The top 10 things we hate about the iPhone
Look, we love our iPhones as much as the person, but at this late point in the game, there are some things that are just inexcusable. Here’s our top 10 things we hate about the iPhone, and we’ll post up our top 10 things we hate about the Bold later on. Feel free to chime in with your own! Also note that we’re talking about the iPhone in its default state, not a jailbreaked unit. Here’s our list in no particular order:
1. You can’t use custom sounds for email notifications, SMS, etc.
2. Copy and paste. Sorry, but it’s ridiculous at this point.
3. When forwarding an email with an attachment, the iPhone sends it out locally. That means if you have a 1MB attachment, you have to send 1MB worth of data when forwarding. This doesn’t happen on Windows Mobile or the BlackBerry — it’s sent from the server. Not cool.
4. No unified inbox. At this point, there’s no reason you should have to go through the rigmarole of switching through tabs and endless menus to get to another email inbox. Cut this down, give us color-coded emails that correspond with that particular account — something!
5. Video recording. Again, it’s technically possible, but we don’t have it.
6. The touch screen capture button in the Camera application is horrid. Let’s use one of the volume keys or something to take a picture. It’s not a good setup.
7. You can’t forward text messages. Something that is a no-brainer just isn’t here.
8. There isn’t a way to delete individual calls from the recent call list. Not that we need to hide anything from our girlfriends or anything…
9. No file structure that is user-accessible. That means you can’t save any attachment that isn’t a photo, you can’t download files from websites, etc. Additionally, each application can only access its own file structure so you can forget about doing anything sexy.
10. The push-background notification service is still nowhere to be found.
Lack of mms and no background processes is a killer.
Posted from BGR Mobile (iPhone) at: Latitude: 34.713501, Longitude: -86.655502
Apple and AT&T really need to fix the terrible user experience using MMS on the iPhone in the US. I make the case here: http://blog.mcmanus-family.com/2008/09/the-case-for-mms-on-the-iphone.html
landscape SMS and MMS. I mean WTF why not. Less advanced phones can do it why not this one.
Posted from BGR Mobile (iPhone).
1. Live TV app(Slingbox coming?)
2. AM Radio
3. FM Radio
4. Better camera with flash and zoom
5. video
6. Blackberry quality push e mail
7. Turn By Turn Navigation
8. Background programs
9. Stereo Bluetooth
10. Homescreen icon for Voicemail
11. Longer recent call list
12. Increased voicemail capacity(AT&T)
13. Homescreen icon for Keypad
14. Cut and paste
15. MMS
16. Make it a little thicker to allow
for a larger capacity.
I have had every phone, and even with these shortcomings the iPhone is still the best because of the great easy to use operating system, apps store, and great phone.
#11 Stock getting pwned this year largely due to the epic fail at Macworld
Please, please let me search my email (like I can on a BlackBerry)!
I am a longtime winmo user who switched from tilt to the iphone. The only reason mainly is the screen size. I would switch to something different as soon as I find a phone with the same screen size.
uhhhhhh MULTIMEDIA MESSAGES! without having to visit a special webpage n type in sum crazy login & password that is impossible to memorize!!!!!!!!!!
11. It’s made by Apple
Everyone seems to be on the hate train so I’m not going to follow. Although Jailbreaking shouldnt have to be done, it solves 7/10 of those problems listed. Once jailbroken, you can change alert sounds due to unrestricted access to the filesystem; you can copy/paste with Clippy and Pastebud; video recording with Cycorder, better camera functions with Snapture; forward text messages with iRealSMS; delete individual logs with iLog; jailbreaking allows user-accessible file structure so file downloads are possible (any file type, without size restriction); also to those mentioning multi-tasking, it is enabled through the Backgrounder app. Music and Msn is running in the background as I type this.
Let this be an informative post to those who think the iPhone CAN’T do these things because it CAN. Although it is achieved through 3rd party apps, it’s what has to be done to remove the stupid restrictions Apple places on these phones. It comes down to Apps. Apps unleash capabilities on a phone, and iPhone’s can store a ton of them so it’s capabilites are huge. Other phone makers are realizing this and are following the App centered model. It’s a good thing. Just don’t think the iPhone is garbage though. It has it’s strengths and it’s weaknesses, like all other phones.
Also forgot to mention MMS is achieved through SwirlyMMS (carrier based, not web based); landscape(sideways keyboard) texting and email is possible with iRealSMS and FireMail; can reply to SMS messages anywhere (no need to close apps); among many other things it can do that other phones can’t due to its large app base.
Please don’t consider me a full blown fanboy, just a bit. I hate Apples restrictions. I’m just letting people know there is an underground scene that enhances the phone beyond what most people think its limitations are. I actually came from a Blackberry and Treo before that. I think the Bold is an amazing phone and it has it’s place. I’ll agree with this though, its sad if you have to jailbreak the phone to make it better. It makes it a completely different phone though, and Apple could learn a lot from the talented 3rd party App developers.
Oh, all those farting apps…
At Steve: You can get good streaming adult content on iPhone. ifap.to
I don’t know where some of these people live. I’ve had both iPhones since inception and have had no service issues or device “lock-ups”. First Gen had an earpiece issue and Apple replaced it.
Good list, BGR. I was happy to see you didn’t include Flash and MMS. Apple will never provide them. Flash inclusion would kill their iTunes store (why would you buy a TV show when you could steam it for free?) and MMS is dead technology used by kids. I’d add to the list of gripes no landscape keyboard outside of browser and the fact that there are no alerts on the timed-out screen for anything but missed calls and texts (you must open the device to see if you really did hear the email chime).
The iPhone is a cool device. But not for power users. Heck not even really for semi-power users.
No MMS
No copy paste
No Flash
No file system
No profile management
No customizable lock screen
No open source’ness
No Bluetooth Audio
But there are plenty of farting apps if you need one…
^Your definition of ‘power’ user is intentionally oblique. I’m a power-user, with multiple devices on multiple carriers and very little exception believe your list is nothing but overly simplified potshots at something you enjoy ragging on. Sad really.
An abundance of negative spam drivel you offer.
It’s not a good phone. I still have call drops and screen freeze issues.
I dunno; haven’t missed any of that stuff myself. I don’t really want another sack of features. I’d rather see a list of the top ten features to remove from [well-known product] to make it better. How about it?
Here’s a few more:
Why (oh why?) can I not send contacts (by SMS, Bluetooth)?
Same for Calendar Entries?
Why is there no Caldav support? Apple supports MS-Exchange, but not its own Calendar Server…
Cellular Modem Functionality?
Bluetooth Stereo Headset function?
In particular the Cellular Modem function is something that is really missing for business users.
And not being able to send contacts by SMS, a problem additionally exacerbated by the lack of copy & paste, is really a ridiculous omission. Any bottom-of-the-line, free giveaway phone has this function, but not the iPhone…
Regards from Vienna,
Richard
Poor camera, no flash, no MMS, no video cam, no GPS, call duration?, Forwarding of SMS? Saving SMS? Useless speakers, bluetooth? Cut and paste(HA),poor sim contact/phone contact management, no customizable profiles, need baby-sized fingers to write SMS, radio? Great toy, poor phone.
Can you send this to Apple? Maybe the whole link???
I love my iPhone – I really do.
But I miss MMS, Video, a camera button, apps that can run in the background and don’t shut down when I get a call or text… etc.
If I didn’t work with AT&T – I’d consider switching for the Pre
Some items on that list are concerns fro me like video recording and copypaste, others I either don’t care about or don’t want, like a unified inbox. I definitely don’t want that and if it is ever added I hope it can be deactivated. Saying its a terrible phone is a bit extreme in my opinion having been a blackberry addict for some time and a treo user before that and Windows Mobile before that I truly prefer the IPhone interface integration with the iPod and web surfing capability.
But I am always open to rivals. especially know that my entire ITunes music library is DRM free. I just wish the Pre didnt come with a physical keyboard. I hate those things…
Enough with the multiple SMS notifications! I know it’s there and I’ll read it when I’m ready.
Can not search emails, most IMAP servers will even perform the search operation for you!
crying like girls on this post.
just own both a Bold and an iPhone and you can solve all the worlds problems. I keep my iphone in my bag to play games, listen to tunes, etc. Browse on wifi.
i have zero of the above problems since the combination is the holy grail of smart phone usage
I echo the Bluetooth complaint for a number of reasons:
1. Yeah I guess bluetooth stereo headphones would be cool
2. Pairing with my laptop. Seriously my SE phone used to lock my laptop when I walked away from it. My laptop would also show me who was calling when my phone was in my pocket, c’mon Apple!
3. Tethering. I want to do tethering via bluetooth not wi-fi.
4. Keywords. I want to pair a bt keyboard with my iphone in landscape mode do use it for notetaking in meetings.
I still love the iphone. But I think Apples bluetooth people were gonna make things work, and then they got high.