Everything the iPhone CAN'T Do <- AKA "How I learned to stop loving the iPhone"

[AppleGuy]

Can't purchase/download iTunes songs over the air (or even WiFi)

Can't use the phone to get your laptop on the Internet from anywhere using your data plan (no tethering)

Phone doesn't show up as a mounted volume when you plug it in to your computer (no disk mode so it can't be used as an external hard drive natively in the OS).

Can't record video with the 2 Megapixel camera, even though you have some of the most advanced portable digital signal processing technology onboard, and the largest 8GB internal memory of any phone ever shipped in the US.

Can't surf the Internet or send/receive e-mail while on a call unless you are connected to a WiFi access point. The advanced multitasking displayed in the concluding MacWorld Keynote demo only works if you have both the cellular AND WiFi networks running simultaneously and both are within range. All functions do not multitask concurrently over the cellular network as the demo leads the viewer to believe.

No Adobe Flash in the web browser. It's convenient all the pretty demos have been of strict HTML-only static web pages. Try jumping out to the real REAL Internet and see how it looks sans Flash, Shockwave, Java, Embedded Quicktime, Real Player, or PDF. Even with the revolutionary touch interface, your browsing experience will still feel primitive when many elements on websites flat out don't work.

No "Message Waiting" indicator light. If the phone is sitting on your desk or nightstand and you walk out of the room, when you return you have to walk over to it, wake it up, slide the unlock slider, and load or look at the indicator in the mail app, phone app, visual voicemail app, SMS texting app to check for new e-mails, missed calls, waiting voice mails, or new texts-- EVERY SINGLE TIME, all throughout the day. For anyone who doesn't WEAR the phone 24/7, this is quickly going to get very repetitive and tiring after the first week of owning an iPhone, let alone after two solid years.

Web browsing is excruciating slow. In Steve Jobs' MacWorld demo, if you look and listen carefully it is conducted over a WiFi connection, and not the EDGE connection (Steve mentions this as he begins). Also notice how slow the screen takes re-rendering as he moves around the New York Times page while zoomed in partially. The processor is maxed out handling the full HTML renderings. The canned demos on the introductory website and the new commercials are just that: canned demos. Witness the lag from the actual product use in a real world scenario under best network circumstances (WiFi) clearly visible in both the January and more recent WWDC keynotes. Browsing and rendering websites on the iPhone is woefully underpowered.

No push e-mail for POP/IMAP. Imagine you have a device where it has a GSM cellular radio transceiver, 802.11b/g WiFi radio transceiver, Bluetooth 2.0 EDR radio transceiver, AND the device needs to be connecting, logging in, downloading, and closing the connection to your mail server EVERY TEN MINUTES THE ENTIRE TIME THE DEVICE IS ON. You can say bye-bye to battery life. Oh well, at least you can easily swap--oh, wait...

Can't use it without an iTunes Store account. Chances are this requirement isn't just to get people to more easily spend money with Apple-- I believe it's Apple's hedge to control any devices that are ultimately unlocked. I can't wait for the first person who is able to unlock their iPhone, take it to T-Mobile or a European carrier, only to find when they go to sync, download, or interface in any way with iTunes, Apple spits up some error on their screen saying "Sorry, this device is unsupported." Since the device will not mount as a hard drive, the only way any data is getting in or out is through iTunes, checking that you are a legit, paying at&t customer.

[bobb-mini]

Waiddaminute, didn't somebody came up with such a list for the iPod?

And Apple is laughing all the way to the bank!

[MacVicta]

Strange.

Going through AppleGuy's post history, one would think he was sent here strictly to spread fear, uncertainty and doubt concerning the iPhone.

[AppleGuy]

Originally Posted by MacVicta

Strange.

Going through AppleGuy's post history, one would think he was sent here strictly to spread fear, uncertainty and doubt concerning the iPhone.

Hey, I'll be the first to admit yes, I currently am a BlackBerry user who was going to camp out to buy the iPhone the day it was released... But that was until I started learning more and more about it's shortcomings. I'm still absolutely open to the device, but Apple probably will not include many of the features until a "Rev B" comes out. As pretty as that touch screen and cover flow is, the loss of so many other features doesn't persuade me to switch at this time. I was hoping to get some lively discussion going here to point out the device's other strong points that perhaps override these limitations.


But my personal views aside, I'm not trying to spread generic "FUD", as the above feature shortcomings and points I make in bold are facts presented through the Keynotes, Apple and at&t official press releases or documentation available on the device. Any assumptions I make or editorializing (such as the unlocking check) are obvious and in normal text following the bold point. There is no fear, uncertainty, or doubt to be had in the bold facts summarized above which are from resources produced by Apple/at&t themselves.

I have no doubt the iPhone will sell well, extremely well, but all the original talk about iPhone taking over the cell phone industry, crushing BlackBerry and Windows Mobile/Treo sales, all other products are "5 years behind"-- well that my friend, THAT is the true FUD.

[jhollington]

While I don't disagree with your overall points in general, being a long-time Blackberry and smartphone/PDA user myself, there are some specific points I do want to add my own comments to, particularly since many of your comments are based on unconfirmed speculation about the iPhone's capabilities....

Originally Posted by AppleGuy

Can't purchase/download iTunes songs over the air (or even WiFi)

I have no doubt this is coming eventually. In fact, I'm rather surprised that this feature isn't there already, but it's probably something that they haven't quite gotten worked out yet.

I think the "Reverse sync" feature introduced last fall is a precursor to Apple providing this kind of capability.

...and to be fair, since the device hasn't actually been released yet, we don't know for certain that this isn't there.

Can't use the phone to get your laptop on the Internet from anywhere using your data plan (no tethering)

I agree, although I'm not particularly surprised. In fact, getting my Blackberry to do this was painful enough, and I ended up going to another device because my Blackberry 8700 required a cabled connection to accomplish this.

...and to be fair, since the device hasn't actually been released yet, we don't know for certain that this isn't there (although I doubt it on this one).

Phone doesn't show up as a mounted volume when you plug it in to your computer (no disk mode so it can't be used as an external hard drive natively in the OS).

Actually, we have no evidence that this is the case beyond feedback from one particular rumour site that may or may not be a reliable source. Since a lack of a proper "disk mode" would require Apple to develop an entirely new interface protocol between iTunes and the iPod, I suspect it's more likely that this report was misinterpreted, and actually may just indicate that the iPhone doesn't support a user-settable "Disk mode" (ie, a checkbox in iTunes to keep the iPhone connected after a sync).

...and to be fair, since the device hasn't actually been released yet...

Can't record video with the 2 Megapixel camera, even though you have some of the most advanced portable digital signal processing technology onboard, and the largest 8GB internal memory of any phone ever shipped in the US.

(shrugs) Can't do that with my Blackberry or Nokia E62 either. In fact, I wouldn't be unhappy if the thing didn't even include a camera, personally.

...and to be fair, since the device hasn't actually been released yet...

Can't surf the Internet or send/receive e-mail while on a call unless you are connected to a WiFi access point.

I'm not aware of any other EDGE phone that provides this capability either, so no surprise there.

No Adobe Flash in the web browser. It's convenient all the pretty demos have been of strict HTML-only static web pages. Try jumping out to the real REAL Internet and see how it looks sans Flash, Shockwave, Java, Embedded Quicktime, Real Player, or PDF. Even with the revolutionary touch interface, your browsing experience will still feel primitive when many elements on websites flat out don't work.

My Nokia E62, which has the best browser on a phone I've yet seen, doesn't do Flash either, although it certainly claims to, I've had limited success with it. At the end of the day, it doesn't dramatically effect my browsing experience, and isn't likely to impact the way most people would use portable Internet -- that being to look up information such as directions, store locations, movie times, etc., while on the go.

Yes, it would be nice, but again it's not like they're missing a feature that other devices are providing. The iPhone also has a 6" screen... It's not like you're going to get a realistic full-web experience out of it anyway, but it will at least compare to, if not beat out, most of the other options on the market.

Oh, ...and to be fair, since the device hasn't actually been released yet, we don't know for certain that this isn't there.

Web browsing is excruciating slow. In Steve Jobs' MacWorld demo, if you look and listen carefully it is conducted over a WiFi connection, and not the EDGE connection (Steve mentions this as he begins).

Web browsing on my Nokia E62 can be slow at times as well, since that's a function of the network itself, more than the phone. Browsing on my Blackberry 8700 can be pretty zippy at EDGE speeds, but of course that's filtering out most of the content.

Anybody who believes they're going to get a fast Internet browsing experience on any portable device is fooling themselves.

No push e-mail for POP/IMAP. Imagine you have a device where it has a GSM cellular radio transceiver, 802.11b/g WiFi radio transceiver, Bluetooth 2.0 EDR radio transceiver, AND the device needs to be connecting, logging in, downloading, and closing the connection to your mail server EVERY TEN MINUTES THE ENTIRE TIME THE DEVICE IS ON. You can say bye-bye to battery life. Oh well, at least you can easily swap--oh, wait...

Again not a significant difference from a device like the Blackberry. BIS doesn't give you true "push" unless you have a Yahoo or GMail account (or a full-fledged corporate BES), and the iPhone will apparently provide true push with a Yahoo account, and who knows what else they'll be adding.

As for true IMAP IDLE support, we won't really know until it's released. However, since Mail on Mac OS X doesn't even do IMAP IDLE, I'm not holding my breath.

Can't use it without an iTunes Store account. Chances are this requirement isn't just to get people to more easily spend money with Apple-- I believe it's Apple's hedge to control any devices that are ultimately unlocked.

As I said in another thread, I think that's a needlessly cynical point of view. There are other ways for carriers to police devices, and at the end of the day, I don't think Apple is so in bed with AT&T that they would feel the need to do this. An iPhone sold is an iPhone sold, regardless of what carrier people hook it up on, and the only consideration or clause in Apple's agreement with AT&T is exclusivity in the U.S.

[paranoidxe]

Very unintelligent to require the user to unlock the phone in order to see if they have new messages..thats ridiculous and goes against a standard set by cell phones. Really, even old brick phones notifies you without having to unlock it just to see new messages.

[jhollington]

Do I need to say it again....

..and to be fair, since the device hasn't actually been released yet...

[AppleGuy]

Do I need to say it again....
..and to be fair, since the device hasn't actually been released yet...


You can repeat that phrase another 20 times or until you’re blue in the face, but it doesn’t invalidate any points I have made. Counteract my points with fact, not absence of fact. If you seriously believe that every shortcoming I have pointed out, every feature the iPhone does not have by word of Apple and at&t, and that you expect all of these changes will be implemented within the next 2 weeks contrary to any official press release, documentation, or Apple interview, then I guess I’ll just have to wait and see to be fair, since the device hasn’t actually been released yet…






AppleGuy > "Can't purchase/download iTunes songs over the air (or even WiFi)"

Jhollington > "I have no doubt this is coming eventually."

I’m sure it will, too, and Steve Jobs even eluded to this fact at the D conference, but confirmed as the device stands this won’t be supported in the initial release.





AppleGuy > "Can't use the phone to get your laptop on the Internet from anywhere using your data plan (no tethering)"

Jhollington > "I agree, although I'm not particularly surprised. In fact, getting my Blackberry to do this was painful enough, and I ended up going to another device because my Blackberry 8700 required a cabled connection to accomplish this."

I’ve configured this on both Cingular and T-Mobile over the wireless Bluetooth using an 8800 and Pearl in about 5 minutes following any of the many tutorials online. Verizon cripples this functionality, and I’m not sure how the Canadian carriers handle it. But to be riding in a car on the highway, with the phone in your pocket, and you just take out your laptop and BAM, you’ve got Internet no strings attached, it’s a very nice thing you don’t want to loose if you travel much





AppleGuy > "Can't record video with the 2 Megapixel camera, even though you have some of the most advanced portable digital signal processing technology onboard, and the largest 8GB internal memory of any phone ever shipped in the US."

Jhollington > "(shrugs) Can't do that with my Blackberry or Nokia E62 either. In fact, I wouldn't be unhappy if the thing didn't even include a camera, personally."

Well that may be all fine and dandy for you, but it ticks me off when I’m buying a $600 device with some of the most advanced video and audio digital processing capabilities ever poured into a handheld device, along with the largest internal solid-state storage of any phone ever and a 2-megapixel CCD—why the hell not just do it? How many You Tubes do you come across of people who were able to capture video from their cheap POS clamshell phones they get free with their contract. Video on your phone is the future, just look to CNN’s innovate “iReport” program where everyday citizens can now become on the scene reporters, and the Michael Richards controversy and Virgina Tech tragedy. These are 3 quick examples of how video phones are shaping our culture and recording history. Future events where someone is nearby with their wonderful iPhone will have that moment in time or history lost forever just because an engineer or marketing wizard wouldn’t allow this feature to be implemented—the hardware is there, just crippled.





AppleGuy > "Can't surf the Internet or send/receive e-mail while on a call unless you are connected to a WiFi access point. "

Jhollington > "I'm not aware of any other EDGE phone that provides this capability either, so no surprise there."

But watch the January Keynote video and tell me this isn’t what the video is obviously making it appear this phone can do all on the cell network. Very misleading.





AppleGuy > "Web browsing is excruciating slow. "

Jhollington > "Anybody who believes they're going to get a fast Internet browsing experience on any portable device is fooling themselves."

Why WOULDN’T they believe they are going to get a fast Internet browsing experience when Apple’s own iPhone ads clearly show everything being instant – from loading the New York Times page, to zooming in/out of an article, to scrolling around the page – it’s all INSTANTANIOUS. Again, very misleading when you watch the demos of the actual device which takes forever to download and render each page, zoom, and scroll. People will be upset that the real experience doesn’t live up to the advertising hype.





AppleGuy > "No push e-mail for POP/IMAP "

Jhollington > "Again not a significant difference from a device like the Blackberry. BIS doesn't give you true 'push'"

Are you kidding me? EVERY e-mail is PUSHED to the BlackBerry device from the cell tower—whether BIS/BES/Yahoo/Gmail. The handheld NEVER has to go and poll a server, sign in, download, and close the connection. They are all pushed out to the handheld from the cell tower whenever you are within range. The iPhone actively signs on, connects, downloads, signs off, every XX minutes whether you have new mail waiting or not, whether your mailbox has 20 new messages or 0, it’s checking every time because it’s clueless as nothing gets pushed out to the handheld in the field. (At least Apple has a “refresh” button in the mail app so you can manually check, but come on, ridiculous and battery wasting!) Every e-mail is pushed to a BlackBerry, even on BIS, although it’s pushed out once every 15 minutes IF there are any new messages, otherwise nothing is pushed. This is the most absolutely energy-efficient way of doing e-mail on a handheld device, as well as the fastest for the end user. This is why RIM fought NTP for the patent, lost, paid them over $300 Million, and STILL uses this technology.





AppleGuy > "Can't use it without an iTunes Store account. Chances are this requirement isn't just to get people to more easily spend money with Apple-- I believe it's Apple's hedge to control any devices that are ultimately unlocked."

Jhollington > "As I said in another thread, I think that's a needlessly cynical point of view."

I agree, I am being cynical on this one! But it only comes because I’ve seen what Apple has done to users in the past. For instance, don’t have MacOX 10.4 Tiger, try installing any of their latest apps – as soon as you double-click on the installer an error box immediately pops up saying you need to upgrade, goodbye. I understand this is for compatibility reasons and to take advantage of the latest features, but why wouldn’t they pop up the same box when you’re using an unlocked phone with iTunes because on a competitor’s network they are unable provide compatibility or take advantage of the latest features.

[kylo4]

I agree with Appleguy. If there was constant Windows pimpage I'd think it was Mr. Gates, but the guy makes all great points. I know its hard when you're such a fan of something and people point out its flaws, but the iPhone has so many of them (adding on to it; its price.) It's being hyped so high. The reality is, for $600 I expect the damn thing to make my breakfast. It is a phone, and I can go and buy one at Wal-Mart for $15.

[Skwidspawn]

Originally Posted by kylo4

I agree with Appleguy. If there was constant Windows pimpage I'd think it was Mr. Gates, but the guy makes all great points. I know its hard when you're such a fan of something and people point out its flaws, but the iPhone has so many of them (adding on to it; its price.) It's being hyped so high. The reality is, for $600 I expect the damn thing to make my breakfast. It is a phone, and I can go and buy one at Wal-Mart for $15.

Than obviously the iPhone isn't for you, spend your money at WallyWorld and enjoy your $15 phone in all it's glory.

As to the OP, I don't really see much wrong with them, as these are things I already live without. All I want is a phone that can browse the web, call my friends, play music and video, and syncs with my mac. Anything other than that is icing on the cake (touch-screen, etc...). If I have to pay $499 for that kind of functionality than so be it. I'm the kind of person that the iPhone appeals to, obviously you are not. Stick with whatever phone you've got, that makes you happy and I'll try out the iPhone. Because Lord knows I want to chuck my Tréo.

[jhollington]

Originally Posted by AppleGuy

You can repeat that phrase another 20 times or until you’re blue in the face, but it doesn’t invalidate any points I have made. Counteract my points with fact, not absence of fact. If you seriously believe that every shortcoming I have pointed out, every feature the iPhone does not have by word of Apple and at&t, and that you expect all of these changes will be implemented within the next 2 weeks contrary to any official press release, documentation, or Apple interview, then I guess I’ll just have to wait and see to be fair, since the device hasn’t actually been released yet…

No, the point is that there's a lot of information that you cite as fact that has not yet been confirmed or denied by Apple.

There are no released specs that define the final feature set of the device, and Apple has indicated that they have not yet described all of the features of the iPhone, and won't until the release date.

So, until the device is actually out there and people have a chance to use it, and the features have been fully explored, we really don't know. Rumours and speculation abound, but there's little authoritative information for many of the shortcomings you've pointed out.

Some of the shortcomings are obvious of course, and again, I'm not disagreeing with you. In fact, one of the main reasons I'm skeptical about ever getting an iPhone is even simpler than much of what you've mentioned..... It's the virtual keyboard. This may be fine for the occasional SMS or quickie e-mail, but the messages that I key out on my Blackberry or E62 would likely be impossible without the hard keyboard.

I’m sure it will, too, and Steve Jobs even eluded to this fact at the D conference, but confirmed as the device stands this won’t be supported in the initial release.

I don't really see this as a huge black mark against buying an iPhone, especially since it's probably coming. People have made the same comment about the Apple TV and buying content... The general feeling is that while it's unfortunate, it's not a show-stopper.

I’ve configured this on both Cingular and T-Mobile over the wireless Bluetooth using an 8800 and Pearl in about 5 minutes following any of the many tutorials online. Verizon cripples this functionality, and I’m not sure how the Canadian carriers handle it. But to be riding in a car on the highway, with the phone in your pocket, and you just take out your laptop and BAM, you’ve got Internet no strings attached, it’s a very nice thing you don’t want to loose if you travel much

Yes, the 8800 and Pearl can both do this, as can my E62. The 8700 does not (which is one of the reasons why I now use an E62 as my primary device).

So yes, this is definitely a consideration for me as well, but with mobile data rates up here being what they are, it's not much of a show-stopper either, since the last time I had to tether my laptop, I ended up with a $250 data bill.

Well that may be all fine and dandy for you, but it ticks me off when I’m buying a $600 device with some of the most advanced video and audio digital processing capabilities ever poured into a handheld device, along with the largest internal solid-state storage of any phone ever and a 2-megapixel CCD—why the hell not just do it?

You're talking about your preferences, and I'm talking about mine. I couldn't care less about cameraphones or video myself, and in fact the presence of a camera will probably affect my ability to use an iPhone, or at least take it with me to many of my clients, due to security restrictions.

Hence, the fact that there's not a unit available without a camera could be a disadvantage for people in my line of work.

But watch the January Keynote video and tell me this isn’t what the video is obviously making it appear this phone can do all on the cell network. Very misleading.

Okay, I'll grant you that, but at the same time this isn't something that the iPhone lacks over any other device out there, and is therefore not really a valid reason not to buy one (as opposed to something else that could do this).

Why WOULDN’T they believe they are going to get a fast Internet browsing experience when Apple’s own iPhone ads clearly show everything being instant

Again, you're talking about marketing hype versus reasons to buy or not buy the device. If you're saying that you won't buy the iPhone because you can get a better web browsing experience on another device, then more power to you. But to suggest that you don't want an iPhone just because the advertising is misleading is not as fair of a statement.

Fifteen scantily-clad women don't show up at my house every time I open a case of beer, either. It doesn't mean I've stopped drinking beer.

Are you kidding me? EVERY e-mail is PUSHED to the BlackBerry device from the cell tower—whether BIS/BES/Yahoo/Gmail. The handheld NEVER has to go and poll a server, sign in, download, and close the connection. They are all pushed out to the handheld from the cell tower whenever you are within range.

In that sense, you are correct that the Blackberry doesn't have to poll for mail. However, unless you have one of the BIS-supported ISP accounts, you're not getting real-time "push" e-mail. They've just switched the polling from the front-end device to a back-end server, that polls your POP/IMAP account every fifteen minutes and then pushes the e-mail to you.

Yes, the savings on battery life are significant, and I support that point entirely. However, I was just clarifying that you're not getting instant push e-mail delivery from a standard ISP mailbox on a Blackberry either, unless you're using a Yahoo or GMail account (or a BES, of course). So, if it's simply a question of instant real-time e-mail delivery, there are few devices that can truly deliver this capability either.

On the other hand, my E62 does support IMAP IDLE, so I can get push e-mail with any server that supports it.

Again, not suggesting that the iPhone is perfect, but just pointing out that no other device is either, and it's all going to be dependent upon your own specific needs.

I agree, I am being cynical on this one! But it only comes because I’ve seen what Apple has done to users in the past. For instance, don’t have MacOX 10.4 Tiger, try installing any of their latest apps – as soon as you double-click on the installer an error box immediately pops up saying you need to upgrade, goodbye. I understand this is for compatibility reasons and to take advantage of the latest features, but why wouldn’t they pop up the same box when you’re using an unlocked phone with iTunes because on a competitor’s network they are unable provide compatibility or take advantage of the latest features.

There are a lot of other reasons Apple could be requiring an iTunes Store account, and it's not unprecedented.... I think they'd like everybody to have an iTunes Store account just for the sake of having one.... You want a free download from the iTunes Store? You need an account. You want to get album artwork (for free) from the iTunes Store, you need an account.

I'm not saying this is the way things should be (it's rather silly that you need an iTunes account to get album artwork, for instance), but it's the way Apple is doing things, and it's not particularly surprising.

There's probably some content that they're going to want to push to the device, whether it be software updates, widgets, or other applications, that will require an iTunes Store account. There could even be some other as-of-yet unannounced features

Again, I'm a long-time smartphone user, and I consider the iPhone to be far from the ideal device either. I will probably get one for research purposes, but I'm extremely skeptical that it will have the slightest chance of replacing my E62 in real-world use. I'd probably go back to a Blackberry 8800 before I'd be able to fit the iPhone into my world for practical purposes.

There are other possible limitations that concern me as well, such as the virtual keyboard, a lack of any reaosnable Bluetooth support (ie, wireless iSync, for instance), lack of any kind of IM support, lack of voice dialing capabilities, etc. However, other than the virtual keyboard, we don't know for certain what the state of these features will be. I'm not holding my breath, but I'm also trying to be fair about this and take a "wait and see" approach before passing any final judgement.

[darupz]

Yeah well
i'm laughing at all the people in the US pitty for you.

Love Europe where such things are forbidden.
It's like samsung, SE and nokia would push you to subscribe you to a paying account.
That's far from legal.
It's like you buy a car and you are obligated to sign a contract that you will only go to a certain garage for anything possible before to car would be able to be driven in.

So you come home, you have a flat tire, you want to repair it yourself but wait a minute. You have to call the garage to tell them you have a flat tire. So the garagist must come down ($), get your car back or change your tire ($).
When all this is done you can pay a $ 100+ bill for a stupid tire you could have change yourself but you were forbidden to do. So instead of paying for the new tire you'll bring in to the garage you have to pay a lot more. It's even forbidden to change your oil in the garage next doors that you know for years and trust. Now you have to let it change it that garage you signed to contract. And since he's that friendly he'll come and pick your car up ($), he'll make some revisions ($) and bring it back home ($).
So bright your system over there .
Well that's what Apple is proposing with the iPhone.

That's how marvulous your utopic american country is :s.

They push it down your trouth like they do to make fois gras.
Be glad when it comes out in Europe, all filtered out of this [Edit] you have to go through before you can handle the iPhone.

BTW before he comes out here he well have to go against the SE K850i for and the W960i that are comming out soon on the old continent. So Apple has to do a lot of heavy upgrades before hitting the EU market or lower he's prices dramaticaly. We are constantly floted by new releases almost every month of phones getting more powerfull each release.

simple phone specs of EU phone
3.5MP now 5MP
8GB internal
synchron for windows
recognised as external disk
can change battery
3G
bluetooth
wifi
touchscreen
sd card
tomtom navigator
scratchless screen
and so on ...

so iPhone i hope you'll get your upgrades in time before you hit the market over here or you'll be a waste i'm afraid :s.



[b]Edit: Please don't use profanity and read the Forum Policy

[S2_Mac]

C'mon folks -- stop feeding the trolls.

[kyussmondo]

Originally Posted by darupz

Yeah well
i'm laughing at all the people in the US pitty for you.

Love Europe where such things are forbidden.
It's like samsung, SE and nokia would push you to subscribe you to a paying account.
That's far from legal.
It's like you buy a car and you are obligated to sign a contract that you will only go to a certain garage for anything possible before to car would be able to be driven in.

So you come home, you have a flat tire, you want to repair it yourself but wait a minute. You have to call the garage to tell them you have a flat tire. So the garagist must come down ($), get your car back or change your tire ($).
When all this is done you can pay a $ 100+ bill for a stupid tire you could have change yourself but you were forbidden to do. So instead of paying for the new tire you'll bring in to the garage you have to pay a lot more. It's even forbidden to change your oil in the garage next doors that you know for years and trust. Now you have to let it change it that garage you signed to contract. And since he's that friendly he'll come and pick your car up ($), he'll make some revisions ($) and bring it back home ($).
So bright your system over there .
Well that's what Apple is proposing with the iPhone.

That's how marvulous your utopic american country is :s.

They push it down your trouth like they do to make fois gras.
Be glad when it comes out in Europe, all filtered out of this [Edit] you have to go through before you can handle the iPhone.

BTW before he comes out here he well have to go against the SE K850i for and the W960i that are comming out soon on the old continent. So Apple has to do a lot of heavy upgrades before hitting the EU market or lower he's prices dramaticaly. We are constantly floted by new releases almost every month of phones getting more powerfull each release.

simple phone specs of EU phone
3.5MP now 5MP
8GB internal
synchron for windows
recognised as external disk
can change battery
3G
bluetooth
wifi
touchscreen
sd card
tomtom navigator
scratchless screen
and so on ...

so iPhone i hope you'll get your upgrades in time before you hit the market over here or you'll be a waste i'm afraid :s.

I agree with this. Apple really is moving into an extremely fast moving market especially in Europe. A lot of people I know at university always want the latest and greatest phone. The longer the wait for the iPhone, the more lame it seems to become. In that time Sony Ericsson must have released like 3 or 4 new phones.

As jhollington said though, we really can't comment fully until it is released on the 29th June.

The iPhone probably does inform you if you have a text message like other phones. Only a short preview or a mailbox symbol, but I am sure it will somewhere, if it doesn't though this would be a big design flaw. Apple can soon change this with a firmware update though.

[AppleGuy]

Originally Posted by jhollington

No, the point is that there's a lot of information that you cite as fact that has not yet been confirmed or denied by Apple. Rumours and speculation abound, but there's little authoritative information for many of the shortcomings you've pointed out.

I wouldn’t waste anyone’s time just making this stuff up or basing my arguments on guesses. Every point I made is verified by either Apple or at&t. It took some time to find them all, but to put to rest the accusations that these points are fabricated, here are my sources: (Which are all high-ranking corporate officials/spokespeople, official press release materials, or tech documentation from Apple/at&t. In other words, not “the Cingular guy at my local store told me so”


Can't purchase/download iTunes songs over the air
Source: Steve Jobs @ D5 Conference, Interviewer: “...plans for iTunes stores on the iPhone itself?” Jobs: “We certainly have nothing to announce today.”
http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderd...es-steve-jobs/


Can't record video
Source: Apple Relations Executive as John Reiter reports, “The iPhone cannot shoot video recordings. This was confirmed to me via e-mail by an Apple analyst relations executive.”
http://www.cameraphonereport.com/200...iphone_mi.html


Can't surf the Internet or send/receive e-mail while on a call
Source: At&t iPhone Sales Training Workbook, “when Wi-Fi access is available, iPhone lets you carry on a phone conversation while you simultaneously browse the Internet or send an email.”
http://images.macrumors.com/article/.../iphone8-1.jpg


No Adobe Flash or Java in the web browser.
Source: Steve Jobs in Interview with NYT David Pogue, “Java’s not worth building in. Nobody uses Java anymore. It’s this big heavyweight ball and chain.” Interviewer: “Flash?” Jobs: “Well, you might see that.”
http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/...s-list-part-2/

Also recently confirmed during Apple’s “State of the Media” address @ WWDC, they told developers not to serve videos using flash as "There will be no Flash support at the moment on the iPhone.”
http://www.tuaw.com/2007/06/12/its-o...he-iphone-yet/


No "Message Waiting" indicator light.
Source: Apple Website, http://www.apple.com/iphone/technology/specs.html and http://www.apple.com/iphone/gallery/ Clearly no message waiting light listed in the tech specs or to be found on the case front, back, or sides. How is the user expected to know if there are any new messages, e-mails, missed calls, or texts when the display is off and the phone is sitting on your desk? Every time you walk in the room to check you will need to press the Hold or Home button to wake it up (turn the screen on), slide the slider to unlock, and then look at the application buttons along the bottom row and/or open each primary app to check/read messages. Steve Jobs does this in the opening of his January Keynote right after he starts using the real device after introducing it. He turns it off and on repeatedly, doing just this: Presses the hold button on the top, the screen comes on, slides the slider to unlock, and either looks at the number of new messages, e-mails, missed calls, and texts indicated by the red circled numbers, or to actually view them clicks on each of those 4 applications individually to read/listen. I would be sick of this after the first week, let alone two solid years of repeating this constantly all day! (Not to mention, will the screen wear out in that "slide to unlock" area of the glass? Now THAT is true speculation!!)


Web browsing is excruciating slow.
Source: WWDC 2007 Keynote @ 1:17:29, Gray lines in a grid formation appear where the content should be displayed while the processor redraws the page after each move. How come we don’t see THAT on the slick national TV ad campaign?
http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/d7625zs/event/

Source: Steve Jobs MacWorld 2007 Keynote in the “iPhone Introduction” video @ 41:27, “We’re loading it over Wifi right now” Rendering lag clearly visible after the full page is loaded at 42:20, 42:27, 42:34, 42:39, 42:44
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/mwsf07/


No push e-mail for POP/IMAP.
Source: Apple/at&t joint e-mail (now available online), “iPhone will even fetch your latest email every time you open the application and automatically retrieve your email on a set schedule, just like a computer does.”
http://www.apple.com/iphone/easysetup/getready.html


Can't use it without an iTunes Store account.
Source: Apple / at&t joint e-mail (now available online), “To set up your iPhone, you’ll need an account with Apple’s iTunes Store.”
http://www.apple.com/iphone/easysetup/getready.html


Can't use the phone to get your laptop on the Internet
I have looked heavily for the link to the reference on this, and maybe someone on the forums can help me out. It was from an article where the interviewer is asking either an Apple Engineer or some other representative from the company about tethering capability, and he quickly replied “nope.”

Phone doesn't show up as a mounted volume
Well, maybe this is one where I did get sucked in to the rumor mill! I wasn’t able to find the confirmed source I thought I read this from Apple/at&t, but it still has not been confirmed through any official channels as NYT reporter David Pogue elegantly states at http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/...s-list-part-2/ "If the answer were yes, Apple surely would have touted that feature."

Originally Posted by jhollington

Fifteen scantily-clad women don't show up at my house every time I open a case of beer, either. It doesn't mean I've stopped drinking beer.

Let’s compare Apples to Apples (pardon the pun). As cute as your analogy is, it is not congruent to compare the two advertising models used by the alcohol industry and what techniques Apple employs in their iPhone ads. You would be more inline to equate the beer commercials to the new iPod ad featuring Sir Paul McCartney. When I take my iPod Nano out of the box, will he suddenly appear in the same room playing his mandolin and performing his latest hit single? Of course not, just as I wouldn’t expect the bikini-clad dancers to appear when I upcap my Budweiser.

However, the case with the iPhone is a completely different context and concept, as you have a DIRECT ‘real-time’ demonstration of the product in use. People will be buying this to use it, to surf the net, and the experience that is perpetrated in the commercials is a far cry from how the device performs in the real world (based on the Keynote address demonstrations). Any other time in advertising you see “Screen Image Simulated.” or “Network Performance Simulated.” or “Your Results May Vary, Subject to Network Traffic/Availability” Not so with the iPhone ads. Apple expects you to believe and visually presents the device as if it really is downloading, rendering, and displaying full HTML web pages INSTANTIOUSLY, faster even than their 8-core 2x 3GHz Quad Core Mac Pro desktop on Ethernet can! Give me a break, this is false and misleading advertising if I ever saw it, and since everyone is so ga-ga over this phone they don’t even realize the blatant falsifications being made before their eyes. Apple has been militantly strict about “paws off!” by keeping it enclosed in glass cases and out of the hands of anyone until they’ve forked over their $600. Why? Partially to minimize the damage that will be done once end-users see what a load of bull the true web browsing experience is.

Sure, the BlackBerry and Nokia Symbians may not be better either, but Apple is setting a dangerous precedent making it appear it is, because until I closely watched the Keynotes, I would have jumped ship and dropped $600 on this device for the ‘supposed’ web surfing experience alone. I would have been ticked once inside a 2-year at&t contract after taking this device home only to realize the experience is nothing like the representation made in the commercials or product demonstration on the website.

Originally Posted by s2_mac

C'mon folks -- stop feeding the trolls.

I started this thread because these faults are deal-breaker after deal-breaker for me, and it was only after 6 months of closely following the iPhone did I start to see them through the fanaticism. Having not seen these potential pitfalls seriously discussed anywhere before from an end-user standpoint, I wanted to get some facts out there for others who may not have had the ability to research this as much on their own. Reading these same forums has helped me tremendously when deciding which iPod to buy and when. However, lately with regards to the iPhone the level of discussion seems to be the same general information continually regurgitated, “Which carrier? When can I buy it? Can I swap the battery? Here’s the latest ads! Latest pics!” I found most of these answers and information available through the keynotes/Apple/at&t websites and was hoping to bring more depth to the iPhone discussion here, which I feel has happened. I feel honored and privileged that not only can we share our ideas and thoughts in a such a civil, productive manner on the world’s largest iPod-users site, we are strong enough to also delve into some productive criticisms which benefit everyone. I think having these diverse discussions, both about the device’s strong and weak points, and fully exploring both, better contributes to our community and more fully enriches everyone to make the most informed decisions for their particular need and situation.