Why is iPhone not considered a smartphone?

[testacon]

Originally Posted by fozmsu

Why do people say the iphone isn't a smartphone because Apple is too strict? That has little to do with it. Other people try knocking it by saying you have to jailbreak it to be able to do smartphone stuff. That just means it is in fact capable. I unlocked every WM phone I had and flashed it to get it to work the way it should have out of the box. What's the difference? Saying the iphone isn't a smartphone because it doesn't support flash means that there wasn't really any smartphones until about a month ago. I really wish WM would just die. It turns you into a crack addict with all the constant ROMs coming out everyday. You can't stop. I would load several ROMs onto my SD card before work everyday just so I could flash via SD all day at work. It affected my family, friends and work. Thank God for that intervention. From now on, I'm staying clean. Nothing but iOS or Android for me.

And how is Apple any better? You jailbreak your phone, then Apple comes out with a new iOS and you upgrade, breaking that jailbreak. You impatiently wait and wait for the new jailbreak and the cycle continues on and on again. I flashed my phone, maybe, once every few months. It all goes toward that leading edge vs bleeding edge, after a few hundred people test it for me, only then do I reap in the benefits.

Maybe not classifying the iPhone as a smartphone is too extreme of a statement. It's just a lame smartphone (because of Apple's policies) that you have to keep screwing with it to make it usable. So I'm kind of confused why your bashing WM when Apple is really not any better. Sure there is 100,000+ apps but I really don't need 99.9% of them, just most of the ones that they refuse to approve.

See as previously stated a "smartphone" should be smart enough to run ANYTHING that was programmed for it. Apple's smartphones are only smart enough to run anything that THEY say can run on it. If you cripple a smartphone abililty to run programs, how can you justify calling it a "real" smartphone?

[testacon]

Originally Posted by shaggylive

I used to have a whole series of USR modems between 2400 and 56000. We had some tall white pine's in the yard and they always got hit. I told dad God wanted me to upgrade since lightning kept taking them out.
fyi surge strips are meant for power, NOT communications. most lightning surges enter the house from phone, cable, sat. I've never seen a surge strip actually stop a surge thru the phone/network/cable jacks and the equip ends up fried too.

back on topic,, iphones are dumb.

Do you remember that when the 28.8K Sportster came out and they released the upgraded 33.6k model almost a month afterwards and you qualified for a free PROM and they mail you that with an extractor tool? Then I was all the rage when I bought that $400 USR Courier V.Everything modem, that thing was huge. It cut down a day or so from my week long downloads that happened those days.

My best friends Dad had every computer from the beginning to now. I played with 12", 8" 5 1/4 and finally 3 1/2 floppy drives. I remember the first two games I played called Invaders which was a Space Invaders clone and Snake.

Good times...<Sniff Sniff>

[fozmsu]

Originally Posted by testacon

And how is Apple any better? You jailbreak your phone, then Apple comes out with a new iOS and you upgrade, breaking that jailbreak. You impatiently wait and wait for the new jailbreak and the cycle continues on and on again. I flashed my phone, maybe, once every few months. It all goes toward that leading edge vs bleeding edge, after a few hundred people test it for me, only then do I reap in the benefits.

Maybe not classifying the iPhone as a smartphone is too extreme of a statement. It's just a lame smartphone (because of Apple's policies) that you have to keep screwing with it to make it usable. So I'm kind of confused why your bashing WM when Apple is really not any better. Sure there is 100,000+ apps but I really don't need 99.9% of them, just most of the ones that they refuse to approve.

See as previously stated a "smartphone" should be smart enough to run ANYTHING that was programmed for it. Apple's smartphones are only smart enough to run anything that THEY say can run on it. If you cripple a smartphone abililty to run programs, how can you justify calling it a "real" smartphone?

That's just it. It is smart enought to run anything. You just need to abuse Apple's policies to use some of it, but it can still do it. It's not any different than WM in that aspect. Hell, when I first got the HTC mogul it couldn't send mms without a hack. The stance from HTC was that it wasn't their problem and Sprint had the balls to say it wasn't capable even thought it was the top of the line phone they had at the time. Someone then came up with a work around and Sprint followed up by contacting the developer and making them stop. I believe they even demanded the source code for the program so they could block it out. All under the threat of lawsuit. Of course they came out with an official update that enabled mms and all was well after. That is not much different than the Apple practices you are complaining about. And by the way, even though I was unable to send or receive picture mail, Sprint still forced me to pay for it for the privelage of owning the Mogul. The business practices of the manufacturer and the service provider don't make the phone any dumber or smarter, just more challenging to use. And flashing is like sex. If you aren't always thinking about it or doing it or doing it feverently, you're probably not doing it right. Flashing WM is a drug. You better believe that one. As far as the old computers go, the first one we had was a Texas Instruments. I believe it was like T100 or something. I am sure one of you remembers better than I did. I remember copying programs for games out of magazines and saving them to casette tapes on a recorder that was plugged into it. Memories are a bit fuzzy considering I was like 10 at the time. Where's the emulator for that?

[schettj]

Whippersnappers. 8080s rule. CP/M Forever!

[gTen]

Personally though, for myself I actually view an iPhone as a dumb phone..but the main reason is not of what it is capable but what is represents...I personally do not like Steve's concept of "Dumbing things down" and not giving a choice...While it may be easy to learn..smartphones should have a learning curve...why?

Because thats just it life has a learning curve...I personally fear for future generations in general where everyone is following apple on making things so dumbed down that even a retard could use it...

In the future I hope for technology would progress at a good pace as it has been in the last 20-30 years..but I have a feeling if things like this continue, we will hit a barrier not because we can't go farther but the next generation is too stupid to actually accomplish something...

Don't get me wrong I'm not saying checking your email should require you to solve a millennium math problem...But a smartphone has to be a device that promotes choice and has a learning curve which then allows for more functionality.

I mean even speaking for myself I find myself more lazy and loosing IQ with all this dumbing down going on in general...now imagine generations growing up in this dumbed down environment...I am even hearing schools making things easier for kids and etc and it personally has me worried...I mean am I the only one worried about this? :/

I mean do we really want our future generations to turn into this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAcvIqcpHrI

[schettj]

LOL - iPhone, it's just too damn easy. That's definitely a unique take.

What you're actually describing is progressive disclosure in a user experience. It's something that is applied consistently in the iOS UX. Hand an iPhone to someone who's never used it, and in about two minutes they will have mastered 70% of the functionality. That's sufficient to effectively use the device, but it isn't the end of the learning curve.

Anyway, this is now firmly into the realm of the ridiculous. Do you think smart phones should only use CLI?

> call 555-1212
Calling....
Ringing...
Answered> Tell "bob" hello
"Hello, Bob!"
Answered> Hangup
>

Now THATS a MANLY interface!

[fozmsu]

Originally Posted by gTen

Personally though, for myself I actually view an iPhone as a dumb phone..but the main reason is not of what it is capable but what is represents...

And that is just fine with me because you're expressing your opinion and you can't argue opinion. Just wish more people would handle it the way you do. No matter what side of the Steve is an asshat fence you stand on.

[redd214]

wow, some of these answers are straight off the wall lol! like i said earlier, I personally consider it a smartphone, just not the one for me. I dont wanna get too deep into this one but honestly, some of the reasons you guys are giving for why its not are just downright ridiculous!

[nite732]

Well I do own a Iphone and I do not consider it a real smartphone, is because everything needs an app. My first audiovox ppc-6700 could go online and do what I needed it to do. The iphone has come along way, but until I can be at work go online get something that I need download it to wherever and send it bluetooth, to someone else phone that needs it and then the Iphone is not it. I know about jailbreak and ssh, but the ability to share information with the least possible steps is a qualification of a smartphone to me. You can,t even send ringtones or share contact's with bluetooth. If I replace my phone I have to go to the store or order it then sync it to itunes to get all my information. A smartphone I can be sitting in the store back-up all my info to my memory card and put it in the new phone and keep going. That's what's up.

[schettj]

Originally Posted by nite732

the ability to share information with the least possible steps is a qualification of a smartphone to me.

Neat. What color is the sky in your world?