iPhones - a negative rant, by yours truly

[Chris]

So Apple released the iPhone 3G last week. Anybody outside of America actually care? Nope, not really, only die-hard Apple fans, oh and the media. Why's this? Well, in our (Europe/Asia) phone markets, it fucking sucks. That's why.

Don't get me wrong, it's got some pretty awesome plus points too, it's just got nowhere near enough for it to become popular outside countries like the USA, whose mobile telecommunications aren't particularly advanced, nor is there much of a mobile phone culture going on. Basically, in the USA, it's actually a pretty decent phone. And IMO it's only thanks to Apple's great marketing that it's actually selling relatively well in other parts of the world, because when you're faced with such a huge choice of great phones, the iPhone probably won't come out on top unless you actually require something of it.

Now, in Europe, things are very different to the USA. Mobile phones are ingrained in our cultures now. Pretty much everyone has one, and not just for talking/texting, most people make use of camera functions, recording funny videos with their friends, listening to music etc. Phones here have massive feature sets, are fairly cheap (there are a multitude of ways you can pay, monthly, or pay as you go, etc.)

And Japan. They are years ahead of us in terms of mobile technology, and their phones completely own everyone elses in the world. It used to be a whole subculture, but now it's so popular, everyone owns one, it IS part of the normal everyday culture there. I don't know enough about their phones though, so I'll stop there and move on to my actual rant.

I'll start off by saying what I like about the iPhone...

3G. This is the norm in the UK now, 3G access is everywhere already, so that's great they've finally put this in. Fast, wireless web browsing on a proper browser is a great feature, as is being able to do tasks like checking your emails remotely etc.

The design and UI: Yes, the iPhone does looks amazing IMO. Apple do have some great designers.

"Maps now has GPS support, backed up with online data and geotagging for pictures you take" - well this is just a fantastic feature anyway, incredibly useful

"Apps Store, a centralised repository of iPhone applications" - custom apps on any phone is great for adding new stuff.

Cover flow, music playing, iTunes etc.: Well Apple do know wtf they're doing when it comes to music, so it's good they've taken iPod features and put them in.

Multitouch, and gestures: making things much easier to navigate

And finally, built-in storage: 8 or 16GB, that's a lot for a phone.

So that's it really. Every single other feature the iPhone has is either not there, or it's inferior to the majority of phones in the market already. Let's get down to the failures made by Apple with it's iPhone:

#1. No video recording. Despite the iPhone's 2mp camera, which btw, is very lame compared to most phones these days, my 3 year old Sony Ericsson has a 3.2mp camera, what's holding Apple back here?

How many people here browse YouTube when they're bored? Quite a few of you I imagine. Those of you who watch funny amateur video clips, out of those you watch how many were filmed on a mobile phone? Gotta be at least 75% surely? What else would you use if you don't own an actual video camera?

Realistic scenario: Everyone records funny videos on their phones when they're out with their mates, even if just for the lulz. At least in the UK they do, but other countries too for sure. But no, not if you've got an iPhone... you can't. How stupid, phones have been getting video recording abilities for many many years now. How could Apple miss something this big. The camera is already there. I don't understand why it can't record video. iPhones have a huge storage capacity yet you can't use it up with your own homemade video.

The rest of these I admit are small things, but the fact is they shouldn't be left out when they're so simple. These are the things that are frustrating.

#2. You can't forward SMS messages. Another weird thing to leave out.

Realistic scenario: The sending of jokes via text is very popular now, the ease of simplicity of receiving a funny, then forwarding it to all your mates means they spread like wildfire. But not if you've got an iPhone. No, if you want to pass the funny joke on, you'll have to manually type it all out again in a new message, and send that. Bit of a hassle if it's a long one...

#3. No voice dialling. Now I personally wouldn't use this and don't know anyone who would - then again, I don't know many people. But I can still talk about this a little but. For example, a typical person who might use this would be someone who for some reason or another doesn't have full use of their hands, but of course needs a mobile phone for emergencies and what not. Well, if they've got an iPhone they're gonna have to try their best to go through their contacts and do it the 'normal' way.

I know this is not really a biggy for the majority of people, but it's still a very simple feature that I don't see why has been left out.

#4. No copy and pasting. That's right, yet another very simple, small feature left out. So, you're browsing a website and find a cool link you wanna share with your friends, but it's pretty long. No worries, just use the copy and paste feature which the bast majority of phones have. Oh no. You have an iPhone, that's too bad, looks like you'll manually have to type out the URL

#5. No built in Flash plugin support. Thousands of websites use this, YouTube is a big one. I won't bash it too much though because it's rumoured to be arriving on the iPhone fairly soon. Also I've seen shots of the iPhone with a YouTube app. which confuses me. But disregarding that, the point is, Apple could have easily bundled this with it, especially seeing as how they have a fully functional browser on the phone.

#6. "The inbuilt accelerometer can flip the screen horizontally, but this doesn't work for all applications" - Silly oversight here. "the three most writing-intensive applications (notes, e-mail, and maps) won't let you type in landscape, meaning you still have to use frustrating single-finger prodding rather than thumb-typing."

#7. You can't disable predictive text properly. I actually use this, but I know loads of people who hate it and find it frustrating, so they simply turn it off. Not with an iPhone though, things are made incredibly difficult. "It has only an "opt-out" feature, which requires hitting a very small "x" to deselect the word it suggests. This is where that feature fails. The time it saves in correcting miscues sometimes pales in comparison to the frustration it causes in forcing you to repeatedly deselect words. And there's no way to turn it off or create a keyboard-based shortcut to deselect the predicted word."

#8. No MMS support. Yeah, you can't actually text any pictures you take (not videos though, can't do that) to someone because iPhone lacks support for it too. granted, you're more likely to just use Bluetooth anyway, assuming you're with your friends at the time. But still, it'd be nice if the feature existed. It's been standard for at nearly a decade. Still, at least you can email them to people. So this is not such a biggie.

There's a few more things but I won't bother mentioning because they're mostly irrelevant to users like us. E.g. Microsoft Exchange not working properly on the phone.

So can anything improve the crappy situation the iPhone is in? Luckily for them, 3rd party apps. But they aren't gonna fix everything though. They might be able to fix #3 - #7. But they certainly won't be able to fix camera/sms related problems. I don't have any EU/JP sales data to reference, so I'm not sure exactly how well it's doing here. I would assume fairly well though given Apple's hype and deceiving adverts and the like, which make it out to be the only device you'll ever need for anything, making people easily overlook these flaws.

Point of my rant? I don't like how people obsess over the iPhone when it's clearly not superior for everything. Sure it's much better for things like web browsing, music... but not everything, that's why I hate all the hype. If you don't need ANY of the above feature then fine, the iPhone is probably a great choice for you.

But people like me who make use of video recording, copy and pasting, typing a lot... then the phone is crap. Get anything made in the last 3 years and it'll be fairly competitive, or if you can afford it, just get any modern phone. Unless you actually need a smart phone such as the iPhone then you have endless choice.

I will certainly not even consider buying an iPhone until the majority of the features I want are added, and bugs are fixed. Another big reason not to is the price. It's really fucking expensive compared to any other phones out there. So I'd like them to make it more competitive, at least for us in the UK.

Another thing. Stop tying it to a single damn network. In the UK this stopped happening with most phones years ago. Not everyone wants to be on O2 (UK's current iPhone carrier) or AT&T (USA's current carrier). How about letting all network have it. Consumer choice is must. Not to mention competitive deals.

If they're not going to improve the iPhone then they need to stop and concentrate on thing they're good at. Music players and software. They can stop overpricing their shoddy hardware too.

Thanks to Gerard's article on the iPhone at Shock Gadgets, which is where the stuff in quotes comes from. I don't care who agrees and doesn't agree with me, for most of you my post is too long anyway so I'd be surprised if anyone cares to reply.

[NotYouHaha]

Hah, I actually read it. I love your points in-which you repeatedly say phones made years ago had such features. That's a really strong point.

I guess it's only popular due to the technology and the design of the iPhone itself and all the attention it got. I rarely hear about any other computer-related products on the news these days. I often only hear about Apple's products. Apple is get attention grabbing somehow.

[Chris]

It's because they make a big deal out of everything they do. And before any announcement, build up a shitload of hype regardless of how big or small the announcement is.

Because of the success of the iPod (back when it was first released), people (in the tech world) always pay attention now.

Then there's their adverts after a product is released, they're generally catchy songs (if for iPods), but when it's other stuff they consistently bash other similar products to make themselves look better. A good example is the PC vs Mac guy adverts. In which they just abuse stereotypes if you actually watch them.

I admit some of the points I made were for some fairly minor features. But it's the fact they're a standard on any random mobile phone that annoys me. Unless your phones in USA all lack these features, but I doubt it because I'm pretty sure the models you get are based off EU/JP ones.

[tilly]

My friend and his dad are getting this phone and I gave them a lecture about how much of a ripoff it is and I said a lot of the same stuff you did.

Edited July 15, 2008 by tilly

[Huckleberry Pie]

This is the reason why I never considered an iPhone as a proper gadget. I may be a Nokia fanboy, but I'll stick to those from Finland instead, they had MMS, video recording and other features, which were missing on the iPhone, years ago...

[WRX22B1998]

no video recording...wtf

i honestly would just get the shits with the whole touch screen thing. ok quickly dial a number

9..........4...........6........2.........3.......7........1.......0

stupid. with a keypad itd be dialed in like 2 seconds.

lol those mac v pc ads...

for the record pc means Personal Computer...not windows.

[EvoLuTioN]

I've used an iPhone and it is crap actually compared to the phone I use, Apart from the nice big touch screen there nothing much to it. I didn't actually get the part where a phone with 3G is such a big deal, I mean its been there for years yet everyone is going on about "Oh iPhone has 3G! iPhone has 3G". Tbh I don't really like touch screen phones, accept for the dialing part which have big numbers, the keyboard which pops up is pretty much crap for typing. Its easier typing with keys then using a stylus, and yeah I too use predictive text, I like it cause it saves new words instead of just using the ones programmed into it!

Edited July 16, 2008 by EvoLuTioN

[chris82]

Now, in Europe, things are very different to the USA. Mobile phones are ingrained in our cultures now. Pretty much everyone has one

I wouldn't say that isn't true here as well, nearly everyone I know has one.

#1. No video recording.

#2. You can't forward SMS messages. Another weird thing to leave out.

#3. No voice dialling.

#4. No copy and pasting.

#5. No built in Flash plugin support.

#6. "The inbuilt accelerometer can flip the screen horizontally, but this doesn't work for all applications" - Silly oversight here. "the three most writing-intensive applications (notes, e-mail, and maps) won't let you type in landscape, meaning you still have to use frustrating single-finger prodding rather than thumb-typing."

#7. You can't disable predictive text properly.

#8. No MMS support.

lol?

They fixed almost nothing, what an overpriced piece of shit awesome new product from Apple. its apple so its awesoem lol!1windos sux virusis

And they gangbang you if you purchase it, sure it's only $200 but you have to sign a 2-year contract, pay $100+ early termination fees if you already have a contracted provider, and you HAVE to provide a credit card as well as legal identification. Christ, 1984 much?

Nearly every point in this article from the original iPhone remains valid.

[Huckleberry Pie]

Goes to show how much of an epic failure the iPhone is; iPods are fine, but Steve Jobs and his boys kinda' missed the tastier, meatier parts and just left the fat on the iPhone.

Even if the cellular carrier in my country offers that piece of crap, I won't take it.

Poor kid, bought an iPhone from the local NYC Apple store, and got dissatisfied over her epic fail unit...

Edited July 16, 2008 by Huckleberry Pie

[Chris]

Heh, for once I cracked a smile looking at that pic you posted and actually made relevant.

You're still weird though

[Huckleberry Pie]

Heh, for once I cracked a smile looking at that pic you posted and actually made relevant.

You're still weird though

Yeah, thought of posting that since it looked as though she bought something and ended up getting disgruntled after getting frustrated at the phone's features. A Photoshop would be neat, too...

"Stunning design, high-res screen, but still no MMS, videocam and all the geek stuff?? I wasted my time on that piece of trash!" - Eloise

Edited July 17, 2008 by Huckleberry Pie

[Nate10]

Thankyou Chris. You're someone that realizes just, how... standard the iPhone is.. I feel funny even calling it a standard phone when it lacks plenty of 'standard' type of features, ones that average phones have today..

Though it excels in a field or two, it has too much hype. Way to much.

and lolz, don't worry about listing 'small' things the iPhone doesn't have. Small things matter, lots.

Edited August 7, 2008 by Nate14

[Huckleberry Pie]

Thankyou Chris. You're someone that realizes just, how... standard the iPhone is.. I feel funny even calling it a standard phone when it lacks plenty of 'standard' type of features, ones that average phones have today..

Though it excels in a field or two, it has too much hype. Way to much.

and lolz, don't worry about listing small thing the iPhone doesn't have. Small things matter, lots.

You mean, like overrated...

[Mpilk901]

Nokia are the same, there really careless when it comes to phones. They forget all the small things and rush their phones out. By the time you've bought a N73, they've released an N75! There '5MP Camera Phones' are absolute crap, it's like the camera doesn't understand black and just makes a fuzzy blue haze wherever the black is. I'd rather have an iPhone over a Nokia, video recording isn't actually a problem because you can download this free app which gives you it but the fact that they don't include it is stupid.

(I could write more but I'm too lazy and want to play some free mode on GTAIV.)

Overall? Phones suck. Stick with the black and white ones

Edited August 7, 2008 by FallenClyro

[WRX22B1998]

lol

^ owns iphone

[Nate10]

Thankyou Chris. You're someone that realizes just, how... standard the iPhone is.. I feel funny even calling it a standard phone when it lacks plenty of 'standard' type of features, ones that average phones have today..

Though it excels in a field or two, it has too much hype. Way to much.

and lolz, don't worry about listing small thing the iPhone doesn't have. Small things matter, lots.

You mean, like overrated...

If you mean I think the iPhone is overrated. Then yes, I think that.