I am growing tired of answering the question, "Dave, why don't you have an iPhone yet?"
First, do I think the iPhone is amazing technology? You bet. Do I think Steve Jobs is an absolute genius? Without question. Is Apple a great company? Yes, they are an amazing company. But, let me list what Apple should do for the iPhone if they want me as a customer (yes, I realize that Apple does not care if I am a customer :-)
- No cut-n-paste. Are you kidding me? When friends tell me, "Dave, you just don't understand the Apple lifestyle." Yes, I guess that is true..... When I hear on podcasts that Apple is researching the best methods for implementing cut-n-paste, I just have to laugh. If this is true, let me give you a hint, go ask the folks at Palm, they have it figured out.
- No removable storage. It is very handy to have the ability to remove a SAN disk.
- Not all apps can take advantage of the horizontal mode. This is ridiculous.
- The battery is not removable. Yes, the most recent updates help, but Apple is not there yet. I want the ability to carry a second battery with me.
- It should be a reliable phone. If I had a dollar for every time a friend said to me, "hey, I am using my iPhone so we might get dropped and I will have to call you back", I would have enough for at least a dinner out :-)
- The iPhone is simply too proprietary for me and I believe that it stifles the amount of innovation we would otherwise see with the iPhone. Yes, Apple does a great job with ease of use and overall experience, but I prefer freedom.
- The idea that Apple will "brick" your phone is just repulsive to me.
- I want real keys to type on, not a picture of a key. Yes, I know this dates me :-)
- The App Store has so many rules on what type of app it allows that, IMHO, it stifles true creativity and true competition. Checkout this article at the New York Times titled: Apple's Capricious Rules for iPhone Apps
- No Java for the iPhone. Hopefully this might change someday....
- No voice activated calling.
- You can not record video.
- I do love the features of the G1, but have not gotten one yet. The Palm Pre sounds VERY promising as well.
- NO MULTI-TASKING THIS WILL SERIOUSLY LIMIT THE i-Phone
- I will keep my old Treo 650 that just works great as a phone and basic PDA with a limited browser, until there is something that is at least as good as the G1.
I think, you are jealous of Apple.
Posted by 89.14.86.44 on December 04, 2008 at 07:44 AM EST #
I agree. My Treo 650 with Agendus and Chattermail kicks iPhone's butt as a PDA. I don't care about YouTube videes or music (already have a 30 GB iPod).
How about these:
No To Do items built in that sync with iCal.
No email filtering capability. I like to make my Treo ONLY show me email to my email address and not to the Sun email aliases that I subscribe to.
No Bluetooth Sync.
One hand operations with tactile feed back.
Posted by Jim Laurent on December 04, 2008 at 08:22 AM EST #
Thanks Jim, I was not even aware of those limitations of the iPhone.
Posted by David Edstrom on December 04, 2008 at 05:32 PM EST #
1. Palm's cut-and-paste is a copy of the Mac Classic's, is generally limited to a 4K cut buffer (some apps will now allow up to 64K, most don't), only handles plain text (modern Macs cut-and-paste rich text and images), and requires a pen. It's a bit harder to make a reasonable cut-and-paste for the iPhone interface.
2. The 'Net is the removable storage. Mail something to yourself, or use any of the file-sharing apps. Physical media is obsolete.
3. Fair enough, especially Mail should allow horizontal mode. As an iPhone developer, though, I've found it's a pain to enable.
4. Battery life is more than acceptable now; better than my Treo was on long days. While it's not replaceable, USB and the plug charger let you juice up almost anywhere.
5. If your city has good AT&T coverage, it's a very reliable connection; if not, it's not. My Sprint Treo was completely useless outside major cities.
6. The iPhone is one of the LEAST restrictive phones ever made. Ever try developing for the Treo and publishing through Handango, etc? It's a nightmare. The Nokia situation is even worse. You have no understanding of the situation if you think iPhone development is restrictive.
7. Apple won't "brick" your phone. If you're stupid enough to "jailbreak" (violating the security and committing a felony DMCA violation) and then do an Apple update that assumes a normal, legal phone, you might brick yourself. Stupid criminals shooting themselves in the face is priceless irony. I'd pay extra for that.
8. They on-screen keyboard's pretty nice after a week or so of practice. Did you also whine about Graffiti? I hated the keyboard on the Treo.
9. I've sold real apps through the App Store. It's not that restrictive if you're not a criminal, a pornographer, or an idiot.
10. Not having Java ME, or Flash, or Silverfish, is a plus. Again, I will pay extra to keep that shit, and the shitty applets and ads that come with them, OFF my phone.
11. There are apps that do voice dialing.
12. True, you can't record video. It doesn't have an autofocus lens, just a cheap pinhole, so it'd be an astoundingly bad video recorder. And this from a Treo owner, which has the worst-quality camera and video ever? Go buy a Kodak Zi6 if you want HD video in a handheld device.
13. The G1 is ugly and trashy, and the software is just as lovely and usable as you would expect from open-source Java nerds.
14. I dumped my Treo 650, and have never regretted it. The iPhone blows it away in every way.
Posted by Mark Hughes on December 06, 2008 at 07:45 PM EST #
Thanks for comments Mark.
I will keep my Treo 650 until it meets the basic needs. No cut-n-paste
for an iPhone? Are you kidding me?
I don't understand your comment about:
"The G1 is ugly and trashy, and the software is just as lovely and usable as you would expect from open-source Java nerds."
I guess that I am a Java Nerd, because I prefer open to closed and proprietary. The games for the iPhone are a joke. It reminds me a the TRS-80 games in the late 70s on the Color Computer. No I retract that, the Color Computer was MUCH better.
Posted by David Edstrom on December 21, 2008 at 05:22 PM EST #