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Apple Newton vs. Apple iPhone

Posted by timothy on from the you-have-been-on-my-lawn-for-10-years dept.

An anonymous reader writes "CNET UK has written a head-to-head piece entitled Apple Newton vs Apple iPhone. Despite the Newton being released some 10 years ago, and despite the iPhone being a phone, not a tablet, the site's editors believe the Newton is the more innovative of the two Apple products. The two devices were tied over four rounds, but in the 'Special Powers' element, where the iPhone was praised for its iPod capability, the Newton countered with its ability to play MP3s, connect to iTunes and 'its ability to work as a phone' because 'Blam! Not even the iPhone can do that.'"

3 of 203 comments (clear)

  1. Re:ok by mdwh2 · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    made it a best seller

    Citation needed. Because the stats I've seen don't show Apple as the best seller - Nokia are still dominant, followed by Samsung, then a load of other companies. And the RIM. Oh, and then Apple.

    As for what you say - yes, when the Iphone came out, it was doing things better than phones previously. But that's true of just about all high end phones! It's called progress. When Opera Mobile (and Mini) appeared, they were better than things previously. And immediately after the Iphone, other phones from other companies continued to improve technology. That's the point - there's nothing special about the Iphone, apart from being one in a long line of high end phones from various companies. But for some reason, even years later, all we hear is Iphone Iphone Iphone, and never about any of the interesting developments from major players like Nokia.

  2. Re:ok by mdwh2 · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Yes, it certainly created a "buzz", but I'm not sure that's anything other than a marketing achievement.

    And yes, it's the first phone you've done things with, but you make the classic fallacy (common in "my OS/etc is best" geek arguments) of assuming that everyone's experience is the same. For me, the first phone that I used for Internet access and apps was the Motorola V980 phone. But I don't assume that therefore there's something special about it - I'm knowledgable about the actual reality and history of the mobile market. I don't demand three articles a day on Slashdot about the almighty Motorola V980. (And I'm not sure that the Iphone application technology is anything innovative - doesn't support cross-platform technology such as Java, only runs Apple approved applications, and can't multitask them.)

    and it has taken an astounding share of that usage compared to it's market share

    Citation needed?

  3. Re:ok by Dog-Cow · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    You are simply 100% wrong.

    I have an alternative keyboard available on my iPod Touch. Of course, it comes with the base software, as part of i18n support. But, before OS 3.0 added cut/copy/paste, I had an alternative input method that created a clipboard. This is something that Cocoa natively supports, though you need to Jailbreak to get in on the iPhone. Apple won't approve an "app" that is an input extension.

    I have an app that allows me to keep any app, Apple or 3rd-party, running. The OS supports this just fine. I use it to keep a few apps running constantly.

    In short, you're a biased idiot who knows nothing about the iPhone and its OS.