So I’m barely a week into the iPhone 3g and already I’ve got to grouse. It should be expecteed though, given the massive amount of hype I’d been exposed to and the near-total anticipation.
Here’s a list, big and small, of all the things that are less than stellar on the new phone.
- Speakerphone sucks
- No save state for games and some third-party apps
- Cover Flow blows if you don’t have the album art
- No batch-uploading Flickr apps
- All the ringtones, even the ones I’ve made with iRinger, are way too soft
I’d heard the 3g had an improved speakerphone, which is either clever marketing, an outright lie or both. Since the speaker and microphone are uni-directional and seated at the bottom of the device unless I’m pointing the butt end of the phone at my head you sound to me like you’re trapped in a well.
I’ll have Timmy send Lassie for help.
Hitting home can be a real pain if you were playing a game or doing a specialized task on an app. So far only a few apps (mail and maps, I think) will actually keep connecting or up/downloading after you’ve hit the home button.
Pity if you thought you were ever getting back to that game of JawBreaker.
I may be an outlier here but only about 5% of the albums that have album art (and I’m still at only around 85% there) is making it to the iPhone, rendering the Cover Flow feature of the iPod functionality nearly useless.
I’ve synched (I really want to say “sank” or “sunk” here) thrice and restarted to no avail. Anyone have a tip or two on getting album art into iTunes and then making sure that art synchs with the phone?
Flickr’s mobile interface won’t let me upload via Safari.
Exposure will view but not post photos.
Shozu is a Swiss Army knife when all I need is the toothpick.
iPhlickr won’t upload and, let’s be honest, has a douchey name.
I can upload via email but I’ve heard there are scaling issues.
For now I’ve settled on Klick but I’d still like the ability to make a set, manage photos and batch upload all through the phone. Where are you, official Flickr app?
I might never actually here this phone ring, just feel the vibration. Pretty terrible considering it’s a phone first.
Don’t even get me started on the double standard Apple has for Window and Mac users, letting Mac folks create their ringtones gratis and charging $0.99 for PC users.
Lastly, here’s how clueless marketers (and I’m indicting myself here) can be. Below is an email I received over the weekend promising the moon if only I’d switch to AT&T.
Purchasing a list without scrubbing it against current users/subscribers gets you a huge FAIL! Thanks for offering me service to which I already subscribe, AT&T!
Switch to AT&T, get up to $375 cash back
—————————————–
GET THE SERVICES YOU NEED AND UP TO $375 CASH BACK.
Why settle for a second-rate provider when you can have AT&T? We have
the services you already use everyday, at prices that can save you
money.Plus, it really pays to switch to AT&T—you can get up to $375 cash
back when you sign up. Click on the following link to learn how:http://www.bellsouth-info.com/winback/welcome4/?14F4G12JBDG
We would love to have you as our customer.
Best regards,
Your friends at AT&T
=========================================
UPDATE: I got my album art to synch but only by deleting ALL music from the iPhone and just starting over. FAIL.
I neglected to mention one other gripe I had: charging the phone. I HATE that Apple decided to use USB mostly because I have a ton of FireWire chargers for the old (3rd gen) iPod.
So I purchased a new USB car charger @ Target AND a new FM transmitter (both from Griffin), the only problem is that the FM transmitter won’t work with iPhone despite being totally compatible with the charger which WILL work with the iPhone.
Argh!
The daisy-chain of devices and accoutrements that accessorize this damn thing are as numerous as the apps.
Oh, and if you’re one of the folks who would like cut-and-paste functionality (another one I missed), see Ironic Sans.