What do you mean here? To my mind, there's not much difference between the top cellphone companies. (And this includes Nokia.) The only significant achievement in the last decade or so was made by Apple, and that's because they had Steve Jobs -- instead of just slapping together as many different parts as possible into as tiny a box as possible and shipping it out as fast as possible, Jobs demanded that there be a reason behind the design of their small box. As with most Apple products (until recent years), the original iPhone actually had sub-par hardware compared to contemporary cell phones, but what it did have was perfectly integrated and logically designed. It was the perfect product for consuming media, and as such, outshone all the others, even at its outrageous price.

The reason I jumped ship from the iPhone to the N900 was that, unlike every other smartphone in existence, Nokia did not try to turn the N900 into a handheld TV set. Instead, they used their "internet tablet" OS for it, which is in essence a miniaturized desktop operating system. I don't count this as a "significant achievement", because really, this seems like the obvious move to me -- simply take what works on the desktop, and squeeze it until it fits into your pocket.

This is not to say that the N900 is a better handheld media player than the iPhone; it most certainly is not. However, if you want a handheld desktop computer, it is pretty much the only option available. (Nokia did try to turn the N9 into a handheld TV set, unfortunately...)

Many manufacturers today make cell phones and tablets. However, I would submit that these are all media consumption devices. They do not run the same OS as desktop or laptop machines, they have extremely limited input abilities, extremely limited expansion abilities, and you literally have to hack into the operating system (and, therefore, invalidate your warrantee, as well as sacrifice any updates from the manufacturer) to run any useful apps that the manufacturer has deemed unnecessary for you to use.

They are, however, extremely beautiful and capable media consumption devices.

In the end, yes, manufacturers are making these devices because they can make oodles of money selling them. Steve Jobs' concept of a portable media player has proven to be highly successful. It'd be interesting to see what other devices could be made, if we ever get another manufacturer led by someone who actually has an interest in how these devices are designed.


And yes, there are innumerable cute little apps available for the iPhone / Android / Windows phone. And there are innumerable little dongles you can get to add a little piece of hardware; I had a perfectly functional FM transmitter for my iPhone (and it actually worked better than the one in my N900). I'm not a hardware person, and really don't give a fig about the electronics in a given device. My complaint is that, while I can do a multitude of tasks on a modern smartphone, what I cannot do is use it in the same manner as my desktop machine. That's what I'd like to do, and that's what the manufacturers explicitly forbid me from doing.