Gear of Fantasies
'Expect The Unexpected' nelson_wmy@hotmail.com
1) No Copy/Paste functionality
That’s right, you can’t even copy and paste on the iPhone. I think there’s an application that tries to add copy and paste by adding a button to the input system for the iPhone but apparently it doesn’t work in Safari, the iPhones web browser.
2) Poor 3G speeds
According to AppleInsider, Apple has been sued four times in two weeks over iPhone 3G speeds
The latest pair of suits, identical in almost every way save for the names of plaintiffs, join two from last week.
Florida residents Onel Gonzalez and Ron J. Brayteson filed a 24-page complaint in the Southern District of Florida on behalf of themselves and all members of the class in their state, demanding statutory, compensatory, and punitive damages plus interest. They also seek a ruling deeming Apple and AT&T’s practices ruled unlawful, an injunction preventing them from “continuing to disseminate false and misleading advertising,” and pay restitution for any ill-gotten gains.
Meanwhile, New Jersey resident Timothy Ritchie filed a 23-page complaint in the District of New Jersey for himself and all similarly situated members of his state, making the same demands as Gonzalez and Brayteson. Ritchie claims to have purchased his iPhone 3G in September 2008, while Gonzalez bought one in June 2008, and Brayteson in August.
Both suits use many of the same allegations made in the class-action lawsuit filed by four Texans last week, right down to the same phrasing. They, too, cite the conclusions of Swedish engineering weekly Ny Teknik that some phones aren’t sensitive enough to 3G signals and boost their own signal to compensate, creating the network conflict.
Successive and independent evaluations contradict this theory, however, concluding that the iPhone 3G does not suffer from hardware issues but rather congested and inadequate wireless networks.
The filings spend several pages reprinting comments from blog posts and messageboards, including one customer who posted on Wired, “I have a brand new [iPhone 3G], and my home is inside an AT&T 3G coverage map (suburban area) and I NEVER get 3G reception. The iPhone flickers “3G” for a second or two and then it’s all Edge all the way.”
The latest complaints also allege hairline cracks in the iPhone’s casing around the camera, near the volume rocker, and in other areas. Ritchie, Gonzalez and Brayteson all accuse Apple and AT&T of knowingly marketing the inherently flawed iPhone 3G devices without disclosing the 3G speed problems and hairline cracks that form.
The two sets of plaintiffs also posture their claims by referencing a August 2008 ruling in the United Kingdom that required Apple to stop advertising the iPhone’s ability to access “all parts of the internet” as proof of the 3G woes. The UK regulator did not take 3G speeds into account, but rather the lack of Java and Flash support.
However, a second iPhone 3G ad was indeed banned late last year by the agency on grounds that it “it exaggerated the speed of the iPhone 3G.”
3) Requires iTunes to sync with PC
If you already own a Mac, this probably isn’t a huge deal. But as for PC users, you probably don’t use iTunes considering there are so many better alternatives: Windows Media Player, Winamp, or Songbird. However, if you don’t completely despise iTunes, then I guess this section doesn’t pertain to you. However, you should know that one of Apple’s latest iTunes automatic updates decided to install MobileMe on your PC. Never heard of it? Well that’s because Apple didn’t tell you it was going to install it. No where during the update, or even a fresh installation, does it mention anything about installing MobileMe. I hope you enjoy it.
4) Third party applications?
While you may think the AppStore as an amazing supply of applications, keep in mind that Apple screens every application that makes it to the AppStore. Many many applications have been banned by Apple because they don’t approve of the app. I don’t have time to go into great detail about every single application, but a simple Google search should yield the results you’re looking for. Keep in mind that if Apple doesn’t like an application, you will never see it on your iPhone. (well, you could jail break it but that’s a completely different story).
5) No Multi-Tasking functionality
If you don’t even know what this means then I suppose this has no impact on you whatsoever. However, if you’re a avid multitasker, read on. I suppose saying that the iPhone can’t multitask isn’t 100% true. You CAN listen to music via your music library and do other things at the same time. However, it appears that the music is the only thing apple managed to figure out how to get to run in the background. If you have/get an iPhone, chances are you use Pandora. While listening to Pandora, don’t really plan on doing anything else. This includes (but is not limited to) surfing the web, sending a text, instant messaging, taking a picture, or adding a contact.
If you’re saying “so what, I don’t want to do two things at once” then keep in mind that if you plan to use any instant messaging application on your iPhone (AIM/Yahoo!/MSN/Gtalk/Whatever) then as soon as you press the home key to go to the dashboard, you are signed out of chat. So not only can you not receive IM’s unless you are using the IM application (and in turn, not doing ANYTHING else) then you will not get an IM. I suppose if you had your account set to mobile mode, resulting in your receiving a text message whenever someone messages you when you’re logged out, then you could receive IM’s when not using the application. However, don’t plan on reading the text message unless you completely stop and lose whatever you’re doing in your currently active application.
6) Want to send an MMS message?
Well, you can’t. Apparently the iPhone completely lacks the ability to send or receive an MMS message. So basically, you can’t send or receive any pictures, music, videos, or text MMS messages. Just took a picture of your buddy getting tea-bagged at a party? Hold off on sending it to you friends because, well, you can’t. There is a work around for this. If the person you want to send this to has at&t, you can sending an email to xxxyyyzzzz@mms.att.com and attaching the picture. Keep in mind the iPhone only allows you to attach one file (you can only attach images, so one image) at a time. I think every carrier has this functionality but I use at&t, so it’s the only address I know. If someone sends you an MMS message on your iPhone, you will receive a text message that directs you to viewmymessages.com (it’s not a link, so you have to type it in manually in safari) It also contains a message ID and a password. I hope you have a good memory, because you’re going to have to remember the message id and password to view your message at viewmymessages.com since there’s no copy/paste.
7) Apple gets 30% of developers sales
This doesn’t effect an iPhone user at all, but if you plan on making an application to put up in the AppStore, you not only have to pay $99 (even if you’re putting your application up for free) to be able to post your app to the app store, but you also have to give Apple 30% of your earnings. Well, you don’t have to actually give Apple 30% of your earnings because they just take it, so you don’t really have much of a choice there.
8) Applications can’t interact with your music library
Don’t bother looking for an application that does anything with your music library, because they can’t exist. Apple completely locks out developers from the music library. So you can’t play, or even get the names of songs on the users iPhone. I’m not sure why Apple did this but hey, they demand to see the source code for your application before it’s published to the store. Chances are you agree that you let apple use your source code for whatever they want, so if you make an application, something so amazing, something that’s never been done before and drastically changes the way people use their iPhone, then it’s completely possible that Apple will pull your application down, and use your source code and modify it to their needs to integrate into the next iPhone update.
9) Quick, 5 seconds to save!
When you click the home key, (shouldn’t be hard to find, there’s like 4 buttons on the iPhone) Apple gives your application 5 seconds to completly save whatever it was working on. After 5 seconds, the system kernel kills the process, resulting in you losing anything you were working on in that app. I hope you didn’t install too many applications on your iPhone to slow it down, because whatever you were working on has 5 seconds to save once you leave the application.
10) Safari, well, sucks
Not only have I managed to crash Safari an excessive number of times while fiddling around at the Apple Store, but there’s another thing that really bothers me about Safari. Aparentally, Safari on the iPhone, will stop your request if a web page forwards it more than 2 times. If you have an iPhone, try it out. I tried to go to speedtest.net which brings you to the mobile version of speed test which then forwards you to the apple store, but by then, it’s too late. Apple has decided this website has tossed you around far too much, and stops the request for the webpage, making it impossible to reach that website.
11) No Over-The-Air updates
Unlike the Blackberry or the Android, Apple lacks the ability to provide its users with over-the-air updates for their phone. The reason behind this is, well, you can’t really get an over-the-air update when the update is 250MB. Every iPhone update is ~250MB in size. When Apple fixes a small bug or security issue with the iPhone, they package the entire operating system and send it out to the users. It seems they haven’t figured out how to only update files that have been changed.
There are countless reasons why the iPhone sucks and this has been just a few of them. If you plan to get a new phone, then I highly suggest you go for a different brand.
12) Jailbreak your iPhone, go to Jail.
This just in! If you decide to jailbreak your iPhone now, you can go to jail and face a $2,500 fine.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has petitioned the Library of Congress to officially protect phone owners who bypass software restrictions on their phones—aka “jailbreaking.” Apple has just filed an objection, arguing that doing so would infringe on their copyright. If Apple gets its way,
[it] would have the right to claim statutory damages of up to $2,500 “per act of circumvention.” People who jailbreak phones, might even be subject to criminal penalties of as long as five years, if they circumvented copyright for a financial gain.
The big question, of course, is who really owns your damned phone? Apple says that bypassing their software restrictions messes with the “chain of trust” they’ve set up and screws up their “ecosystem.” The EFF counters that if you apply Apple’s argument to another industry, it falls apart:
One need only transpose Apple’s arguments to the world of automobiles to recognize their absurdity. Sure, GM might tell us that, for our own safety, all servicing should be done by an authorized GM dealer using only genuine GM parts. Toyota might say that swapping your engine could reduce the reliability of your car. And Mazda could say that those who throw a supercharger on their Miatas frequently exceed the legal speed limit.
On a more serious note, they point out:
But the courts have long recognized that copying software while reverse engineering is a fair use when done for purposes of fostering interoperability with independently created software, a body of law that Apple conveniently fails to mention.The EFF has set up a “Free Your Phone” website where you can follow the case as it moves before the Library of Congress: www.freeyourphone.org.
source: The Consumerist
13) No removable battery
You mean we can't take along a spare battery? WTF? You have to send your phone to Apple when the battery dies and risk getting your phone lost, stolen, or damaged in transit.
