Apple’s new iPhone may well be a revolutionary product in some ways. But after testing one of the devices that went on sale late last month, I’m steering clear, at least for now, of the most shamelessly overhyped consumer product since Windows 95.
For all its admirable features–the large screen, gorgeous industrial design and advanced user interface in particular–the iPhone feels like a beta product. It’s still early in development and suffers from deal-breaker drawbacks.
The worst is the overall control-freakery from Apple, the manufacturer, and its telecom partner, AT&T. You want choice? Not a chance.
Consumer Reports notes that AT&T is one of the least-favored U.S. mobile carriers, for network quality and customer satisfaction. Worse, the company’s low-speed digital network is inadequate for a device that boasts of being Internet-native, and the Wi-Fi capabilities don’t make up for that lapse. (And never mind AT&T’s recent decision to become Hollywood’s accomplice in tracking customers’ Internet activities, not to mention its Big-Brotherish coziness with government snoops.)
I’m a frequent traveler outside the U.S., and this phone doesn’t cut it for serious international use. If I want to make GSM calls, I’m stuck with AT&T’s roaming rates; with my current phone I can swap SIM cards to use another carrier’s cheaper local service if I don’t like the international roaming rates from T-Mobile, my current carrier.
Apple can’t fix AT&T. But the device itself, however alluring, needs upgrades. For example, on the international roaming front, the iPhone provides no access to other carriers’ 3G networks, which means the phone won’t work at all in places like Korea, where my 3G-equipped GSM phone works fine.
The onscreen keyboard isn’t bad if you’re “typing” in landscape mode in the Web browser, because the keypad in that mode is sufficiently large to help you avoid errors. But if you’re trying to create an SMS or email message in the phone’s portrait mode–it doesn’t adjust to the sideways view with those applications–be prepared for some frustration. I wasted lots of time backspacing over mistakes and retyping things, and the “predictive-text” feature didn’t predict my words with much accuracy.
The camera is adequate for some purposes, and that’s the best you can say about it. There’s no zoom, and no video recording mode.
An especially cheesy “feature” is a headphone jack that requires an adapter for many popular headsets (or some surgery on your current headphone plug). There’s no excuse for this.
Then there’s the nonremovable battery, which Apple says is designed for at least 400 charge cycles and an unspecified number of charges at up to 80% of battery capacity afterward. That will steer people–perhaps this is the idea–toward new phones. Meanwhile, Apple has found another way to make money on this design choice: It’ll sell a new battery for about $80 and keep your phone for a few days in the process.
Despite running a version of the OS X operating system, the iPhone is locked down in its software capabilities, which means that third-party software developers–and therefore customers–are mostly out of luck if they want the kind of applications that have made other smart phones so versatile. Apple’s claim that there’s enough flexibility in the Web browser for third-party development is beyond ludicrous; it’s downright insulting.
More lockdown: The iPhone is unusable in any capacity until it’s activated with the phone company. Want to use it just for Wi-Fi-based Web browsing, plus video and audio and note-taking? Forget it.
Still more: I can use my current phone as a modem with a PC or Mac, something I do on occasion when out of range of a broadband or wireless network. The iPhone doesn’t allow this. Why not? (To be fair, some phones are locked this way.)
No doubt, some of the iPhone’s current drawbacks will be resolved with software upgrades. Some problems can’t and won’t be fixed, at least not in the U.S. version, where AT&T will be the exclusive carrier for the next few years.
All that said, I do love the way the thing looks and feels–and in many respects, the way it works. If other phone-makers don’t adopt the iPhone’s best features (I assume they will), I’ll definitely consider getting one at some point.
But I’ll consider it only when Apple starts selling it in Europe or Asia with 3G capabilities; when I can install a SIM chip from the GSM/3G carrier of my choice; when the software is significantly upgraded; and when third parties can give me the features I want, as opposed to solely the ones Apple thinks are good for me.
That sounds like iPhone 2.0, at the earliest. For now, the initial product doesn’t come close to living up to the hype.
