Living With The iPhone 3G, Part 2

I discussed things that I thought were done well in the iPhone 3G in Living With The iPhone 3G, Part 1.

In this installment, I'll discuss things with the iPhone 3G that weren't done very well, incomplete, and just plain wrong.

By far, Easily #1, #2, and #3 on my list of annoyances with the iPhone 3G is that the Safari browser crashes - a lot - even with the 2.1 update. It's incredibly annoying, and completely inexcusable. iPhone 3G Safari seems to simply get "overwhelmed" when browsing a moderately complex page or pages. Google seems to understand the evolving nature of web browsers much more thoroughly than Apple and Microsoft, and a stable browser in a handheld computer like the iPhone is a basic requirement. (Commenters - yes, I know that Google's new Chrome browser is build on Apple's WebKit foundation.) It's the only reason that I went with the iPhone over other "wireless telephones with a web browser" - with the iPhone and iPhone 3G, Apple has done the best job to date of implementing a web browser and full-time Broadband Internet Access into a usable form factor that you can unconsciously carry in a pocket. If I could swap out Safari on iPhone 3G for Firefox or Chrome, I would do so immediately.

One thing that really surprised me with the iPhone 3G was that the iPod (audio playback) functionality wasn't implemented nearly as well as the dedicated iPods. Something I often did with my iPod is when I'm playing back a podcast and I miss something, I "rewind" (wonder how long that term from the era of tape recorders will persist?). (From memory...) Push the center button and then "spin the dial" counter-clockwise to move the playback point. In the iPhone 3G, you can move "forward" and "backward" in the audio file with the on-screen buttons, but you don't get a visual indication of where you are in the audio file like you do with the dedicated iPods. I was really surprised that Apple didn't implement an equivalent of the iPod "wheel" in the iPhone - it would seem to have all the elements needed in having a screen and touch inputs... Even if Apple didn't think that was the most efficient way to implement the iPod functionality in the iPhone, they could have offered is an optional user interface. Heck, make it a downloadable app!

But Apple is all about control of the all of the elements of your device, such as not offering an "iPod wheel" option on the iPhone. When Apple gets it right, that appoach delights. But when they get it wrong, it grates. And lately, Apple's doing a lot of grating.

The iPhone grating starts with the purchase / activation process. Buying anything else at the Apple store is a delight. If you know what you want, you're in and out in minutes and you feel valued as an Apple customer. Buying the iPhone in the Apple store leaves you feeling abused. The Apple Store personnel try, but they're not in control of all the inane questions and hoops that have to be jumped through. After 5 minutes into the process, you really start to wonder how much you really want this thing. Even after months, the whole purchase / activation process still has me irritated. The only thing that is good about going through all that at the Apple Store is that having to go through it at an AT&T Mobility store would be worse - at least Apple personnel try to make buying an iPhone a good experience; in my experience, the AT&T Mobility personnel don't even try to do that (especially if you're an existing customer trying to switch to an iPhone).

In my opinion, Apple could have done much better with the iPhone by becoming a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) such as TracFone and Virgin Mobile. That would give them complete control over not only the purchase / activation, but also being able to handle the entire picture of customer support, integrate the back-end functions (like an app that does keep track of your minutes, MBs used, etc.). But that's a huge task, and with Apple recasting itself around the iTunes Store and now the App Store, it was probably too much to take on to become an MVNO. But Apple is one of the very few companies that could make a success of being an MVNO and one of the very few who could make MVNO customers happier to be a mobile telephony customer of Apple rather than being a direct customer of one of the mobile telephony carriers.

Since this blog is mostly about Broadband Wireless Internet Access, let's get that out of the way. I rate AT&T Mobility's "3G" network, at least as experienced with the iPhone 3G as "adequate at best... when it's doing even that well." It just isn't that great. Better than "EDGE" was when you aren't in coverage of AT&T Mobility 3G or you have the original iPhone- definitely. Yes, the 2.1 software update to the iPhone 3G helped, but it was a marginal improvement to the overall connectivity in Seattle's Eastside where I spend most of my time. I've tried turning off the 3G and living with "EDGE" connectivity, and while that's more consistent, for using the iPhone 3G "web-intensively" like I do, EDGE connectivity simply isn't fast enough. If I was just using email with the native iPhone mail app, EDGE would probably be OK.

IAT&T Mobility, the iPhone US-carrier-of-no-choice, simply isn't anything special - the only thing AT&T Mobility has going for it is that it was smart enough... or desperate enough... to lock in Apple to an exclusive deal for the iPhone in the US for a period of time. But AT&T Mobility certainly isn't doing much to solidify the relationship to its iPhone customers:

• Reports (and lawsuits) that the popularity of the iPhone has "overwhelmed" AT&T Mobility's 3G network is consistent with my knowledge of wireless telephony technology networks and my personal experience. Even with "five bars" of signal strength, overall connectivity can be wildly erratic.
• The 3G network fiasco is ongoing, with no signs that AT&T Mobility, having committed to "hosting" the rapidly-growing base of iPhone 3G customers, is reacting to the overall inadequacy of their 3G network for those iPhone 3G customers that want to use the network they're paying so dearly for every month.
• The sheer cluelessness of having thousands of iPhone users sitting in Starbucks using AT&T Mobility's 3G network on their iPhone 3Gs while AT&T Wi-Fi is present in the Starbucks, but inaccessible to iPhone customers (without paying a fee). Win-win would be for iPhone customers to be able to securely and unobtrusively connect to the AT&T Wi-Fi while in Starbucks - faster speeds for them, lower load on the 3G network during those crucial rush hour times when Starbucks is busiest.
• AT&T not being willing to furnish basic information about usage, like voice minutes used, text messages remaining in your package, etc. as an email or easily-accessed web page, despite that the iPhone is a device that's ideally set up for such things. It appears AT&T Mobility's willingness to "innovate" with Visual Voicemail was a one-off effort.
• AT&T Mobility and Apple "considering" offering a "share the 3G connectivity" option for iPhone users, despite that AT&T Mobility already offers this identical functionality to its customers that use other data-centric devices? AT&T' not reacting rapidly to an obvious market need like this is just emblematic of AT&T continuing to be out of touch with what ought to be its most important market segment. 

Here are just a few things that Apple has left on the table, making for a gaping opportunity by... most likely... Android-based phones:

• It's "stupid" (I'll forgo using some more colorful and profane epaulets) for Apple not to allow / encourage the iPhone to sync with its "home base" computer over a household or enterprise Wi-Fi network whenever it's in range. Why require that at all??? Why can't the iPhone simply  use a totally web-based "home base"? MobileMe has that potential, but it still seems like Apple is clinging to the idea that every iPhone has to be tethered to a particular computer.
• I want perfect synchronization with my email, addresses, calendar, bookmarks, RSS newsfeeds, music, podcasts, messaging, photos, etc. Google has earned most of that by being, by far, the best way for me to get my work done. Google's made it as easy as they can to use their services on the iPhone. Apple's done little to work with Google. A few examples:
  • While the iPhone mail app will connect to Gmail, it doesn't support one of the most compelling reasons to use Gmail - the Archive function. It's unique to Gmail and incredibly useful, but non-standard and the iPhone mail app doesn't support it... but should. Until it does, I won't / can't use the iPhone mail app.
  • No connectivity at all for iPhone calendar and Google Calendar... sigh. At least Google lets you see a decent iPhone optimized view of your Google Calendar.
  • Bookmarks are just a confused mess on the iPhone. There's way too much detail baggage for bookmarks between desktop Mac Safari and iPhone Safari. Google does an adequate job of supporting browser-based bookmarks, but I haven't yet tried it out on the iPhone to see if they optimized it for viewing on the iPhone.

Then there's the random annoyances of the iPhone:

• Despite offering the best (Bluetooth) wireless keyboard, by far... not allowing that keyboard to be used with the iPhone for doing "heavy" text entry. The iPhone, sitting on a desk in a small collapsible stand, operating in landscape mode, on "shore power" with their Bluetooth keyboard would be an "80%+" adequate substitute for a laptop when traveling.
• Ditto Apple's continued (and apparently deliberate) lack of support for stereo Bluetooth headphones. OK, got it that using Bluetooth that intensively will be a battery drain. So we'll learn to plug it in while we're using it like that.
• Barely adequate camera, and no provision for video recording. You have how powerful an operating system / processor / memory and it's not adequate to offer video recording, however minimal?
• The emergence of third-party apps that support a "Finder" (user access to the file system) illustrates that Apple could have made it possible to store documents on the iPhone. But it's inexplicable that Apple didn't implement such a function, and integrate it into the core of the iPhone - documents get backed up during sync, etc. Really... this one is a major goof by Apple, and the confusion it will cause by not having done this from the beginning will be a major reason why corporations will strongly prefer phones other than the iPhone - because those other phones can easily, natively, store documents / files / images locally. (Not to mention that those phones will be able to store those files on removable flash drives like SD cards, that Apple has stubbornly refused to include in the iPhone.

Apple could fix those issues that are under its control. It can't do much about AT&T - Apple doesn't even seem to be that influential at AT&T now that AT&T fully understands how much of the customer experience it has turned over to Apple. But Apple could fix a lot of things about the iPhone 3G, and it will be one of the defining tests of Apple as a company if it decides to make the iPhone into what its customers really want instead of insisting that it knows best.

Future installments of Living With The iPhone 3G:

• Apple / AT&T / ecosystem observations (some scathing);
• How I use my iPhone - Gmail, Greader, etc.
• BWIA implications of the iPhone

By Steve Stroh

This article is Copyright © 2008 by Steve Stroh except for specifically-marked excerpts. Excerpts and links are expressly permitted (and encouraged).

This article was written and posted via Broadband Wireless Internet Access (BWIA) ; Sprint Mobile Broadband service using a Sierra Wireless 595U USB modem - 1xEV-DO Rev. A on my MacBook Pro laptop... while sitting in Starbucks with "free" (with onerous terms and conditions, including allowing AT&T to spam you) Wi-Fi available.

This article is Copyright © 2008 by Steve Stroh except for specifically-marked excerpts. Excerpts and links are expressly permitted (and encouraged).

This article was written and posted via Broadband Wireless Internet Access (BWIA) ; Sprint Mobile Broadband service using a Sierra Wireless 595U USB modem - 1xEV-DO Rev. A on my MacBook Pro laptop... while sitting in Starbucks with "free" (with onerous terms and conditions, including allowing AT&T to spam you) Wi-Fi available.