solr php client vs file_get_contents?

[Faire Mii]

i am using php to access solr and i wonder one thing.
why should i use solr php client when i can use

$serializedResult = file_get_contents('http://localhost:8983/solr/ 
select?q=niklas&wt=phps');

to get the result in arrays and then print them out?

i dont really get the difference. is there any richer features with  
the php client?


regards

fayer