Where the iPhone really sucks
A couple months ago, I succumbed to Apple's marketing and switched my dying Palm Treo 650 to a brand spanking new iPhone. And for the record, I have to say that I really like it. The web browser is just as amazing as they promised, and the interface is fun and easy to use. I'm even getting used to the touchscreen "keyboard," although my e-mails and messages do contain more typos than when I used the Treo. It is truly more than just a phone, and more like a next-generation mobile media device that also happens to have a phone and Internet connectivity built-in.
So with that out of the way, I want to take a few moments to talk about what no Apple fanatic will tell you: where the iPhone absolutely sucks! Because I'm a regular consumer and not a member of the .Mac religion, I'm allowed to do this.
First, I simply cannot believe how bad phone-to-phone picture messaging is on the iPhone. I've spent the last 3 years training every member of my family to send and receive pictures by cell phone. It's a great way for us all to stay in touch, and I estimate that we all now collectively snap and send 5 pictures to each other a week.
On my Treo (and most cell phones), I'd get a text message, tap a link and see the picture right there. Then I'd snap my own picture and send it back. It was a fun, easy and addictive way to stay in touch.
On the iPhone, all of that goes out the window. I need to pull out a pencil and paper to write down two impossible to remember codes, then go to a URL from a computer and type it all in. Don't believe me? Here's a real example of a picture message I received on my phone from a family member yesterday:
Yes, you read correctly. In place of a picture, it says, "You can view my message via the Internet at viewmymessage.com using Msg ID (impossible to remember alphanumberic code) and password (another impossible to remember alphanumeric code)". And no, you can't click on anything to take you to that content in the iPhone's integrated Web browser.
Perhaps worst of all, if you did write down all of that information, you can't actually view the message on your phone from viewmymessage.com because it uses Flash, and Flash won't work on the iPhone.
For something that Apple CEO Steve Jobs lauded as the most amazing product Apple had ever produced after the original Mac, I just have to say ,"Wow, you're out of touch!" Apparently he doesn't use picture messaging.
But wait, there's more!
On my Treo, I found myself constantly taking notes on the little thumb-keyboard of simple things like books to read, shopping lists, and even occasional meeting notes. When I synched my Treo, all of those notes would copy to the computer so that I could bring them up on my screen. The reverse was also true: I could type notes into the Palm desktop, and any changes or new notes would synch over to the Treo.
How does this experience compare on the iPhone? It doesn't. There's now way to get notes off your phone, or from your computer to your phone! This means that those 126 notes sitting on my Treo are currently inaccessible on the most advanced phone ever created in human history. I'm nervous about adding important notes to the iPhone because they could be lost. I can't believe Apple engineers spent even a nanosecond of time building the notes feature into the phone and didn't provide a way to synch. Apparently Steve Jobs also never used notes on a phone, let alone the iPhone.
(By the way, I heard in one of the big Apple rumor blogs that iPhone notes will sync with some future feature of its Leopard operating system. Still, that's no excuse to launch a dead-end product like iPhone notes).
Third -- and this one really blows me away -- while you can read documents on the Web that are saved in PDF, Excel or Word formats, you can't save them to read later. In fact, there is no way to explicitly save something to your phone that you can't put into iTunes or iPhoto -- not from the web, not from your computer, not from anywhere. The "disk mode" that most iPods allow doesn't work on the iPhone. As the villain in The Princess Bride once said, "Inconceivable!"
The PDF issue is really more of a missed opportunity than a true "suck" because the iPhone's PDF viewer is very good. You can zoom in and out of documents, page through with the flick f your thumb, and even view PDFs in landscape (they become wider when you tilt the phone, just like Web pages). It's so good that whenever I look at a PDF on the iPhone I think it would be perfect for reading electronic books or newspapers. Hmm ... there's a thought. Maybe they don't allow saving yet because they plan to offer electronic books through iTunes in the future, and for a fee?
My final big complaint has been well documented, but I'll say it anyway. No Flash player, and no Java reader. I don't know if Apple excluded these two increasingly important Web tools because of space, lack of licensing agreements or for some other reason, but they really hamper the online experience and I hope they add them soon. I'd say that easily 30% of the sites I visit incorporate some sort of Flash experience, and usually on the home page.
All that said, I know that this is the first version of the iPhone. As a digital products person myself, I understand now everything is perfect in version 1. I think these things bug me so much for two reasons:
1) Apple doesn't talk about them, but Steve Jobs continues to wave his hands extolling the iPhone as the most amazing phone, gadget, handheld computer, etc. of all time. It seems a little hypocritical, because in some ways it is also the worst of all time. If you're going to make claims like that, at least have the decency to point out some of the jaw-dropping flaws in your product. Acknowledge that they exist and say you're working on them (and follow through). Then people like me will stop wining and start hoping more.
2) The "Mac Faithful" who define Apple don't talk about these issues, for the most part. As someone who recently switched from mostly using PCs to mostly using Macs, I'm a big fan of Apple. But in exchange for my faith and the higher price I pay for their supposedly superior products, I expect them to work miracles. And when they don't, I want them to own up like any other consumer tech company. With Mac Fanatics that desire for accountability seems to be lost and Apple can do no wrong. Maybe we should start calling them the Blind Faithful?
Here's the iPhone 2.0!
Technorati Tags:
iPhone, 
gadgets
So with that out of the way, I want to take a few moments to talk about what no Apple fanatic will tell you: where the iPhone absolutely sucks! Because I'm a regular consumer and not a member of the .Mac religion, I'm allowed to do this.
First, I simply cannot believe how bad phone-to-phone picture messaging is on the iPhone. I've spent the last 3 years training every member of my family to send and receive pictures by cell phone. It's a great way for us all to stay in touch, and I estimate that we all now collectively snap and send 5 pictures to each other a week.
On my Treo (and most cell phones), I'd get a text message, tap a link and see the picture right there. Then I'd snap my own picture and send it back. It was a fun, easy and addictive way to stay in touch.
On the iPhone, all of that goes out the window. I need to pull out a pencil and paper to write down two impossible to remember codes, then go to a URL from a computer and type it all in. Don't believe me? Here's a real example of a picture message I received on my phone from a family member yesterday:
Yes, you read correctly. In place of a picture, it says, "You can view my message via the Internet at viewmymessage.com using Msg ID (impossible to remember alphanumberic code) and password (another impossible to remember alphanumeric code)". And no, you can't click on anything to take you to that content in the iPhone's integrated Web browser.Perhaps worst of all, if you did write down all of that information, you can't actually view the message on your phone from viewmymessage.com because it uses Flash, and Flash won't work on the iPhone.
For something that Apple CEO Steve Jobs lauded as the most amazing product Apple had ever produced after the original Mac, I just have to say ,"Wow, you're out of touch!" Apparently he doesn't use picture messaging.
But wait, there's more!
On my Treo, I found myself constantly taking notes on the little thumb-keyboard of simple things like books to read, shopping lists, and even occasional meeting notes. When I synched my Treo, all of those notes would copy to the computer so that I could bring them up on my screen. The reverse was also true: I could type notes into the Palm desktop, and any changes or new notes would synch over to the Treo.
How does this experience compare on the iPhone? It doesn't. There's now way to get notes off your phone, or from your computer to your phone! This means that those 126 notes sitting on my Treo are currently inaccessible on the most advanced phone ever created in human history. I'm nervous about adding important notes to the iPhone because they could be lost. I can't believe Apple engineers spent even a nanosecond of time building the notes feature into the phone and didn't provide a way to synch. Apparently Steve Jobs also never used notes on a phone, let alone the iPhone.
(By the way, I heard in one of the big Apple rumor blogs that iPhone notes will sync with some future feature of its Leopard operating system. Still, that's no excuse to launch a dead-end product like iPhone notes).
Third -- and this one really blows me away -- while you can read documents on the Web that are saved in PDF, Excel or Word formats, you can't save them to read later. In fact, there is no way to explicitly save something to your phone that you can't put into iTunes or iPhoto -- not from the web, not from your computer, not from anywhere. The "disk mode" that most iPods allow doesn't work on the iPhone. As the villain in The Princess Bride once said, "Inconceivable!"
The PDF issue is really more of a missed opportunity than a true "suck" because the iPhone's PDF viewer is very good. You can zoom in and out of documents, page through with the flick f your thumb, and even view PDFs in landscape (they become wider when you tilt the phone, just like Web pages). It's so good that whenever I look at a PDF on the iPhone I think it would be perfect for reading electronic books or newspapers. Hmm ... there's a thought. Maybe they don't allow saving yet because they plan to offer electronic books through iTunes in the future, and for a fee?
My final big complaint has been well documented, but I'll say it anyway. No Flash player, and no Java reader. I don't know if Apple excluded these two increasingly important Web tools because of space, lack of licensing agreements or for some other reason, but they really hamper the online experience and I hope they add them soon. I'd say that easily 30% of the sites I visit incorporate some sort of Flash experience, and usually on the home page.
All that said, I know that this is the first version of the iPhone. As a digital products person myself, I understand now everything is perfect in version 1. I think these things bug me so much for two reasons:
1) Apple doesn't talk about them, but Steve Jobs continues to wave his hands extolling the iPhone as the most amazing phone, gadget, handheld computer, etc. of all time. It seems a little hypocritical, because in some ways it is also the worst of all time. If you're going to make claims like that, at least have the decency to point out some of the jaw-dropping flaws in your product. Acknowledge that they exist and say you're working on them (and follow through). Then people like me will stop wining and start hoping more.
2) The "Mac Faithful" who define Apple don't talk about these issues, for the most part. As someone who recently switched from mostly using PCs to mostly using Macs, I'm a big fan of Apple. But in exchange for my faith and the higher price I pay for their supposedly superior products, I expect them to work miracles. And when they don't, I want them to own up like any other consumer tech company. With Mac Fanatics that desire for accountability seems to be lost and Apple can do no wrong. Maybe we should start calling them the Blind Faithful?
Here's the iPhone 2.0!
Technorati Tags:
iPhone, gadgets
posted by Dan at
12/04/2007 01:33:00 PM
|
