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Compared to its competition? It absolutely was.

People don't remember it didn't have any apps.

It had apps (Maps, Contacts, Safari, to mention a few), but no third party ones (Maps used Google data, but AFAIK, was 100% written by Apple, and certainly was installed by Apple in the firmware image)

Nah. I was using a cheap Nokia 3230 in 2008 when looking for a replacement. the iPhone had just been released and it could not offer me a number of features I had been used to for years:

- Video calling (they didn't get front facing camera for ages) - Video recording. Of any kind. - Picture messaging. I can't remember if they offered any kind of MMS support. - Voice commands (they didn't work terribly well but had been a feature of Nokia phones for ages) - Third party apps - Text copy/paste - About a week of battery charge, depending on use.

So I bought an N95 instead, and had that for 8 years until it basically fell apart. Its original battery was still getting more life from a charge at this sorry stage than a new iPhone/Android replacement.

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