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Top 5 iPhone buzzkills
OK, I'll admit I own an iPhone. Thing is, I refuse to pay AT&T's completely ridiculous rates. Why are iPhone data packets at a premium, exactly? Anyway, I use the thing as more of a PDA, and I like the mic, speakers and camera. Sure, my Palm has two of those, but that camera is great for sending shots while on the go (and within a wifi hotspot). If I had the dough I'd get a Nokia N95, however.So after using this 1st-gen iPhone for a few weeks, here are five things that Apple got completely wrong:
5. Codecs? We don't need no steenking codecs!
Just like Apple TV, the Cupertino Ivory Tower refuses to acknowledge the existence of codecs outside their shiny white walled garden. That's a shame, as Divx and a couple of others are really superb codecs, providing efficient and gorgeous playback. On everything but iPhones and Apple TV's, that is. I'm not sure if they are afraid of competition, licensing fees or just snobs. Hm, one of those rhymes with Jobs...
4. Sandboxes are for kids, not a multitasking OS.
Oh copy and paste, where art thou? I'll keep banging this drum, because the beat goes on. The Macintosh pioneered the ease of a clipboard. Microsoft did one better in Office by providing multiple copy/paste repositories. And you're telling me copy/paste was an afterthought? I call malarkey on that! Every proper mobile OS can copy/paste. It's stuff like this that gives you a very solid feeling Apple rushed the entire iPhone experience out the door.
3. App Store? How about Crash Store?
Last night I saw the "App Store" ad. I laughed out loud. If only my iPhone could install apps so easily. The first time I tried using third-party apps, all downloaded via the iPhone, they locked up, started crashing and wouldn't come back. Guess what? A 5-hour journey to "Erase and Restore Land" made things mostly better. Yeah, I had to grab pen and paper to keep track of what I lost. And yeah, I had to re-enter all my settings. Even today installing an app is major fail. It never finishes the "installing" progress bar. I have to reboot a couple of times for it to appear. Google apps on my BlackBerry may hang up, but they install properly, at least. Don't get me started on the wonky "updates" system, either. Seriously.
2. The maze of settings a Minotaur could be proud of, with customization tossed to the wayside.
Wouldn't it be cool to have profiles so you don't have to tweak a dozen settings depending on whether you are at home (with wifi) or in the boonies (EDGE)? Too bad usability and simplicity were lost when the iPhone was born. Or how about the fact that you can't really customize the organization on the screen? Sure, you can try -- but either restoring or re-installing apps will shuffle things around. There's no category-based system, as you find on the Palm. There are no folders. Just a massive, sliding list of stuff with no rhyme or reason. This makes it very frustrating when you need certain apps to always appear front-and-center (like Camera, Evernote and ShoZu). I spend about 1/3 of my time shuffling apps knowing that all that hard work is one crappy install away from being shot to hell. Decades of UI and brain research gone with the flick of a finger.
1. Backups, only 3 hours to go!
Actually, I wish it was 3. Shoot, I wish it was at least predictable. Most iPhone users are now trained to plug the thing in at night. I guess that makes sense, but you know what also makes sense? Iterative backups. You know, like a little thing known as Time Machine? Once again, this smacks of sloppy, rushed coding. iPods do a fast sync and BOOM, you're ready to rock. The iPhone makes you wait hours for a backup, and even then you might wind up with a corrupted backup... Which isn't really a backup at all, is it?
I think the bottom line is that Apple rushed the App Store, rushed the OS 2.0 release and is currently playing the averages. The average iPhone user appears happy. They are wowed by the glitz and glamour of such an advanced machine. But like at Vegas, by the time the cocaine and hooch wears off, they are gonna wind up sore and bruised, wishing they could take it all back. I sincerely hope Apple takes the necessary time to fix this stuff instead of adding more bells and whistles to an already precarious platform.
Comments
14
Subscribe to commentsSteve CookeAug 29th 2008 4:56PM
I'm beginning to wish I could put an iPhone filter on my PC. I really don't want to read about this thing any more.
BrandonrawksAug 29th 2008 3:45PM
Long sync time? I'm very accustomed to this. See the video I made for gizmodo: http://tinyurl.com/68ocn5
sodapopAug 29th 2008 4:01PM
The bottom line is that you need to stop using an iPhone. Its not the right device for you. Items 1, 2, and 3 are not typical user experience. You're probably doing something wrong.
Victor Agreda, Jr.Aug 29th 2008 4:08PM
Well, there are hundreds of discussion threads regarding crashing apps, the "white screen of death" (which I got the other night) and the backup issue is well-documented and completely verified b/c of how they implement it...
As for UI-- I don't think you're arguing that the *lack* of a method for pinning an app to a specific place is a *bad* thing, are you? Because the human brain isn't particularly fond of completely random behavior. It works better with predictable results.
All I'm asking for is the stability we've come to expect with Leopard.
totoroAug 29th 2008 4:11PM
The only buzzkill on the iPhone for me (both EDGE and 3G) has been the consistently maddeningly unstable Mobile Safari browser. It just crashes way to often for a centerpiece feature of the iPhone experience.
jamespwAug 29th 2008 4:23PM
Like totoro said, Mobile Safari is crashing a lot in my iPhone. The other thing i dont like iphone is it doesnt show Total call time and total sms sent. Only data usage.
JeremyAug 29th 2008 4:25PM
I most be the only person in America that has not had the problems that others have had with the iphone. I have no problems downloading apps. In fact I was camping in the middle of no where and was able to download a flashlight app with no problem.
I must be one of the lucky ones I guess
jamespwAug 29th 2008 4:29PM
http://twurl.nl/6ogj3f Check this out man. It's darn true. LOL
Roger BenningfieldAug 29th 2008 7:40PM
5. Can't argue there
4. I don't think they were rushed in that respect. I think it was simply a matter of complexity... they already had to get people accustomed to all these absolutely required gestures, and pushing something as context-sensitive as cut-n-paste out too soon might have left too many users confused.
3. I've got 27 apps installed on my phone right now, and have tried out many, many more. Never had to do a restore, and only had two stalled on-phone installs. So while I recognize some people are having issues out there, it isn't everyone, and might even be a small (but vocal) minority.
2. I can't say I'm crazy about the iPhone's Settings gadget, but I'd also be hard pressed to suggest a way to improve it.
1. I've never had a backup take more than ten minutes. Now, the sync as a whole can stretch to 30 minutes or so, and is incredibly annoying, but the backup is always the quickest part. Again, not questioning anyone's negative experiences... just putting an opposing data point out there.
Brian!Aug 30th 2008 1:50AM
You think cut/paste is something that might have left users confused?? Uh, we all got the gesture system. Isn't the iPhone supposed to be easier to use because of it?
The author mentioned a really clear way to improve settings - the choice of having easy-to-set profiles. Like I would love a profile - No Wifi, No Bluetooth, 3G on. Then Wifi On, Bluetooth on, 3G off. Even better, when the iPhone detects my car's bluetooth, it adjusts to a new profile. When it detects my home network, it adjusts again. And so on.
That said, I also don't have slow backup times. And I also agree apps seem to be running fine for me too.
My iPhone OS keeps locking up though. One time it got stuck in email and would not go back to home. Often the whole interface freezes up. And since the last update I have to reboot the unit far too often to get it to run smooth again.
leoAug 29th 2008 10:46PM
3 hours? It's never taken it longer than 5 min for me.
cpooAug 30th 2008 10:51PM
if you don't like the way the phone works go back to a crackberry. What a waste of time people complaining about an awesome phone. get vista and a pocketpc and lets see how much better life is. LOL
GiovaniAug 31st 2008 2:11AM
iPhones are not for tech savvy people, they are like touchscreen "Jitterbugs" all those big icons are really easy to use and don't forget the crippled cell phone features and bluetooth so you don't have to worry about all those options advanced os phones have.
WilliamSep 1st 2008 1:10PM
I have never had a problem with the apps running or Safari, but the whole updating-an-app-moves-it-to-first-available-space thing is pretty annoying. Also, it's annoying that Apple took away the "Update All" button in the App Store. If there are 5 apps with updates, I have to click update for each one, then go back into the App Store [if it will let me] and then click update on the next one, and so on.
My biggest gripe is the syncing process. Right now, I am averaging about 2 hours for a sync. Well, more precisely, the backup part. The actual syncing of photos and media takes about 30 seconds. But backing up the iPhone takes 2 hours. If after it backs up and syncs I do another sync immediately, it goes quickly. But if I leave the iPhone plugged in and iTunes open and do a sync later, it takes another 2 hours, even though NOTHING HAS CHANGED. How is this possible? It's obviously not doing a full backup everytime otherwise the sync I do immediately after it does the first sync would also take 2 hours. But if nothing has changed and some time has passed, it does a full backup, as if it is not even checking to see if anything has changed.