They were not lookalikes, maybe sometimes vaguely similar, nothing more.
Also, just see the thumbnail image to recall how phones were in 2007: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uW-E496FXg
So what now.. the samsung doesn't look exactly like the iphone either, only similar (woohoo it consists mainly of a touch screen!).. Same thing for pretty much every electronic device as i said in the other post..
Asi said, this whole discussion is just stupid. Someone who can't tell the difference between phones and tablets wouldn't be alte to tell the difference between televisions or cars or whatever.. Only that for all other products nobody cares.
There is only few ways to make a tablet, which is essentially just a large screen. How should a touchscreen seen from front, off and from several feet away look like? Pink vs. Green?
Again: Ridiculous discussion, nobody cares for the rest of the electronic world. Why the obsession with shiny gadgets?!
I did have a smart phone before 97, an HTC Apache in 95. It was a flat rectangle with a large touchscreen in the middle. So goes the evolution of hardware towards a common structure that works best.