10 Reasons To HATE 3G iPhone

Posted on June 26, 2008
Filed Under iPhone General

People all over the world have been anticipating the iPhone 3G since the first user tried to download a web page on slow EDGE network.

But even considering the touchscreen interface, the bright display, the push-synching of calendar, tasks, email, contacts and photos from Apple’s MobileMe services, and quite relative pleasures of 3G network speed, Apple’s product fails to meet consumers’ expectations.

So here are 10 reasons to HATE iPhone:

1) No upgrade to the camera.

While many other phones have up to 5 megapixel cams, lens-based autofocus, optical zoom and flash, the iPhone 3G camera remains the same first-gen, still has 2 megapixels, low-light shooting problem, still no flash, no video recording.

2) No Adobe Flash support.

Apple claims that Flash would be very slow on the iPhone, but the probable reason is that Apple wants to promote Sproutcore, its web app development technology.

3) No instant messaging.

Rather than transmitting instant messages via the net, the iPhone does it by SMS, in spite of iChat, an instant messaging software for Mac. SMS is considered the most expensive service, with only 165 characters long for each message at 20c per message. To sum up, that results in 1.3 million dollars for a gigabyte of SMSes.

4) Impractical for international travel.

If someone sends you several megabytes of photos via email, that’s how much the iPhone will download. If you’re not far from your home with unlimited data plan, that’s ok. But if abroad, you will have to pay extra $20 per megabyte.

5) Not compatible with Bluetooth headphones or car kits.

iPhone will work only with Apple’s Bluetooth headset or with similar units of other companies.

6) Non user-replaceable battery.

Apple seems to trick people and make them buy a new iPhone after battery dies. So the choice is to get the old iPhone battery fixed for $105.95, or to pay $199.00 for another one.

7) No cut and paste.

No MMS.

If you would like to send a nice photo from your iPhone, you’d better hope that the recipient has email on his phone, because it is the only way to send it. Yes, iPhone 3G lacks MMS, picture/video SMSes.

9) No turn-by-turn navigation. Apple integrated a GPS satellite navigation receiver, but refused to offer turn-by-turn voiced navigation.

10) Stunning hypocrisy.

Phil Schiller, Apple marketing chief, laughed at Blackberry’s complexity of its email service, emphasizing that the messages pass a RIM messaging server before they are sent out to the phone, and all this requires some extra payment.

And now Apple introduces MobileMe, which gets your email straight through an Apple messaging server, with $99 per year extra. That’s a shame!