15 years ago, Steve Jobs released the first generation iPhone at the Macworld Expo held in San Francisco, United States.
Indeed, this is a device that was released 15 years ago. It's unfair of course to compare it with existing devices today. However, there are some important features -- or perhaps the standard for now -- that weren't present on these devices before. What the hell?
App Store
Yes, the first generation iPhone only supports applications that have been embedded by Apple from the start. Users could not install additional applications on the iPhone until Apple released the App Store in July 2008. Developers can indeed provide web-based applications, but the user experience is very bad and not suitable for use.
Copy paste
This looks like a very standard feature for now, but the first generation iPhones didn't have it. In fact, this feature is only available on the 2009 iPhone.
Front camera
Today's cellphones would be strange if they didn't have a front camera, the first generation iPhone released in 2007 didn't have this feature. Even the new front camera is on the iPhone 4 output in 2010, along with the FaceTime video call feature.
Video recording
The first generation iPhone can only be used to take pictures, can not record video. What's more, the storage is only 4GB and 8GB. New video recording capabilities are on the 2009 iPhone 3GS.
Flashlight
Given that the camera on the first iPhone did not have an LED flash, the flashlight feature was certainly not there. However, when the App Store was launched in 2008, there were developers who made flashlight applications by displaying a white screen with maximum brightness.
MMS
MMS was an unpopular feature, and even the first iPhones only supported SMS, with no MMS capability to send photos. MMS is only available on iPhone OS 3.0, which was released in 2009, and it's only available on iPhone 3G and 3GS.
GPS
Despite having Google Maps, the first generation iPhone did not have GPS. So the direction feature cannot be used on the device. The new GPS was in the iPhone 3G which was released in 2008.
Wallpaper on Home Screen
Users can't change the image on the phone screen until Apple released iOS 4 in 2010, and the OS can't be used on the first generation iPhone.
Siri
The new Siri is on the 2011 iPhone 4S
Biometric security
Neither Touch ID nor Face ID was on the first iPhone. Security only uses a four-digit passcode. The new Touch ID is on the 2013 iPhone 5S and the new Face ID is on the 2017 iPhone X.
Lightning Connector
Like most iPods that have been released before, the iPhone still uses a 30-pin connector. The new Lightning connector is on the 2012 iPhone 5.
Retina Display
The new Retina Display is on the 2010 iPhone 4, which has four times as many pixels as the first iPhone, and is also the highest-resolution mobile screen of its time.
Wireless charging
Wireless charging is new to the 2017 iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and iPhone X.
Waterproof
The first water and dust resistance feature is on the iPhone 7, which is with an IP67 rating. While the first iPhone with an IP68 rating is the iPhone XS. Previous iPhones did not have this kind of resilience, including the first generation iPhone of course.
Specific carrier support
When it was first released in the United States, the iPhone only supported AT&T's proprietary network exclusively. The new iPhone can be used on other carriers such as Verizon in 2011.
