From January 10, 2007: Apple officially kicks everyone’s ass

Bringing back my first take on the iPhone from launch day because 1) it’s glorious, and 2) my conclusion still informs my opinion on iPhone and iPad today…

Oh, one more thing, anyone else look at this iPhone and see a small Tablet PC? Just upsize the hardware, software, and physical dimensions, and it turns into a Mac tablet with a multi-touch screen and phone capability. C'mon Apple, your foray into the tablet market is an expansion away.

Yep, from day one, I saw iPhone as a tablet (which we now know is how it started), and I called the expansion into what is the iPad. That’s important because I love tablets, and I know one when I see it. I’ve been a tablet enthusiast for 20 years, and my current tablet and primary device is my iPad Air 4. In my view, iPhone and iPad are the closest-to-perfect tablets for one- and two-handed use, respectively.

Thus, I favor a smaller iPhone for one-handed use; I have no strong interest in Android because it was never driven by tablet design (and that still shows today); and it drives me nuts when Apple pundits complain that iPad isn’t going anywhere. Why would iPad go anywhere when it’s already where it needs to be as the best tablet possible? It needs iteration and refinement to keep building on that. Growing outward into notebook territory is an add-on, not a direction.

Oh, one more thing: did Apple officially kick everyone’s ass? Let’s look at who did and didn’t survive. Nokia, BlackBerry, Palm and Windows Mobile/Phone from Microsoft didn’t. Android fast followed iPhone to help Samsung survive and thrive (with diminishing returns), but HTC, LG, and Motorola didn’t fare nearly as well despite being Google Nexus partners too. So yeah, I’d say Apple kicked everyone’s ass, but really, Android put them in the ground (including those Nexus partners). Android ate all the other operating systems, all smartphone differentiation, all except for iOS.

In my imaginings of the future Apple iPhone, I thought they'd start with a flip design, then go widescreen candy bar after a widescreen iPod was released. Thus, I was honestly surprised to see them cram about three layers of evolution into one device that beats the technological crap out of every handheld device out there. That's not hype people. Check out the specs.

Multi-touch widescreen: Anyone can roll out a device with a touchscreen. Apple's delivering one that responds to multiple points of contact. As far as I know, that's a new development for a handheld computer, and it opens a ton of data manipulation possibilities, the least of which is expanding and contracting images.

Automatic screen rotation: On a tablet, this would annoy me. On a handheld, this is a killer feature. Switch from landscape to portrait layout just by turning the device. Highly valuable when viewing photos and switching to phone from watching a video. Sounds like a very intuitive form of interface.

Wireless trifecta: EDGE is not the fastest mobile data service, but it works for typical mobile communication and wifi opens up the hotspot option when available. Bluetooth is almost a necessity given the army of headset Borgs out there, but it also opens the external keyboard option in case the touchscreen 'board isn't enough. Nothing we haven't seen on other devices, but this is a no-compromise wireless package for the vast majority of mobile warriors.

Mac OS X designed for a small screen: I have written a couple of posts pushing the idea that handheld computers should run operating systems designed for small screens, such as Windows Mobile, rather than systems intended for larger screens, such as Windows XP. It is my opinion that if Microsoft wants to push a full version of Windows, like Vista, on a small device, they need better support for small screens. The same holds true for Apple, except Apple has stepped up and done it by streamlining a version of OS X that works on a small screen the way Windows Mobile does, except it has the superior stability and power of OS X. It's like my dream come true but in Apple form.






 

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