Look Before You Leap on July 11th
This is the iPhone that all the late adopters have been waiting for. It promised to address the deficiencies of the first generation iPhone, but does it really? Here are some reasons why not:
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1. Too Expensive to Own | ||||
| Apple and AT&T may have shaved a couple of hundred dollars off the price but they will more than make up for it in monthly fees. If you take into account the regular monthly fee, the data fee, the text message fee which used to be free, and the $99 annual mobileme fee you could end up spending over $1,000 a year to own an iPhone, that’s the price of a 42" LG LCD TV. | |||||
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2. Can’t Use the GPS like a GPS | ||||
| Forget about getting turn-by-turn voice directions in your car from the new iPhone 3G. The iPhone SDK makes it pretty clear it’s not allowed, “Applications may not be designed or marketed for real time guidance.” Yes it will superimpose your position on a Google map, or show you the closest pizzeria but what about getting real-time route guidance? There’s a rumor that TomTom may be developing a guidance application but you have to wonder how they’ll get it past the Apple police. But until that happens, it might be worth investing in a Magellan GPS for your car. | |||||
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3. Can’t Tether the iPhone to Your Laptop | ||||
| Want to save $60 per month for a 3G card for your laptop and use the iPhone instead? Not going to happen - not allowed. Although there are plenty of phones, including AT&T’s Tilt, that will allow you to use your 3G phone as a wireless router for your laptop, the iPhone won’t be one of them so you can add the cost of a 3G card for your laptop at $720 a year to your total cost of ownership. | |||||
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4. Still No Cut and Paste | ||||
| Cut and Paste has been around on Apple computers since the earliest Mac Plus computers. What’s the big problem with implementing it on iPhones? Why is cut and paste so important? Suppose you’re browsing a web site and want to capture some text or a URL, or someone sent you an email and you want to grab some text from it and send to someone else. Not possible on an iPhone. Speaking of email, where’s the spell checker? Predictive typing is fine but spell checkers are everywhere else but here. | |||||
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5. Wimpy 2 MP Camera | ||||
| In the world of 5 MP Smartphones and 10 MP point and shoot cameras why is the iPhone still stuck with a measly 2 MP? That’s so 2003. While we’re at it how come we can’t record video, afraid the non-existent SD card might fill up? The iPhone should be able to stream video by now and fill in for our camcorders. | |||||
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6. No Stereo Bluetooth | ||||
| We thought the iPhone was supposed to be part iPod. At least they fixed the recessed headphone jack flaw (and called it a new feature) but the A2DP stereo Bluetooth standard has been around for a while and is missing from the iPhone. Without Bluetooth the car amplifier upgrade we installed in our car to stream music from the iPhone is suddenly useless. | |||||
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7. The List Goes On | ||||
| Still no Flash player for rich media content (what grudge does Steve Jobs hold against Adobe). Still can’t send pictures in MMS messages, still no native voice dialing, no mobile TV, no replaceable battery, no flash memory card, and on and on. | |||||
See You July 11th
Okay, now that I got that off my chest, I feel better and what the heck, so it's not perfect but it's still the coolest smartphone out there and I still want one. I look forward to seeing you on the line outside the Palo Alto Apple store on July 11th. Enjoy your new iPhone.
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Comments
iphone 3gS- r u serious ???
before going for an iphone you might want to look here.
http://makemylogic.com/2009/06/14/apple-iphone-3gs-are-you-serious-the-l...
Hey! You forgot, the iPhone
Hey! You forgot, the iPhone has POOR BATTERY LIFE. and its reception + weight is too heavy compared other phones. Believe it or not, many people prefer higher megapixel-camera phones. And BLUETOOTH is as essential, which iPhone does not offer. After 8 years of being with Nokia, its no wonder I made the right choice by getting rid of my iPhone.
iPhone 3G
I own 2 iPhone 3G's, so I'm obviously not a hater (for that matter, neither was the original poster - he indicated that in spite of the compaints, he intended to get one)...
That said, many of the OP's comments are completely valid, and the responses (for the most part) less so.
The cost issue (possibly aside from mobile.me) isn't one of them - the iPhone data service costs aren't really out of line with other (unlimited) data plans.
However, the GPS issue is completely valid - I have a device that can host a fully functional GPS app (and their are developers willing to create one) but Apple won't allow it. Whether it is for their own reasons or because their agreement with ATT (or Google) doesn't allow it is not germane. The responses that the Google maps functionality is good enough or that you don't really need a GPS app on your phone so be thankful for whatever you get are bogus. I don't expect to get it for free, but given that the phone hardware is as (or more) powerful than most dedicated GPS units, it is silly to argue that it shouldn't be allowed to be one.
The tethering issue doesn't affect me, and I'm sure is an ATT issue rather than something that Apple cares about. However, arguing that you can get around it by jailbreaking your phone is not a reasonable response.
The lack of cut and paste is a major issue - and becomes more and more so as you use more apps that can't pass info (like URLs, street addresses, phone numbers, etc.) easily between themselves. A app that supports C&P purely within itself is nice but not that useful - C&P with a shared clipboard should be part of the basic text widget. I assume that Apple could do this but hasn't because their human factors people haven't come up with a touch screen approach to C&P that they like, but something OK but usable now is better than something great that never arrives.
The camera isn't that important to me, but arguing that you should carry a separate camera is not a particularly good response. Sure, a dedicated camera will always be better, but the point is that you always have your phone with you, and a camera you have with you is much more useful than one you don't. I don't expect a great camera, but having one that is as good as the competition seems not unreasonable. (And the response that you can record video if you jailbreak your phone is again silly - you shouldn't have to jailbreak your phone (with the attendant risks to the phone and to other apps) just to get functionality that apparently can be otherwise easily added by Apple.
The responses about the lack of A2DP (stereo bluetooth support) are completely ridiculous - this device is sold by Apple as an iPod and so should support music devices, including wireless headphones. Why it supports only hands-free and wireless headset profiles, but not the whole set of profiles that would be useful is unclear - there are claims that the hardware should support all the useful profiles, but that the software stack was crippled at the carrier's request or to avoid cannibalizing mobile.me or some such. However, while those arguments could apply to some of the profiles, they shouldn't apply to A2DP...
Most of the grab bag comments (#7) have some merit. The most recent responder's replies are silly.
Saying in response to the fact that Apple won't allow Flash on the phone that "well, you can read PDF files, and that is Adobe" doesn't address the lack of Flash. Without Flash support, huge numbers of web sites are inaccessible, or you are limited to crippled versions of those sites. One of the reasons I got this phone was to get away from WAP and similar bogosities.
While I don't use MMS, arguing that email with photo attachments is the same as MMS is obviously untrue - aside from being more complex, many people/phones who can receive MMS messages cannot handle mobile email.
Arguing that the presence of external voice dialer apps replace the need for native voice dialing is similarly ridiculous. I've used these apps, and the level of complexity (number of needed manual steps) make them useless - I want to use voice dialing when I can't use my hands/eyes to do "normal" dialing, especially from a hands-free, so an app that requires 6 or 8 button presses (and watching the screen) is a lab demonstration of capabilities, not a useful production mechanism.
I believe that comment about mobile TV is referring to the fact that ATT doesn't support the iPhone with their Mobile TV (CV) service, though they do on all their other 3G phones. Not too important to me, but a valid issue, I think.
The lack of a user replaceable battery hasn't been an issue to me yet, but it will be, and responding that you can potentially disassemble your phone to do this isn't an adequate answer. I understand _why_ it wasn't designed to be user replaceable, but that doesn't affect the fact that it isn't, and replacing the battery becomes a fairly major undertaking.
The presence of 16 GB of built-in flash doesn't completely address the lack of removable flash. This is a portable media device - that includes things like movies that take enormous amounts of space. Being able to store movies, etc. on external flash cards would be useful. Beyond that, copying large media files to the device is a lot slower than copying them to flash cards directly using a flash reader/writer on a computer, again making support for external flash cards desirable. I understand (at least some of) Apple's reasons to not support external cards (though arguably some of those reasons are less valid on the iPhone) but that doesn't make the issue go away.
WRT the request for an updated list of complaints - I actually have my own (fairly long) list that included most of those from the OP, plus: poor battery life, especially with WiFi and 3G enabled (which I do all the time - why else get a network-centric phone), lack of Java support (like the lack of Flash, closes out access to many web sites), inability to use folders or other ways to organize apps (yes, can be resolved if you jailbreak - I've already commented on my views on that), inability to have both Exchange and "private" contact lists and calendars unless you use mobile.me, and especially for a phone (and coming from a hard-buttoned flip phone) the number of steps (and amount of attention) needed to make a call, particularly to someone who would on the hard-buttoned phone be a speed dial (single button push).
All that said - I think it is a great device. I think with some (software) enhancements (and changes to Apple's rules for 3rd party developers), it could be a _greater_ device...
you've got to be shatting me......are you that verizon guy?
It's clear you must be a total iPhone hater. Or maybe everyone around you has one but yourself. All your points sound like you just looked at the specs or maybe played around with it for 5 minutes.
1. Too expensive to own?? Are you a bum? I pay $69/month for 450 monthly rollover, unlimited data/email, and 1500 text. And this is for the iPhone 3G plan. I mean it ain't cheap but its not exact break your bank.
2. Can't use the GPS like a GPS....guess what, it ain't supposed to be a gps. thats just an included feature. Can your make calls on your GPS? I don't think so. And if you did, it would be a secondary feature, right? And google maps/streets is free. It's unlimited directions. Verizon and other users have to pay per use or some prepaid charge just to use their GPS functions on their phone. Otherwise it's just a useless app on their phone.
3. Can't tether? I can...jailbreak your phone and get with the times. Unlimited free wireless freedom....Stop complaining already..oh wait theres more...
4. Cut and paste? Again there are apps that allow you to. Maybe if you actually checked out the phone, you would know. Want to know what else the phone has? You know how you can save a screenshot image of whats on your computer screen if you hit "printscreen" on your keyboard? The iPhone can do that too. Press the power button and click the home while keeping the power button pressed.
5. I'm not even going to argue this point as much as i want to. You want a digital camera go get one. 2 mp isn't alot but its manageable. You CAN record video. You CAN stream video. Once again, jailbreak.
6. Stereo bluetooth....are you for real. You want the thing to be waterproof too? It sounds like you're trying so hard to find things this phone can't do.
7. iPhone can read pdf files which just so happens to be Adobe. It can also read word documents, excel charts, and powerpoint presentations, which all happen to be microsoft. I don't think he has a grudge. You can send pictures to peoples phones using their mobile email which is just the same as mms. and its free and wont count against any messaging minutes. No native voice dialing...is that your subtle approach of admitting that there are apps that will allow you to do that? Because there are, and its in the Appstore. No mobile tv....you mean like ota analog channels? there are streaming channels available as well as youtube, where you can download them also. Not to mention you can also listen to thousands of streaming digital radio stations. The battery is replaceable you just have to take it apart. No flash, boohoo. It has 16 gigs. Do you really need more?
Hopefully you have had time to play with the phone by now. It would be nice to see an updated amended list of complaints.
If i were to name some downfalls of this phone, i would say its weight, keyboard, reception.
Apple iPhone 3G
Your 7 points are mostly bogus.
1. We have a family plan with AT&T and my iphone cost me $200 plus $30/mo. for the data plan. We already had unlimited text for the whole family before the iPhone for $30/mo for 4 phones. MobileMe isn't required and I don't find it a problem to synch up my stuff manually with itunes.
2. Like the camera non-issue, the GPS function works pretty well for a phone, particularly if you want directions or a route to an address on your contacts list. If you want street names and turns called out to you, use a dedicated GPS.
3. Really! Most people already have hi-speed internet access from their computers or can use a wireless connection at various hotspots. If you insist on using a 3G connection someplace, it can be done from a Mac or PC with software that uses the iPhone as a wireless network modem.
4. While cut and paste might be nice, the auto spellcheck and predictive typing work VERY well and the iPhone "learns" words and names you use often.
5. As stated in 2., the camera is really a non-issue as it works well enough for a phone.
6. Stereo bluetooth? Get real! Like the other guy said, listening to crappy sound in stereo isn't my thing.
7. Yes, a supplementary removable memory card would be nice, but no doubt Apple will add more features in future versions of the iPhone.
The iPhone is already a great mobile computing device and will only get better!
HW
Oh, not that bad
If you don't own a digital camera in this day and age, you don't deserve a good one on your camera....what's the dif if it's 2 or 6,
is that why you really by a phone for, it's camera?
Stereo bluetooth....the crappy sonics you're going to use it with doesn't matter if it's stereo, mono or quadrophonic, it's still
going to sound like crapola...now, tell me your using a Melos Sha-Gold headphone amp, now that's different.
GPS - again, I'm a salesman in Chicago and if you leave for the day not knowing where your going, well then, you don't
deserve to get there. The two times I used it, no probs...stopped for a cup of Joe, plugged in the address and had directions...
sure beats Mapquest, or should I say 'Lost-quest'.
Too expensive....they give phones away, and if that's what you can afford, then buy it....EVERYONE CAN"T HAVE EVERYTHING!!!
IF we had gone by that motto, we wouldn't be in the mess we're in, ok, I can afford a house with about $1500 left in the bank
after closing, you don't deserve to be a homeowner!
Rant over....have a nice day.
L'wood
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