APC's Top 10 reasons to hate the iPhone 3G - Rebuttal

I don't know if this article on APC is pure linkbait or genuine gripes Mr. Warne has with the iPhone 3G, but either way, I am here to defend the iPhone's honour (someone has to, right?).

#1 No upgrade to the camera
Mr. Warne argues that due to not having enough megapixels, a poxy flash, useless lens based auto-focus, or video recording the iPhone camera is substandard, making the iPhone a dud.

Camera phones suck - always have, always will. It's a fact of life when dealing with a plastic lens and a tiny sensor. Some of the more recent Sony Ericsson phones have attempted to put in better cameras and branding them "Cybershot" like Sony's proper cameras, which I admit are better and when resized to VGA quality, look acceptable but they still suck. Sure, Apple can whack in a flash and electronics for auto-focus, but that would make the device thicker. If the trade-off is a marginally better quality camera or a thicker iPhone, I'll take the 2MP camera the iPhone has now thanks.

Video recording is simply a software feature. I don't know why Apple didn't include this, but they didn't. But don't fret, if a 3rd party app doesn't come along and add this, I will eat my hat and put it up on YouTube with a Nokia N95.

#2 No Adobe Flash support
No Flash means that the mobile browsing experience isn't complete and the only reason Apple is doing it is to spite Adobe.

We don't want stinking Flash support. Adobe Flash also sucks - it's refreshing not to have it on my mobile phone. I don't think I've come across a website yet where I've missed the Flash capability. Adobe Flash is a pox on our web browsers and is only good for one thing - video sites like YouTube and such. Any site using Flash for navigational purposes needs to be re-designed and the developer should buy a book on Javascript.

<img src="http://www2.mactalk.com.au/gallery2/d/695-1/Picture+1_002.png" align="left" hspace="20">#3 No instant messaging
Mr. Warne seems to think that Apple thinks instant messaging is SMS, hence no proper instant messaging client in order to please telcos that sucker SMS rates for every message we send instead of a few kb of data.

A third party app on it's way. Did you see the demo AOL gave at the SDK launch announcement? There's your instant messaging. I expect Adium on the iPhone within weeks of the App Store going live - for free too.

#4 Totally impractical for international travel
Blackberry can resize images in emails so data use is less than iPhone

This is a fault of the telcos, not Apple or a limitation of the iPhone. Data roaming sucks for everyone, not just the iPhone. Seeing as plan info isn't out yet, it's pre-mature to whine about how much it will cost. In regards to the iPhone in particular, well, if someone is sending you large attachments, they don't automatically download onto the iPhone, you have to actually click the attachment to download.

#5 Not compatible with Bluetooth car kits or headphones
iPhone's Bluetooth capability for headsets and in-car systems is lacking

Only wieners wear those Bluetooth headsets - all the good headsets are supported by the iPhone anyway. Though I can see how handy it would be to use your iPhone whilst driving. It is reported to work on many in-car Bluetooth systems, but also not working on others. Just like every other phone, it's hit and miss as to whether it will work.

#6 No cut and paste
iPhone will not let you copy text from say, Safari and paste it into your Notes or into Mail, when every other smartphone does

Okay, this is the single legitimate beef - cut and paste would be rather handy and I can't see any technical reason why Apple hasn't done this. I haven't come across the need to cut and paste yet in my 6 months of iPhone use, but I'm open-minded enough to look outside my needs and wants to realise this is a "low hanging fruit" sort of feature.

#7 Non user-replaceable battery
Can't take out battery from the iPhone and have spares on the ready ala every other phone

iPods haven't had replaceable batteries and it hasn't seemed to be that big of an issue. If you need extra juice on the run, look at the DLO JumpStart - a beefy rechargeable Lithium battery that you can plug into the dock connector on the iPhone and power the device like that. Have multiple JumpStart's and you can go without charging for a long time. Again, I think having a replaceable battery would come at the expense of device size and the overall fit and finish - to me, this is an acceptable tradeoff. How many times have you seen people tape or rubberband their phone because the flimsy clip came off? Or had an issue because the battery wasn't making contact with the connectors?

#8 No MMS
iPhone does not have MMS support where as every other phone does

Stupid feature for stupid people. This is Apple's way of saying "hey, MMS is crap, use email". This is no different to what El Jobso did with floppy disks back with the first iMac.

#9 No turn-by-turn navigation
GPS is hobbled by not having a GPS system that can tell you what's up next via voice and text prompts - making it useless to use whilst driving

Buy a proper GPS system and leave it in your car. The maps on all the other devices blow anyway (Nokia I'm looking at you) - Google Maps or the Melways are the only good maps, period. Again, this sort of functionality can come from a third party - TomTom already have one in development that looks fantastic (link to ArsTechnica). Alternatively, ditch that car and use public transport, walk, or ride a bike. Cars are evil.

#10 Stunning hypocrisy
MobileMe is just like Blackberry, with the push email and the central server, what a bunch of hypocrites at Apple!
If you want to use email on a Blackberry, it *has* to be via a RIM controlled service, IMAP support is some weird bastardised thing - christ, they don't even let you read HTML email on the Blackberry. If you use Exchange, your device pings RIM in Canada to get more info - adding an unnecessary middleman. With the iPhone, you can at least check your Exchange email, without the need for extra software or going through a central server in a different country.

MobileMe on the other hand, does have push email that works similar (Apple's servers have your mail) - but at least it's optional. On the Blackberry, it contacts home even if your email isn't hosted with RIM. Blackberry's push email only works if you have a Blackberry enterprise server or pay a telco.

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So Mr. Warne's list only really has one legitimate gripe, cut and paste. I've actually used an iPhone for a few months as my sole mobile phone (I'm guessing Mr. Warne has not) and while on the whole, the device is utterly beautiful and I have vowed never to even touch a non-Apple branded phone, it does have a few issues. So for 10 things wrong with the iPhone from someone who has actually used one, read on:

10 Things That Actually Do Disappoint About iPhone

<img src="http://heyinternet.com/imgdump/htc-touch-diamond-20080626-074814.jpg" align="left" hspace="20">#1 Crippled Bluetooth
I can't have my iPhone around and use it as a modem for my laptop (which will be super handy with the iPhone 3G), nor can I send images or contacts to other people (let alone other iPhone users) via Bluetooth. Pretty lame Apple. Please fix.

#2 Notes not Syncing with Mail/iTunes/iCal
Another dumb decision here. Mail has to-do's and notes built in, this is perfect! Sync when I dock. Easy. With MobileMe, make it sync over the air. Such an oversight on Apple's part.

#3 Scrolling long pages in Mobile Safari
I like my 100 posts per page view in forums. I like to view forums on my iPhone. I read the page and have already read the first 70-odd posts, I want to scroll to the bottom of the page. Flick, flick, flick, flick - my finger is getting sore - flick, flick. They did great for getting back up to the top of a page by tapping the top of the screen, but what about getting to the bottom? I don't know how to fix it, but then again I'm not a UI expert, someone at Apple is. Fix it!

#4 No Cut and Paste
Come on, this is a given. Surely there's no technical reason for allowing text copy and paste?

#5 Lack of 7.2mbit HSDPA support
All the 3G networks in Australia support or are supporting in the very near future, 7.2mbit HSDPA, as is most of Europe and Asia. Why then is HSDPA on the iPhone 3G stuck at 3.6mbit? Even if it makes no discernible difference in real life, this is something those feature checkbox weenies look for and gives the image that your phone is modern. Maybe there's something to do with battery life? Or maybe even chipset cost that would increase price? Who knows..

#6 Quiet Ringing/Speaker
Maybe its all this time listening to iPods loudly during my teenage years whilst my ears were forming, but I often can't hear my iPhone ring on maximum volume if I'm a room away in my house. There is a little trick to poke holes in the bottom of the iPhone to make it louder - but making these holes punctures a membrane to protect iPhone from dust and general grubbiness. Make it louder Apple.

#7 No 32GB model
More storage was a bit of a bummer. I can buy a 16GB USB flash drive for about $80 - I would have really liked a 32GB iPhone. I've had a 30GB iPod before the iPhone for a couple of years and it was good. I am going to take a guess and say that the reason it hasnt' happened is due to the physical size of having 32GB of flash memory - more chips = less space for radio gadgetry. When Samsung or whoever makes flash memory these days comes around with an 8GB module (4 of these = 32GB), I think we'll see a 32GB iPhone (and a 64GB iPod Touch).

#8 Outright with no catches, at full price, in traditional resellers and on the Apple on-line store
This is the way the iPhone should have always been - fully outright, for $699, do whatever you want with it, choose your own provider. Why Apple doesn't do this is beyond me. It's clear now that Apple isn't getting a monthly cut of telco revenue - Apple is simply selling handsets to telcos who then sell it to us (albeit at a lower price that they recoup via a contract). Sure, still sell it subsidised on contracts, so those scared about an upfront cost can spread it out over a year or two, but also let us choose our own provider. Apple gets it's money either way, so what's to lose?

#9 TV Out requires $59 device
TV out should be how it was on the iPod Video - a simple 3.5mm jack that lets you use a $2 cable to output to a TV. Now you need to use a $59 cable with some special Apple lock-down security, otherwise you get a blank screen. Naughty Apple - this is what I'd expect from Microsoft or a media company, not Apple.

#10 Slowness of web browsing
Even on wi-fi, web pages take a while to render - can we make this faster Apple? I know it's probably due to the limited resources in a mobile device, but surely there's some sort of magic wand (or a developer whip) you can wave and have it load faster?

Great rebuttal decryption.

Top marks

Don't link to the article to give this muppett any cred.

End of the day, I brought an iPhone not long after you could get them in Aust, didn't use it straight away, but finally put down my old Nokia and started to use this piece of design ingeniousness and would never go back.

People who don't have one can knock it all they like, but if you do have one.. you wouldn't ever agree with anything he's said.

Like people with computers. If you have a windows machine, Macs are a piece of shit. If you buy a mac, you'll realise how wrong you were!

Nice article - maybe the scroll issue in long pages could be resolved by using the extreme right hand edge (or configurable left hand for lefties) as a scroll bar, kinda like how you can quickly scroll through the contacts list.

I've not had issue with volume. My main agreement in gripes relates to BT (I'd like to sync a BT keyboard for typing for taking notes in meetings, etc) and notepad syncing which is just crazy. (Why can't they just let you allocate the notepad app to the IMAP folder that contains your notes in OS X mail.app if you so choose?

Gripe #11 is not being able to sms a contact to someone. A number of times, I've needed to sms a phone number etc to a friend, and have had to go into a contact write down the number with pen and paper, and then sms it by typing it all in. You should be able to sms a contact with desired info to someone...

Well said.

Dave Gruber over at DF looked that the first version of this article and reached pretty similar conclusions.

For those who missed it, features and usability are not the same thing. Apple is always willing to sacrifice the former for the latter. What is not to get.

I think its also worth noting, only a handful of the GPS phones actually come with GPS software, the rest you have to buy, just like the iphone. Imate 8502 or 9502? buy your own software, even most the nokia models need software you have to pay a month subscription for.

Good points.

Not so sure about this one. If there were to be no network exclusivity with the iPhone, there would probably be no improvement in data rates. By having 2 carriers with the iPhone, they will have to have a set amount to satisfy Apple's requirements to qualify. This then means that other carriers compete by having comparable data rates and POS iPhone clones, at which point you can jailbreak and go onto one of those networks if you so choose.

What it comes down to is Apple wanting things to "just work", including visual voicemail and all the internet settings that are carrier dependent. As I said, I just worry if the iPhone was unleashed as a BYO plan/sim, that we'd still be paying $10/300MB or something ridiculous like that.

Also, with bluetooth, you're right, there are cars that support the iPhone and you can even voice dial through the car's mic, solving 2 problems.

While I hope this is true - we will need to wait another 2 weeks it seems until we get an idea of data plans. I'm not holding my breath for anything decent.

Well said.

Surely if you get everything you want on the 1st or 2nd Rev then there is no more speculation on Rev 3..... End of Forum..

Soon you will be wanting a Star Trek Communicator..."beam me up Scotty I'm in the shit."

Well done on that decryption!

That article is killing two birds with one stone.
Thx.

There's only so many features Apple can pile in whilst still hitting a release date and maintaining quality. Windows Mobile has been around for almost a decade and it's still donkey's balls.

Entertaining read, but a few too many "that sucks anyway" answers. Sorry man, but I'm sure I'm not the only person in Australia who uses MMS, and would like flash support and a better camera (my old phone that got lost had a brilliant camera). Anyway, point is I think there are legitimate areas for improvement in his list, but hey - that's what the next model is for.

I just noticed another while I typed this on my iPod Touch... No scrolling in text fields!

Heh! I'm not a new adopter there!!

I've wanted one of those since 1969

Good rebuttal Decryption.

As I'm using a Treo 650, I'm actually *looking forward* to the piece of piss crap-tastic oh-so-lame 2MP camera. It almost makes me feel sad for looking forward to it because everyone is wailing on it so much.

And I applaud the removal of MMS. What a thorn in the side of modern society. There will be the complaints (much like when the floppy drive disappeared) but...well....who cares?? I send a fair few MMSs, and I hate how much it costs! I'd much rather send the email, no picture I have to send needs to be seen *that desperately*.