iPhone 3.0 gossip lassos MMS, tethering, cut-and-paste... On Thursday, Apple announced that it would be giving the world a sneak peek at the next version of its iPhone operating system on St. Paddy's Day. On Friday, the rumor mill began churning out shameless gossip on what will be included in iPhone Software 3.0. Speculation includes support for the Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS …
I've been ignoring the iPhone for so long now I'd forgotten all its glaring omissions. No cut-and-paste, no tethering, no MMS, one app open at a time. That's just primitive! BTW, how's the Bluetooth stack looking these days? The last I heard it stank, but that was a while ago.
So can anybody tell me just why people like it so much? Is it the Jobsian Reality Distortion Field?
Having gotten used to all these features on *much* cheaper mid-range phones, it would irritate the blazes out of me to suddenly have them taken away. That's why even a free-with-contract offer didn't tempt me - I'd rather pay more for a supposedly inferior phone, such as the N85.
And I know it's probably childish, but I just don't like the way I can only do what Steve and his marketroids tell me I can do. What features I "don't need". What network I can use. What apps I can use, and where I can buy them. Making me pay twice for the same song if I want to use it as a ring-tone, or, potentially, make me pay extra to send bytes to my laptop.
In his essay "In the Beginning was the Command Line", Neal Stephenson described the Apple corporate culture as one with a slick image of openness, non-conformity, and general "coolness". But behind this entirely artificial facade, it's really being run by sinister control-freaks. Probably a bit harsh, but more than just a grain of truth in it.
"Why should iPhone users pay more for moving that data over Bluetooth or a USB cable to a laptop?"
Indeed. And why does sending an SMS text message cost more per byte than downloading images from the Hubble space telescope?
They'll charge whatever they think they can get away with, which I'm sure is more than nothing.
My thoughts exactly! Why do the iPhone fanboiz seem to think they have been handed a gift from the gods (not the Jobs), and that it's what everybody really wants, and what every phone should be.
I've had my "inferior" N95 for over 18months, and I'd rather have it and it's 5meg camera, MMS messaging and ability to send text messages to 101 people if I so wish.
Oh and of course I've been able to switch between apps for years... 6600, N70, N95... I think my 7650 could do it too, but I can't remember that far back, it was 6 years ago after all!
Not to mention a load of free symbian apps all over the net I can use for nothing, and without having to wait for El Jobbie to approve their suitable.
Sure the iPhone is a nice MP3 player (pity about the iTunes PC software). However the phone side of things makes me wonder if any of the designers have ever seen a mobile phone, let alone used one! They certainly didn't look beyond the shores of the US of A or they wouldn't have missed so many SMS related features.
Oh, and the flashless camera sucks! Even Mr Jobbie can't fix that with a firmware upgrade!
Mine's the Apple sauce and fanboy flame proof one.
So I can get unlimited data off Hubble for £10 a month?
Nobody pays for SMS. All plans have enough for the average user, and if you use it a lot unlimited SMS packages are available very cheaply.
Nobody should pay for tethering either. You're paying for data on the phone already.
While you've been keeping your head in the sand, others have been benefiting from the iPhone's many good points.
Cut and paste? A small annoyance. Tethering? I was worried about that until I realized that with all the iPhone's features and apps I had no need to keep a laptop around. MMS? If you are over 12 years old you're big enough to use email like the big boys. What we need is a way to delete the SMS app off the phone. One app open at a time? Never noticed.
A lot of phones are available on only one network. The only phone I've found that was truly open for apps was the Treo. The app store is a lot less hassle for finding apps and keeping them updated. Why would you pay twice for the same song? Most people would take a clip of the song to use as a ringtone. You *could* pay for a ringtone, just like any other phone, if you didn't want to make one yourself, but nobody is making you do it.
Maybe if you admittedly know nothing about the iPhone, you should refrain from criticizing it.
speacking as a reasonably happy iphone user...
>I've been ignoring the iPhone for so long now I'd forgotten all its glaring omissions.
>No cut-and-paste,
to be honest there has only been about two occasions i've missed this, my old phone had this feature, i think, never used it though. its a "nice to have" for sure though, so -1 to the iphone
>no tethering
not too bothered by this one actually, as an upgrade option on the contract not a bad idea though, more -1 to O2 here though
>, no MMS
never sent one so don't miss it, but its a valid point
>, one app open at a time.
it has a small screen, it would be hard to _use_ more than one at once, now background apps I'd be fine with, as long as the threads they run in get at most 25% of the CPU to keep whatever is at the front responsive. it would be nice but done badly its useless
>That's just primitive! BTW, >how's the Bluetooth stack looking these days? The last I heard it >stank, but that was a while ago.
the inability to move photographs off is irritating, not a 'killer' but it is a feature I miss,
>So can anybody tell me just why people like it so much? Is it the Jobsian Reality Distortion Field?
possibly, very possibly, but while there are definite limits what it does it does well, style over substance? maybe
>Having gotten used to all these features on *much* cheaper mid-range phones, it would irritate >the blazes out of me to suddenly have them taken away. That's why even a free-with-contract >offer didn't tempt me - I'd rather pay more for a supposedly inferior phone, such as the N85.
I've used feature packed phones as well, generally with interfaces that are annoying. my old K800i was ok, but i used maybe 10% of what it could do
>And I know it's probably childish, but I just don't like the way I can only do what Steve and his >marketroids tell me I can do. What features I "don't need".
I was marginally worried about this, but frankly its not something I worry about, its a device not a lifestyle
>What network I can use. What apps I >can use, and where I can buy them.
people buy applications? I've downloaded a few free ones, but not seen anything for sale i've wanted enough to buy it. the lack of choice could I suppose be an issue here, but theres a lot of rubbish out there trying to trick people into forking out cash.
>Making me pay twice for the same song if I want to use it as >a ring-tone, or, potentially, make me pay extra to send bytes to my laptop.
I could see this as irritating, if mine wasn't on silent most of the time.
all in all it could certainly be better, but i'm happy with mine, its costing me a whole fiver more than my previous contract phone, per month its true, but thats the base contract, my bill tends to be about the same so the cost is a non issue for me
overall I'm happy enough, rating? maybe 60-70%
Stuart, "So can anybody tell me just why people like it so much?"
Excellent internet surfing experience from a phone.
Excellent integration with MS Exchange, IMAP, POP3 servers
Excellent integration with calendaring & contacts
Excellent compatibility with viewing Microsoft and Adobe PDF documents
Excellent third party application availability
Excellent physical durability
Excellent battery life
Excellent screen
Once Apple fixes the tethering and add more bluetooth profiles (bluetooth mouse, bluetooth keyboard, bluetooth printer bluetooth tethering, blutetooth ftp to get pictues) - the iPhone will be close to perfect.
"Why should iPhone users pay more for moving that data over Bluetooth or a USB cable to a laptop?"
Erm - because laptops are capable of using vastly more data than iPhones? As a metaphor, it's a similar reason as to why BA doesn't offer free champagne to economy class passengers on their flights: even if they could afford it, the plane would run out of champagne.
As for multitasking; I guess Apple got around this in part, by ensuring there was good OS support for an app to continue where it left off - so minimising the disruption. As someone who has occasionally watched his WM6 TYTN II slow to a snail's pace as MyMotion, Google Maps, Opera, etc. grind away in the background, I have to admit Apple's approach was a breath of fresh air. There are a few apps that would definitely benefit - such as Fring, Twitter and IM clients - but for the rest, I'm happy to continue as before, and have a faster phone overall.
And you missed the BIG omission - which is import/export from apps. One of my greatest aversions to iPhone, is that all the important data I build on the phone, is locked in (unless I hack it), only available by an 'email export' in some of the apps. And if I want to load data into the app? Often, I can't... only on a LAN, using Bonjour, maybe. Yep, it's a great anti-virus measure, but it's also a big productivity downer. I guess one approach is to allow sync/export via internet, but only through Apple servers (for a cut from the developer?) where they could immediately filter any malicious entries or worm activity that makes it into the wild. However they do it, this would really make a difference for me.
How is the lack of MMS embarrassing exactly? Fuckwits. The fact that we are all still clinging on to technologies like mms and sms is embarrassing! Email! It's *far* more versatile as you're not as limited to the amount of characters/size of image that can be used. Let go of the useless technology! Actually, think about it. With unlimited data usage, both 3G and wireless, so email is free. MMS on the other hand is not!
i DO NOT want MMS
why should i have to pay a fortune to send a tiny low-res image to someone elses phone?
better to send the fullsize image via email for free
the need for copy/paste is much over-blown by sites like ElReg who hate Apple and by N95tards. in the last 18 months, i noticed it wasn't available once, when someone emailed me their address, and even then, it was faster to scribble the address on paper and then type into the addressbook than it would have been to copy and paste each line between the two apps
and personally, it's a damn good thing there's no txt fwding - this is a feature that's completely abused and only really used to pass on some crappy joke that you've just recieved. if someone does txt me something important that i want to pass onto someone else, i have more than two braincells and i am capable of remembering what the first message said and retyping it in a second one.
@David Halko
"Excellent battery life"
You sure about that David or are we talking about battery life next to another juice sucking leach? The 3 people I know that have one charge it nearly every day. That's what most people would term shite battery life unless you're comparing it to a laptop or "compared to what it can do". However the primary function is to make calls and it sucks if the battery is flat.
@Damian Skeeles
In response to a question of why pay more for tethered or bluetoothed data access you wrote "Erm - because laptops are capable of using vastly more data than iPhones?"
Is it not the case that if you have a data allowance, you have a data allowance and where the fuck it goes after it's hit your phone is your business and not the concern of the network provider. If I had say a 3GB allowance and I wanted to access it via tethering to a laptop, so what?
@Mac Phreak
"How is the lack of MMS embarassing"
Err...
1. Because it's basic functionality and if you include SMS and a camera, why not MMS?
2. It's widespread throughout Europe yet Apple look to the shitty US market for features (God help us)
3. If you said a great, super, fantastic, state of the art email it can only be viewed on a computer or a smartphone etc rather than the 80+% of mobile phones actually in use.
4. Email is free and MMS is not - valid but hardly the point if you're communicating with friends that chances are don't own a smartphone.
5. If the "it's just so yesterday's tech" is your argument then why have SMS? Why have a shit camera? Why have no cut-and-paste etc.
I'll by an iphone when it's actually practical to have and use to the extent it's price justifies rather than when it's like a Dell computer - great at some things but with corners cut elsewhere.
There are three groups of phone users:
1. Fans of a specific manufacturer
2. People who value features over UI
3. People who enjoy phones without knowing about possible phone features or the traditional phone market
Stuart Van Onselen, I can understand the frustration how you might think most iPhone users are from group 1. They'll buy anything Apple produces, despite flaws you see as self-evident.
People in group 2 will find the iPhone frustrating.
The question is, is the number of people in group 3 larger than the other two put together?
Although the vast majority of people of people in the West own mobile phones, it might be that the majority turn out to be in group 3. If so, the future belongs to the Palm Pre and the Apple iPhone (and whoever can make Android slick enough to appeal to group 3).
Apple limits the iPhone so that if features cannot be implemented in a satisfying way, they will not appear on the phone - however useful they are on other phones.
I would be surprised if current iPhones will suddenly run many apps at a time under iPhone OS 3. The millions of phones out there still have the same CPU. Maybe you'll be able to choose which few apps can run - with control of how much resources an app can get.
iPhone OS 3.0 - bring on the soup - it's about time it returned.
@Claire Rand
@OrsonX
@David Halko
@Damian Skeeles
Thanks! You've actually answered my question nicely, by telling me the good things, the bad things that are not really so bad after all, and one more bad thing. Useful info I shall now mull over before my next upgrade.
@Jerry Masterson
You, sir, are a fanboi.
You contributed very little more than a lot of hot air to this discussion. You insulted me and called me ignorant, but you did nothing to relieve that ignorance - You didn't tell me what any of the good points are! You reacted as if I had insulted you, personally. It's just a sodding chunk of plastic silicon, not your penis! Who's the 12yo in this discussion?
Sure no cutnpaste would be a very welcome addition..
As would the ability to turn off the bloody annoying auto-complete.
But, as much as I heart iPhone (it made my n95 totally obsolete) the weaknesses for me are -
* Poor battery life
* Painfully Slow edge/3g data transfers
* Poor quality camera
* No video
"MMS? If you are over 12 years old you're big enough to use email like the big boys."
Jerry, please don't assume because it's like that for you that it's like that for everyone. Many people I work with don't have/use email on their phones but they do have MMS. In the field I know I can send an image to someone and they'll be able to view it if they're away from their desks. Because of this I use it frequently and I'm considerably older than 12.
Mind you I use an n95 so I get to use both and it costs me much less to own than an iPhone :)
Clam.
Oh God, another one.
Not everyone has unlimited data. These people will probably not have email set up on their handset or have a particularly 'high-end' device, and if they do may well have their client set to not download attachments because of the cost. It's not free for everyone just because it is for you.
Of course email is better, only a complete loon would argue otherwise. But with it comes cost. Their handset needs to be better to use it effectively and the call plans are usually more expensive. Many people just don't feel these extra costs are justified. In these trying times I don't have the option to just ignore these people and only do business with those who aren't 'clinging on to technologies'.
Flexibility is the key.
Clam.
It HAD background apps, they patched it out in update 1.5 i think, wrecking the Scrobbler app among others.
Background apps are a battery drain on an already overtaxed CPU, especially on the phone, they had to ditch it lest lots of people ringing the support line asking why they were only getting a few hours juice.
Should they allow background apps again (Safari, Mail and many other Apple apps run in the background already) expect it to be VERY controlled.
Theres little point anyway, as app closing/autosaving and reopening are fast enough.
... can be done with a current phone that's jailbroken using various third-party apps. MMS? Yes (actually there are appstore apps for this too). Cut and Paste? Yes. Multiple apps running at once? Yes (even works with Appstore apps) . Using your iphone as a data modem for your laptop? Yes
Of course you could wait until Apple decide they want to let you have these features, or you could Jailbreak and use them now.
Jolyon
Now I'm pretty happy with my iPhone - but good battery life is not one of it's strong points. Mine gets charged over night, every night.
If I use any of it's better features (Wifi, gps, phone calls!) it dies pretty quick.
Suggesting otherwise is idiocy.
Also, I'm fed up of getting those poxy messages from O2 telling me I've received an MMS. This feature needs to be added - there's no good reason for it not to be there.
I'm a very recent "convert" to the iPhone, and I'm very familiar with the Nokia N series and Sony Ericsson. It is true that you can, in theory, do many things on these that you can't do on the iPhone, for example app switching and cut and paste. But they are so god-bloody-awfully implemented that they remain totally in edge case territory - 99% of users will not even find them. It is very interesting to see the stats on mobile data access too: the iPhone is wiping the floor with everybody else (although Android is doing pretty well) despite having a much lower market share.
Stuff like threaded SMS (yes, S-E has had it for years, but see above) and, yes, the App store, are why it is selling. No amount of marketing can sustain sales of a crap device over so much time. And being blinded by the irritating behaviour of the (actually very small) fanboy brigade is just sad, as are ad hominen attacks on Steve Jobs and his staff.
It's a remarkable piece of engineering and design, and has been built to respond to the real world needs of people who want a device that works well, rather than to feature list obsessed engineering-led design manifesto.
I hope that Nokia has the guts to bin Symbian and the N-Series warthogs and step up to the challenge.
Is it me or is this place full of Nokia fanboys? Seems even worse than my Commodore 64 is better than your Amstrad!
It's just a freakin phone. The Iphone does some things very well, it doesn't do other tasks as well. An F1 car is great at taking corners at 150mph, but you drive it down a normal road and go around a roundabout at 25 mph in the wet, it'll simply slide off. Likewise a Corsa won't really be much cop around Silverstone.
You look at the feature set when you buy the phone and make your decision. And lets also remember that the Iphone has it's faults, but there are some real dogs out there. My last phone was a Sony P1i, an utter dog of a phone that was slow, had awful battery life and crashed more often than a ZX81 with a 16k memory expansion. At any point I would have given anything for an Iphone!
People, they're practically giving away Wi-Fi dongles as Cracker Jack prizes. EVDO and 3G cards are available for laptops and have been for quite some time now. Why, exactly, is the iPhone's lack of tethering supposed to be a failure? This is like complaining that your Porsche is not fitted with a trailer hitch.
As for "multiple apps"--hey guys, you realize that you're advocating for the iPhone to have third-party things that run without the user being aware of it. This is NOT A GOOD IDEA.
The way that the background application running on jailbroken phones is pretty good - Appstore apps cannot on their own run in the background, but by holding down the button to quit the app (rather than just clicking it once) you get the option to leave that particular app running in the background - very useful for things like IRC applications if you want to wander off and get your email without leaving the channel, or SSH connections or... whatever else that you want to remain connected to. So the apps can't run in the background without your explicit approval.
Of course, apps written for jailbroken phones rather than appstore can be made to run in the background anyway (and some things, such as the lighttpd web server, need to run in the background to be of any use) - however you have control over what you do and do not want to install from these sources.
Jolyon
Jolyon
The iPhone is not the super device it's made out to be. There are obvious failings, MMS and cut'n'paste are the two obvious missing features, but more importantly I'd like to be sure that people calling me will definately get through to my phone. Or when I need to make a call I can without having to reboot the phone first.
However even with these failings I don't think I could go back to a windows mobile device or a regular phone. The UI is just so slick and works so well.
As for background apps for me what I need is an IM client (for MSN, that will leave me signed in) or even better Skype.
Who wants to transfer files at bluetooth speeds and bluetooth limited range. I transmit all my files over WiFi. Everyone in the office has full access, not all laptops have bluetooth and just about no desktops have bluetooth. With bluetooth I would be severely feature limited and be waiting all day to transfer files.
With WiFi my iPhone is a 16GB Wireless Data Stick. Lovin' it.
Enjoy your Nokia! Phone cameras bah! I have a real camera for that, will wipe the floor with all your x megapixel grainy crap phone pics! Handy, bull, whats handy about ending up with shit pictures where you delete 95% of them because they are grainy or blurry or just crap? My memories are crystal clear with a tiny Canon digital that slides right into my pocket and is always available.
They can't admit to any mistake, oversight, imperfection. The more people complain about lack of feature "X" the more apple will come up with justifications on why "X" is a bad feature.
Its just part of the Mac culture.
Also you have to realize that apple is more about style than substance. They don't so much sell products as *end user experiences".
Grumble all you want the real truth is ... people really enjoy the iPhone. They take pleasure it its design and use. After playing with my friends iPhone, I went out and got an iPod Touch as my MP3 player. It may not be as "useful" as other devices in its price range, but its more fun.
The iphone is by no means perfect, but as already stated, if Apple can't implement something well, then they just won't implement it. More feature-rich email and sms interfaces would be great, and cut'n'paste is definitely needed, but these aren't show-stoppers.
On the other hand, my missus has been getting stressed about sorting the music for our wedding ceremony, not knowing the name of one of the pieces she wants playing. Then, Sunday morning, she's watching Hollyoaks and says "That's it - playing now!" So I grab the iphone, launch Shazam, allow the app to 'listen' to the TV and thirty seconds later, say "It's the Spring excerpt of Vivaldi's Four Seasons". Bingo - THAT was worth paying for!
PITA - someone sends you directions and you can't forward them on to someone else. Once my contract is up I won't have another one.
Cut and paste - OK, you only have to type your wireless key in once, but still PITA, and if it was there then the lack of forwarding of SMS wouldn't be so annoying would it?
And it crashed and lost some apps I can't seem to get back without paying for again.
Expensive PITA.
I am a recent convert to an iPhone, trying desperately not to become a fanboi, my two pence worth:
The iPhone has some well documented problems (battery life, c&p, etc.), I'd add that the sound on my w950i was better, but maybe it's just the earphones.
What it does do, it does remarkably well - the only reason why I switched from SE after 10 years. fantastic browser, easy to set up a sync with Exchange (45 seconds setup c.f. about a day with my SE w950i). Superbly easy to use email - I'd now rather check my emails on the iPhone than Outlook on my laptop that is 6" away.
One app at a time works for me - far quicker than multitasking with Symbian. But then I'm an old school programmer that hates bloat.
The other thing about the iPhone is that you can walk in to an Apple store and play with one for hours (I did). Now try and find an HTC Touch HD to play with (I couldn't).
Lots of interesting views here on the iPhone!
But regarding the impending V3.0 software surely it can, in once sense, only FAIL? Whatever features are implemented (& don't get me wrong I'm looking forward to them) for each and every one the forums will be full of:
'MMS... my 1999 PAYG £20 phone could do that!'
That is unless V3.0 unlocks the holographic display feature.
The iPhone is a smartphone for casual users. It isn't a full fledged smartphone, and it isn't a dumb handset either. The fact that you sync it with music software, and not something like a calendar client should have been a dead giveaway that it isn't supposed to be an enterprise grade device.
As always, most of the posts ranting about the iPhone essentially say the same thing. "I've never used the iPhone, but I'm sure the lack of feature 'x' makes it completely worthless". 'x' may be cut-and-paste, MMS, or any other minor detail -- my favourite being the "broken Bluetooth stack", which must be the most ludicrous reason ever for not liking anything, let alone an iPhone.
I've used the iPhone and really like it. Lots of people, I'm sure, have used the iPhone and don't like it. All perfectly valid opinions. However, adding a comment that says, "I don't like the iPhone, and I don't see why anyone else does either" when you've never used one is simply wasting everyone's time.
I honestly can't imagine ever reading an article on the N95 and thinking, "I know. I've never used this handset, but I think I'm going to write a comment outlining what I suspect its failings might be, and explaining why I'm not going to buy one." Seriously, why would I think that anyone else would give a f*ck?
I've used my iPhone extensively for several months and there have only been one or two occasions where I've thought 'copy and paste might be handy here'. It's really not something I'm bothered about. After all, it's supposed to be a phone, not a netbook.
The lack of MMS is a right pain, though. I sincerely hope that goes into the next release. And also a 'To Do' app so I can see my To Do items that are synced over MobileMe.
I agree that MMS is outdated, however until everyone has an iPhone it's going to be around if it's the only way for some people to send and receive picture messages. MMS according to Rose will not be in the iPhone 3.0 update.
There is however a free app in the App Store called, perhaps unsurprisingly, 'MMS'. What is does it interface with your O2 MMS account and allow you to receive MMS messages. Sending is done through the network and you have to buy pre-paid credit (using PayPal) to send.
For once my contract is up for renewal in interesting times ! The iPhone is great and the fact that Nokias and others could do more years before is just a statement of how little concern the big players (the networks and the phone makers) had for the end user's experience : except for tech enthusiast like me, noone ever knew they could send emails, browse the web and do instant messaging with their phones. Oh, and the iphone's display is beautiful, and there is nothing wrong in liking beautiful things.
The thing I would miss on the iphone is a decent video camera. I've taken too many great little sequences with my phones over the years to go without it, but the rest is great. If Apple can fix that, then I might have the pleasure to own one.
Wouldn't say i was a fanboi but I did start out with an iPod nano and sort of moved on from there. Recently ditched my K850i for an iPhone.
I do a lot of commuting by rail (which means waiting in stations a lot) so i wanted something I could use whilst waiting for the next [delayed/cancelled/OMG its the wrong kind of rain] train.
My thoughts ..
I don't miss the camera. I think any phone camera is going to be limited by the lens .. my old 3MP camera took better 'dull day'/'party time' shots than my 8 MP phone, so I've now bought myself a small compact camera with a good lens.
I agree about the cut and paste .. every so often I want to pick something out of a web page or email and dump it into a notebook or calendar and end up doing this on my main computer.
MMS .. again, tend to agree this would be useful .. many of my friends don't have a phone that can receive email and I don't have their email address anyway. However, as time goes on I suspect that this will be less of a problem, but i'm thinking years rather than months so can I have MMS now please.
Background apps .. yup, be good to open safari without closing down the GPS tracker but other than that the apps switching is good.
Battery life .. if I use it as a music machine battery life is OK. If I use it as a phone still seems to be OK. If I use it as a phone, music machine, GPS tracker, Web browser and book then I need a bigger battery, but isn't this the case with any of the smartphone set?
The thing is big but it's pretty skinny, so fits comfortably into a trouser/jeans pocket. Just have to make sure I don't put my house keys in there as well
I think the thing can be improved. It looks like apple are doing that so so far (looks round for a piece of wood) I'm happy.
Haven't got a coat .. weather's warming up.
Dan, I’m a bit surprised you are touting Shazam on the iPhone as a “killer feature” as any phone will do it, just through a dedicated audio channel rather than a web based app. To be fair to you, I’ve also done a similar search for a song I hear on the television and did it through web search which oft-times finds a web site listing things like music played in a particular show and so forth.
As for the iPhone itself… meh. Played with one for a while, but since I use a phone to call, text and listen to music on I went for a smaller, lighter phone with a far better battery life and equivalent music abilities, especially as I am no fan of iTunes and refuse to have it on any of my machines. For email, web surfing and so on, I have laptops for that stuff, and if something is that important then the other person should realise that phone calls will get my attention much better than a one way message medium like email or SMS.
But the "The iPhone is rubbish." arguement is fading away somewhat compared with a year ago where fanboi's were continually being dumped on from a great hight.
When the iPhone software v3 comes out soon and the 3rd version of the actual iPhone comes out in the summer with cut and paste, SMS forwarding, MMS, a better camera, video camera, twice as long lasting battery, 32gb memory, tethering, concurrent apps running and whatever else they have up their sleeve, and I bet they do have something great firmly embedded up their sleeve then I assume the iPhone haters will be happy and have no complaints.
Somehow I think they'll hate the darn thing even more.
> Also you have to realize that apple is more about style than substance. They don't so much sell products as *end user experiences".
This is a criticism? The iPhone is the first phone I've had in about 8 years that actually seems to have been designed with the end user in mind. Prior to getting the 3G I had a Nokia N series phone and it seriously sucked balls. I got it full of hope after suffering an Ericsony for a year only to discover that Nokia had forgotten how to make a usable phone. The 18 months I was tied to it it brought me only stabbing pain and misery.
The thing that singles Apple out is that they pick a useful feature set and then implement that well, instead of throwing in a full kitchen sink of me-too features and buttons. As already noted by other people:
Copy-n-paste: I've missed it maybe a handful of times since I got the phone. It'll be nice to have, but it's not going to change my life. The problem is really a lot harder than you think since the useful instances of copy-n-paste involve non-trivial things like the need to copy-n-paste multiple lines of text into different fields in another app - such as copying an address out of a message. Yes, you can do this with other phones, but the experience is clunkier than just writing it down and typing it back in.
Tethering: this is down to the operators and is obviously a problem with the unlimited data plan. Apple got away with strong-arming an unlimited plan as standard on the basis that there is a limited amount of data you can seriously download with the phone anyway. Screaming at Apple won't change anything. I could tether my Nokia on Orange, but I only had 8MB of data a month or something measly like that.
Background apps: on many occasions I'd take my Nokia piece of shit out of my pocket to find it roasting hot and out of battery because some background app had live-locked and burned through all of my juice. This really is a device designed to be taken out of your pocket, used for something for a short while and then put back. It's not a web server or desktop replacement. Go get an SCC/Netbook(R)/whatever.
The only thing more crazy than Apple fanbois is people who seem to get so burned up about some Apple product not exactly suiting them and thus Steve Jobs being an asshole.
My K800i is no 'smart phone' but it manages to run several apps at the same time... I can play mp3 files or listen to the inbuilt FM radio and tap out a text message and drop into a game or browse a web page (crap screen compared to the iPhone I have to admit though). I use this all the time... its hard to understand that iPhone with its 'sophisticated' OS sitting underneath all it does cannot do this... and thats not to mention that the K800i supports cut/paste, has hassle free BlueTooth, a 3.2Mp camera with a Flash etc etc.
I am not an Apple basher or iPhone hater at all... it just amazes me that a product that in most other ways is so advanced has such a big whole in its functionality.
Ah yes, The iPhone does this as well. The player runs in the background whilst you do other things. What it can't do is run (say) a GPS tracker in the background whilst you browse the web in the foreground.
I suspect the iPhone OS is capable of this but that it is a deliberate policy by Apple to reduce drainage on the battery.
Can't remember the cut/paste on the K800i .. obviously never needed it!
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