A short history lesson in phones

For no particular reason I am going to give you guys a short history lesson in cellular phones over the last 10yrs or so as I've been a technology geek most of my life. Back in 2005 and 2006 one of the hottest selling phones in America was the Motorola Razr being that it was so sleek and compact. However this was still what you might call a "dumb" phone. However the era of the smartphone was about to begin. http://lh3.ggpht.com/-Jv8pSLZeY5Y/TsL0HYefzWI/AAAAAAAAILQ/eP65gZmquiQ/motorola%252520razr_thumb%25255B2%25255D.png In 2007 Apple released the iconic iPhone. In the same year in Europe, Nokia released the N95, Sony Ericsson released the P1 and a year later in Japan Sharp released the Aquos SX862. (Only designed for Japanese carriers) However, none of these phones except the iPhone was released on USA carriers so most Americans didn't know about the other options. (You can buy unlocked and setup on T-Mobile or AT&T) As a result the iPhone enjoyed explosive market dominance in the USA. Even if some of the other phones had amazing features that would put the first gen iPhone to shame. Still, the iPhone had a clean beautiful appearance and interface. A svelte supermodel who's aesthetic beauty hid her lack of brains. However the apps that slowly appeared eventually increased it's overall usefulness and captured the market and hearts of Americans and later the world with no serious competition until Android. Let's compare/contrast these early smartphones: 1st generation iPhone: http://dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/iPhone-1st-gen1.jpg Network Technology GSM Launch Announced 2007, January. Released 2007, June Status Discontinued Body Dimensions 115 x 61 x 11.6 mm (4.53 x 2.40 x 0.46 in) Weight 135 g (4.76 oz) SIM Mini-SIM Display Type TFT capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors Size 3.5 inches (~52.0% screen-to-body ratio) Resolution 320 x 480 pixels (~165 ppi pixel density) Multitouch Yes Protection Corning Gorilla Glass, oleophobic coating Platform OS iOS, upgradable to iOS 3.1.3 CPU 412 MHz ARM 11 GPU PowerVR MBX Memory Card slot No Internal 4/8/16 GB Camera Primary 2 MP Video No Secondary No Sound Alert types Vibration, proprietary ringtones Loudspeaker Yes 3.5mm jack Yes Comms WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11b/g Bluetooth v2.0 (headset support only) GPS No Radio No USB v2.0 Features Sensors Accelerometer, proximity Messaging SMS (threaded view), Email Browser HTML (Safari) Java No   - Google Maps - Audio/video player - TV-out - Organizer - Document viewer - Photo viewer - Predictive text input Battery   Non-removable Li-Ion battery Stand-by Up to 250 h Talk time Up to 8 h Music play Up to 24 h Misc Colors Black SAR US 0.97 W/kg (head)     0.38 W/kg (body)     SAR EU 0.97 W/kg (head)     0.69 W/kg (body)     Price group 8/10 Nokia N95: https://images.theinformr.com/phones/17/809/nokia-n95-8gb-nam-full-1.jpg Network Technology GSM / HSPA Launch Announced 2007, August. Released 2007, October Status Discontinued Body Dimensions 99 x 53 x 21 mm, 96 cc (3.90 x 2.09 x 0.83 in) Weight 128 g (4.52 oz) SIM Mini-SIM   - Dual slide design Display Type TFT, 16M colors Size 2.8 inches (~46.3% screen-to-body ratio) Resolution 240 x 320 pixels (~143 ppi pixel density) Platform OS Symbian OS 9.2, S60 rel. 3.1 CPU 332 MHz Dual ARM 11 GPU 3D Graphics HW Accelerator Memory Card slot No Internal 8 GB, 128 MB RAM Camera Primary 5 MP, Carl Zeiss optics, autofocus, LED flash Video 480p@30fps Secondary QVGA videocall camera Sound Alert types Vibration; Downloadable polyphonic, monophonic, MP3 ringtones Loudspeaker Yes, with stereo speakers 3.5mm jack Yes Comms WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, UPnP technology Bluetooth v2.0, A2DP GPS Yes, with A-GPS; Nokia Maps Infrared port Yes Radio Stereo FM radio USB miniUSB v2.0 Features Sensors Accelerometer Messaging SMS, MMS, Email, Instant Messaging Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML Java Yes, MIDP 2.0   - WMV/RV/MP4/3GP player - MP3/WMA/WAV/RA/AAC/M4A player - TV-out - Organizer - Document viewer (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF) - Predictive text input - Push to talk - Voice dial/memo Battery   Removable Li-Ion 1200 mAh battery (BL-6F) Stand-by Up to 280 h Talk time Up to 6 h Misc Colors Black SAR US 0.05 W/kg (head)     0.76 W/kg (body)     SAR EU 0.79 W/kg (head)     Price group 5/10 Tests Loudspeaker Voice 75dB / Noise 66dB / Ring 70dB Audio quality Noise -77.1dB / Crosstalk -68.5dB Sony Ericsson P1: https://www.cgstud.io/imgd/l/541dace41e43f6d40e4a2936/1090.jpg Network Technology GSM / UMTS Launch Announced 2007, May. Released 2007, July Status Discontinued Body Dimensions 106 x 55 x 17 mm (4.17 x 2.17 x 0.67 in) Weight 124 g (4.37 oz) Keyboard QWERTY SIM Mini-SIM Display Type TFT resistive touchscreen, 256K colors Size 2.6 inches (~35.9% screen-to-body ratio) Resolution 240 x 320 pixels (~154 ppi pixel density)   - Handwriting recognition Platform OS Symbian OS v9.1, UIQ 3.0 CPU 32-bit Philips Nexperia PNX4008 208 MHz Memory Card slot Memory Stick Micro (M2), up to 4 GB, 512 MB included Internal 160 MB, 128 MB RAM, 256 MB ROM Camera Primary 3.15 MP, autofocus, LED flash Video Yes Secondary VGA videocall camera Sound Alert types Vibration; Downloadable polyphonic, MP3, AAC ringtones Loudspeaker Yes 3.5mm jack No Comms WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11b Bluetooth v2.0, A2DP GPS No Infrared port Yes Radio Stereo FM radio, RDS USB v2.0 Features Messaging SMS, MMS, Email, Instant Messaging Browser HTML (Opera), RSS reader Java Yes, MIDP 2.0   - Media Player (MP3, AAC, video) - SyncML - Document viewer (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF) - Business card scanner - Organizer - Voice memo Battery   Removable Li-Po 950 mAh battery Stand-by Up to 440 h (2G) / Up to 350 h (3G) Talk time Up to 10 h (2G) / Up to 3 h 30 min (3G)   Standard battery, Li-Po 1120 mAh Stand-by Talk time Misc Colors Silver Black SAR US 0.98 W/kg (head)     1.10 W/kg (body)     SAR EU 0.56 W/kg (head)     Price group 4/10 Sharp Aquos SX862: http://www.mobiles-actus.com/photos/news/sharp-sx862.jpg Network Technology GSM / HSPA Launch Announced 2008, May. Released 2008 Status Discontinued Body Dimensions 110 x 50 x 18 mm (4.33 x 1.97 x 0.71 in) Weight 120 g (4.23 oz) SIM Mini-SIM Display Type TFT, 256K colors Size 3.2 inches (~51.3% screen-to-body ratio) Resolution 854 x 480 pixels (Wide-VGA) (~306 ppi pixel density)   - Swivel and rotate display - Downloadable wallpapers Memory Card slot microSD (dedicated slot) Phonebook Yes, up to 750 entries Call records 10 dialed, 10 received, 10 missed calls Internal 50 MB Camera Primary 3.15 MP, autofocus Video 480p Secondary Yes Sound Alert types Vibration; Downloadable polyphonic, MP3, AAC+ ringtones Loudspeaker Yes 3.5mm jack No Comms WLAN No Bluetooth v2.0, A2DP GPS No Infrared port Yes Radio No USB v2.0 Features Messaging SMS, MMS, Email (POP3 only) Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML Games Yes + downloadable Java Yes, MIDP 2.0   - MP3/MP4/3gp player - Predictive text input - Organizer - Voice memo - Document viewer (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF) Battery   Removable Li-Ion battery Stand-by Up to 350 h Talk time Up to 4 h 40 min Misc Colors Black, Silver If you want to think of the (original) iPhone as a pretty phone that you could also listen to mp3's and watch some videos and play a few games with, it's pretty much a casual entertainment phone. Nothing really special aside from the elegant software and touch screen. The Nokia N95 had a vastly superior camera and you could do crazy things like hook it up to a tv and Bluetooth a keyboard and mouse and play games like Doom. Or play mp3's and use the inbuilt fm transmitter to listen to those mps's on any radio, no wires needed. As well as a variety of it's on apps. Functionality wise, it was vastly superior to the iPhone. However it wasn't as thin and beautiful and the software was clunky in comparison. The Sony Ericsson P1 is more like the Executive's office assistant with stylus and keyboard, various office apps, Opera web browser and good camera (Much better than the first iPhone but not as good as the N95). It also looks better than the N95 but not as sleek as the IPhone. Overall it's one of the best phones ever made. The Sharp SX862 was only designed for Japan's home market as it was made to watch high definition TV on Japan's carrier which was much more advanced than in the USA. It also had a higher resolution screen than the iPhone. Sort of the ultimate entertainment phone.

Some later phones of note that most Americans never knew about (except the Palm Pre/Pixie): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LG_Viewty http://ivytan.net/nanyate.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/00309_lg-viewty.jpg Launched (2007) the same year as the iPhone but with better hardware but less user friendly software. Sales were pretty good. But never sold in the US. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_N900 http://www.7ozo.com/nokia4/nokia-n900.jpg The Nokia N900 was released in 2009, essentially a mini computer and phone. Beautiful and amazing. I have one which I used till the battery stopped holding a charge. Most of these high end Nokia phones have built in FM radios as well as FM transmitters to wirelessly transmit mp3's to any nearby radio. Still have never seen that function used on any iPhone. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_N8 https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--xsJIMh8L--/18mrjojgdo107jpg.jpg Released in 2010, one of Nokia's earlier all touch smartphones. It had novel features like AMOLED screen and Xenon camera flash. Technically much superior to the iPhone. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Ericsson_Satio https://www.esato.com/gfx/news/img/Satio_Front_with_Headsets_Bordeaux_1243560894.jpg Launched in 2009 the Sony Ericsson Satio was a technological tour de force of the times with full touchscreen, 12mp camera with xenon flash and huge array of features. But still it didn't seem to ever become really popular. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Ericsson_C905 http://cdn2.gsmarena.com/vv/pics/sonyericsson/se-c905-01.jpg The Sony Ericsson C905 was released in 2008/2009 and had one of the best cameras on any phone with a superior Xenon flash and 3-led video light. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_808_PureView http://cdn2.gsmarena.com/vv/pics/nokia/nokia-808-pureview-pure-white-all-collors.jpg Released in 2012 at the same time as the Apple iPhone 5 with it's 8mp camera the Nokia 808 Pureview had a whopping 41mp camera sensor which the software could auto-scale down to 5mp for easier manageability. Still one of the biggest and best camera sensors ever used on a phone. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_Pre https://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2009/01/pre_open_close.jpg Released in 2009 the Palm Pre was compact and pretty. The software was perhaps even smoother and prettier than Apple's. Unfortunately it was too little too late as Apple had taken the spotlight and had a much bigger app section. The Palm just didn't attract enough customers or app developers to stay competitive. The hardware was also somewhat mediocre, the camera lackluster and the screen too small to wow people. I had one and loved it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_Pixi http://www.geeky-gadgets.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/palm-pixie_2.jpg The Palm Pixie launched a year later. The younger cuter cousin of the Palm Pre but weaker processor.

Contrary to popular belief, not all flip phones are dumb. They make high end Android flip phones too. They just don't let Americans have any. Asians keep all the good phones for themselves. http://s3.amazonaws.com/digitaltrends-uploads-prod/2016/03/Screen-Shot-2016-03-29-at-11.33.09-PM.png