What the iPhone Fanboys Won’t Tell You
On January 28th, 2010 by Duane Jackson
The thing about cults is they don’t tell you the bad news until you’ve handed over your life savings and moved into the compound. It’s not until your first night in the dorms that they tell you you’re obliged to let the leader have his wicked way with your wife.
The same is true of the Apple cult.
The iPhone is good, but it has its downsides and falls over on some pretty basic functionality. But of course the fanboys don’t talk about it until you’re lured in and deemed to be one of them, and even then it’s in hushed tones.
I’ve been a BlackBerry fan for years and I never thought anything could replace my beloved Curve. The main thing that had put me off moving to the iPhone was the keyboard. I can bash out an email pretty quickly on the curve keyboard and didn’t think I’d be able to achieve the same speed with a touch screen.
Call it a mid-life crisis (at 31), a desire to be cool, maybe the desire for a decent web browser or perhaps even just a case of app-envy – but I decided to give the iPhone a try.
Let me firstly say my concerns about the keyboard were unfounded. Once you get used to it you can be just as fast as you can be with a BlackBerry. I made the mistake of trying to use the keyboard in landscape mode thinking it’d be easier as it’s spread over more space. It doesn’t help though. Your thumbs have to travel a greater distance. If you’re coming from a Blackberry then you’ll find it easier to stick with the familiar narrow keyboard.
It’s a really nice bit of kit but here are some of the limitations I’ve found that might be useful to know if you’re considering the switch yourself.
Lack of sound settings
On a BlackBerry you’re used to being able to configure the ringtone and volume for every little thing independently. So you can have one tone and volume for messages and another for calls. Not so with the iPhone. One volume level for everything.
Lack of choice on ringtones
Being used to select any MP3 for my ringtone, I was disappointed to find I can’t do that with the iPhone. I’m aware you can mess around with a file in iTunes to get your own MP3s as ringtones. But it’s a bit of a kerfuffle.
Not a standalone device
I can’t remember the last time I had to attach my Blackberry to a computer. There was no need. Email, contacts and calendar synched over the air to our Zimbra mail server and everything else could be done on the phone itself. With the iPhone you really need to have a computer with iTunes on it to set it up and maintain it.
Single indicator and options for all mail accounts
On the Blackberry I had a product called NotifySync that hooked up to my Zimbra server for personal mail and I used the native mail client to monitor support emails. I managed to get a similar arrangement on the iPhone by setting up two email accounts. However, the indicator telling me how many emails I have is now useless as it includes new emails in all accounts. There’s not a way to have it just show the count for selected accounts. The same problem exists with the alert settings for each account – whatever you select applies to all mail accounts.
No flashing light
With the Blackberry, I could set it to have the small LED flashing if there was a new email. No such option with the iPhone. You either have to be audibly alerted to new emails or periodically pick it up and activate it.
No options for “Home” screen
The thing I miss about the BlackBerry is it’s “Today” view where you can see immediately your next couple of diary entries and unread emails aty a glance on the main screen. No such option with the iPhone. Just pretty square icons.
Accessory compatibility
I prefer to have a charger in the office and at home so I don’t have to carry one around. I had a docking station at home that charged an iPod so I foolishly assumed this would also charge the iPhone. It doesn’t. Despite having the same physical connection the iPhone complained that the “accessory” wasn’t compatible with it and couldn’t be used to charge it.
Disclaimer
I may have missed the options for some of the above – if so please do correct me using the comments section below. I’m aware some of the issues might be resolved by “jailbreaking” the phone too.
There are plenty of good things about the iPhone too – so I will be sticking with it. But the truth needs to be told!
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Tags: apple, blackberry, cult, fanboys, iphone
January 28th, 2010 at 12:04 pm
Duane – I sync my iPhone over the air (routing everything via Gmail contacts / Google Calendar), I only connect it to a computer to get high-res photos and music off or on it.
January 28th, 2010 at 12:08 pm
Hi Bruce – but when you do connect to a computer to move files, you need iTunes installed. With a BB it can just be accessed as an external USB storage device – no extra kit needed : /
January 28th, 2010 at 12:30 pm
Morning,
You know I love Apple. :)
Does the iPhone (through iTunes) not have an iPod-like option to enable hard disk support?
iTunes wouldn’t be so bad if it were just that. I had to install iTunes on my laptop to help my cousin out. The ‘package’ also included Quicktime, Bonjour, Apple Software Update + friends. Arghh! Worse though was that when I uninstalled iTunes it left Quicktime, Bonjour + friends behind.
VERY bad Karma Apple!
January 28th, 2010 at 1:59 pm
We just got iPhones last week as our old contracts are about to end. Must admit I weighed up a lot of options on the different top end phones available as it’s for business use mainly and I didn’t want to just fall into line and opt for the iPhone without ensuring it was the best option for me.
As much as I do like the phone (anything is superior to my nokia e65!), I agree with your niggles, plus the issue of setting an email signature which is automatically added to every email, regardless of account. I have 4 mail accounts running, I don’t want my company one with all the blurb on it going onto my personal emails! The other annoyance is the lack of bluetooth to computer support. I’m used to just taking a photo and perhaps sending it to my computer via bluetooth which, as far as I’m aware, cannot be done. Having to keep the connection wire with my laptop is a bit annoying. Instead I’ve taken to emailing myself with the photo (with my email sig at the bottom!).
Overall they’re nice phones but a few obvious and basic points are there that you wouldn’t really expect.
(Oh and I realise there are apps for multiple email sigs, but surely this should be a standard thing?!).
January 28th, 2010 at 7:48 pm
You can use the iphone as an external USB storage device for photos – no need to connect to itunes for that. Sadly not for music though.
And the ringtone thing really bugs me, since the method of creating them does not always work.
January 28th, 2010 at 8:43 pm
Does this mean your not going to produce a iPhone app for kashflow then ???
January 28th, 2010 at 8:45 pm
@Jon. We certainly are. It’s already in development and should be a beta available very very soon
January 28th, 2010 at 9:24 pm
MobileMe does a lot for keeping calendars, address book and emails in sync with any number of computers, without wiring the phone up. You can also post pictures directly, I think, though I haven’t actually tried it myself.
The other thing about the charger not working has a simple reason, I believe: The iPhone is more power hungry, hence some old chargers won’t work because they don’t deliver enough juice.
I do think you have a point about the other issues, though.
January 29th, 2010 at 2:50 am
Duane I completely agree with you. I’ve held out to moving from my BlackBerry Bold to an iPhone because of the keyboard and super fast email. But the weight of great applications has finally convinced me to try an iPhone in anger.
I was hoping we’d see some details on iPhone OS 4.0 and new hardware (which might include the flashing light) so was a bit disappointed yesterday as we’re probably now waiting until June for a new version. Doesn’t seem worth shelling our a 1000 clams for a device that should finally be awesome in 4 months.
Rod
January 29th, 2010 at 7:41 am
So what do you make of the iPad.
See Dom Joly shouting into it on the web …. very funny.
January 29th, 2010 at 8:52 am
The iPhone definitely has some niggles – here’s hoping firware 4.0 will resolve them. In the mean time, you can sync Zimbra with your iPhone using the built in ActiveSync for push email, contacts and calendars. For transfering PDF files etc to your iPhone, take a look at the “Air Sharing” app.
February 1st, 2010 at 6:35 am
Here’s a larger list I just posted to my blog:
http://blog.glcomputing.com.au/2010/02/why-i-prefer-blackberry-over-iphone-for.html
February 1st, 2010 at 2:19 pm
I still believe the Blackberry – as was its original intent – is without a doubt the best device for business use. You have to remember the device alone isn’t all there is to Blackberry; there is also the BES infrastructure surrounding it which makes it the product it is today. Although – without BES/BIS – it wouldn’t stand up at all.
I think although the iPhone is oft considered a ’smart’ phone or a business device, Apple has firmly aimed it at the consumer market. The email mechanism is fairly basic (although push has brought it forward somewhat) but the app store filled with its games etc is clearly intended for the masses.
Although several companies are innovating and doing fairly interesting things with the device in a business context – this is still quite rare. I don’t feel that they are devices that are in direct competition like a lot of people make out.
The interesting thing is that it’s the Blackberry that has emulated the iPhone’s success by moving more towards the consumer market by updating style elements and adding a camera etc (all absent from original Blackberry designs). However, the app store is where it falls – so no matter how functional and stable the Blackberry is, and however unstable and annoying the dropped calls (we haven’t even mentioned THAT part until now!) from the iPhone are – I think the war is waged from app-store to app-store.
This doesn’t excuse the unbelievable number of quirks the iPhone has had and still does have though. Anyone would think it was a Microsoft product. (OK, sorry, that was cheap.)
February 4th, 2010 at 4:49 pm
Glad to hear you’re developing a KashFlow app, can’t wait!
Over recent weeks I have been wishing there was one! :-)
February 6th, 2010 at 3:06 pm
I have to agre with Jeremy. What everyone seems to forget is that the iPhone was never intended as a ’smart’ phone to compete with Blackberry in the business environment, but rather as a ’smarter’ phone to give consumers a phone that does things that no other mobile device before it has been able to do. I repeat: for consumers!
Many rumours are circulating regarding a new iPhone being launched this year and an updated iPhone OS, but as usual Apple is admitting to nothing. So at present the argument is very simple:
Blackberry for business
iPhone for consumer
Although there are many consumers with Blackberry’s (and they only utilise half of its potential) and business people with iPhones (and the iPhone only offers them half of the features they need) they are aimed very distinctly at their respective markets. Steve Jobs himself has been quoted as being “very surprised” at the number of business users of the iPhone.
What is telling for the future is that Steve Jobs at the recent financial results presentation said that Apple is no longer a computer company, it is now a “communications company”… This seems to point at the iPhone, and potentially iPad, now having taken the central product role at Apple instead of the Mac computers and iPods. The general summary of the iPhone rumour mill also seems to suggest that iPhone is now being developed to become a true Blackberry alternative with a smaller, cheaper, more consumer focused iPhone being launched in the future sometime to compliment the ‘upper-end’ iPhone much like the MacBook and MacBookPro line up.
Until that time arrives: use what you need and stop moaning about your own bad product decisions…!
February 9th, 2010 at 12:22 am
At the end of the day, I think it’s all down to preference and familiarity. I have been a Nokia user for a long long time. But I decided to get on the iPhone bandwagon last year. It’s more powerful in many area’s, but lacks in many others. In fact I was really frustrated with some of it’s shortcomings or ‘missing’ features, but have got used to it now.
I’m sure that after a month or two more, you’ll forget all the bits you miss from your Curve and be more than happy with the iPhone.
Enjoy!
PS – looking forward to the KashFlow app.
February 23rd, 2010 at 11:20 pm
Given the iPhones awesome capabilities your observations seem weak? So a few modest enhancements might be nice for a few geeks but nothing to complain about? Mate of mine used to sell worldwide for Nokia even he’s ditched any other device for iPhone :)