2.2 And Eight Things That Are Still Wrong With The iPhone

Posted on 13. Dec, 2008 by Stephen in Apple

Eleven months ago, I wrote about twelve things that were wrong with the iPhone in OS version 1.1.3. Now that OS 2.2 is here, I figure it is time to revisit my list.

What Was Fixed Since 1.1.3

Apple have made a lot of progress in the year and a half that the iPhone has been in existence. And the fact that they’ve rolled out just about every feature via software updates for every phone owner is a real breath of fresh air. The lack of updates was one thing that really made me dislike the various BlackBerry devices I had over the years…

Of the 12 issues I noted in my last post, three have been fixed:

That darn headphone jack – The iPhone 3G no longer has a recessed jack. Good move!
Calendar integration – OS 2.0 handles meeting invites and over the air calendar syncing pretty well, though I’ve had some issues keeping mine up to date. And the colored calendars are needlessly complicated.
Hidden contacts – The addition of a Contacts app is a welcome change.

What’s Still Wrong

Copy and paste – Please please please please please!
SMS popups – These still “show through” every app (even the lock screen!), interfering with whatever you are doing. And whenever Apple pushes out their push service, it’s only going to get worse!
Landscape email – I always want to rotate my mail to read it better. How about landscape everything?
Notes – I want to save notes on my iPhone, but it’s a dead end. Please! The uselessness of the notes app is beyond crazy! I’ve started to use Evernote, however, so maybe Apple missed the boat on this.
Persistent web data – Why does Safari lose its data all the time? This is incredibly frustrating – switch back to a Safari page you were viewing and it is gone from cache. The fact that Google Reader just marked the item that was showing as read makes this even worse.
Actual IM – Please please please start supporting actual Gtalk, AIM, and Yahoo IM protocols. The web versions of these apps stink, and the apps so far aren’t much better. Maybe the push service won’t stink or guzzle battery juice.
Device compatibility – My Belkin Auto Kit works just fine with the iPhone, yet it still nags me to go into airplane mode every time I plug it in! How about a setting so I can say “stop nagging me about this device?”
Bluetooth support – Please let me stream whatever audio I want to my Bluetooth headset. A better Bluetooth stack could blow open the accessory market – GPS, stereo headphones, laptop sync, remote control, etc etc etc… As much as people love Apple’s iconic “headphone” ad images, we’d all love wireless headphones more!
Improved iPod controls – The iPhone is the worst iPod ever made when it comes to the controls – they move around inconsistently between portrait and landscape mode, and some are lacking entirely. You can’t scrub forward, set stars, or access podcasts or movies, in cover flow?!? And these are all hidden even in portrait mode! And how about video zoom – I want to be able to pinch in when I’m watching a letterboxed film. Is that so wrong?

Don’t get me wrong here – I still think the iPhone is insanely great. I bought two! Consider this constructive criticism…

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Tags: Apple, Belkin, Bluetooth, Evernote, IM, iPhone, iPod

Consult My Updated iPhone Exchange ActiveSync Guide

The iPhone now has most of the functions of the BlackBerry: Over-the-air push and sync of Exchange email, contacts, and calendars! This guide is intended as a concise walkthrough of how to get up and running with an iPhone and Microsoft Exchange server.

JZP

Oh yeah, and on the 802.11 -- why does the ipod touch/ihone *not* differentiate between ad-hoc (computer-to-computer) and infrsatructure (AP) networks? Very abusable vector for hijacking traffic.

JZP

Things you missed that have been bugging me:

OS v1.x of music.app allowed one to listen to the audio track of a video podcast (like when I'm walking on the part of my commute). Now you get 'helpfully redirected' to the video viewer. Not a big deal for iphone, but ipod touch users with smaller batteries get hosed. The versions keep changing how repeat works/defaults on the podcasts as well; one is forced to catch the end if you are not listening to the most recent first. Agreed on the scrubber bar - lousy to go forward/back since there is no since of scale; allowing us to scale the scrubber bar would be great. Streaming URLs please! Most of the third party apps have issues on this or that stream.

Calendar: great that you can finally select from multiple calendars when creating an event on the device, but te improvement is only half-hearted since you still cannot edit an event and change in what calendar you have. Weakness on making iphone/ipod touch a standalone device.

Spreaking of calendar usage - mail.app still doesn't process .ics attachements. How ridiculous is that? I would expect to have to complain that we're forced to calendar.app instead of gcal or anything of our choose. I didn't expect that the feature would be totally lacking!

And yeah, the default notes.app is weak; great I can mail the note stright from the application, but why can't i save a mail message as a new note?

sfoskett

Nice to hear from you again, Joe!

You're right about these extras (and the Ad-Hoc problem, which bugs me on every WiFi device I have!)

I'm meaning to write a post about all the things that are wrong specifically with the iPod in the iPhone/Touch... Gotta add this!

JZP

Ugh - lots of typos this morning. Sorry about that, rushed on the EVDO.

ccoc

I'd like to see a model with an improved camera that includes auto focus

wayne schulz

How about allowing me to selectively set a wi-fi connection to prompt before connecting. I know that I can do this globally however whenever I'm connected to a public access point with a SSID like "linksys" -- I should be able to tag that connection to NOT automatically connect.

My home and work access points are uniquely named. I want them to allows connect.

If Apple isn't sure how to implement this - look at how BlackBerry does it.

sfoskett

This is a really, really, REALLY good idea. Seriously, Wayne, I wish I'd thought of it! It's especially useful for all the "Linksys", "Default", "Wireless", etc SSIDs out there. And the thing CAN tell the difference between networks using the MAC address - that's what the Skyhook location stuff in (Google) Maps already does!

Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat