Reasons not to get the iPhone
I have been thinking of getting the new 3G iPhone, but refuse to stand in line with the rest of the Apple fanboys and fangirls. Today my resistance nearly broke down until I read an article by Susan Hanley about why she returned the iPhone after only six days. She must have been the only person rushing to the Apple store to return the device. Why did she return it? Lousy battery life, expensive battery replacement, poor synchronization with Outlook and MobileMe (formerly .Mac), motion sensor failure. What she loved about the iPhone: very cool applications, Visual Voicemail and stunning user interface.
In the past few days, a lot of people have been reporting problems with MobileMe, in one extreme case someone lost all of her email after attempting to synchronize with MobileMe. My friends who have the old (and new) iPhone say that when they downloaded new applications from the Apple app store, they don’t appear, or they don’t work well.
I still want to get the iPhone. I am going down to the Apple store in San Francisco on Friday to replace the battery on my Mac Book Pro. I scheduled an early appointment to see if the queue for the iPhone is not ridiculously long. I may just join it.
Tell me what you think. Should I get the new iPhone or not?
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Esme,
The iPhone is great - new 3G or original. I can;t believe you don;t already have one.
There have been rough spots with MobileMe sync. No data loss for me.I assume these are temporary.
Applications store downloads are flawless.
Battery life is no worse than similar devices.
One of the reasons the battery goes is you are constantly running the cool applications.
You need an iphone. It is a great Wi-Fi connected internet device.
PhilB
Okay, I’m breaking down. I will try to get an iPhone in the next few weeks. I just need something to sync with the address book, calendar and email on my Mac Book Pro.
Esme: Don’t do it. Not yet. Friend of mine is IT director at major cable company. They purchased a few iPhone 3Gs. Their conclusion: Apple rushed it to market. Lots of bugs. MobileMe is a mess. Big article by Walt in Wall Street Journal about that.
I’m an iPhone 1.0 lover. I will go with iPhone 3G sometime in early 2009, when Apple works out the bugs.
Resist Esme!
While the iphone is great for it’s innovative GUI it is flawed in may other aspects.
It has all been mentioned before: no (real) bluetooth, crappy camera, no MMS (or does it now), surface finish prone to cracking etc. etc..
I have used the iphone, Nokia N95 and a few HTC devices (almost) side by side and have opted for the N95.
To address your concerns:
Lousy battery life: In fact, of all 3G capable smart-phones out there, the iPhone has the best battery life. What most people do not understand is that the 3G chip consumes a substantial amount of energy and is why the battery life is considered “poor” by those that have never had a 3G smart-phone. If you were to only use Edge for your talk-time, you would see your battery-life increase dramatically.
Expensive battery replacement: Not much you can do about this. However, it has been discovered that the battery is not soldered into the phone so a DIY could replace it for less than one would think. I don’t agree with Apple’s decision here, but its doable. Think about an iPod, though. How many times do you wish you could replace the battery? Or how many times is it really needed? Just a thought….
Poor synchronization with Outlook: This has already been fixed via updates to MobileMe. I have a friend that voiced his initial concerns for this as well. Apparently, it works perfectly fine now according to him and to Apple’s statements.
MobileMe (formerly .Mac): Apple issued a statement that MobileMe was completely functional as of yesterday.
Motion sensor failure: I haven’t heard of this at all so its very possible that this problem is something that comes with any mass-produced product. My last Moto-Q’s screen stopped working within 2 days but I don’t blame Motorola for that. That just happens.
I was in the same boat as the author. I wanted the iPhone 3G, however; there is absolutely no way i will stand in a line just to get a phone. I can wait until it dies down. In my eyes, the usability will be worth the price after having used the Moto-Q, Blackberry Curve, and many others.
Cheers!
Need 1 good reason? No insurance on it. If it breaks or stops working your ONLY option is to send it to Apple and hope for the best.