Comments on: A 'where's the feature?' report: iPhone 3G

Apple's device is feature-rich, well integrated, well supported by independent software developers, and fun to use. But it's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination.

[tommymandel]

Thank you Peter. You've confirmed my decision to wait on joining the growing legions of iPhone users, which include my lady. . . For me, a Palm Zire 72 and a Nokia 6102i, still provide the best mix of functionality and portability, although I do wish I could easily browse the web anywhere. TM, MBP addict.

[M C]

Peter, what a coincidence. My brain frequently files a "where's the news" report on CNet. And it's certainly less of a nitpick-fest than this click-bait.

[maryd7]

I also have my iPhone since July and I have nothing but praise for it. I love everything about it and I have had other phones and they never gave me the freedom this phone has given me. I check everything while on the road and I do not have a problem whatsoever with it. I will say it could use a longer battery life...haha. Apple has hit a homerun with this one.

[macsuckazz]

homerun.....................................not a chance.

[zenwaves]

My most desired functionality is for 'Smart' Cover Flow. When I'm browsing a genre, artist or a particular playlist and I turn the phone to landscape, I don't want to see my entire library - I want to see the album covers of that artist, genre, or playlist!

I submitted this suggestion to Apple, and posted topics in their discussion forums, hopefully someone will work on this ....

[nic.disassembly]

looks like the jesus phone has more quirks that could be fixed (or at least improved upon) than the usual "no MMS/no copy-paste" groans...

i've had the 3G for almost 2 months now (just after 2.1 firmware release)....for the most part, i love it...it's not perfect, but really, what in life is? It's definitely better than the Cingular 8125 (HTC Wizard) i'd been using past 2+ years...

[JadedGamer]

All these "Great iPod, half-assed SmartPhone" aspects affirm my decision to go for twice-the-memory, twice-the-battery-life iPod Touch instead.

[Penguinisto]

Hey!

How come you can use the acronym W.T.F. but no one in the comments are?

Seriously - ***, man?

/P

[Penguinisto]

Oh, wait... they fixed the censorware? Cool!

[DrtyDogg]

lol

[jumpjetta]

I think the mute switch on the iPhone works well. And I'm willing to bet that if Apple had made it so the alarms were muted by the side switch, there'd be people complaining about that. I'd far rather have a pesky alarm go off unexpectedly than miss wake up alarms.

[IgnatiusTheKing]

You can get accented characters and the like by holding down certain letter keys. For example, if you want a "u" with an umlaut over it, hold down the U key until a pop-up appears.

[Perry_Clease]

You got to wonder if he RTM. Of course no real manual came with the phone, but there are a lot of sources, some free where you can get that information. I found out about the first time I tried an iPhone when I held down on a "key" too long. In fact I wish that there was a longer period of time before the other characters appear.

[Perry_Clease]

"My entire Contacts database disappeared from my phone one day. I was worried about what would happen when I backed up the phone--would it decide I wanted to delete all the contacts from my Mac as well?"

As always, it is a good idea to backup important data to someplace off of the Mac. An external drive, web storage, or even a thumbdrive.

[bonesbautista]

Great article, and the device's software does still need improvement. I'm cutting Apple a break for a bit - like what they did with the desktop platform - give developers a chance to address holes or features, then offer great solutions to the holes that don't get filled (Motion, iPhoto, FCP).

About coming up with a means to sync notes, voice memos, and items of that ilk, I've come to use Evernote for voice, picture, and memo synching. It's got more features and it's easier to use than when the app hit the Apple Store, and I might even get a paid account. TTF (There's That Feature!).

[mwsmith824]

The biggest thing the Calender app is missing is integration with Google Calender. We can get our gmail, but not our appts, seriously, Where's The Feature!

[MacNewb82]

You should also be able to set ringer settings based upon meetings and other events in calendar. I am in law school and for the life of me cannot remember to always turn my ringer off when I go into class and on when I come out. This feature was on an old basic nokia I had from like 2000.

[Galaxy5]

It speaks volumes to Apple's reputation for UI design that these quibbles get elevated to an entire column. When's the last time anyone cared enough to castigate RIM or Palm for stupid HCI decisions?

[utahman.brian]

I'm glad I'm not the only one bothered by the lack of calendar invitations on the iPhone. There is a lot of work to be done there, especially for a device touted as compatible with exchange. Inviting people to outlook events is something TONS of people use in an exchange world. If your device works with exchange, surely it should support this concept at least to some extent. Even google calendar does!

[alenas]

If only Contacts and Calendar sync would work...iTunes crashes all the time when trying to synchronize - so i have to use other tools (like Funambol) to sync stuff. This is more than annoying and if you take a look at apple forums - a lot of people are having sync problems with Outlook (and it is not Outlook's fault).
Apple do not have good programmers, so they were not able to fix it for more than a year now...

[macsuckazz]

BUY A BLACKBERRY AND STOP COMPLAINING

[Perry_Clease]

"by macsuckazz"

Did you get a new handle Leo or is this person JUST another immature troll.

[DrtyDogg]

I'm thinking the latter Leo usually puts in a plug to some MS offering.

[Seaspray0]

Nice article, Peter, and you should be happy that many of your ***'s are cosmetic in nature. I feel this article was written more as feedback for apple than for us and your intent was for apple to make something good, even better by listening to it. So, how close am I to the mark?

[Peter N. Glaskowsky]

Certainly I hope these observations reach the right people at Apple, but the post and the discussion here may also help other developers. To paraphrase a well-known slogan, educated consumers are the best customers...

[Cube Over]

If Steve does not use it, you will not get it, either.

[MoreFunToBeHad]

I bought the ipod touch on Sunday. I returned it on Tuesday. I feel like I lost my religion. The inability to copy / paste within the Calendar program makes it worthless for me. If I want to reschedule an appointment I have to type the info in from scratch every time?!? That's nuts. I can't understand why they would release a product that can't cut / copy / paste. Unless power and greed have turned Apple into another company that launches products way before they are ready - just to fight for market share or to be seen as always having an innovation that is ahead of everyone else. Oh God, I hate to say it but this product launch reminds me of Vista. I think I'm gonna be sick now.