iPhone 3G sour gripes

[gino_76ph]

the thing is out. but still Steve Jobs missed out on some things:

1. no front-facing camera. ( this is the standard for almost ALL 3G phones. why is it still missing in the new iPhone...???)

2. no updated camera ( they should atleast updated it to 3.2mp. almost all 3G phones now has a "standard" 3.2mp camera on it. were into 5mp now and Japan/Korea has..what...10mp camera phones...????!!!)

3. no MMS ( ummm...why Apple????)

[Steve B]

Originally Posted by gino_76ph

the thing is out. but still Steve Jobs missed out on some things:

1. no front-facing camera. ( this is the standard for almost ALL 3G phones. why is it still missing in the new iPhone...???)

2. no updated camera ( they should atleast updated it to 3.2mp. almost all 3G phones now has a "standard" 3.2mp camera on it. were into 5mp now and Japan/Korea has..what...10mp camera phones...????!!!)

3. no MMS ( ummm...why Apple????)

1. I've never used the front facing camera on either my old Nokia N70, nor my current phone, the SPV M3100.

2. Unsurprisingly, i have a digital camera for taking photographs and never take photos using either my current or previous mobile.

3. I've never ever sent an MMS message from any phone that i've owned.

For me, these features aren't needed!

[TheAnimus]

Originally Posted by Steve B

3. I've never ever sent an MMS message from any phone that i've owned.

Thats because you've never been immature with pictures and messaging, its a feature most mac fan boys won't be needing!


But in seriousness. MMS is quite widley used in the UK compared to the US, so its a shame its still not made it on the chalk board, but compared with having PUSH email support with most of the big boys, i don't think anyone will object!

However the lack of an attempt to improve the camera to me shows how this isn't really a finished quality product. Because of a total lack of faith in their OS there is no way i'd permit them to be used in any IT system i had to take the rap for (we've seen safari viruses, imagine one spread by push email, its outlook express all over again!). The OS has NO security model, this isn't 1998 people!

But the price this time is reasonable (seriously who the hell bought the first iPhone at the insaine contract price?!)

[Spud1]

Well they have to give you a reason to buy the next version of the iphone..other than the solar panel clad screen (which is an awesome idea tbh).

You also have to consider the fact that video calling is, well, crap really. Its a cool gimmick, but I *never* used it during 2 years of being on a contract with 3..despite having 50 free video minutes every month. I also know no-one who's ever used it regularly..so whats the point

The camera quality - well true they could put in a better one, but its a phone/pda device, not a camera...I still don't see the point in trying to cram a "decent" camera into a phone, you just can't do it without a proper lense, and that adds to weight + size and importantly, cost.

MMS..well to be honest while I did use this 3 years ago, but I have exclusivly used email for sending pictures from my phone since then. Its easier and more flexible, much better. You can always install a 3rd party app like Swirly MMS anyway, which works perfectly for MMS if your that desperate.

I won't be upgrading to this version (will just get the 2.0 update for my current iPhone), but look for the V3 which is expected by next years MacWorld Expo

As a side note any software functionality that you feel is missing can be added easily - whether via the new app store or even easier by jailbreaking your phone and using installer.app...

[gino_76ph]

well, the bottom line is the iPhone 3G is not a "complete" 3G phone.

sure, people might not use video calling but they will do at some point with their phones when the thing becomes "in fashion" and prices going down.

sure, push email with pictures might be "in" but don't you think receiving an MMS is better than say going to your email, siffing thru the inbox, clicking on the email itself then downloading/viewing the picture. whew! that takes a lot of time even on wi-fi. MMS is faster 'cause you receive a picture staright away.

sure, we might not use our phone's camera but to some people a descent camera on one's mobile is essential. hello...anybody heard of blogging using your mobile? a 2mp is OUTDATED compared to today's standard 5mp. that'a the end of it!

here in the UK you'll have to dish out £45 a month to get the phone free. if you want a lower tariff £30 the iPhone 3G is yours for £99 which IMHO still on the med to high priced phone cat.


any comments now Apple fans?

[TheAnimus]

Originally Posted by gino_76ph

sure, push email with pictures might be "in" but don't you think receiving an MMS is better than say going to your email, siffing thru the inbox, clicking on the email itself then downloading/viewing the picture. whew! that takes a lot of time even on wi-fi. MMS is faster 'cause you receive a picture staright away.

First off i'm no apple fan. I don't own any of their kit because i think its over-priced (this is despite getting phat bonuses from the hedge fund i work for) I don't see how the average person who buys their stuff hasn't found better things to spend the money on. Seriously their markup in immense.

BUT.

Push email is so much better than MMS. Fact. Better quality, if you've got HSDPA (which the iPhone dosen't of course, neither does o2, but t-mobile has amazingly good coverage in london) A collection of high resolution pictures my flat mate emailed of our kitten downloaded in about 5 seconds.

Push email is practically instant (has the potential to be more instant than MMS) but uses more chatter often. (and wastes battery). I agree MMS is a basic feature that the UK market would expect for sending kinky pictures of themselfs to loved ones, but apple fans don't need that when they can just send an email.

[menthel]

I'm with Steve on this, the 3 features you mention I have never used on any of my phones. The lack of them has not taken the iPhone off of my list of next phones. Its not about being a mac fan but about knowing what you want from a phone and it does fit the bill.

Its probably best that you get the whole pro and anti one brand or another thing out of your system and take things on their merits and weaknesses according to your needs. Such an attitude could leave you missing out on great products now and in the future.

[Slick]

<any iPhone related subject comes up>

100 comments times "Oh for God's sake why doesn't it have a built in toaster, underwater snorkel and back scratcher!!!!!!"

Yes some other phones have a couple of features which the iPhone doesn't, but no other phone has the usability or great interface. The other day a N95 fanboy was ranting why the iphone was so bad, I asked him to check the bbc news site, check his email, then send a text message, I did the same and it took less than half the time on an edge powered iPhone - often a list of technical specifications isn't the best way to judge a phone.

My previous phone was an XDA exec, that had a front facing camera, video calling, MMS, and out of all those features I never used a single one in the year I had it. I occasionally used the web browser but pocket IE is so buggy and awful to use I didn't do it on a regular basis.

Sure the iPhone is by no means perfect, but lots of these things will get better with time. People's main complaint over the first one was lack of 3g, this is now solved. I think the true power of the iPhone will come in the applications developers start releasing over the comming months, a lot of the demos of the games etc. look pretty amazing so far.

[mightymouse]

i'm just gonna get an iphone 2.0 cuz it has gps and it would be a cheap one too for £100 with all in. my xda orbit cost me. plus i am not really bothered with camera, mms or other stuff and i suspect that its cuz they were trying to keep the weight down. i like it nice and compact. but to be honest i get sick of my phones within a month or two so i am not sure if i can justify spending £100. i hope the rules will still be the same and we are not bound to a contract then it would be great to just get one or maybe 10 jailbreak it and then sell it on. Also iPhone is not nokia or SE and its purpose is really to allow mac users to have a handheld mac.

[kopite]

Does the new Iphone do a2dp?

I know the first gen didnt and considering one of the biggest selling points of iphone was as a music player you`d have though it would be a pretty big feature.

[Betty_Swallocks]

I'm not going to be getting any kind of iPhone but that's not because of those missing features.

I have a 2Mp camera on my current phone and considering that the vast majority of photos I take on it are either for online use or just viewing on the PC that's plenty big enough.
Even if I did want to print some out it is sufficient for an A4 print with perfectly acceptable quality. What on earth would you need a 5mp camera for? Are you seriously telling me that you would regularly have A3 prints made from the camera on a phone?

Video calling? Why? What's the point?

Same for MMS. Generally, as I understand it, an MMS is limited to 300kb or thereabouts. What kind of file can you send that is only 300kb? even a 2mp camera produces files way bigger than that so you'd have to set it to it's lowest resolution to be able to send a photo and if you have to do that we go back to point 1. Why have a 5mp camera, or even a 3.2?

[soyboy888]

Hi this is my first post so I hope I'm doing this ok

Is the new iPhone only available on O2?

and can any one give me a heads up on the new Nokia N96, release date, ratings. etc?

[format]

Originally Posted by gino_76ph

2. no updated camera ( they should atleast updated it to 3.2mp. almost all 3G phones now has a "standard" 3.2mp camera on it. were into 5mp now and Japan/Korea has..what...10mp camera phones...????!!!)

Ask anyone who knows about photography and they will tell you that megapixels in most cases are of no value when evaluating a camera.
They are mostly used as a selling point.
A 3 MP camera can easily outperform an 8 MP is some cases.

[bsodmike]

What about the 'plug in' portable HDD mode we had in the older iPods? Why can't Apple 're-enable' this for the iPhone?

I guess they don't want to do it though.

[pritsey]

I can see both sides fo the argument here. I think that the iphone is a fab device, and the 3g one will obvisuloy be even better, however I think that some things like video recordsing & MMS are quite big things to leave out. I have kids and the wife is constantly sending MMS's to me about what the little one has done etc. Same as video recording, sometimes you just want to record somethign and your phone tends to be at hand.

As for useability, I think that the iphone wins hands down here, maybe even in the speed of doing thigns too, however phones like the N95 have the edge in other areas such as 'true' satnav usage and speed camera warnings. I use the N95 myself, not because I hate the iphone or Apple (far from it) but because it does most things good enough, and not some things extremely well.

[Gordy]

MMS can be had on the iPhone, if you jailbreak it there are MMS app's. I've used it precisely once in the 3months or so I've had the phone and even that was a bit of fun.

The iPhone isn't the phone for everyone, there are plenty of other choices out there.