Top Five Reasons Why the iPhone Sucks

[oalvarez]

Well, actually I said I would BUY it - not that I would KEEP it. Cingular has a 30 day deal, so if I don't like the iPhone, I can return it. Big detail there. If I like it, I'll keep it - I have to BUY it first, though.

We are ASSuming at this point that the iPhone will not have some sort of voice dialing feature. That's purely software driven. The device has a microphone (we can SAFELY assume that), so it IS possible that it could have that feature - even likely considering how ubiquitous voice dialing has become.

I'm not really ASSuming anything else about the iPhone at this juncture.

Seems simple enough to me - if you don't like this device, stop expending so much of your time and energy trying to convince those who do like it why they shouldn't. It's really sort of asinine. Don't buy one of these if you think it's so inferior.

If that doesn't seem logical then perhaps you are just engaging in some :stick:
and that's ok, too, if that's what floats your boat.

i'm going to buy one too because i like taking advantage of the option to return the device if it doesn't work for me.

i'll also agree on the rest.

 

[oalvarez]

the only item that bugs me is that of the virtual keyboard. if it impedes in being able to type on the fly or is any more difficult than typing on a Pearl keyboard (very small buttons but luckily i don't have giant hands) then it will be less appealing to me. it will also need to allow me to view all of my work emails along with subfolders of the inbox. either that or goodlink compatability would suffice although the latter probably isn't going to happen anytime soon.

still looking forward to its release and none of they hype is bothersome. it's part of the deal, a by-product if you will of any new tech product to market.

 

[surur]

We are ASSuming at this point that the iPhone will not have some sort of voice dialing feature. That's purely software driven. The device has a microphone (we can SAFELY assume that), so it IS possible that it could have that feature - even likely considering how ubiquitous voice dialing has become.

Pogue who has used the device, says no voice dialing. You are ASSuming Jobs will add it in. I work with the facts as they are known.
http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/01/11/the-ultimate-iphone-frequently-asked-questions/

You know the camera cant even take videos, dont you?

Simplicity with power is genius. Simplicity by ripping out all options is pretty easy. I'm not impressed.

Surur

 

[kmrivers]

Pogue who has used the device, says no voice dialing. You are ASSuming Jobs will add it in. I work with the facts as they are known.
http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/01/11/the-ultimate-iphone-frequently-asked-questions/

You know the camera cant even take videos, dont you?

Simplicity with power is genius. Simplicity by ripping out all options is pretty easy. I'm not impressed.

Surur

You realize the phone is not done, and surely not released don't you? Complaining about what it does and does not have now is pointless since the phone isn't even out. When you can go buy it, you can complain then.

Until that point, talking it down is silly.

 

[bruckwine]

At this rate, it looks like they expect all iPod owners who never complain about no removable battery and willingly send in their iPods to Apple OR buy a new one after 18 months to be their main target group. But what goes for iPods will not go for phones.

my biggest qualm overall...one thing to have an iPod sit for days (mine does) but a phone has to last all day all night even - why devices with "poor" batteries like treos BB's etc have removable batteries...

The point is that more than 2mp is only an improvement on paper. Even a 2mp points out the limitations of the lens used. Unless SE is selling their camera/phones with Zeiss or comparable glass lenses, then it's really only marketing hype. Just because you CAN put a 5mp imager in a phone doesn't mean you SHOULD. You can put a big block motor in a station wagon, but what good is it?

I think cameras on phones are a non-issue (my opinion) - VGAis good enough for a quick snap/spur of the moment...if I got o a wedding I'll carry my REAL camera or camcorder!

You do realize you can walk into an Apple store, apple certified repair shop, and probably even a cingular store and get it replaced.

You dont have to send it off anywhere. And since they have a replacement program for the iPod. I can only imagine they will have a system for the iPhone that is slighty different.

...

Heard this said several times but how convenient is that esp in this modern day when ppl always have something important to do..the fact that the ability to have a spare battery in your pocket/case is removed means that you will still have down time, whether it be the 2 hrs in traffic to reach the store or the two days before you get the time (e.g. weekend)...and it'll be harder when they go int'l witht he phone as apple doesn't have stores on every corner outside the US. I just think if thye made the battery self-serviceabe it would've made such a big big difference...

 

[kmrivers]

Heard this said several times but how convenient is that esp in this modern day when ppl always have something important to do..the fact that the ability to have a spare battery in your pocket/case is removed means that you will still have down time, whether it be the 2 hrs in traffic to reach the store or the two days before you get the time (e.g. weekend)...and it'll be harder when they go int'l witht he phone as apple doesn't have stores on every corner outside the US. I just think if thye made the battery self-serviceabe it would've made such a big big difference...

If you are that busy that you can't take 30 minutes to get the battery replaced (which you would have a while to do as chances are the battery won't just quit, you should re-evaluate your life a bit.

The phone isn't just doing to die. If you charge it, I am sure it will make it 2hrs to the store. I mean really. Come on.

Besides, 30pin iPod connector equals in car charger. Boo hoo you have to be tied to something. Big whoop. When you arent talking it can be charging no?

Apple has a good number of stores as well: https://www.apple.com/retail/storelist/#mn_p

If you are in Africa, yeah you might be out of luck

Besides, if you know the battery is wearing down get it replaced before you go.

I dont carry batteries around. And I don't care really. If you need this, the device isnt for you. Complaining about it not having something isnt going to help the situation. Should of, could of, would of. You know?

Besides, just as with the iPods you can do it yourself. And it isn't even that hard. In time there will be batteries and there will be a special tool as well.

These guys are already on it: http://www.ipodbatteryfaq.com/#iphone
https://forums.imore.com/e?link=htt...m/installvideos/ipod_4g_bat_m/&token=YF1jbyyr

 

[Pearl_Diva]

You do realize you can walk into an Apple store, apple certified repair shop, and probably even a cingular store and get it replaced.
You dont have to send it off anywhere. And since they have a replacement program for the iPod. I can only imagine they will have a system for the iPhone that is slighty different.

For me, it isn't an issue. I dont carry extra batteries around. If it dies. It dies. I understand some people live on their phone and maybe contact business. Right now I don't. So I can't sympathize. But, I almost have never run my battery out completely. It lasts all day. Then I charge it if need be.

I also don't talk on my phone for 5 hours straight.

Even when the battery start to lose its charge. It typically isn't an instant thing where it just doesnt work anymore. So you wouldn't be SOL. You would have to be more conservative until you can take it in and have it replaced.

Its really not hard. And I dont see it as an inconvienence. But that is me of course. But I think this issue is horribly overblown. Especially with the "You have to send it in" comments. You dont have to mail it to Apple. You simply don't. That is of course the only way you guys can convince someone it sucks, excluding the facts that is.

This is almost the same as having to send it to Apple for service. Nice try.

Speak for yourself! I can't stand batteries running out too fast and I DO buy replacement batteries if I use the device for long enough.

And I never said the iPhone sucked, I wish people would quit saying that! I said it's not perfect, not that it sucked!! Palm is what sucks for almost the last 2 years and I've said that over 100 times on here I'm sure, but you choose to forget that I guess.

Yes the iPhone is cool, but honestly I still get more excited at the TyTN specs.

 

[Pearl_Diva]

If you are that busy that you can't take 30 minutes to get the battery replaced (which you would have a while to do as chances are the battery won't just quit, you should re-evaluate your life a bit.

The phone isn't just doing to die. If you charge it, I am sure it will make it 2hrs to the store. I mean really. Come on.

Besides, 30pin iPod connector equals in car charger. Boo hoo you have to be tied to something. Big whoop. When you arent talking it can be charging no?

Apple has a good number of stores as well: https://www.apple.com/retail/storelist/#mn_p

If you are in Africa, yeah you might be out of luck

Besides, if you know the battery is wearing down get it replaced before you go.

I dont carry batteries around. And I don't care really. If you need this, the device isnt for you. Complaining about it not having something isnt going to help the situation. Should of, could of, would of. You know?

Besides, just as with the iPods you can do it yourself. And it isn't even that hard. In time there will be batteries and there will be a special tool as well.

These guys are already on it: http://www.ipodbatteryfaq.com/#iphone
https://forums.imore.com/e?link=htt...m/installvideos/ipod_4g_bat_m/&token=bdF-02aE

Is there a real 30 minute guarantee or is that an estimate on your part? I'd probably have to leave the phone there and come back later. That can be considered an inconvenience.

 

[Pearl_Diva]

The iPod. Why do people hate it? It doesnt support all the codecs, DRM blah blah blah. Consumers don't care. People don't care it doesn't play DiVx or Xvid. They buy it on the iTunes store. THat is the model that works. An end to end solution that works. Not, "heres the player figure it out" why do you think Microsoft jumped on that bandwagon instead of doing what Creative and the others do? That model doesn't work.

The iPod and Zune(YUCK) models only work because people are turning into DRM sheeps. Cowon and Archos are actually the real way to go if you want real freedom over your own music and video. Oh yeah, and Creative sounds better than the iPod. Their drawback, they support too much crappy DRM WMA, and not enough independent formats except for MP3.

I'm not anti-Apple. But just because all aren't 100% enthused with a product may not mean they're anti-anything, just a skeptical consumer.

 

[oalvarez]

just to clarify that blackberry batteries are not poor as one user points out: of all of the ones that i have owned and used, those that my spouse have owned and used, have never failed in the battery department (have never needed a replacement nor have i ever experienced battery issues.). then, count the hundreds of people that i know who use them (finance industry types) and i can't count one who ever complained of a battery problem. blackberries work, they typically don't have goofy battery issues like some of the Treos i've owned. now, consider all of the Ipods i've owned (4 in total) and those that are owned by my friends and i still can't recall or point to ONE single complaint attributed to the battery. what am i saying? i just don't think there is going to be an issue related to the quality/worthiness/longevity of the battery on the new iphone (not to be mistaken with the amount of battery charge/duration/life). just like the treo 680 if not all others (short battery life), users tend to keep them charged at work or in the car or the like, but i would think users who "carry a spare battery" are far and few between. i personally think carrying a spare battery is nonsense given that any device should at least make it through a workday (if it can't, it's not meant for real work purposes, in my eyes), but hey, that's just me.

 

[kmrivers]

The iPod and Zune(YUCK) models only work because people are turning into DRM sheeps. Cowon and Archos are actually the real way to go if you want real freedom over your own music and video. Oh yeah, and Creative sounds better than the iPod. Their drawback, they support too much crappy DRM WMA, and not enough independent formats except for MP3.

I'm not anti-Apple. But just because all aren't 100% enthused with a product may not mean they're anti-anything, just a skeptical consumer.

I like iPods. I like the iTunes integration. Plus I use a Mac, most players aren't compatible.

I rip my own MP3's. I won't buy iTunes music until it is lossless. Paying the same price for a way inferior version of the song, i'll pass. Same with the movies. Same with movies, give me some 720P.

Even then, I doubt I will ever buy into DRM. Haven't yet and don't plan to. Again for it is about the integration. Which is part of the reason I like iPods.

Honestly I don't understand how they have managed to sell 2 Billion songs on iTunes. I don't think people realize what DRM is. In that way, I am sure the music companies are loving Apple. They fed people the DRM in an intergrated way where people don't even realize they are doing it.

I agree, the players that play all the codecs are the best way to do it. But again, I like to rip my own video as well that way I control the quality. Not DL junk from the net.

I buy the hardware but I dont buy into the DRM. And honestly if they were to offer up identical quality files for the media I could buy. I would get down with DRM.

Unfortunetly it is a necessary evil. People steal. What is sad is that content stealing is such a common place, I wonder if we will ever stop...

 

[oalvarez]

do you know why they have managed to sell 2 billion songs on iTunes? because it is easy, relatively inexpensive, and packaged neatly. remember, many consumers like to be spoon fed even if it comes at a slightly higher cost than the less costly alternative.

iTunes is easy to use and it looks good. many people like that and why many people will like the iPhone. my .02

 

[kamizuno]

I've been reading all these iPhone threads with interest since I'm a MacHead and Apple investor, and the one thing I find interesting is the view that the iPhone keyboard sucks. And the reason I find this interesting is because everytime I show off my Treo, the first comment is that the keyboard seems too small, and that when you press a key you wind up pressing 2-3 keys simultaneously. People aren't convince that you can type on a Treo until they actually try it, then they go "OOH, the keyboard actually works, how do they do that?!" So personally, I plan on reserving judgement on the Iphone keyboarding until I actually try it. Because saying it sucks without trying it first is basically saying that Apple engineers and Jobs are idiots who are willing to release a product that has a unusable keyboard, and considering my Apple stock is worth 7X what I paid for, I know Jobs isn't stupid

 

[Pearl_Diva]

iTunes is fine IMO. Now that they allow drag and drop for the iPod. Plus they finally realized that VBR MP3 is a good thing.

DRM however is unnecessary. People don't steal, they trade. The music companies just don't like that you can rip MP3s for your friends. This is the one thing the Zune got right(people trading MP3s), BUT then they went and added DRM, which destroyed the whole concept!

 

[kmrivers]

Nice post kamizuno.

I get that too with my Treo. I can type pretty quick on it and people are like "whoa."

The view that it will suck comes from the lack of tactile feedback and no look/one hand operation.

I am confident it possible to use it with one hand and without tactile feedback. No look, no. Even my Treo now. I have to look at it. I won't even try to type with one hand.

If you open your mind and get over the idea that you need to feel something to use it, I think the keyboard would be very usable. You would learn the positions relative to the sides and to the bottom of the screen you are typing in. You will also learn the spacing.

It just might take work. Will it be better? I don't know. For me it will probably be equal. It does give us a larger screen by removing the keyboard though. Which gives us more space for the content. The email, the video, the webpages, the pictures, the apps, etc etc.

 

[archie]

I can't believe that people still fail to grasp the engineering feat that Apple has accomplished here in regards to power management and engineering.

Let's consider the iPhone's size. The iPhone is literally half the size of a Treo (11mm thickness compared to 23mm thickness). Even smaller when compared to the older models.

Now, what would you imagine the overall space would be that the battery occupies in the new iPhone. Considering the entire size of the phone and the components involved:

8GB of RAM
A huge 320 by 480 multi-touch screen
Quad-band (MHz: 850, 900, 1800, 1900) radio
Wi-fi
Bluetooth
Camera
Antenna
Speakerphone
Headphone jack
iPod interconnect
SIM card
Main processor
DSP processor
Multitude of circuit boards

What kind of room can they possibly have left for a phone. Based on the size of the iPhone, a person would have to imagine that half of it would be dedicated solely to the battery to get 5 hours from it.

Yet, this is impossible. Look at the list of stuff they have shoved in there (in addition to the bits of electronics I know nothing of that are required for such a device).

My point is that the battery is quite small and to engineer the ability to allow the user to swap batteries in and out would impact the resulting size to a much greater degree than if for example Palm were to make this same change given the Treos existing size.

Do you get it? The iPhone's battery would lose a greater overall percentage of its mass to engineer an iPhone design that would allow for a swappable battery because the space to hold the battery is so small to begin with. The iPhone would end up with 2-3 hours of battery life.

I am glad Apple chose to engineer a built in (non-swapable) battery.

Besides; the whole idea of making these "smartphones" like a Treo or a Blackberry or the iPhone is to give the advantage of convergence. I will be able to just grab my iPhone and go - not worrying about also unplugging that extra battery pack and carrying that around with me too.

 

[archie]

iTunes is fine IMO. Now that they allow drag and drop for the iPod. Plus they finally realized that VBR MP3 is a good thing.

They have had this capability since the very first iPod. It has always been there.

 

[archie]

I've been reading all these iPhone threads with interest since I'm a MacHead and Apple investor, and the one thing I find interesting is the view that the iPhone keyboard sucks. And the reason I find this interesting is because everytime I show off my Treo, the first comment is that the keyboard seems too small, and that when you press a key you wind up pressing 2-3 keys simultaneously. People aren't convince that you can type on a Treo until they actually try it, then they go "OOH, the keyboard actually works, how do they do that?!" So personally, I plan on reserving judgement on the Iphone keyboarding until I actually try it. Because saying it sucks without trying it first is basically saying that Apple engineers and Jobs are idiots who are willing to release a product that has a unusable keyboard, and considering my Apple stock is worth 7X what I paid for, I know Jobs isn't stupid

Exactly.

And I would like to go on record here in saying that it is the Treo's tactile feedback that will prove to be a downfall in the end when comapred to Apple's iPhone.

How can that possibly be you ask?

Well, your finger actually slows as it progresses through the pressing of keys that provide this tactile feedback. Sure you may get a somewhat satisfying clicking of sorts; but compare that to tapping without any need to fully depress a key.

Try it! Try it right now with your Treo. Type on it's keyboard, then try tapping on this.

Which is faster?

 

[kmrivers]

Also, the keyboard provides visual feedback as well. And the error correcting will help I am sure. It wouldnt be much different from the stuff they use in the Pearl so auto complete.

If I type "shir" and hit y and t at the same time, chances are it will ignore the y and use the t. That is how it was described. So we will see how it works when it arrives. It also has auto complete like phones have had since the beginning due to the 3 letters per number texting crap. I imagine this will be much more intuitive as well.

All in all. The keyboard doesnt worry me one bit. 3G will keep me waiting. I am sure when I can buy in March 08, the iPhone will be a bad mother. Can't wait. Just hope I can resist when it comes out... :evil:

EDIT: Man that thing is so sexy... I can't wait to see that display in person.

 

[bruckwine]

If you are that busy that you can't take 30 minutes to get the battery replaced (which you would have a while to do as chances are the battery won't just quit, you should re-evaluate your life a bit.

The phone isn't just doing to die. If you charge it, I am sure it will make it 2hrs to the store. I mean really. Come on.

Besides, 30pin iPod connector equals in car charger. Boo hoo you have to be tied to something. Big whoop. When you arent talking it can be charging no?

Apple has a good number of stores as well: https://www.apple.com/retail/storelist/#mn_p

If you are in Africa, yeah you might be out of luck

Besides, if you know the battery is wearing down get it replaced before you go.

I dont carry batteries around. And I don't care really. If you need this, the device isnt for you. Complaining about it not having something isnt going to help the situation. Should of, could of, would of. You know?

Besides, just as with the iPods you can do it yourself. And it isn't even that hard. In time there will be batteries and there will be a special tool as well.

These guys are already on it: http://www.ipodbatteryfaq.com/#iphone
https://forums.imore.com/e?link=htt...m/installvideos/ipod_4g_bat_m/&token=xGDMQkS2

Are you getting personal?! Perhaps you need to evaluate your life if you start insulting ppl over thir valid opinions...I made a valid point.

Not everyone has the time to "go down the road" to replace a phone battery when they have more important things to do like work, groceries, pick up the kids etc etc OR want to have a gazillion chargers....being able to order a battery online (5 mins top) and have it at your door in 3 days ready at hand seems much less of a hassle to me! Basically extends your product life by two and cut the hassle of lining up in a store...save that time for more serious phone problems like a touchscreen that doesn't work or a bad microphone.

And if the phone is made for the average consumer who doesn't have to be high tech fixing it should fall into that comfy Apple lifestyle - I guarantee it's easier to replace a removable battery than

a. doing it yourself (I've changed my iPod battery and despite what ppl say it's hard and you're liable to scratch your device, break your plastic tools etc if you're not careful)

b. paying $100 and waiting 1-3 weeks for apple to do it (given that's a big chunk of what the iPod/iphone cost the first place) esp if there is no store where you live/work.

I state again - they would have made the phone much more attractive if they'd used a removable/user-replaceable battery