

For me, my favorite was between Apple Pay which I use all the time, Face ID, and wireless charging. Each one of them changed the way I use the phone by quite a bit, and added a healthy measure of convenience.

 

[lkalliance]

For me, my favorite was between Apple Pay which I use all the time, Face ID, and wireless charging. Each one of them changed the way I use the phone by quite a bit, and added a healthy measure of convenience.

I remember when Apple Pay came out and I was so excited to use it...only I was on a 5c. It didn't even work on a 5S had I opted for that. That was one of the two key differences between the 5S and the SE 2016: the SE had the 6S's camera, not the 5S's, and it had Apple Pay. In one purchase I got those two things and Touch ID. Maybe my single biggest leap in personal technology ever.

Oh, one more thing it had: 64 bit processing, which I now realize is something I should have put on this list and that probably no one would have voted for anyway, lol.

 

[eyoungren]

lol, I can always count on you for cogent, informed and off-the-beaten-path responses. I wouldn't consider MMS implementation obscure or anything, but it's just not something that's going to come to most peoples minds, lol.

Cut-and-paste was huge, I agree. In the spirit of the question I was mentioning just hardware, BUT I think you're right that cut-and-paste ranks way up there. In fact, that inspires me to consider a similar poll that just concentrates on software breakthroughs. Though each of these in this poll had to have concurrent software development to work. But you know what I mean.

I can recall trying to send original quality images from my Touch Pro to friends with iPhones. For me that required MMS. Since I was able (through software) to control the size of the send (beyond the stock settings) this was not a problem for me. But all they ever got was a link.

A few embarrassing questions about cut and paste and that's when I also discovered they weren't able to do that either.

HTC had marketed the Touch Pro as an 'iPhone killer' but it was not. However, it just struck me as odd that the iPhone was supposed to be this whiz-bang gadget yet couldn't do two basic tasks.

But yeah, I thought you'd call me out on hardware - so my favorite hardware breakthrough would actually go back to the beginning. And that is all glass screens and no need for a stylus.

Possibly there were other phones/devices that had glass screens when the iPhone launched, IDK. But my Touch Pro has (yes, I still have it) a plastic screen and I have to use a stylus with it. Gorilla glass was an innovation.

 

[Rafterman]

The App store. In the era of PocketPCs, apps could be bought from anywhere. Directly from the vendor and app stores like Handango. And every app was licensed differently - serial numbers, activation servers, etc. It was a mess to maintain. Apple's iteration of the app store centralized everything and made licensing easier.

The second was iTunes backups. It could create an almost exact image of the phone and made moving to a new phone easy - no need to reinstall everything and recreate your screen arrangements.

 

[BugeyeSTI]

FaceID.. I've worked with my hands for over 25 years and even 2nd gen TouchID failed to unlock the phone 75% of the time. It was the main reason I upgraded my 6S to the X when it was released. Still using my X to this day..

 

[MisterMillz]

I voted retina, but Face ID is up there too. Actually, it’s the gesture-based system more so than Face ID that I like, but Face ID is a great feature.

The iPhone 4 was my first Apple phone. Beautiful design, FaceTime and that gorgeously crisp display was enough to pull me into the walled garden. That and Angry Birds/Tap Tap Revenge. Both were iOS exclusives at the time. Haha

 

[JonMPLS]

Face id! Works every time for me and I don't have to take off my gloves during our long Minnesota winters! Close second is the elimination of the home button.

 

[Menneisyys2]

iPhone 4 by itself. It was the most revolutionary quantum leap during the entire lifetime of the iPhone.

 

[lkalliance]

Face id! Works every time for me and I don't have to take off my gloves during our long Minnesota winters! Close second is the elimination of the home button.

My first winter in the Twin Cities it got so cold we would stand in front of the open freezer to warm up!

 

[MisterSavage]

The App store. In the era of PocketPCs, apps could be bought from anywhere. Directly from the vendor and app stores like Handango. And every app was licensed differently - serial numbers, activation servers, etc. It was a mess to maintain. Apple's iteration of the app store centralized everything and made licensing easier.

Damn. This is a really good point.

 

[lkalliance]

The App store. In the era of PocketPCs, apps could be bought from anywhere. Directly from the vendor and app stores like Handango. And every app was licensed differently - serial numbers, activation servers, etc. It was a mess to maintain. Apple's iteration of the app store centralized everything and made licensing easier.

The second was iTunes backups. It could create an almost exact image of the phone and made moving to a new phone easy - no need to reinstall everything and recreate your screen arrangements.

I remember when Steve Jobs introduced the original iPhone, and announced that third parties could write software for it by using Javascript to make web apps that run in Safari. That was the only part of the presentation I recall landing with a thud.

 

[bandrews]

From a usability perspective, Apple Pay was revolutionary for me. I can't remember the last time I used a card to pay for anything and the travel passes in the wallet make planes and trains way less hassle too.

 

[lkalliance]

iPhone 4 by itself. It was the most revolutionary quantum leap during the entire lifetime of the iPhone.

Does anyone remember the Gizmodo controversy a couple of months before the iPhone 4 launch? They had acquired an iPhone 4 prototype, which had been disguised as an iPhone 3GS, that an Apple employee had left behind in a bar. When Gizmodo exploited the leak Apple had a task force raid the editor's home and make off with hard drives, computers and phones. Perhaps that doesn't sound like it was that big a deal, with the amount of leaks we get nowadays. But back then Apple still had expectations of complete secrecy until launch. And with the iPhone 4, it was a huge launch.