2007 was the year we saw the mobile industry change forever with the release of the iPhone. We also saw Windows Vista and OS X 10.5 (Leopard) set upon us and watched while the two battled it out for supremacy. All while this was happening, Google released street view and let anyone go anywhere in the world.

Windows Vista
After five years of Windows XP, Microsoft finally released the new version of Windows. Known by its codename of Longhorn, Windows Vista went through multiple rewrites and revisions in its five year development history. Unfortunately, it failed to prove popular with the general public leading Microsoft to continue selling Windows XP for the years to come.

Aside from sporting a brand new interface (Windows Aero), Windows Vista was much more secure then it’s predecessor. It did this by locking down certain parts of the Operating System and requiring user intervention (the fabled UAC) if something needed to make system changes. This, along with a poor selection of drivers at launch, caused numerous problems for both customers and Microsoft alike but these problems have since been solved and Vista is a pleasant operating system to use (But there is hardly any need to now that Windows 7 is out).

iPhone
Standing up on stage, Steve Jobs echoed these words over and over: an iPod, a Phone and an internet communications device. Today, Apple is going to reinvent the phone and that, he did. He had invented a smart phone that lacked MMS.

At the expense of MMS though, Steve Jobs brought with him a new era of mobile phones. Traditionally, touchscreen phones weren’t widely used, with many people preferring a solid keypad and small screen but thanks to the iPhone nearly every major manufacturer now has a touchscreen phone. After seeing the iPhone, people weren’t happy with their basic Motorola RAZR phone and instead wanted a smart phone (though it is arguable whether or not the iPhone is considered smart).

Aside from its faults and lack of features, there is no denying that the iPhone has changed the mobile industry for the better. Apple single-handedly came in, and overnight created a new demand for touchscreen phones with stunning interfaces.

Nokia N95
While the iPhone revolutionised the mobile industry, Nokia turned out one of their best phones (feature wise) ever in 2007. It was called the N95 and at first, more powerful than the iPhone (until the release of the iPhone 3GS).

While the N95 didn’t include the fancy features, it was a very feature packed phone boasting a 5 megapixel camera (with flash), dual way slider, Wifi, accelerometer, GPS, and much more. But all of these features had to come at a cost, and that cost was the thicker and heavier device, not that anyone really minded though. The other downside to this was the operating system it ran. Some people like S60; others hate it with a passion. I think that the operating system is alright, but could do with a nice new look.

The N95 is starting to show its age to phones with a newer operating system, but is still a great phone for those wanting a basic smart phone (or don’t want one with a touch screen).

Leopard
Originally set for release for early 2006, Apples next Operating system was set back until October 2007. Competing with Windows Vista, it used a series of manipulating (and somewhat deceitful) ads to lure people away from Vista.

But with all the negativity aside, Leopard turned out to be pretty good. Among its advertised 300 new features included a new redesigned 3D dock with stacks, a new finder, dashboard enhancements and Time Machine to name just a few.

I haven’t really used Leopard before, so I can’t comment on its performance, but over the course of its life I do know that it never really suffered from any of the problems Vista did, giving it the illusion that it was in fact better then Vista.

Street View
Google Maps continued to grow stronger this year with its release of the street view maps. No longer where we confined to top-down navigation, we could actually walk the streets and view our own home. This alone caused many privacy advocates to blast the idea with some towns even going so far as to block the street view cars from their streets.

Still, on the day it was released, it was pretty cool to see your house on the internet for the first time and to try and guess when the street view car came around and took the photos. Based on movies at the cinemas and petrol prices, we assume that they were taken around January/February of 2008 (Australia got street view later then the US).