Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
More than a phone
Apple’s iPhone has always been more than just a phone. From the outset it has also been a pocket computer. The same is true for many Android and Windows phones [1].
While iPhones can’t do everything PCs do, they do the important things. They do them well enough for many people’s needs.
In the third world, phones are often people’s only experience of computers. It is how they use the internet. For them it is the computer.
Many of us living in richer countries have the luxury of owning more than one computer. That often means a desktop or laptop and a tablet and a phone.
Although the three have distinct functions, their relationship has evolved over the years. For Apple users the biggest step was last year when the IPhone 6 Plus arrived[2]
Its bigger, 5.5 inch display brought more screen real estate. That meant more flexibility in displaying information. More text can fit on a single screen. A split screen is practical.
The larger screen also makes for easy data input. Big displays mean better on screen keyboards.
It’s not the best tool for writing a thousand word story, but it can be done without discomfort. As I found out in practice. That wasn’t the case with earlier, smaller iPhone displays.
Last year the iPhone went from being a communications tool with some processing to being a productivity hub. Everything else now revolves around the phone.
Android fans will argue otherwise[3] but for me this is where Apple
and Microsoft have an advantage. The phones integrate
smoothly with laptops, desktops and other tools. They are
much more than just phones.
- But let’s keep this simple, it gets tiresome writing or Android or Windows Phone ever other sentence.
- Apple wasn’t first to the big phone party by a long shot.
- Please do. I’ve not found Android’s integration with desktop computers to be as smooth or as productive as the alternatives. Yet it’s clear millions of people do work this way so it must work.
Bill Bennett
Freelance journalist.
Auckland-based Bill Bennett writes technology and business stories that are directly relevant to New Zealand readers.
His emphasis is on telecommunications, but he also covers other aspects of technology and business. You can find his features in the New Zealand Herald and hear him regularly on RNZ Nine to Noon and the NZ Tech Podcast.
Bennett's The Download Weekly newsletter is published every Friday. You can sign up for it here.
If you want to support his work, you can make a donation to his PressPatron account.
Gordon Campbell: On Justin Trudeau’s Demise, In A Global Context
Ramzy Baroud: Israel Destroyed Gaza ‘For Generations To Come’ And The World Stayed Silent
Binoy Kampmark: Detained Without Charge - Eleven Yemenis Leave Guantánamo
Ramzy Baroud: The War Criminal 'Victim' - Netanyahu’s Inevitable Fate
Martin LeFevre - Meditations: From Symbolic Consciousness To Insight Consciousness
Binoy Kampmark: Arresting And Killing Greenies - Targeting Climate Change Protests