the tindog coffeehouse

I’ve had my iPhone 3GS now for about three weeks, and overall I love it. It’s easy to use, the apps are great, and it’s just a fun and handy device to have around. But it’s not perfect, nor did I expect it to be. After using it for a few weeks, here are some things I would change about it if I could:

1. Add an option for different sound profiles. Every other cell phone and smartphone on the planet has this option, but not the Jesus Phone. I want the ringtone to be louder when I’m in the car but quieter when I’m in the office. Or maybe turn the ringer off but have the message tones still on. Is there an easy way to change that? Nope. You can go to Settings and adjust the volume slider, but there’s no way to assign these settings to different profiles. And as far as I can tell, there’s not an app for that.
2. Add a native To-Do app. I can plug my iPhone in to my computer and sync the Calendar, Contacts, and Notes with Outlook, but for whatever reason, the iPhone doesn’t have an app for my Tasks. Apparently Steve Jobs assumes Apple fanboys don’t do anything, but really this seems like a really dumb omission. Yes, there are third-party apps to get around this limitation, but why can’t Apple just include one natively?
3. Improve the Mail app. The included Mail app meets most of my needs; after all, it’s not necessarily meant to replace my desktop email client. But it could be better. For one, allow email attachments. OK, it allows for inline attachments, but that could definitely be better. Also, allow email distribution lists. What if I want to send the same email to a list of 10 different people? That requires 10 different emails. Er, no thanks.
4. Fix the photo rotation bugs. You take a picture while holding the phone in landscape mode (horizontal). You then turn the phone back upright to portrait mode. Does the photo rotate with it? Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t. Without a third-party app to edit it, your only option is to sync the photo to your computer, edit it there, and then sync it back. What a pain.
5. Improve the battery life. Of course, no list of iPhone gripes would be complete with a rant about the so-so battery life. Supposedly the 3GS has a much-improved battery life over its predecessor, but it’s still not great. Of course, when you realize the iPhone is more computer than phone, it’s easy to see how the battery would be a problem.
6. Allow for MMS messaging. OK, this is more of an AT&T issue, and they keep promising us it will be available eventually. And actually, it’s not even really that big of a deal to me. But it’s just another glaring omission that makes you wonder.
7. Make the case less slippery. Apple is all about aesthetics, so banish the thought of changing the design to be more practical. Sure, the high gloss case is purty, but as your fingerprints accumulate on it, it does tend to get a little slippery. And no, AppleCare doesn’t cover damage from dropping the thing. Good thing I haven’t dropped it yet then.
8. Use a standard charger connection. An iPhone with a mini-USB or micro-USB charger connection? Ridiculous! No, only proprietary connectors allowed here. Heaven forbid we should be able to use the same charger from our BlackBerry with our iPhone! I guess Steve doesn’t want it getting BlackBerry cooties.
9. Allow for a user-replaceable battery. I haven’t run into any battery issues so far, but you know it’s inevitable. Again, with any other device, I could order a new battery online and swap it out in 30 seconds. With the iPhone? Nope, send the whole thing in. Hope you spent the extra $69 for AppleCare coverage!
10. Add a MicroSD slot for additional storage. I bought a 16 GB 3GS and probably won’t be putting any music or videos on it, so I should have plenty of storage. But it would still be nice to be able to throw a MicroSD card in there for extra room just in case. Oh, well.
11. Allow for third-party web browsers. Safari mobile is fine for casual mobile web browsing. As mobile browsers go, it’s really pretty good. But like so many other Apple products, it exists in a closed ecosystem. Have an interest in Mozilla’s Fennec browser, Opera Mini, or Skyfire? Well, too bad. Because for the next two years you’ll be using Safari. And you’ll like it that way.
12. Improve AT&T’s network. Again, this isn’t really an iPhone issue. But since the iPhone is the flagship of AT&T Wireless, the least they could do is provide a better network. You know, one that actually lives up to their claims? Personally, the coverage has been acceptable (not great, but good enough) with one major exception: the deadspot in my home in exactly the same place as my home office. Really. In my living room, I can get 3G service and make and receive calls all day long. I sit down at my desk 30 feet away: No Service. Seriously? And no, it’s not the iPhone; my previous AT&T cell phone had the same issue.
13. Make it cheaper. The iPhone is by far the most expensive phone I’ve ever had. $200 for the phone with a 2-year contract, $30 a month for data, and $5 a month for 200 text messages. Then you still have to buy a (proprietary) car charger and any other travel chargers you want. Plus, you’ll probably want some kind of case, screen protector, and external battery. (I opted to buy a Mophie Juice Pack Air even though it was quite pricey.) And then there are the apps. Sure, there are a lot of free apps out there, but many of them aren’t. So in some cases, you’ll have to open your wallet to get the exact app you need.

Again, like so many iPhone owners, I really do like the thing and wouldn’t trade it for a BlackBerry or Android phone any day of the week. But as with any other gadget, it’s definitely not perfect.

Anything on this list I’ve forgotten?

Previously:
OK, so I got an iPhone. So what?
‘How Apple Plays Upon Our Insecurities’

Yesterday I bought a new iPhone, which makes me, well, mainstream. Whatever coolness factor that came with owning a “JesusPhone” wore off at least a year ago, and now it seems likes everyone has one. Except of course for the people who have a BlackBerry, or an Android phone, or a Palm Pre. Or that old lady down the street who’s still rocking her Motorola StarTAC.

So if I didn’t get an iPhone to be cool, then why did I get it? Well, first because I didn’t want to leave AT&T. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t particularly like AT&T. But my wife is on it, as are most of our friends and family, so it just makes sense. Plus, the rollover minutes provide an extra margin of error just in case we find someone who’s on a different carrier.

Second, the iPhone just meets my needs better than most other phones out there. That’s not to say BlackBerrys and the rest are bad, they’re just not what I’m looking for right now. I have a company-issued BlackBerry for work, and it’s great for email and messaging. But web-browsing on a BlackBerry isn’t as good, nor are apps for Facebook, Twitter, and the like. And at the end of the day, that’s what made the difference for me.

So, there you go. Another satisfied Apple fanboy-in-training (despite the impending “iPhoneocalypse“).

Previously:
‘How Apple Plays Upon Our Insecurities’
Giving in to Google
My PDA is on life support
My PDA: ‘I’m not dead yet!’

Well, I’ve been using my company-issued CrackBerry for a few days now, and if I thought it would allow me to finally retire my beloved Sony Clie PDA, I was wrong.

Traditionally, I’ve used the PDA to sync Outlook data (contacts, calendar, etc.) between my home and work computers. The problem with the BlackBerry is, I can’t really sync it with Outlook on my home computer. Oh, I tried. And… it didn’t go so well. Screwed up my Outlook contacts and part of my calendar on my home computer and really screwed up the Blackberry. I had to wipe the Blackberry and have my corporate Blackberry server account reset, then redo all the settings. What a pain!

Now, I know what you’re saying. Yes, I’m sure there is a way to sync the BlackBerry with a corporate Exchange mailbox and a personal PST file. Well, phooey! I don’t care. It’s too much trouble. My handy-dandy PDA works just fine for that function, albeit with less-than-stellar battery life.

And yes, I know I have other choices. For example, I could forgo Outlook altogether in favor of web-based email services such those from Google or Yahoo. I could use the portable version of Thunderbird (at least for the contacts part). I could even use a web-based service such as AirSet to sync Outlook over the Internet. So, yes, I do have other alternatives. I just don’t like any of them. None of them do what I need to do as easily as my old PDA. The closest choice would be AirSet, but I can automatically rule that one out because of the bandwidth requirements, which wouldn’t fly with my Big Brother employer.

So at least for now, I’ll keep my Clie on hand to sync between my home and work computers. It’s not a perfect solution, but as long as the battery is charged, it’s a reliable one.

Not even 30 minutes after I posted my last post about how my rarely-used PDA is on life support and I don’t have a BlackBerry or smartphone, a box shows up at work containing a… (wait for it) …BlackBerry!

OK, so it’s not really mine officially, it’s the company’s to be used for business purposes, but still.

Hmm… What do I do now? Just send my dear old Sony Clie to the farm where old gadgets go to retire? (That’s a real place, right?) Still, I can’t imagine carrying yet another device around. (For the record, I’m still keeping my personal cell phone: a Samsung flip-phone that I absolutely love. Besides, the BlackBerry doesn’t have a camera; what’s that about?)

I’m probably the last person in America still using a traditional PDA (a Sony Clie NX73V running Palm OS 4.1). I’ve had it for almost 4 years and can’t quite seem to let go of it even though I rarely use it. (PDA, why can’t I quit you?)

I used to use it daily. When I worked for a title company, I frequently traveled out to various branch offices, and I would record my auto mileage on an Excel spreadsheet. Then when I got back in the office and synced it with my computer, everything was already filled out to be dropped in my monthly expense report. With my PDA I usually didn’t need to take my laptop out to the remote offices; all the information I needed was on there, and if I needed to remote into a server or my laptop, I could jump on someone else’s computer and do so easily via RDP.

Beyond the work uses, I also used the Clie for games, media (before I had a real MP3 player or could play MP3s from my phone), reading ebooks, and reading the Bible (with 3 different translations on there, it was common to use my PDA rather than my regular Bible in church).

These days, though, I use it primarily to keep Outlook synced between my home and work computers. If I travel for business, I always have my laptop with me. My MP3 player has properly replaced listening to music on the Clie, and I’ve gone back to real paper for books and my Bible.

If I had a smartphone or BlackBerry, I probably wouldn’t use the PDA at all, but again, I’m probably the last American under the age of 40 who doesn’t have an iPhone, BlackBerry, or Treo. (There are a number of reasons for that, which I won’t go into here.)

So I continue hanging on to my trusty Sony even though the battery barely holds a charge any more. Officially the battery isn’t user-replaceable, but you can buy cheap replacement batteries off the internets. I bought one recently (shipped all the way from Hong Kong, complete with broken English warnings on the back of the package), but I don’t have the right kind of screwdriver to open up the device.

If/when I find the right screwdriver, who knows, I may end up breaking the thing for good. But I at least have to try to keep it going. It’s been with me this long, I can’t give up on it just yet.