photo by by Joy23
When the iPhone was first announced I, like everyone else, wanted one. I took my own advice by holding off on getting a first generation device and waited for the prices to come down and for potential bugs to be ironed out. Now that I’ve had 2 weeks with the iPhone 3G I wanted to share some thoughts on Apple’s most amazing and desired gadget.
The iPhone is a conversation starter. The multi touch UI is easy on the eyes and pleasant to use. The build quality is top notch. Having a phone + GPS + iPod is pretty cool. The OS while a bit sluggish for a phone is stable. The ability to install apps right from the appstore is well done and the app ecosystem is a game changer for the software industry.
However, as a smartphone – the iPhone sucks. Apple has taken what is potentially the coolest gadget ever made and then crippled it just about every way they could. I’m trying to imagine just how bad the iPhone would suck if it was not Jailbroken – which mine is. I’m an Apple fan. I like their software, hardware and the thought that goes into their products. The frustrating thing about the iPhone is just how cool it could be.
List of things that make iPhone suck.
NO Bluetooth
What modern phone, let alone SmartPhone, does not allow for basic bluetooth pairing and file transfer? I’ve become accustomed to writing all of my SMS through an app on my Macbook dashboard and then sending them off with an easy Control+S via bluetooth to my cheap ass Nokia ‘dumb phone’. I can also browse the file system of the Nokia 3310c from the Macbook or send notes to it as easily as right clicking on them and choosing to send them to the phone. The fact that I can’t do this on the most advanced (supposedly) and most expensive phone I’ve ever purchased does not sit right with me.
NO WiFi Sync
My iPhone has WiFi, so does my Macbook. Why then do I have to carry around a cable to sync circa 1999?
NO Document support
Out here in the real world we use PDF and Word Docs as a format to exchange files. I guess in Cupertino they use post-its? My macbook can read these formats natively without additional software – why can’t my iPhone?
NO File Manager
And no search for that matter. Some of us actually store and retrieve real file from our PDAs. Sometimes we even search for them when we forgot where we left them. We like to search our contacts as well. I think they need to bottle the water in Cupertino as they have super human memory over there.
NO Flash
What the hell? Flash video.. Games? Maps?
NO Video
OK, I can use Cycorder if i want to go face jailtime but the fact that this feature is left out is a JOKE. Seriously. I would’ve loved to have been a fly on the wall at Apple at that meeting. “I know, lets really fuck them up and put a camera there but get this, they can’t record video!” WTF?
NO Skype
Skype on the iPhone would be awesome. It seems like Skype is running on everything except the iPhone. I don’t really care if the blame for this one falls at the doorstep of Apple or AT&T – it just sucks. Fix it.
At the end of the day the iPhone feels like a Disney theme park ride. Have your fun as long as you stay securely in your seat and on the rails. Even though your car on the roller coaster looks like a spaceship, it’s really a fiberglass car on steel rails.
Some might say, “Don’t worry though, all of these features will be provided by the hacker community and eventually filter their way into an official update or app at some point in the future.” I’d rather have these smart folks working on a cure for cancer or the next generation alternative fuel source than figuring out how to reverse engineer the bluetooth stack on my silly iPhone. But that’s how it goes.
However much I am bitching about the iPhone – I’ll hang on to it for another month or so to see if the next child genius has figured out a way for me to hack my phone so that it compares to my throw away Nokia.
So here is my advice, don’t buy an iPhone. Wait until Apple pulls their head from their ass and realizes we’re grown up enough to handle features that have been on even the most basic of phones for the last half decade..
It’s still pretty cool to see my four year old playing with Zephyr.
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