How are iPhones different? Difference between a smartphone and an iPhone: characteristic features

Usually the question of what an iPhone is and how it differs from a telephone arises when comparing prices on the storefront. Those who have until now made do with a mobile handset used as a “simple dialer” are sincerely perplexed as to why they are being offered to overpay. In addition, the same effect is achieved by confusion in terminology: smartphone, telephone, iPhone, communicator, plus clones and replicas that have the appearance of some and the functionality of others (usually phones). If, due to a lack of interest in mobile technologies, you do not see the difference between an iPhone and a telephone, we will demonstrate it.

Mobile phone- a portable wireless device designed for voice communication and operating in radio networks of a certain range and standard. It runs a proprietary operating system with very limited functionality created by the manufacturer.

iPhone is a smartphone created by Apple, running the iOS operating system and having a number of unique characteristics. It is considered one of the most popular mobile devices today.

As you can see, the difference is already in the definition. Both a telephone and a smartphone belong to the same type of device, but they belong to different classes. The phone software is not a full-fledged operating system, does not support expanded functionality, and provides a minimum number of tasks. The iPhone has a full-fledged operating system, which is not inferior in functionality to computer systems, and is designed to solve many problems, including providing voice communication and other functions of a mobile phone.

iPhone 5S

Despite the attempts of developers to make their devices unique, most modern phones and smartphones are similar in appearance, except for details. However, it is worth noting that mobile phones today are sometimes produced in slider, keyboard, and non-touch screen form factors. The iPhone in any reincarnation is stable: touch screen, no keyboard. Almost all mobile phones have a removable and replaceable battery, while the iPhone has no access to the battery.

The iPhone is designed to solve a wide range of multimedia tasks: watching videos, playing audio, playing games and surfing the Internet. The phone is limited to displaying pictures of certain formats, a standard player, games and applications developed for the Java platform. Applications installed on a phone must strictly comply with the hardware components of a specific model from a specific manufacturer. The phone's customization options are limited to changing the background, screensaver and signal, while the iPhone, thanks to the ability to use extensions, is much more flexible.

As a rule, phones, if they do not belong to the VIP category, are made of cheap materials and inexpensive components, which, accordingly, affects their cost. When creating the iPhone, innovative materials are used (different for each model), for example, new high-resolution screen matrices, tempered glass, and aluminum alloy.

Due to its low functionality and limited hardware resources, the phone lasts much longer on a single battery charge than an iPhone. Some models from the budget niche can last more than a week without recharging, while the average life of an iPhone is a day, rarely more, with equally intensive use and operating only as a phone.

Well, the last thing is the price. True, most often the choice between an iPhone and a telephone is not discussed: the devices are too different with too different tasks. Phones today are much cheaper than an iPhone (exclusive is the exception), so those who only need the device in their pocket to receive calls and send SMS messages, and will not be in demand for the functionality of a pocket computer, have the opportunity to save their budget tenfold.

Conclusions website

1. The iPhone has a full-fledged operating system, the phone has a stripped-down operating system developed by the manufacturer.
2. An iPhone is much more functional than a phone.
3. The form factor and appearance of phones vary widely; the iPhone is static in this regard.
4. The phone does not have flexible interface settings.
5. The battery of iPhones is non-removable.
6. The power consumption of iPhones is much higher than that of phones.
7. The iPhone is made from high-quality materials based on new components.
8. An iPhone can cost tens of times more than a phone (depending on the model).

In the modern world, a smartphone has become an essential assistant for any busy person. With its help, he can always keep abreast of important news and be in touch with the right people. Manufacturers offer the user a huge number of options, but most often the range is divided into two groups - iPhones and smartphones. Many consumers do not understand much of the difference between these devices, so we will try to give you an answer to the question - what is the difference between an iPhone and a smartphone in our article.

Smartphone

A smartphone is a device that is one step above the conventional mobile devices that we have all been familiar with for so long. The appearance of gadgets of this kind is associated with progress, so in terms of its characteristics it is between a mobile phone and a computer. But since an operating system is installed on a smartphone, it is much closer to a computer than to its predecessor.

Due to the fact that there are a huge number of counterfeit mobile phones on the market that look like smartphones, identifying a gadget as a representative of a specific family based purely on design is a rather difficult undertaking. It’s another thing to pick up the device and look at it in action.

iPhone

An iPhone is a type of smartphone that is produced only by Apple. It also has an operating system, if in the case of ordinary smartphones it is Android, then here it is iOS

In terms of popularity, gadgets of this family are significantly ahead of all their competitors. However, in technical terms they are approximately equal. An integral attribute of each new generation of iPhones is the corporate logo of a bitten apple, as well as the absence of a slot for a flash drive and a non-removable battery.

What's the difference between them

There is a difference between these two groups, but it cannot be called colossal. Firstly, there is a question of price. Even if the iPhone is technically in no way ahead of its Android counterpart, it will cost more. Secondly, the OS on gadgets is different. The functionality of both is more or less the same, but for the average user Android will be much easier to use. The build quality of the devices is also different.

iPhones are always assembled at an official factory from the most expensive and high-quality materials; naturally, we are talking about original models, not fakes. Most Android smartphones are inferior to their competitors in this parameter.

In terms of functionality, both groups of devices are more or less equal. As for performance, Apple products run exclusively on processors of their own production, while Android gadgets are most often equipped with Snapdragon and MediaTek chipsets, which are products of third-party companies.

The iPhone does not allow its owner to use a flash card, but in the line of each generation there are several options with different amounts of memory. Some Android gadgets have also begun to do this, but these are isolated cases.

The issue of influence on status cannot be discarded. There is a tendency in society that Apple devices are considered more prestigious and increase the importance of their owner in the eyes of others. Of course, you can think differently, but you cannot deny the fact that most people think this way, especially since reviews and comments on the Internet only confirm this point of view.

Conclusion

You can only say which is better – an iPhone or a smartphone based on many factors. If you are an inexperienced user who needs his device to be able to access the Internet and have access to news, as well as make calls and wake up calls, a regular smartphone will be much better, since it is cheaper.

If your budget is unlimited and you believe that having a new iPhone is an attribute of a successful person, as well as a reflection of status, the new flagship from Xiaomi is unlikely to interest you, even if it is more powerful and cheaper than the new generation iPhone.

For the average user who wants a solution with an attractive balance of price and features, a smartphone is by far the best option. As a result, we get that there are differences between smartphones and the iPhone, but they are not the most significant.

When you are looking for a new phone to buy, you should know how an iPhone differs from a smartphone. Since both gadgets offer so many great features, they may seem so similar that it is difficult to differentiate between them. However, there are still some factors.

Components

First of all, this concerns equipment. Apple is the only company that makes the iPhone with tight control over how the software and hardware work together. On the other hand, Google offers Android software to many phone manufacturers (LG, Samsung, HTC, Motorola, etc.). As a result, Android smartphones differ greatly in weight, size, features, quality and ease of use. For this reason, you can often hear reviews that some smartphones work poorly, overheat, or are of poor quality. Despite the fact that iPhones can also have hardware problems (for example, incorrect operation of the antenna in the 4th model), inconsistency in quality is not typical for them.

Platform

Another way an iPhone differs from a smartphone is the operating system features. Unfortunately, new versions of Android often do not support older releases, and OS updates are not available in some smartphones. This leads to the fact that the gadget can quickly become outdated. At the same time, Apple has better support for older phones. For example, IOS 6 has full support for the iPhone 4 (released 2 years before its release). Comparing a smartphone and an iPhone, it should be noted that the Android 4.0 OS (Ice-Cream Sandwich) operates on only 2.9% of Android platform devices released 6 months before its release.

Applications and games

While the App Store offers roughly the same number of apps as Google Play—around 9,000—the overall selection isn't the only factor. Apple is known for the strict standards it applies to all programs, while Android's standards are somewhat looser. When trying to determine how an iPhone differs from a smartphone, it’s worth paying attention to games. Until a few years ago, video games were introduced by the Nintendo DS as well as the PSP by Sony. Today, the iPhone (and iPod Touch) has become a major player in the mobile gaming market, offering tens of thousands of options. Android is noticeably behind in this service.

Navigation

As long as you have internet access and a smartphone, you'll never get lost thanks to the built-in GPS and Maps apps. This feature is available on both iPhone and Android. Both platforms offer GPS apps that can show drivers detailed directions. Users of any device have the ability to use Google Maps Navigation almost anywhere.

Another significant fact that distinguishes an iPhone from a smartphone is flash support. There is no Flash in the iPhone and, according to the developers, it will not be added in the future. On Android devices this function is present, but only in older models. This is due to the fact that Adobe stopped developing Flash for Android, starting with version 4.1 and higher.

Due to the wide variety of hardware used in Android phones, Android battery life varies. And the first iPhone models had batteries that required recharging every day, but today this is no longer the case. iPhone can work autonomously for several days.

And the last significant feature in the question: “How is an iPhone different from a smartphone?” - screen features. If you are looking for a device with a huge display, Android is the most suitable one for you. Today, it's not uncommon to find smartphones with 4.3-inch screens or even larger (HTC One X has a 4.7-inch size). However, you should consider whether this is a good thing. After all, phones are stored in pockets and bags, they spend a lot of time in your hands, and a large display can only cause inconvenience. In addition, large screens consume more battery power. In turn, Apple for a long, long time offered only a 3.5-inch screen size; the iPhone 5 introduced a 4-inch screen for the first time. Because of this, the device has become proportionally larger, and therefore fits less comfortably in the hand. However, the Retina Display functionality allows the iPhone screen to have a much higher pixel density than Android gadgets.

What an iPhone is, what makes it unique and its main advantages is not clear to every user. In fact, this is the same smartphone as many others presented on international markets, only with the Apple logo. However, if you dig deeper, it becomes absolutely clear that this is a much more unique product than it seems at first glance.

iPhone: what is it?

The history of the brand has repeatedly become a script for filming films and is known to almost everyone, so it is likely that you know what Apple is. This is an American brand of world-famous gadgets and the “brainchild” of Steve Jobs himself, who, together with a team of developers, came up with a whole line of devices and technologies for various purposes.

The iPhone is a unique product from Apple, the first version of which was first introduced to the world in 2007. The famous prefix “i” (“Ay”) is not commented on by the manufacturer in any way (at least in official Apple sources), however, it quite likely corresponds to one of the following hypotheses:

1. “i” in English means “I”, which means it could be a reference to the personification of the user. It’s not for nothing that the brand’s slogan is “Be different.”
2. “i” – “Internet”. In 1996, phones combined with Internet modems were first released and were called I-Phone. But the manufacturer was not Apple, but Tranbon Electronic Industrial Co., which for some reason decided not to patent the now famous name of the gadget. Apple did not miss this chance and registered this name as its intellectual property.
3. “i” – “Individual”.

How is the iPhone different from other smartphones?

If you know, then you will understand the essence of the iPhone: most of the functions are quite similar and have no fundamental differences, but some of them are still important:

1. Operating system iOS. This is also a unique Apple product that is only applicable to iPhones. All other modern smartphones, as a rule, run on Android OS or Windows OS. Thanks to it, the whole range of functions and useful applications is fundamentally different from similar functions and applications of the same Android. You will not find the iOS operating system in any other device or gadget except in products from Apple.
2. No viruses. Yes, yes, an iPhone cannot be infected with viruses. All applications can only be downloaded through the AppStore, which is also controlled by Apple. That, in turn, does not allow dangerous, malicious or simply suspicious files to pass through the application store.
3. Design. For a long time, the highlight of iPhones was their unique design, but as Chinese smartphones become more widespread, metal bodies and glass panels will no longer surprise anyone.

Over the ten years of existence of such a concept as “Apple’s iPhone”, 7 generations of this amazing gadget have been released (in addition to improved versions with the prefix S, Plus, etc.), however, the release of “is not far off.”

When mobile phones first hit stores, they were designed specifically for making phone calls and had virtually no additional functions other than perhaps a clock and alarm clock. However, recently technology has advanced significantly and phones have become more functional.

Mobile phones that offer the owner the widest range of functions beyond making calls and sending SMS are called smartphones.

In fact, this is a phone combined with a pocket computer in one device, but at the same time it is quite compact. A typical smartphone has a large high-resolution display, wireless Internet connectivity, web browsing functions, and the ability to run complex programs - work applications and games, including 3D.

Smartphones have adopted touch screens, allowing the user to interact with the image on the display instead of the usual buttons. The earliest models included the use of a special stylus, but modern phones do not have such unnecessary details - most of them support the multi-touch function.

However, not all people like the touch screen, so some smartphones are still equipped with a push-button keyboard.

What is an iPhone?

iPhone is a popular type of smartphone produced exclusively by Apple. These devices are famous for their reliability, high build quality and equally high price.

When Apple first introduced the iPhone in 2007, it was far superior to any other mobile phone on the planet. In particular, it became the first phone to implement multi-touch technology, that is, allowing you to control the device with the touch of several fingers. Over the next two years, the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS offered even more advanced functionality while lowering the price, giving the iPhone recognition and popularity around the world.

iPhone and smartphone - what's the difference?

iPhones from Apple have some very significant features that distinguish them from smartphones from other companies.

What to choose – an iPhone or another smartphone?

What is better - an iPhone or a smartphone from another manufacturer? There is no universal answer. Each person will have their own choice. Understanding exactly what you need from a smartphone will help you avoid unnecessary expenses. You shouldn't buy an iPhone (or any other phone) simply because it's fashionable or cool. Consider your priorities and find the option that best suits your needs.