In the world of mobile phones the Apple iPhone has become rather popular. We think that the hype isn’t worth the handset and we have 51 reasons to back up our opinion.
- High Price – £269 (A lot when you can pick up the N95 for free)
- Slow internet connection – The iPhone doesn’t have 3G, it only has EDGE so browsing the internet is gonna be sloooow.
- Only 8gb memory – 8gb what? You can pick up a 160gb video ipod (£229) from the Apple store for less than the 8gb iPhone (£269).
- Expensive tariffs – You only get 200 mins and 200 text for £35 a month. This is 40% more than the normal O2 200 minutes and 200 texts tariff which only costs £25. You do get “unlimited” data but because the iPhone is not 3G I can’t see many people using it to browse the internet at dial up speeds.
- Only available on 02 – The iPhone is only available on O2 and there are only 3 tariffs available. So if you are a high text user, there isn’t a package for you.
- It’s a first generation device – Buying the first version is risky, usually there are problems, bugs, errors, etc. 68 bugs have already been found.
- A better version will be coming out soon – You know that in a few month’s time a new, improved version will be available. Rumours are that a 16gb iPhone with 3G will be released in the new year.
- The price will be cut shortly – in America the iPhone cost $599 at launch but within a couple of months the price dropped to $399. So hold out buying one for a few months and you could save yourself £100+.
- Termination fee maybe payable? – In Amercia AT&T (the network provider) charges a $175 termination fee. Will O2 do the same?
- Video iPod has ten times the memory and costs 40% less – You can buy an 80gb video iPod for £159 direct from the Apple store, while the iPhone cost £269 and is only 8gb.
- No Internet Explore or Firefox, you have to use Safari – I’ve never used Safari but I’ve heard that Firefox is better.
- Some websites won’t work – The iPhone doesn’t support Flash, which means that most online animations simply won’t display. Some interactive graphics won’t display and entire websites won’t display if they are made using Flash.
- No Java – Java is mainly used to create applications embedded within webpages – things such as online calendar tools or broadband speed tests.
- Can’t switch to another network provider – If you decide that you want to switch from O2 to another network, you can’t officially, as the iPhone has been locked to O2 only. There are several unofficial methods to unlock it but they cost money and the phone may become locked again when software updates happen.
- Difficult to type – The iPhone only has one physical button, the rest of the controls are via a touch screen. Texting is particularly difficult because the keys are tiny, making it easy to type the wrong letter.
- No iChat – So no ability to chat.
- No other instant messaging client – You can’t install any instant messaging client, so it looks like its back to text messaging.
- iTunes Lock-in – No window’s media player, etc.
- Screen – It’s hard to see in daylight.
- No MS Office – Can’t use MSWord etc.
- Lacking standard email functions – There’s no BCC field, and it doesn’t copy your sent messages over to the e-mail application on your Mac or PC. Also deleting multiple messages is a bit cumbersome.
- Only 2 Mega Pixel Camera – The standard has been 3.2 mega pixel for a while now. Plus there are at least four phones with 5 mega pixel cameras (Samsung G600, LG Viewty, Nokia N95, Sony Ericsson K850i).
- No zoom in the camera – come on Apple, catch-up.
- No flash in the camera – so pictures at night are out
- No Real Apps – Since the iPhone is a new computing platform, one of the problems is that there are not many applications that are compatible with it. Apple has also made it clear that developers will only be able to create web-based applications, using the Safari web-kit. This means that no native applications will be available for the iPhone any time soon.
- Smudges – Because you have to use the screen to control the device it can accumulate a greasy film.
- Scratches – Unlike a clam-shell phone the iPhone’s screen is always visible and is therefore more like to get scratches.
- No built in voice recording – it can be very handy.
- No voice dialing – very handy too and pretty basic.
- No Games – There are no in-built games on the iPhone.
- No Yahoo Maps – Google Maps is probably better, but where’s the choice?
- Can’t save computer files – Unlike the iPod, the iPhone doesn’t offer a “disk mode” to allow storage of any computer files. So you can’t use it as a hard drive to move files between computers.
- You can’t edit Word and Excel docs – You can open, read and forward Word and Excel docs sent to you by e-mail, but you can’t edit them.
- You must have a computer – You can’t activate an iPhone without a Mac or PC. Also a computer is the only way to get music, video and other media onto the phone. To copy a CD onto an iPhone, for example, you first copy it onto the computer and then transfer it from computer to phone.
- Can’t download music from the internet without a wi-fi connection – When you are out and about you can download music directly from iTunes but only if you are within range of a Wi-Fi connection.
- The battery gradually dies over time and can only be replaced by Apple for a high fee – Unlike all other mobile phones, you will not be able to remove the battery in the iPhone yourself. The only way will be send it back to Apple who will charge a substantial fee ($76 in the US).
- Can’t send Picture Messages – You can take a picture with the iPhone, but stupidly you can’t send the picture to anyone because it doesn’t support MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service)
- Can’t send texts to multiple recipients – How basic is that?
- Can’t download games, ringtones and graphics – I assume this is so Apple can sell you their own content
- No video output to TV – This is a nice feature, but the iPhone doesn’t have it
- Can’t connect a blue tooth keyboard – Again, a nice feature, but sadly it doesn’t have it
- You might get mugged – Police have warned iPhone owners to mark it with an indelible UV pen or DNA marker. Also keep it hidden and in vibrate mode to avoid attention
- Can’t use it while wearing gloves – This might not be a concern at the moment, but once winter kicks in you will be cursing Mr. Jobs everytime you take your gloves off just to make a simply phone call.
- No stylus input for text – I think that the screen is not only touch sensitive, but it’s also heat sensitive, and because a stylus doesn’t produce body heat it wont work.
- Not suitable for the visually impaired – Real keyboards have raised detents – usually on the 5 key – to help the disadvantaged use the keyboard. The iPhone has no raised keys.
- No bluetooth wireless connection to a laptop – Annoying
- Can’t sync with corporate email systems – This will annoy the Blackberry crowd.
- No VoIP – Why not? Something to do with the fact that VOIP calls are free?
- No GPS – The N95 has it, so why not?
- iPhone doesn’t play on-hold music for my callers – I’ve never used this but some people like it
- Can’t use standard headphones – The iPhone features the standard headphone socket (also known as minijack socket or 3.5mm audio socket) but annoyingly you probably need an adapter. Some clever spark at Apple decided to recess the socket in such a way that most regular headphone jacks won’t fit.
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72 Comments
tweeting about this now
)
i’m gonna stick a bookmark link on my iphone home screen
thanks
do you have a facebook group?
Good reasons which make me aware of very good features of apple which I did not aware of it. But yet I am not convinced to buy it. So give me some more reasons then I will think.
very interesting and informative, i will link ya in a tweet
Just wasted 10 mins of my life reading this drivel…. Laughed at the comments left, you are a complete moron! I know this article was written when the phone was first released but some of the things listed are complete bollocks!
Only has a 2 MP camera…. “Standard on phones is 3.2″ – the CCD chip is of a much higher quality and if you think “Mega Pixels” determine the overall quality of the picture then you’re a bigger nob cheese than I thought!?!?!
AJ’s comments have to be the best, he spent more time writing a f*&^$%g reply that you did writing this s*&6…. Unbelievable!!!!
Thanks for the brief entertainment, I’m going to call the dog in from outside to see if it’s raining……
Yau are one sad individual. Like it or not, the iPhone is a superb piece of kit. Why do you feel the need to slag it off? No one says you have to buy it. You just sound incredibly bitter and childish.
YOU OBVIOUSLY CANT AFFORD AN IPHONE THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. they are sleek, look good, they are a phone and an ipod in one. The internet isnt slow and using safari makes no different! its only a phone dont expect miracles!
this article is out of date, and the spec is now irrelevent.
Sorry but it invalidates your points.
u= fail
youve never even seen used an iphone i guessing, when you rote this
trying to come up with lame exuses
well i,m going to get a iphone and i,ll say its better than the n95, that was alful.
This is the best what I’ve ever seen… This reasons why do not buy the Apple iPhone device are very ‘low’… You don’t know what to write…
going on the original post, i dont own an iphone but found this after researching about an iphone as im thinking of buying 2, one for me, one for the misses.
i have never read such S***T in my life, if this is your site or they employ you i dont know.
you wouldnt have a job if you worked for me writing such crap, ” you will get mugged” ….
PMSL…………
so if you buy an iphone you will be mugged, is that a special offer from ” dial a phone? “.
really have never heard so much B*LL*CKS….
Amazing to see there are no comments recently from so called Julian…did the the 16gb iphone is responsible of that?
Cheers
I would just like to say that I recently brought the 16GB iphone, and it is truly fantastic!! It looks at the mobile from a totally differant point of veiw and works wonderfully – extremely intuative and lovely to look at… maybe too lovely… I took one look at mine and thought it was prime for a scratching so I clamped a protective case round it from the first day with an anti-scratch screen film, both of which work great (i have already dropped it several times) – the only thing is that I would like to be able to show it off sometimes – its beautiful!
Lack of 3g is an arse, but the finds unsecured wi-fi very well and I don’t find it a problem.
My pet hate about Apple at the moment (I have been using apple computers since the Apple II) is itunes – how come I can load my CDs onto the computer for listening later, and not my DVD’s – this really really really p****s me off. The itunes store is a rip off (although very cool) and will not use it on principle. I have DVD’s I am not paying again for some crap low res quality version for my pod!!!!!! grrrrrrrr.
iphone is great!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you better go and buy one mr. julian
Now there are softwares available for 99% of the issues listed by Julian.
what else you need guys……. go ahead…
A few of my freinds have the N95 and they all say there alot of bugs on there and they crash quite abit
Disclaimer: My comments are not in Apple’s defense. I am replying to the original post just because I feel people who are currently looking to buy a handset – iPhoe or N96 or W960i or anything at all – should get a cleared perspective on iPhone. I want them to know what iPhone is and what it isn’t.
Also, please keep in mind that I am from the US, and many of comments pertain to the infrastructure we have here. I don’t know much about iPhone in the UK.
No device is perfect, and the same applies to Apple iPhone. Anyways, here are my comments:
1. High Price – £269 (A lot when you can pick up the N95 for free)
I am from the US, and here we don’t have N95 for free. Do you need to sign any contract in the UK to get it for free? I would assume that you need to sign a contract to get it for free, and that kind of strikes out your points regarding getting stuck with one carrier for a specified period of time, and paying termination fees in case you do terminate the contract.
N95 usually costs $600 here in the US, so it’s not free. An 8GB iPhone from Apple store is $399 and 16GB version is $499. I don’t want to compare N95 with an iPhone, primarily because I don’t know much about N95. I am not saying iPhone is better or N95 is better, and am not even comparing them per se. It’s purely a personal preference whether one wants a Nokia N95, or an Apple iPhone.
PS: I am also a Nokia fan and an S60 software developer by profession; I have a Nokia N81 as well as an iPhone.
2. Slow internet connection – The iPhone doesn’t have 3G, it only has EDGE so browsing the internet is gonna be sloooow.
I can’t really defend this point of yours. It’s definitely a valid point for someone who uses Packet data to browse the internet. If you really need a 3G service, and that is your top priority when buying a handset, then the current version of Apple iPhone is not for you.
Personally, I don’t even have a Data plan so 3G\HSDPA or EDGE is all the same to me. Also, 3G isn’t that popular and widespread in the US (I know we are behind the times with cell phone technology), so most people here have no issues with lack of 3G.
Besides, in today’s world, a WiFi access point is only a click away and it is much faster than 3G. I am pretty much always connected to a WiFi access point – barring when I am driving, and trust me I don’t want to browse while driving.
3. Only 8gb memory – 8gb what? You can pick up a 160gb video ipod (£229) from the Apple store for less than the 8gb iPhone (£269).
Err…do you want to buy an iPhone or an iPod? You are comparing apples and oranges. It’s like comparing a $600 N95 and $250 Microsoft Zune. Personally, at any one given time I don’t think I have ever used more than 500 MB space on my embedded devices. Again, that could be just me.
4. Expensive tariffs – You only get 200 mins and 200 text for £35 a month. This is 40% more than the normal O2 200 minutes and 200 texts tariff which only costs £25. You do get “unlimited†data but because the iPhone is not 3G I can’t see many people using it to browse the internet at dial up speeds.
Once again, I’d like to reiterate that my comments here are based on an unlocked\jail broken iPhone. It’s fairly easy (and free) to unlock an iPhone now and just about anyone can do it within 45 seconds. With an unlocked iPhone, you won’t have to pay for expensive tariffs to O2 or any other carrier that binds you with such plans. You can feel free to use iPhone with any carrier of your choice, with a plan of your choice including Pre-Paid plans.
5. Only available on 02 – The iPhone is only available on O2 and there are only 3 tariffs available. So if you are a high text user, there isn’t a package for you.
See my comments for #4 – You can use an unlocked iPhone with pretty much any GSM carrier in the world. You can have your existing voice\data\text plans.
6. It’s a first generation device – Buying the first version is risky, usually there are problems, bugs, errors, etc. 68 bugs have already been found.
At the time of writing (April 2008), it has been close to a year since iPhone was released. Besides, almost all the bugs thus far have been fixed using a software\firmware patch. Also, when software is involved, bugs are always present. For example, Microsoft Windows OS – it has close to 6800 bugs, but is still very successful and most used OS.
7. A better version will be coming out soon – You know that in a few month’s time a new, improved version will be available. Rumours are that a 16gb iPhone with 3G will be released in the new year.
Technology is ever changing. You buy a phone today, 2 weeks from now it’ll be dated because some other manufacturer is going to come out with a new product. Waiting for technology is never a good idea as it is ever evolving.
You can’t stop flying in airplanes thinking that soon they’ll come out with teleportation. I’d say if you want to buy something, go for it. It’s not a great idea to wait for a price drop or for something new to come out – unless it is very certain that something that you really want is coming out within a period of time that you think you can wait for (for me, this waiting period can’t be no longer than a week).
8. The price will be cut shortly – in America the iPhone cost $599 at launch but within a couple of months the price dropped to $399. So hold out buying one for a few months and you could save yourself £100+.
Please see my comments for #8 – Prices change over a period of time because new products get evolved and existing products get dated. It’s up to an individual’s discretion whether they want a leading edge product or a slightly inexpensive but dated product.
9. Termination fee maybe payable? – In Amercia AT&T (the network provider) charges a $175 termination fee. Will O2 do the same?
Once again – I am only talking about unlocked iPhone. This point, hence, doesn’t apply. Besides, won’t that be the same case if you were to get a free or inexpensive Nokia N95 with a contract? You’ll either need to adhere to the conditions of the contract or pay an early termination fees. I don’t think you can add this point as an iPhone specific disadvantage.
10. Video iPod has ten times the memory and costs 40% less – You can buy an 80gb video iPod for £159 direct from the Apple store, while the iPhone cost £269 and is only 8gb.
Again, what do want to buy – a phone or a handheld media player? You can’t just compare a phone with a video player, even if one manufacturer makes them both. You can’t compare whether buying Microsoft Windows is better or worse than buying Microsoft Office Suite – they both serve different purposes.
11. No Internet Explore or Firefox, you have to use Safari – I’ve never used Safari but I’ve heard that Firefox is better.
Safari is decent enough, especially on a Mac-based OS. iPhone uses same OS as a normal Mac. Safari runs on Mac OS definitely much better and faster than if you’d run it on Windows OS.
12. Some websites won’t work – The iPhone doesn’t support Flash, which means that most online animations simply won’t display. Some interactive graphics won’t display and entire websites won’t display if they are made using Flash.
I agree, never really had to use this feature though. It is a really minor deficiency that most people can live without. It’s probably one of those “nice-to-have-featuresâ€, and not a “must-have-featureâ€. I think even Nokia’s default Web Browser doesn’t do Flash, although I could be wrong
13. No Java – Java is mainly used to create applications embedded within webpages – things such as online calendar tools or broadband speed tests.
I think this is more like a blot on Sun\Java-side then it is on Apple’s. I read somewhere that Java didn’t have a iPhone compatible JVM (Java Virtual Machine) when iPhone was being developed. Sun claims to be working on a JVM implementation for iPhone.
14. Can’t switch to another network `provider – If you decide that you want to switch from O2 to another network, you can’t officially, as the iPhone has been locked to O2 only. There are several unofficial methods to unlock it but they cost money and the phone may become locked again when software updates happen.
You can easily switch to any carrier that you wish by unlocking iPhone – just like it’s mentioned above. However, unlocking an iPhone doesn’t cost a dime, and you don’t have to be a technical professional to do it either. It takes under 45 seconds to unlock an iPhone. You can wait for subsequent software updates until the Apple hack community finds a way to unlock it – this usually takes about 2-3 days. Pretty good trade-off I would say. It’s anyways not a good idea to immediately get a software\firmware update for any damn cell phone. You always want to wait until the developer community tries it out and reports no obvious issues.
15. Difficult to type – The iPhone only has one physical button, the rest of the controls are via a touch screen. Texting is particularly difficult because the keys are tiny, making it easy to type the wrong letter.
Not really – it does take a couple of days to get used to it, but that’s true with any new thing. Remember when you first started driving a car? Remember back in the 90s when people first started using text messages? It was such a pain to type back then; but now people are so used to using a standard handset keyboard to type text messages faster than any QWERTY keyboard. iPhone keyboard is fairly easy to use once you get used to it. It’s like a virtual\touch-screen QWERTY keyboard.
16. No iChat – So no ability to chat.
Well, once you have a jail broken iPhone, you can install applications such as Fring (www.fring.com) that offer unified messaging – Yahoo!, MSN, Skype, GoogleTalk, Twitter, AOL, Skype. It also offers voice-chat using any of the above services (except Yahoo! and AOL). That means, if you and your buddies are both online, you can have a voice-chat using your iPhone. It’s actually far better than any other chat application. You can also add your SIP-based VoIP account to Fring application, and have VoIP calls on your iPhone. What else would a standard user need?
Another quality alternative for chat purposes is Apollo IM client (which again is free to download and use on your iPhone.
PS: Fring is also available for Nokia S60 – so I am not saying that Fring will only work on iPhone. All I mean to say is that Fring (or Apollo) can fill in the iChat void.
17. No other instant messaging client – You can’t install any instant messaging client, so it looks like its back to text messaging.
I’ll just repeat my comments from #16 – you can install Fring or Apollo for unified messaging.
18. iTunes Lock-in – No window’s media player, etc.
Do you want to listen to music (MP3) or want to see the interface of Windows Media Player? It shouldn’t make a difference whether you play on iTunes or Windows Media Player. Also, there are many free applications out there that would convert a Windows Media format video\audio to an iPod format. Don’t tell me Windows Media Player plays a MP3 file “better†than iTunes – there’s no noticeable difference.
In fact, it’s a plus point because Windows Media Player won’t play iTunes encrypted\protected iTunes MP3 files, while an iTunes player will play any other standard MP3 file along with iTunes encrypted files. And these days, as well know, iTunes is the leading website for music downloads. You won’t be able to play encrypted iTunes files on WMP.
19. Screen – It’s hard to see in daylight.
Huh? Where’d that come from? I think iPhone screen is as bright (or dull\dark) as any other standard phone. Really, I haven’t seen any such problem on iPhone. Remember, I am not getting a commission for writing this up, I am purely writing it up because I own Apple stocks…ha-ha, no just kidding. I am writing this because I want people to have a clearer perspective on what the iPhone has to offer before they decide to buy a new handset. If they don’t think it’s a phone that would fulfill their needs, then no problems at all. But I don’t want people to get misled by this article and not get a device as cool, as innovative as an iPhone.
20. No MS Office – Can’t use MSWord etc.
There are many free applications out there that let you read\open Word Documents (.doc), Excel Spreadsheets (.xls), and even PDF files. I could be wrong, but I believe some of these applications will also let you edit these files (except PDF files obviously)
21. Lacking standard email functions – There’s no BCC field, and it doesn’t copy your sent messages over to the e-mail application on your Mac or PC. Also deleting multiple messages is a bit cumbersome.
I beg to differ – I think Apple iPhone provides a rather competitive e-mail support. The default, in-built client supports Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, .Mac, AOL Mail, and very good support for POP, IMAP, and Microsoft Exchange hosted email. I really don’t know what else would one need as far as email is concerned. Besides, you can simply use web browser to use any other web-based email with all the features.
22. Only 2 Mega Pixel Camera – The standard has been 3.2 mega pixel for a while now. Plus there are at least four phones with 5 mega pixel cameras (Samsung G600, LG Viewty, Nokia N95, Sony Ericsson K850i).
I agree – they don’t have the best camera in their phones. I am, personally fine with it. I seldom use my phone camera for taking pictures. However, I agree this is not the best camera available in the market.
23. No zoom in the camera – come on Apple, catch-up.
Yep, no zoom in! Not a perfect world, is it?
24. No flash in the camera – so pictures at night are out
Yah, no flash!
25. No Real Apps – Since the iPhone is a new computing platform, one of the problems is that there are not many applications that are compatible with it. Apple has also made it clear that developers will only be able to create web-based applications, using the Safari web-kit. This means that no native applications will be available for the iPhone any time soon.
I understand the original post is dated Nov 2007. At the time of writing this, Apple iPhone SDK is out and a lot of developers are busy developing free, 3rd party applications. This is no longer a problem. We already have tons of “real†applications for Apple iPhone.
26. Smudges – Because you have to use the screen to control the device it can accumulate a greasy film.
Heard of something called “Screen Protector� There are some really good quality screen protectors available for less than $3.99. Also, there are a couple of high-quality leather cases in the market that come with a screen protector. Besides, this would be a negative point for any touch screen period.
27. Scratches – Unlike a clam-shell phone the iPhone’s screen is always visible and is therefore more like to get scratches.
Please see my comments for #26 –Be wise, and get a screen protector. Scratches are inevitable for any and all phones. Even my N81 has scratches. Don’t expect your new car to remain new for it’s time. A little more practicality is sometimes better than being Mr. Perfect.
28. No built in voice recording – it can be very handy.
There is a 3rd party application available for voice recording. It’s free and it actually works.
29. No voice dialing – very handy too and pretty basic.
There is a 3rd party voice dialing application that’s available. It’s less than 200 KB and offers very decent voice-dialing support.
30. No Games – There are no in-built games on the iPhone.
Again, lots of free games are available readily. I don’t know why we are expecting everything to be in-built. Had Apple provided all the games by default, then you would have said – “They have too many games pre-installed. I don’t even play these games and would much rather use that memory space for my MP3z or videosâ€
Even Nokia phones usually come with 3-4 pre-installed games, 90% of them are not even worth playing.
31. No Yahoo Maps – Google Maps is probably better, but where’s the choice?
No comments – it’s absurd to expect each and every application on an embedded device. Now, please don’t add this:
“52. It doesn’t have THE ENTIRE internet saved on the phone’s hard disk in case someone wants to browse it without having to connect to the internet”
32. Can’t save computer files – Unlike the iPod, the iPhone doesn’t offer a “disk mode†to allow storage of any computer files. So you can’t use it as a hard drive to move files between computers.
This is actually possible – There is a shell application that lets you achieve this goal. And also, I know for a fact that there is a Windows-explorer based application that would let you this but I haven’t used it yet.
33. You can’t edit Word and Excel docs – You can open, read and forward Word and Excel docs sent to you by e-mail, but you can’t edit them.
There’s a free application that lets you edit .doc and .xls files
34. You must have a computer – You can’t activate an iPhone without a Mac or PC. Also a computer is the only way to get music, video and other media onto the phone. To copy a CD onto an iPhone, for example, you first copy it onto the computer and then transfer it from computer to phone.
I agree – partially though. A computer is not the only way to get music. You can always download it using iTunes that’s already pre-installed on the phone. Ideally speaking, you also need a PC or Mac to transfer files to a Nokia or Sony Ericsson handset. Yes, they do support file sharing over Bluetooth which apple doesn’t, and I really hate that (More on that in item number 46). Also, I don’t think there’s a CD Drive on Nokia N95 – so if you want to copy a CD onto a Nokia N95, you’ll have to follow the same procedure of ripping the CD and then uploading it to your phone via USB cable.
35. Can’t download music from the internet without a wi-fi connection – When you are out and about you can download music directly from iTunes but only if you are within range of a Wi-Fi connection.
That’s true. I can see how this can be a problem when someone wants to use their 3G connection for downloading music.
36. The battery gradually dies over time and can only be replaced by Apple for a high fee – Unlike all other mobile phones, you will not be able to remove the battery in the iPhone yourself. The only way will be send it back to Apple who will charge a substantial fee ($76 in the US).
I agree with that too. It will be a pain in the rear when my battery would decide to give up on me and I’ll be left at Apple’s mercy. Like they say, “Two things are certain in life – Taxes and Deathâ€, I expect this battery to die eventually.
37. Can’t send Picture Messages – You can take a picture with the iPhone, but stupidly you can’t send the picture to anyone because it doesn’t support MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service)
This is now possible if you have the latest firmware (1.1.4) and install a 3rd party (free) messaging application.
38. Can’t send texts to multiple recipients – How basic is that?
This is not correct. I just verified that iPhone lets you SMS multiple people and I am talking about native SMS support.
39. Can’t download games, ringtones and graphics – I assume this is so Apple can sell you their own content
This is possible using a PC application that lets you transfer files to your iPhone. It is a free application and comes for both Mac and Windows OS.
40. No video output to TV – This is a nice feature, but the iPhone doesn’t have it
Seriously… how many phones have this feature? And what percentages of users actually use this feature?
41. Can’t connect a blue tooth keyboard – Again, a nice feature, but sadly it doesn’t have it
Yes, iPhone doesn’t have this feature.
42. You might get mugged – Police have warned iPhone owners to mark it with an indelible UV pen or DNA marker. Also keep it hidden and in vibrate mode to avoid attention
What? That can happen if you are flaunting just about any kind of expensive or flashy looking gadget. Are you trying to say it is Apple’s fault?
43. Can’t use it while wearing gloves – This might not be a concern at the moment, but once winter kicks in you will be cursing Mr. Jobs everytime you take your gloves off just to make a simply phone call.
No idea what to say about this – I seldom find myself walking out in the open during winter. One of my close friends kind of agreed with this comment though, so I think I’ll accept this is a flaw with Apple’s design.
There’s a voice-dial application (I talked about it earlier) which would take care of this flaw as well.
44. No stylus input for text – I think that the screen is not only touch sensitive, but it’s also heat sensitive, and because a stylus doesn’t produce body heat it wont work.
There are styli now available for iPhone. You no longer need to use your fingers for to operate an iPhone. I think you could probably buy one for around $9.99
45. Not suitable for the visually impaired – Real keyboards have raised detents – usually on the 5 key – to help the disadvantaged use the keyboard. The iPhone has no raised keys.
Definitely agree – this is a valid design flaw with Apple iPhone.
46. No bluetooth wireless connection to a laptop – Annoying
This is one thing I openly criticize Apple for. It’s very obvious why the folks at Apple decided to take this functionality out, but that doesn’t really provide justification. This is one of the most annoying features, rather lack thereof, in the iPhone.
Good news is that this is not a hardware constraint, but a firmware\software one. I hope, really do, Apple Development Community comes out with an application that supersedes native BT application. Keeping my fingers crossed!
47. Can’t sync with corporate email systems – This will annoy the Blackberry crowd.
It can sync up with Exchange Server. But not as conveniently as a Blackberry, and not as great an extent as Blackberry. I guess that’s why RIMM has numerous patents on their technology. And for God’s sake, don’t expect iPhone to be a “Universal Phone†with all the desired features. You can only provide so much for $400. If you need more, get a Blackberry along with an iPhone.
I am kind of curious here, does Nokia N95 natively support sync with corporate email systems? I don’t know much about N95’s feature set and would definitely like to know if it indeed does support this feature.
48. No VoIP – Why not? Something to do with the fact that VOIP calls are free?
Refer to my comments earlier in this article (when talking about IM\Chat applications). You can install Fring which offers VoIP support (SIP based) along with unified messaging. It supports practically all SIP based VoIP services, including VoIPCheap, FreeWorldDialup, SipGate, Tpad, FreeDigits, VoIPBuster, SkypeOut.
49. No GPS – The N95 has it, so why not?
It has AGPS, I know it’s not as good as GPS in N95 but there’s a price difference of close to $200 between iPhone and N95 (I’m strictly talking US, not in UK). You can get a decent enough GPS device here for $100. It’s not really as bad now, is it?
50. iPhone doesn’t play on-hold music for my callers – I’ve never used this but some people like it
Never used this feature either. I would think this is a network\backend service rather handset feature. I could be wrong though.
51. Can’t use standard headphones – The iPhone features the standard headphone socket (also known as minijack socket or 3.5mm audio socket) but annoyingly you probably need an adapter. Some clever spark at Apple decided to recess the socket in such a way that most regular headphone jacks won’t fit.
Yes, I just found this out couple days ago and it is kina annoying. Luckily for me I have 4 iPod\iPhone headphones.
Ohh by the way, I can list 102 reasons why you must buy an iPhone.
1. It’s cool
2. It’s cool
3. It’s cool
.
.
.
.102. It’s cool.
Just kidding….I really can come up with lot of good reasons to buy an iPhone and unlock it.
Lol! I like reading arguments, some of which are pretty pathetic retorts and most of which are by and large biased, on either side.
I’m used to the N95, HP iPAQ Business Navigator and Blackberry’s and to be honest Symbian is by far the best OS I’ve used on a phone, Windows mobile comes a close second and Blackberry’s OS, RIM is also a pretty good attempt. If Apple unlocked OS X (which is based UNIX/BSD code) and allowed the phone to run to it’s full potential (with a few more updates and software additions) it would blow everything else out of the water. To be honest, I hope it’s true that a gPhone from Google is on its way too.
I personally love the iPhone and can’t wait for bigger and better updates to be brought out. I will agree entirely with many of the reasons you stated for not buying one. I actually bought one and took it back the next day because it didn’t support MMS, EDGE was way too slow and Bluetooth OBEX transfer, well was simply non-existant and HSDPA (which would be a welcome addition), amongst a few other annoying lacking features common to almost all smartphones.
I’m sure however, that Apple will provide updates and provide for the needs of the end-user. There are certain hardware issues, that unfortunately can’t be fixed without a new hardware version being released, such as the camera flash and ability to expand the memory (in comparison to most phones though 8Gb and 16Gb are only matched by Nokia’s N95 8Gb). There are also peripheral issues, such as the stylus (or lac off) that cannot easily be rectified (to be honest though I have huge hands and had no problem, with the help of the predictive text).
Being able to jailbreak and unlock the phone provides access to the filesystem to allow certain functions and via 3rd-party applications, many of your points can be worked around, but I agree that having to take the time to do this and tamper with the phone, when you can buy a perfectly good working out of the box N95 for example, is a bit of a pain (although I did have to change the product id on my N95 in order to update to version 21.x of Symbian 9.2).
The iPhone is on offer from O2 right now at £169. I intend to buy one; unlock, activate and jailbreak it and run it on my O2 simplicity sim card. Currently £32.50 a month for 600 minutes, unlimited anytime texts and unlimited data. The latest 1.2.0 (or 2.0 firmware as Jobs calls it) fixes a few of the issues, including allowing for exchange server sychronisation, which comes in handy for syncing my uni contacts and calandar etc.
I have a 8Gig, and im more than happy with it, the camera is good for what i use it for, whats your problem with safari? its good! the tariffs improved, the phone has a mat finished back so havent had a sratch so far, need a computer?! you cant afford one if you cant afford to buy a computer, its not hard to type, you get used to it, no games? dont need them, you have the internet at you finger tips, and the recess was down to heaphones breaking, and also the un recssesed ones dig into youand break, not nice.
A few corrections to your statements.
———————————————————————
High Price – It is new technology of course it is expensive, compare the price of the PSX to when it was just released.
Slow internet connection – Actually the internet connection is very good.
Only 8gb memory – Seeing as it is new, giving it too much memory while bugsare still around would be a waste of money and well, stupid.
It’s a first generation device – Any serious bugs can be fixed by a simple software update.
A better version will be coming out soon – True, however if better versions of objects didn’t come out we would still use lightbulbs that lasted a day.
The price will be cut shortly – Well duh the pice is going to drop, electronics tend to drop invalu over time dont they?
Video iPod has ten times the memory and costs 40% less – Video iPod only supports 10% of the iPhones features.
No Internet Explore or Firefox, you have to use Safari – Safari works extremely well for th iPhone.
No Java – Java is being planned to be added to the next iPhone software update in June 2008.
Can’t switch to another network provider – True unofficial methods of unlocking are risky but if the phone locks up again getting it re-unloked is a piece of cake.
Difficult to type – The keys are just the rit size for a finger and with the iPhones smart dictionary it will auto-correct you.
No iChat – Not true at all, there are very good free chat services available, especially if you actually try looking for them.
iTunes Lock-in – “No window’s media player” well its not a ‘Microsoft iPhone’ now is it?
Screen – “It’s hard to see in daylight” Once again, not true. With the iPhone’s auto-brightness feature the screens brightness will be adjusted to make the screen perfectly visible 24/7
Only 2 Mega Pixel Camera – Agreed it is only 2 megapixel but have you seen the quallity of the pictures?
No zoom in the camera – Third-Party applications can be downloaded which add optical zoom.
No Real Apps – The iPhone SDK (Software Development Kit) is out and working.
Smudges – The iPhone comes with a cleaning cloth.
Scratches – Thereis a certain video on the internet which show just how strong the screen is against sctratches.
No built in voice recording – Third-Party software allows voice recording.
No Games – True, but there is a massive selection of third-party games availlable.
Can’t save computer files – iPhone can be used to transfer files between computers, you just need to know how.
You must have a computer – Well if we didnt have a computer how could we read this snazzy little article of yours?
Can’t download music from the internet without a wi-fi connection – There are hundreds of free to use wifi hotspots out there.
Can’t download games, ringtones and graphics – Uhh yes, you can.
You might get mugged – True, you might get struck by lightning as well.
Can’t use standard headphones – True but they provide you with a free pair of headphones when you first buy an iPhone. Also, the iPhone headphones actuall perform a few little commands by pressingthe microphone button such as answering calls, turning on and off your music and also changing song.
————————————–
o2 only recently changed the contracts to 600 text and 500 minutes, so his original post was correct.
Only thing i agree with about his list, is that the camera is indeed very poor (no zoom) 2mp is a bit a low, but is fine for a phone.
As for the price, You aren’t forced into an o2 contract, simply unlock your iPhone with zIphone and save yourself a ton. For that reason, I personally dont need 3g unless you wanna pay for the internet usage. just use wi-fi, its free and fast. (obviosuly not available everywhere)
Must need a Pc/Mac….? Thats a great FOR reason for activating you iPhone ON your PC/Mac since you can get the phone easily without a contract and unlock it.
The screen is mighty hard to scratch, as it is glass and is actually fitted with a protective layer on top of the touchscreen, so im not sure how some 1 can scratch the front screen without actually trying to cut it with a knife. my Ipod Touch has been fine in my pocket for 5 months.
Lots of companies offer protective screen covers films but i dont think their need for the front screen. Stick 1 on the back for sure, because that definetly will scratch.
51 reasons?
Dude, you have way to much time on your hands – get a job!
the contract is 600 texts and 500 minutes haaaaaaaaaaa get ur fact right man !!!!!!!!!!
hahahaha i see we have an iphone hater here.
sorry to rain on your parade but about 40 of those reasons are either, ill-founded, incorrect and demonstrate your clear bias against the iphone. just cuz you cant afford one, dont have to cry about it.
errrr seems you had not done much research your sell, having worked for a mobile phone store, i know first hand that to get the GPS software for the N95 you need to be on a contract of £45 or more and on a 18 month contract. GPS added a whole load more of £’s to your contract, but can get it “unofficially” on the internet, as well with most of the things on the iphone on your list for the great invention known as the internet
I heard Iphone only sync’s email when you open email. So no automatic email delivery like all the rest, I also heard when you search your contacts you needs to scroll and scroll. So if its a long list.. well I hope you have the fingers. I hear there is a exploit not fixed so hackers can own your phone. Only now they plan on 3G. And still people struggle to get the wireless to work untill they lower their security on their networks. No thanks will rather get a blackberry email and a phone that’s all I need. GPRS cost are to high and locked in to a contract rockets the price. Sorry but T-Mobile have unlimited internet cost, I may have considered if it was T-mobile , beter email fee like blackberry and the phone had 3G support , better wireless, better updates to fix exploits. Apple should be talking to t-mobile if they want sales.
Don
I meant pictures not pulics
..
Love my iPhone …on it now..it has made my laptop at home redundant..I can’t believe how fast the iPhone is for surfing. I’ve also got into youtube..which I’ve never done on my computers..lockergnome is hysterical..
Most of this list is ridiculous.
Personally, I don’t normally buy 1st gen..but wanted an easier life in terms of syncing with iCal etc. And it is! I am currently running the iPhone in tandem with my treo as I wait for my no to be porter..whenever I use the treo I can’t believe I could use it. I have previous had two 3g a
smartphones.
Except for the swish zoomy stuff, the iPhone does not do much that my previous phones did notdo BUT everything is so much easier! Especially for a mac user. I don’t mind the upfront cost for this. As for the network costs, it is actually cheaper than my previous contract as I used to end up paying lots in data charges. Though admittedly I am not actually using the network much as I am normally at work or home..and I picked up cloud even when driving along (in a cab).
The only shortcoming I have with the iPhone is the inability to save stuff from emails and web, particularly pulics..this is more of an issue due to the lack of MMS. Hopefully, will get sorted by a software update.
One thing I don’t get is the argument that sending mms is somehow out of date. The argument seems to be that email should be the medium of choice and that pictures should be sent via email. Maybe the people who post to boards like this forget that they aren’t speaking for the vast majority of phone users. It seems the people who post here are absolutely delighted when they receive a new phone and number, and can go and hunt down the email address for their number. News flash – the vast majority of phone users couldn’t give a shit about this sort of thing. They want to make calls, send text and mms messages, and maybe use the odd bit of data.
So, to workaround the lack of MMS on the iPhone, you’ve got to have the email address that corresponds to the telephone number of the person you want to send the mms to keeping in mind that the only people who know this email address seem to be the ones on this board. And you know what, I’ve got better things to do with my time than accrue an encyclopedic knowledge of how each network makes these email addresses and which network each of my friends belong to.
So, the great thing about MMS. All I need is the person’s phone number which I already have. I don’t need to work out some gateway email address, I don’t have to use a email2mms gateway, I just send the MMS and the other person receives it.
In a technological world marked by convergence, this seems like the most sensible approach to messaging unless you truly like to send email.
Oh, and lastly, if mms is so 90s then the first email message was sent in 70s, so stick that in your pipe and smoke it.
Ross
if i buy one from america will it work in the uk?
Tomatoes. “The product they have put out is STILL better than anything on the market”.
Your having a laugh. Read my previous post. I have both the N95 and the Iphone and the N95 is a much better phone by miles. take away the fancy menu eyecandy and what have got. Just another PDA phone with less features than most good PDA’s or smart phones such as the N95. HP, Compaq and a few others have been doing this kind of phone for years. look at the XDA. You just got caught up in the hype along with all the other Iphone fanboys.
Does anyone have an old Nokia 3310 they want to swap for my Iphone?
it’s cool
I work in the mobile phone industry in the UK and i was told about this article by a customer. I thought i would have a look myself as I assumed it would have a valid argument as to why not to get the iPhone. I was wrong. The writer of this article must be poor…..as he cant afford an iphone. Either that or he works for Nokia or Sony Ericsson.
There is 3 things the iPhone misses.
3G
Decent camera with flash and zoom
GPS
These are 3 points where apple could have made a better product.
However the product they have put out is STILL better than anything on the market.
The N95 is main competition and yes it does more. But get your average person to pick one up and it will take the a long time to get used to all its features. I picked up an iPhone and instantly i could do everything because it was so easy. The N95 has alot more flaws than this and i cant believe how people can slag off such a good product.
Jealousy….simple really
I’m willing to bet I can put ALL of your reasons to shame. They are all absolute rubbish. Just because Dial-A-Phone can’t sell the iPhone, you have to try to have a dig with your absolute rubbish and most of the stuff you mention is just plain LIES.
I could give you 100 good reasons NOT to buy an N95 and I work for the biggest mobile phone retailer in europe.
Idiot.
Dial-a-Phone seem not to want to post all comments that question their bitterness in not winning the rights to sell the Iphone.
Iphone sucks, Apple sucks all overhyped overpriced overadvertised crap
You know reading this I thought I had better check out what all the fuss was about and visited my local store. What a lot of gizmos for an awfully large amount of money. It just seems overly unpractical as a phone. all the swinging and dancing features, album art for example, its all flashy but in reality, most people select start on their music, hit the randomise button and put thier MP3 player down whilst they are doing whatever they normally do whilst listening to music.
In fact I would bet that most users see the features of their I-phone more when they pop the old device out when meeting with mates, work companions etc more than when they are sitting at home waiting for that call.
Being older in age, I guess if they had knocked 169 off the price I might have been tempted, until then I can get a device that is made for making and receiving phone call for pretty much nothing these days so might as well go and get one of those
Just a simple Question.
How many of you got you iphones or itouch working on wireless with out changeing it to WEP or no security at all.
Something tells me apple left the wifi on US.
What a bunch of ill informed rubbish. The attack on the iphone comes from a company that is desperately struggling to compete in the current marketplace and can’t sell the fashionable model because o2 have it tied up. There are plenty of rational, well thought out and sensible articles on the merits and downsides of owning an iphone. This sadly isn’t one of them.
27. Scratches. After more than 4 months of being stuffed in and out of my pocket and being stuck in and out of the cupholder in my car, my iPhone screen has zero scratches.
That list is a complete joke. Out of the 51 items listed, I immediately dismissed about 40 of them as not even worthy of debate. I’ve been using the iPhone for several months now and have been extremely satisfied with it. Can’t imagine going back.
Wow, Julian. I don’t have an iPhone and don’t plan to buy one (might consider the second version), but come on. I mean, aside from all the nitpicking (which becomes ridiculous toward the end of your list. You might get mugged? Can’t use it with gloves on? Not for the blind? Must have a computer? Seriously? WTF?), shouldn’t you at least come up with 51 different reasons for hating it? Isn’t No.5 “Only available on 02″ basically the same thing as No.13 “Can’t switch to another network provider”? And what about No.20 “No MS Office” and No.33 “You can’t edit Word and Excel docs”?
Besides, if I were looking to replace my current phone, I would seriously consider the iPhone despite all its faults, because, what other alternatives do I have? There are better messaging phones (like the Blackberry), smaller phones (Samsung Ultra editions), feature-packed ones (N95), but ultimately, for a user looking for a phone with best music player capabilities and some internet browsing features (yes, EDGE is ridiculous, but aside from connection speed, the touch interface and Safari trump all the mobile internet offerings out there), it’s the best choice if that user can pay up. Seriously, what would YOU recommend for that kind of a buyer?
You clearly haven’t seen any iPhone in your life! Only few of these points make any sense!
> Only 8gb memory
Other *phones* are stuck with “expandable” cards which are limited to 2/4GB. iPod has a harddrive (physically) bigger than entire iPhone.
> I’ve never used Safari
and yet you complain. PocketIE is crap – slow and doesn’t display even simple websites properly. Mobile Firefox doesn’t have zoom which is necessity on a mobile device.
Fair complaint would be that there’s no Opera. Opera is #1 browser for mobiles, technically on par with Safari.
> No Flash
Have you seen how “Flash lite” works on other mobile phones? Most of the time it doesn’t, because it’s an outdated watered-down version.
And those full-flash websites can make 2Ghz computer crawl. It would drain mobile phones’ battery in 15 minutes.
OTOH Safari is pretty advanced and there are hundreds of iPhone-optimized websites popping up.
> making it easy to type the wrong letter.
…and has dictionary which corrects it (sucks to be non-English iPhone user though)
> No other instant messaging client
there is web-based JiveTalk and better clients for jailbroken iPhones
> Screen – It’s hard to see in daylight.
You’re kidding! It’s as good as N95, but screen and text is bigger. Screen of HTC Touch in comparison is a joke – dark, washed out colors, pixelated.
> Lacking standard email functions – There’s no BCC field, and it doesn’t copy your sent messages over to the e-mail application on your Mac or PC.
It does have option to BCC yourself (if you’re using POP3) or does transfer messges to PC (if you’re using IMAP)
> No zoom in the camera – come on Apple, catch-up.
Hardly any mobile camera has *real* zoom. iPhone simply stores all image data it can get, so you can apply “digital zoom” by cropping image in photo editing program.
> No Real Apps
until february.
> Scratches – Unlike a clam-shell phone the iPhone’s screen is always visible and is therefore more like to get scratches.
It’s *glass* screen, not plastic. Several reviewers tested it and declared it impossible to scratch.
> To copy a CD onto an iPhone, for example, you first copy it onto the computer and then transfer it from computer to phone.
Did you really expect iPhone to have a CD drive?
> Can’t send Picture Messages – You can take a picture with the iPhone, but stupidly you can’t send the picture to anyone because it doesn’t support MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service)
You can e-mail them and there are email2mms services for those stuck in the ’90s.
> No stylus input for text – I think that the screen is not only touch sensitive, but it’s also heat sensitive, and because a stylus doesn’t produce body heat it wont work.
Not heat, but capacitance.
> Not suitable for the visually impaired
Oh noes! TV sets aren’t either! There are specialized phones for visually impaired that will do better job than iPhone, or N95.
> Can’t sync with corporate email systems
Propertiary system with standard protocol support disabled can’t cooperate with phone that supports all standard protocols! Just flip the IMAP switch in Exchange.
> This will annoy the Blackberry crowd.
BlackBerry requires a whole friggin another web server gateway set-up. That’s collosal admin headache compared to simply enabling IMAP.
Hi Brandon,
Thanks for your comment, very insightful. You certainly know how to form a solid argument.
Wow, that is the biggest list of bull shit I have ever seen.
Right lets settle this once and for all:
1) yes the iphone is a high price as we in Europe are used to getting cheap or free pones which are subsidised by high cost contracts, is there ay doubt that he cost in future will fall as it did I the states, no, just it may take a short while.
Probably but it the same with most things if you wait long enough, no real reason not to get an iphone now
2) Yes the iphone has a slower internet connection but when using wifi the speed are high and this will be address with the new version which is expected in q1 or q2 of next year.
3) 8gb is a bit on the weedy side, but does anyone think that they will not bring out a larger version, alright its not available now but look how log it took ipod to to come all the way upto a 160gb version.
4) Yes the tariffs are expensive and if you but if you willing to pay them, then who cares, after two years f you can wait that long being ‘off the bandwagon’ then when the market opens up to the operators the prices will come down, it’s a question are you wiling to pay more to have it now?
5) Really the same point you made about point 4
6) That’s not a real reason not to buy, its just a fact, people that buy first generation device should be praised they have task f testing the device and putting their money where their mouth is for the rest of us.
7) This has been widely speculated, just depends when you want the hottest ne thng in town.
9) If you don’t know why speculate, find out then complain
10) Yes but as you have pointed out the video ipod has been refined over the past 10 years the iphone is a new different product, if you just want an ipod and it costs 40% less, then get a video ipod and stop moaning.
11) You’ve heard, find out then complain
12) A real problem he lack of flash, one of the first real reasons, if you spend all your time only on flash based websites, and you think that they are not working to resolve this?
13) See above, same point really.
14) If you haven’t heard about o2’s exclusive deal and sign a contract then its your own fault, if it bothers anyone wait for the exclusive period to pass then you will have a choice of mobile operators
15) Difficult to type, how do you know I will find it difficult to type, that’s a purely personal judgement, several reports state that after a while it is very easy.
16) There will be updates which fix this problem
17) Again another point which you have stretched over 2 points.
18) No real problem with that as apple own both iphone and itunes its not very surprising is it?
19) Another assumption
20) haven’t you heard apple and Microsoft are rivals, surely apple would want customers to use its own apps (about which se further down)
21) the world wont stand still because of the lack of this function.
22) Why is this such a big deal the photos taking on photos do not end up in The Tate most of them are of drunken nights out, yes a bigger number is better but if you are that bothered about quality brig a proper camera with you its not your phones responsibility to take professional quality photos, isn’t it o make calls?
23) Maybe a problem for some and maybe addressed by apple
24) I agree a glaring oversight if you do have a camera might as well have a flash, they are handy.
25) Yes there are no real apps at the moment, apple made a mistake and admitted that, they are addressing that and yes it will be some time soon
26) It comes with a cloth
27) Scratches like on any phone if you don’t look after it
28) This has been addressed
29) its not handy when you have to shout the name of who you want to dial 17 times
30) there are games which are available, not from apple at the mo, but do you want them to do everything at once.
31) You even say google maps is better!
32) This has been address and now you will able to.
33) Again see above for comments about Microsoft, although it would be a good idea
34) Yes you must have a computer, like with most of apples products, its not like people don’t know what they are buying, if someone who did have access to a computer (whoever they are) bought an iphone and then complained it would be their own stupid fault.
35) This is to combat that slow internet and download times that you earlier complained about
36) yes this is a pain yet apple do state this before people buy and it’s the same as the other ipods, people know and buy into it yet most don’t care about this, the battery life will get better over time
37) yes this is a real problem
38) annoying but not deal breaking is it?
39) Yes you can, when was this written when it first came out in the states?
40) You can
41) Yes it is a nice feature but you already have a keyboard on the screen
42) You might get mugged, at anytime, hardly a problem unique to the iphone, oh sorry no one will want to mug for a nokia n95
43) My hint is to replace the gloves after you use it, keep your hands nice and toasty
44) seriously who uses a stylus, business people who think they are clever, mot people loose the stylus within the first 2 months anyway, you would complain if you have to shell out again for another stylus.
45) No its not, but the iphone is a visual product, it and the itoucch are not suitable but that is a criticism about the way apple products are going in general not just the iphone
46) Can be annoying I suppose
47) This is being sorted out but with so many systems this could take time, already works with some.
48) Yeah you don’t seem to get that they want to charge you for calls do you?, don’t you think o2 would have something to say about this?
49) Okay, but what do you expect of it, it’s a phone and music player, go buy a sat nav.
50) Not going to dignify this with an answer
51) Yes you can
Overall some points well made (when not made twice) but most of it is ill-informed at best and full of speculation, sad thing is could have had accurate information if you had spent some time researching
iphone=overpriced, overhyped.
Soemone said that n95 wasnt 3g, i think you’ll find it is hsdpa comliant, sometimes reffered to as 3.5g.
In america i can understand that the iphone may be used for browsing the net, here in the uk we are not as used to the slow speeds that americans are so familiar with.
The networks in the uk, run at far quicker speeds, theoretically pushing 7.2mbps at present with vodafone. 3.6mbps with t-mobile uk. The speeds are increasing every few months.
iphone is a seriously outdated piece of equiptment in the uk, im suprised people have bought into the hype already, its a step backward in mobile telecoms.
8 gig n95 is far superior in every way.
Honestly, wait for a price decrease, or if you must have it, get an ipod touch, double the memory, much much cheaper, and get yourself a decnet handset on a decnetly priced cotract-£35 a month for 200 mins and 200 texts, lol, yes you get “unlimited” data or 300mb, laughable how you can call that unlimited, but… seeing as itll run on edge(if your lucky to be in one of those areas) or gprs, youd have to leave the handset running for days to get anywhere close to that.
T-mobile will give you 2 gb usuage and 900 mins or 1800 text or any mix with free n95 for 37.50 a month, and thats with hsdpa access.
there are far too many people who just have no sense, call themselves gadget fans and then buy overated and outdated junk, just cos’ they dont have a clue.
Enjoy your iphone 8 gig, hope it was worth the money cos’ we all know the price is coming down in the coming months-it is apple after all
I had my iPhone for one week. All I can say is thank god I did not sell my N95.
The iPhone is not a great phone and definately inferior to my N95. Julian has a lot of valid points here that I agree with. He does not need have owned the phone to raise most of these points. My iPhone is now on ebay if anyone wants it. I may concider a swap for a gameboy if anyone has one
hmmm, referring to the comments of JS, may I advise that anybody reading this certainly does NOT give him a job. Here are his retorts to the original article:
“are you that stupid”
“What king of idiot uses a phone in place of a camera?”
“do some research”
“no bicthing from you about that?”
“more bullshit…”
“Umm now your just making shit up”
“More idiotic BS”
“What a dick”
“Get real”
“you’re a fucking idiot”
“Get off the glass pipe”
“Oh fucking no!!!”
“living under a rock?”
“You obviously are an over payed idiot”
A very balanced argument, what a tit.
Thanks for coming.
Number 51 is not due to an oversight or because they didn’t think it through. That clever spark is indeed very clever. It’s just one of the many ways in which Apple forces you to depend on their accessories, hence putting mote dough in their pockets. It’s much like that “mini-dvi” port in their laptops. If you want an external screen, then you’re in for a $50 converter purchase from their stores. The paying only starts after you buy an Apple product.
But I guess you can’t stop people from stuffing money down Apple’s throats for nothing, so let them do it.
Its true a lot of his reasons are hearsay, but the IPHONE is the most OVER HYPED and under advanced phone out there, There are only 5 reasons which should stop you getting one.
1: Its only edge not HSPDA
2: No MMS on a new phone!
3: only a 2megapixel camera
4: Its insultingly overpriced and your tied in for 18months min (something i refuse to do on any network)
5:it only has 8gb memory, and no expansion slot (you can get and 8gb card for the n95 now)
Admittedly it looks cool and feels great to play about with. but when the novelty wears off what are you left with? An expensive phone that is already 2 year old tech that your stuck with another 17 months!
you are kidding right?
you have alot of time on your hands…the iPhone is amazing….now go play with your blackberry!
Hi Gavin, thanks for your comments.
Sean,
2) It’s no even close to being “wifi networks availible pretty much everywhere”.
3) You said orginally “but i dont know any other phone with that much space” now that i’ve told you about the Nokia n95 you have changed you mind to “So there is still not one better?”
6) The 4gb and the 8bg versions were released as the same time, so the 4gb wasn’t changed it was simply dropped for the UK launched. The 8gb version is still the orginally first gen version
7) Nokia do release new phones (completely different models), but not upgraded versions of the same phones every 3 months.
27) See Gavin’s post above for info on scratches
36) Oh come on, the battery is not removal by vast majority or iphone users. You are forced to send you phone away to have the battery replaced, and it wont be cheap.
51) We tried it with about five different brands of headphones and none fitted, and we did push it hard.
Some More replys
2) True, but with there being wifi networks availible pretty much everywhere your more likely going to use the wifi
3) So the iPhone and Nokia N95 have 8gig? So there is still not one better?
6) The first version was a 4gig model that was changed
7) Nokia release a new phone every 3 months or so, the ipod has changed once a year…if that
11) Firefox may be better, but i said faster. Plus firefox doesnt belong to apple and safari does, and running native mac software on mac hardware using Mac OSX is better
27) Its made of a scratch resistant glass/plastic, it is as scratch resistant as your gonna get and it comes with a film ontop for packing, so you could just leave that on it or buy the ones from the apple store or some 3rd party ones
36) yeah, the iphone battery is removable, just with a paint scraper and some voided warentee, plus there is already a site selling 3rd party batteries
39) Yes, itunes and 3rd party apps
51) Well, i have seen creative headphones in the iphone from a mate in the US… however there is a bit of a clip that is really stiff, try pushing a little harder
27. Scratches.
In relation to scratches, I work in a technical shop. Within 3 weeks of having an iPod Touch now that has the same “scratch resistant screen”, I can tell you that it does scratch after about 2 weeks worth of use. Admittedly this is from about at least 500 people a day wanting to have a go on it, but still it scratched after two weeks of use. I’d want something better for £269.
So for all ye who claim otherwise, shame upon thee.
Just goes to show how bloody marvellous it must be, that with all those faults it’s the most popular US smartphone and the fourth most popular US handset outright including all the “free” handsets.
Hi JS,
You really haven’t done a lot of research have you, tut tut. You call me an idiot which is total uncalled for. I will go through these point once more for as you don’t appear to understand basic english:
1) The N95 is free and the iPhone costs £269, fact. Plus the line rental is a lot cheaper on the N95, see below:
N95 handset free, 18 months x £30 for O2 400 price plan (400 mins and 500 texts) plus £35 cashback = £505 total cost over contract length (http://www.dialaphone.co.uk/mobile-phone-offer/167415-0/)
iPhone £269, 18 months x £35 for O2 200 price plan (200 mins and 200 texts) = £899 total
That means that the iPhone is 78% more expensive than the Nokia N95. Plus the O2 400 price plan gives you double the mins and more than double texts.
2) If you don’t want a camera fair enough, but lots of people do. My point is that the iPhone’s camera is inferior to most other camera phones in the market place.
3) If the screen is so good why are there so many people selling iphone screen protectors? Do a search on google for “iphone screen protector”.
4) The Nokia N95 is free and has GPS, the iPhone costs £269 and doesn’t have GPS, see answer once for more details.
5) You can’t use it wearing gloves that is a fact, have you tried it?
6) Some people like to use a stylus. Have you tried to write a text message with those tiny keys? It’s very easy to mistype especially if you have fat fingers.
7) There are no real apps at the moment, fact. True, there might be some in the future but there are none at the moment.
Hi Sean,
Thanks for your comments. Here are my thoughts:
2) Yes when you are near a wi-fi it will be at broadband speed, but at all other times it will very slow, it will download pages at dial-up speeds.
3) There is a 8gb version of the Nokia N95
6) It is the first gen version, no hardware changes have been made since the launch in the US
7) Maybe true but look at how many versions of the ipod there have been and look how poor the first gen version of ipod were.
11) From the research i have done Firefox is the better browser
27) As I said its not as tough as a clam-shell phone. The iphone screen is not protected by a cover so will scratch in time
36) You are completely wrong on this one. Every other phone on the market place has a removal battery, which you can purchase yourself and replace yourself. This no need to send any other phone anyway to have it replaced.
39) Are you sure about that?
51) We tried to plug in a standard set of headphones and they didn’t fit. The socket is recessed so there is a very good chance you will need an adaptor.
Barry, you made one big assumption and got it completely wrong. I have used an iPhone, we purchased one from ebay about a month ago and tested it out since then.
Julian.
Just a few comments on your list:
“2. Slow internet connection” It has WiFi, so if your in McDonnalds you can surf at 16meg i think thats a little faster than 3G…
“3. Only 8gb memory” 8Gig on a phone is AMAZING! i dont know about you, but i dont know any other phone with that much space
“6. It’s a first generation device” Acctually it is the 2nd, The Americans had the first
“7. A better version will be coming out soon” As with every other electrical Device
“10. Video iPod has ten times the memory and costs 40% less” Isnt this the same as number 2?
“11. No Internet Explore or Firefox, you have to use Safari” Safari is the fastest webbrowser out of the 3 that you have talked about
“25. No Real Apps” They released the SDK a few weeks ago, look on the net and youll find loads of apps for it
“27. Scratches” Its a scratch resistand screen, its really hard to scratch, even with keys (i have tried with the ipod touch)
“36. The battery gradually dies over time and can only be replaced by Apple for a high fee” Like every other phone
“39. Can’t download games, ringtones and graphics ” Yes you can
“42. You might get mugged” You might get mugged anyway
“50. iPhone doesn’t play on-hold music for my callers” OH MY GOD NO! its the end of the world
“51. Can’t use standard headphones” Yes you can
I think that you should research a little more before you write a list slating something that you obvously dont know that much about.
52. I will still buy one – Coolest gadget ever
Julian, I had similar reservations before purchasing the phone months after its debut in the US. However, after using the iPhone for about six weeks now, I must admit it is simply the best PDA phone I have ever used. The browsing is impeccable and for the first time ever I have found myself not only reading email on a phone, but also responding to messages. My advice…try it before you make your final decision.
You forgot 3 more.
52) The iPhone might have 51 “faults” but the next best phone has 718 things “wrong” with it.
53) You have no friends to call nor do you use the internet.
54) You work for Nokia or Moto … or you’re not so smart.
Abit rubbish then, N95 here we come
High Price – £269 (A lot when you can pick up the N95 for free)
Nothings Free are you that stupid. The phone is subsidized…you pay for it through your plan.
Add up the cost on & iPhone plus the 2 year plan…now add up the cost of your FREE Nokia
with the sam call & data plan…which one is more expensive?
Only 2 Mega Pixel Camera – The standard has been 3.2 mega pixel for a while now. Plus there are at least four phones with 5 mega pixel cameras (Samsung G600, LG Viewty, Nokia N95, Sony Ericsson K850i).
How much do those phones cost (unsubsidized)? If I want to use a camera I’ll use a camera. What king of idiot uses a phone in place of a camera?
Scratches – Unlike a clam-shell phone the iPhone’s screen is always visible and is therefore more like to get scratches.
It’s glass it won’t scratch that easily…do some research.
No GPS – The N95 has it, so why not?
The N-95 cost 700 bucks…no bicthing from you about that?
Not suitable for the visually impaired – Real keyboards have raised detents – usually on the 5 key – to help the disadvantaged use the keyboard. The iPhone has no raised keys.
more bullshit…
Can’t use it while wearing gloves – This might not be a concern at the moment, but once winter kicks in you will be cursing Mr. Jobs everytime you take your gloves off just to make a simply phone call.
Umm now your just making shit up.
No stylus input for text – I think that the screen is not only touch sensitive, but it’s also heat sensitive, and because a stylus doesn’t produce body heat it wont work.
Why exactly do I nee a stylus? More idiotic BS.
You might get mugged – Police have warned iPhone owners to mark it with an indelible UV pen or DNA marker. Also keep it hidden and in vibrate mode to avoid attention
What a dick.
can’t download music from the internet without a wi-fi connection – When you are out and about you can download music directly from iTunes but only if you are within range of a Wi-Fi connection.
I’ll bet everyone does this!!! Get real.
You must have a computer – You can’t activate an iPhone without a Mac or PC. Also a computer is the only way to get music, video and other media onto the phone. To copy a CD onto an iPhone, for example, you first copy it onto the computer and then transfer it from computer to phone.
Ummm. you’re a fucking idiot.
No Yahoo Maps – Google Maps is probably better, but where’s the choice?
Everyone loves the variety of maps!!! Get off the glass pipe.
You can’t edit Word and Excel docs – You can open, read and forward Word and Excel docs sent to you by e-mail, but you can’t edit them.
Oh fucking no!!!
No Real Apps – Since the iPhone is a new computing platform, one of the problems is that there are not many applications that are compatible with it. Apple has also made it clear that developers will only be able to create web-based applications, using the Safari web-kit. This means that no native applications will be available for the iPhone any time soon.
Wrong…Apple said an SDK would be released in feb. living under a rock?
Where do I apply for your job. You obviously are an over payed idiot. I’m not even sure you used this device.
Lot’s of well made points, shame you made them a number of times to sensationalise. Regardless of anything else, Safari is an amazing browser and way beyond any other mobile browser, including Opera. You might get mugged, funny to mention the N95 then as I would guess you are as likely a target or with the 160GB or 80GB iPod you mention buying.
my god, you have to be the pickiest man i have ever met. i could think of a comeback for every one of your petty little moans.
as for the N95, i think you will find it has no 3G either, and that its talk time is half of the iphone talk time.
“you might get mugged” oh please, is that the best you could come up with?
“no zoom on camera, get with the time” yet you say “need a computer” you cant have it both ways, can you?
“no real apps” ever heard of 3rd party apps?
i think i have proved my point.
You have good points. I have had my iphone since July. My screen hasn’t had a scratch yet, after 4 months in my front pocket! The back has one, that one was thanks to a hard acrylic case that allowed a foreign object to rub against the back. I now have a silacone jam jacket and have gotten no new scratches.
The screen is surprisingly visible in sunlight, I couldn’t believe it. Phone scoop has a great review showing this quality.
The main points I agree with is wait for the price drop. Ask someone you know what they like and dislike.
I still love my iphone.
Wow, you are incredibly threatened by this device, aren’t you? You might want to spend a little “me” time and examine your motives…
Hey, nice list. I live in Vancouver, but the Internet has no borders, right? I wanted to find something exactly like this, since a friend of mine (who just went down to Seattle to buy one) dropped hers last night and cracked the precious screen. Boo-hoo! I forwarded your blog post to her, and she had a good laugh…/cry…
Anyway, right before I read this, I was reading an article in the Toronto Star about a service that basically turns any old cell phone into a PDA for 5 bucks a month. Not another piece of plastic, not a complicated download, but – mobile e-mail from your cell for 5 bucks a month. Through Digg.com I found you, right after adding this article. Check it out. Apparently it’s coming to the UK soon.
An awful lot of speculation and guessing from an author who hasn’t used an iPhone, or even gotten all the info that’s publicly available.
“The price will be cut shortly” – Good luck with that one, mate.
“Video iPod has ten times the memory and costs 40% less” – Video iPod has a screen less than half the size, and is a completely different product.
“I’ve never used Safari but I’ve heard that Firefox is better.” – Use Safari on the iPhone. Then try any other mobile browser on the market, including the N95. Using the web on the iPhone is so much better, there’s no comparison.
“Difficult to type” – Use an iPhone for a week before you make claims like this. Since you’ve never tried to type on one, how can you make that statement?
“No Yahoo Maps” – Give me a break. You even say yourself that Google Maps is better.
“Screen is hard to see in daylight” – That’s ridiculous. It’s easier to see in daylight than any other phone on the market.
“No real apps” – Apple is making an SDK available in February.
“Scratches” – the glass screen is far more scratch resistant that the plastic one you get on an N95, or even a Prada phone.
“No voice recording” – Voice recording is present in version 1.1.2, updating next week.
“No disk mode” – Again, it’s in 1.1.2 next week.
“You must have a computer” – Where do you live, Somalia?
“Can’t download ringtones” – You can make any song into a ringtone, and even choose and edit the loop yourself.
“No video output to TV” – Yes, there is. Simple adapter cable, available from Apple.
“No stylus input” – That’s a FEATURE. A stylus is just a cheap piece of plastic that most people lose within the first month.
It’s fine if you want to write a column whinging about every feature you wanted to have but didn’t get, but at least do the basic research of USING an iPhone for a week before you start your tirades.