The magic continues

Of the entire ruckus going around with the iPhone4 launch and all the “new” and “magical” features that it brings to the people I feel that something is amiss and perhaps no one is taking a note.

Let’s talk about the all the “magical” features and see how well do other devices match up. With the Android Froyo in the field there have been comparisons between the features of iPhone and Android.

Recently I saw a blog titled “New” to iOS 4 is Old for Android. Of the features they have mentioned here lets tackle them one including WinMo as well

• Multi-tasking - Goes back to the very first Android phone, the G1 (circa 2008)
  • Windows mobile had it since ancient times.
• Threaded Email - Same as above, G1 had it 2 years ago.
  • There are programs available that do it. No one restricts you to whims of some “Jobs” on WinMo.
• Folders, Video Sharing & tap to focus has existed on previous versions of Android for a while now
  • Forever.
• Tethering - This has been around on Android for a while as well. But Sprint is more gung-ho about it with their EVO 4G
  • Do I even need to talk about this one?

From what I feel a certain Mr. Jobs is all about showmanship and ability to get people excited with small upgrades making money for his company and cheating the asses off the fans.

Take the plain old “Copy Paste” for example. He said no one needed it. Then in some version down the line the turtleneck was up the stage presenting the absolutely magical way of sharing the data between apps running on the same system welcome “Copy Paste”.

It’s the same story with almost all the features you find on the iPhone today.

Lets see how new are the various features on iPhone and WinMo.

	iPhone	WinMo
Native Apps	Medieval	Ancient
Multitasking	Fresh off the line	Ancient
Copy Paste	Modern	Ancient
Video recording	Fresh off the line	Ancient
Video conferencing	Fresh off the line (Restricted)	Ancient
Folder for apps	Fresh off the line	Ancient
Home Screen	Fresh off the line	Ancient
Noise Suppression	Fresh off the line	Ancient
Mail	Fresh off the line	Ancient
Voice Control	Fresh off the line	Ancient
MMS	Modern	Ancient
Soft Keyboard (customizable)	Unborn	Ancient
Search	Medieval	Ancient
Voice Memos	Fresh off the line	Ancient
Calendar	Fresh off the line	Ancient
Weather	Old	Ancient
Notes	Fresh off the line	Ancient
Tethering	Fresh off the line	Ancient
Encryption	Fresh off the line	Ancient

Source for Features http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/more-features.html

Wow, it seems that WinMo had all the features that have been described “Magical” by the singular authority on all things apple (you never know when and what will change) since ancient times. Only thing that held WinMo from being the leader is that MS gave up on beautifying the OS and there never was a fast device which carried WinMo even though hardware was there. This is one mistake that cannot be overseen but still letting Mr. Jobs take all the credit for revolutionizing the phone industry is most certainly an overstatement. He did what he does best – Presentations and Copy Paste (earlier from Xerox and now from other Phones).