OK, it's been a full two days with the iPhone and, despite my smile in the above pic, I've already got a nice little list of problems I have with it. Here we go:
1) I don't need a web page to reload every time I go back to an already opened web page. I can't easily find a way to STOP this from happening. This kind of thing is *particularly* annoying in the subway because when it realizes there's no connection, it just throws a blank page at you rather than reverting to the last cached page. If you can find an app version of the site (like AP.org's Mobile News Network) you can sometimes compensate for this, but you know what? ThePete.Com doesn't have an app version and I doubt it ever will. :\
2) I wish I could turn some of the auto-correction off. It keeps trying to "correct" my spelling of "eee pc" by spelling it "see of" and there's no obvious way to stop it from auto-correcting or to turn it off entirely (or ideally telling it correct only certain things).
3) Despite there being a HUGE amount of really great apps for it, there's still no decent IM client. The AIM app functions, but it doesn't seem to make the iPhone vibrate when you get an IM when AIM is not on screen. My Sidekick 3 would vibrate twice for IMs, once for emails--even if the screen was off and it was in my pocket.
4) So far, I can't get it to vibrate when new email arrives.
5) So far, I can't get it to check mail except when I put mail on screen.
6) You can't get rid of the main stable of apps that come with the iPhone. So, even though I will NEVER check stocks on my iPhone, I am stuck with the app.
7) As I'm typing this, it's plugged into a dock (that I had to buy separately) but it doesn't seem to be charging. The dock is plugged into a powered USB hub which is plugged into my MacBook. iTunes sees the iPhone, yet the battery meter hasn't budge a millimeter in a half-hour. Last night I had the phone plugged into the same place and it charged just fine. Don't know what's up, now.
8) What's with no hard disk mode? I've got 8 gigs of storage space, I'd like to use some of it for my important data (like my manuscripts, personal info, etc). Looks like I have to carry around my custom Sonic Thumb Drive (see: http://hacks.thepete.com/…-usb-stick ) STILL. Weeeeak.
9) No video playlists. At least, I can't find where they are. That means that despite all the really cool stuff I can do on my wide screen iPhone, it's actually easier to watch multiple videos on my 5g iPod. Too bad it's *harder* on the eyes.
10) When I'm out someplace and I need to surf for info on where I'm going I have found that it will try to find an open wifi network first, rather than just jumping on the 3G network (or even the 2G network). Really, this thing should look for the first available connection and then, while it's pulling data for you, it can be looking for another connection in the background. Stopping to ask you which wifi network to piggyback on (isn't that illegal in some states?) is a pain in the ass when all you're looking for is the address of the nearest Starbucks or the zip code you're standing in.
11) Really wish there was a faster way to adjust the screen brightness. As of now, I have to hit Home>Settings>Brightness. Seems like a long way to go for an adjustment you might need to make in a pinch, quickly, without disturbing someone (like a sleeping spouse, perhaps).
12) Like in Apple's Mac OSX, there's a dock on your "home" pages (sort of like a desktop for your iPhone, it's where your apps reside). However, the dock only holds 4 icons. I'd love for the icons to shrink a bit if you decide to add a fifth. Or perhaps the dock could function like the Mac's dock and it could get larger depending on where you're touching (much like the iPhone's on-screen keyboard, actually).
13) Why can't I dump tracks on my iPhone from different computers?? I don't "sync" my iPhone to any one stack of files because I have WAY more media than would fit on my iPhone--what logic would that be to have 8 gigs on your iPhone AND on your computer at the same time? I have my media backed up on external drives and only drag over media that I want to watch over the next few days. I encode video so that two hours roughly works out to a gig, so that's a whopping 8 movies I can fit on my iPhone. Why do I need to "sync" 8 movies??? And why can I only dump media on my iPhone from one machine? Both my 3g and 5g iPods let me dump tracks on from any of my computers.
OK, I think that's it for now. Of course, I still have the standard gripes everyone has about the iPhone:
a) STILL no cut and paste (though I've been blogging from it a bit and this hasn't been a huge issue).
b) Battery life drains quickly if left in 3G mode (left the AIM app up while I napped for two hours today, woke up and found my battery life had gone from something like 60% to 20%).
c) No video recording??? Come on, Apple, by now there should be a way to record video through a line-in port by now.
It looks like the official 3G iPhone dock may not be designed so well--after getting fed up with the aforementioned lack of charging I pushed down on the iPhone while it was still in the dock and suddenly the little battery icon went from almost empty to the lightning bolt that tells me it's charging. Sheesh.
I should admit that I have only read a bit of the online manual for the iPhone so some of my gripes may have been answered in it. However, Apple is known for it's highly simple, highly intuitive products. I think my gripes above are largely common with the average iPhone user. After all, the only smartphone I can compare it to is the Sidekick 3 and we all know the SK3 ain't exactly a smartphone. It's more like a "street smartphone" in that it does more than a regular phone but MUCH less that a Blackberry or iPhone. The point is, I'm astounded by how great the iPhone is. I'm more astounded that I can't do the above things.
It's like Apple is going for bigger, cooler things before it gets the smaller, not-cool things right. Imagine a baby who crawls across the stadium floor to the starting line of a marathon it can run in a few hours.
But again, maybe the manual will have some answers. We'll see, though.
Haha, OK, the iPhone, minutes ago, told me that it was unable to receive phone calls and needed to be repaired (!!). So I shut it down, powered it back up and it flashed a low battery/lightning bolt screen at me. I plugged it directly into my MacBook's USB 2 port and it didn't change. A quick check of the PDF manual (which is MUCH larger than the one that comes with the iPhone) and I discovered that the screen it was showing me was the "needs charge" screen. So I tried swapping out the USB cable and that did the trick. Seems the dock is fine, but the extra USB cable I bought Saturday at the Apple Store is flaky. Lovely.
Thankfully, the iPhone APPEARS to be charging, though when it gets back to full power, I'll be happy.
Mobile post sent by thepete using Utterz. 1) I don't need a web page to reload every time I go back to an already opened web page. I can't easily find a way to STOP this from happening. This kind of thing is *particularly* annoying in the subway because when it realizes there's no connection, it just throws a blank page at you rather than reverting to the last cached page. If you can find an app version of the site (like AP.org's Mobile News Network) you can sometimes compensate for this, but you know what? ThePete.Com doesn't have an app version and I doubt it ever will. :\
2) I wish I could turn some of the auto-correction off. It keeps trying to "correct" my spelling of "eee pc" by spelling it "see of" and there's no obvious way to stop it from auto-correcting or to turn it off entirely (or ideally telling it correct only certain things).
3) Despite there being a HUGE amount of really great apps for it, there's still no decent IM client. The AIM app functions, but it doesn't seem to make the iPhone vibrate when you get an IM when AIM is not on screen. My Sidekick 3 would vibrate twice for IMs, once for emails--even if the screen was off and it was in my pocket.
4) So far, I can't get it to vibrate when new email arrives.
5) So far, I can't get it to check mail except when I put mail on screen.
6) You can't get rid of the main stable of apps that come with the iPhone. So, even though I will NEVER check stocks on my iPhone, I am stuck with the app.
7) As I'm typing this, it's plugged into a dock (that I had to buy separately) but it doesn't seem to be charging. The dock is plugged into a powered USB hub which is plugged into my MacBook. iTunes sees the iPhone, yet the battery meter hasn't budge a millimeter in a half-hour. Last night I had the phone plugged into the same place and it charged just fine. Don't know what's up, now.
8) What's with no hard disk mode? I've got 8 gigs of storage space, I'd like to use some of it for my important data (like my manuscripts, personal info, etc). Looks like I have to carry around my custom Sonic Thumb Drive (see: http://hacks.thepete.com/…-usb-stick ) STILL. Weeeeak.
9) No video playlists. At least, I can't find where they are. That means that despite all the really cool stuff I can do on my wide screen iPhone, it's actually easier to watch multiple videos on my 5g iPod. Too bad it's *harder* on the eyes.
10) When I'm out someplace and I need to surf for info on where I'm going I have found that it will try to find an open wifi network first, rather than just jumping on the 3G network (or even the 2G network). Really, this thing should look for the first available connection and then, while it's pulling data for you, it can be looking for another connection in the background. Stopping to ask you which wifi network to piggyback on (isn't that illegal in some states?) is a pain in the ass when all you're looking for is the address of the nearest Starbucks or the zip code you're standing in.
11) Really wish there was a faster way to adjust the screen brightness. As of now, I have to hit Home>Settings>Brightness. Seems like a long way to go for an adjustment you might need to make in a pinch, quickly, without disturbing someone (like a sleeping spouse, perhaps).
12) Like in Apple's Mac OSX, there's a dock on your "home" pages (sort of like a desktop for your iPhone, it's where your apps reside). However, the dock only holds 4 icons. I'd love for the icons to shrink a bit if you decide to add a fifth. Or perhaps the dock could function like the Mac's dock and it could get larger depending on where you're touching (much like the iPhone's on-screen keyboard, actually).
13) Why can't I dump tracks on my iPhone from different computers?? I don't "sync" my iPhone to any one stack of files because I have WAY more media than would fit on my iPhone--what logic would that be to have 8 gigs on your iPhone AND on your computer at the same time? I have my media backed up on external drives and only drag over media that I want to watch over the next few days. I encode video so that two hours roughly works out to a gig, so that's a whopping 8 movies I can fit on my iPhone. Why do I need to "sync" 8 movies??? And why can I only dump media on my iPhone from one machine? Both my 3g and 5g iPods let me dump tracks on from any of my computers.
OK, I think that's it for now. Of course, I still have the standard gripes everyone has about the iPhone:
a) STILL no cut and paste (though I've been blogging from it a bit and this hasn't been a huge issue).
b) Battery life drains quickly if left in 3G mode (left the AIM app up while I napped for two hours today, woke up and found my battery life had gone from something like 60% to 20%).
c) No video recording??? Come on, Apple, by now there should be a way to record video through a line-in port by now.
It looks like the official 3G iPhone dock may not be designed so well--after getting fed up with the aforementioned lack of charging I pushed down on the iPhone while it was still in the dock and suddenly the little battery icon went from almost empty to the lightning bolt that tells me it's charging. Sheesh.
I should admit that I have only read a bit of the online manual for the iPhone so some of my gripes may have been answered in it. However, Apple is known for it's highly simple, highly intuitive products. I think my gripes above are largely common with the average iPhone user. After all, the only smartphone I can compare it to is the Sidekick 3 and we all know the SK3 ain't exactly a smartphone. It's more like a "street smartphone" in that it does more than a regular phone but MUCH less that a Blackberry or iPhone. The point is, I'm astounded by how great the iPhone is. I'm more astounded that I can't do the above things.
It's like Apple is going for bigger, cooler things before it gets the smaller, not-cool things right. Imagine a baby who crawls across the stadium floor to the starting line of a marathon it can run in a few hours.
But again, maybe the manual will have some answers. We'll see, though.
Haha, OK, the iPhone, minutes ago, told me that it was unable to receive phone calls and needed to be repaired (!!). So I shut it down, powered it back up and it flashed a low battery/lightning bolt screen at me. I plugged it directly into my MacBook's USB 2 port and it didn't change. A quick check of the PDF manual (which is MUCH larger than the one that comes with the iPhone) and I discovered that the screen it was showing me was the "needs charge" screen. So I tried swapping out the USB cable and that did the trick. Seems the dock is fine, but the extra USB cable I bought Saturday at the Apple Store is flaky. Lovely.
Thankfully, the iPhone APPEARS to be charging, though when it gets back to full power, I'll be happy.
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