My iPhone sucks

Image by Niels van Eck via Flickr

It just isn't sufficient as a professional device.  Not for voice and not for email.  I carry a Blackberry for email.  I soon will carry some smart phone on the Verizon network for voice communications.  As a handheld device, the iPhone is a cool little computer.   It does cool little computer things very well.

If my job was playing games for a living, which it is not, I cannot imagine a better device than the iPhone.  Flipside5's Air Hockey game is the "Citizen Kane" of handheld air hockey games.  The little slot machine like application for finding a random, nearby restaurant is really cool. The Facebook application is inspired and well done.   The More Cowbell application picks me up when I am down.

Unfortunately for my usage of an iPhone, my job involves a great deal of email communication and important phone calls.  Important phone calls is meant to imply that dropping the call two to three times per half hour when moving in a vehicle isn't acceptable.  It strikes me as unprofessional.   Since I live in the relatively wilderness-like Washington D.C. area, I probably should be more understanding that the iPhone cannot hold a call when traveling from the White House to Tyson's Corner via automobile.   It is 8 miles, the primary options are highways, that people would use the iPhone here cannot be a surprise to anyone at AT&T.   So, if I have an important call, I pull over.  When the call is completed, I get going again.  I will never recover the time lost sitting still in order to keep a call live.  The iPhone is a mobile phone inasmuch as you can carry it around, it isn't a mobile phone in the biblical sense.  You shouldn't be mobile when attempting to use it.  It is mobile, you are not.

Yes, I know, the iPhone is only as good as the network it is on.   But, so long as it is only on one network in this country -- that isn't much of an argument here.  To be fair, I used my iPhone in Europe this summer (England, Sweden, Russia, Finland, Germany, etc.) without the constant dropped calls.  I even rode on a train for an hour, from London to Oxford, without dropping a call.  But, I don't live or work in Europe.  I live in work in the Washington, D.C. area and here, the iPhone sucks.

This is so say nothing of the iPhone's inherent ability to hold a day and half's worth of emails compared to a month or more for the Blackberry.   If you're planning pizza parties or organizing social events, two days email storage is probably more than enough.  For the rest of us, it is completely inadequate.

And then there is the recent revelation of search for iPhone.  Great idea.  Search.  Could be really useful.

Here again, if you don't get many emails or materially important ones.  The iPhone could be quite good. If you're a teenage sending 3000 monthly texts, no issue with the iPhone (I think). But if you get a lot of emails, and they're important, you will need to get a real tool like the Blackberry.

All of which is to say, we may be seeing the end of "prosumer" devices.  The term, prosumer, was coined to describe a class of devices that consumers purchased and put to a dual purpose, professional and personal/consumer use.   I would argue that Apple is one of the best consumer companies.   Apple has taken a consumer product pretty far, maybe as far as it can go -- maybe too far. 

Here comes another generation of smart phone based upon Android operating system technology and all on better networks (hard to do, I know, I am talking to you -- AT&T user).   Industry analysts predict that these Android devices will never surpass the iPhone in popularity on a volume basis.   For professional usage and perhaps on the average revenue per user metric that drives the telco's, I suspect it will all be Android devices over the iPhone.   And it won't take long.   Then again, I will likely be carrying a Droid based phone, my general purpose iPhone, and Blackberry for email and yes, I will be looking for a charger.  So, I will count in all categories.....

Link to Comic below from XKCD

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Comments

[Renee]

I got the Droid from Verizon and love it so far! GMail, Google Maps navigation, local business search by voice, Twitter, Google Calendar, Google Voice (visual voicemail), photo/video camera, standard audio out jack, and physical keyboard... so glad I skipped the iPhone!

There are a few fussy things to get used to in terms of usability, but that would the same on any new phone.

[x]

Your blog sucks.

[Pete T]

I just switched to the Droid and couldn't be happier. Games aside, when you need to do business, nothing beats it. Combined my Gmail address book with my phone contacts, free tethering (through PDAnet), and apps for all the other good stuff. I'm using my laptop less now because I'm answering emails immediately form my phone thanks to the physical keyboard.

[Nicolle]

I have to agree. I decided against the iPhone due to it's lack of business capabilities. I LOVE the "fun" aspects of the phone, but refused to sign up with AT&T. I instead carry a Blackberry Curve, and have an iPod Touch. The iPod Touch has all the same fun as the iPhone (minus the one the go internet connection and camera) but the keyboard and functionality from a call, email, and texting standpoint is far better on the Blackberry devices.

I am excited to get some good "playtime" with the Droid though... there is definitely still room to improve in this market. Best thing Apple could do now though is get the heck off of AT&T...

Now, to be fair, the Blackberry Storm is a total stinker too. I think that when you go full touch screen like they have tried to do on these phones, it becomes unimaginably difficult to type in quick situations that require more than a 5 word response.

I do also appreciate that the Blackberry has been able to make a personal/business crossover device that can handle the requirements of both seamlessly. They have also made the personal computing device accessible to all, not just the business types. From a marketing perspective, getting your future business professionals loyal, and in some cases quite "addicted" at the collegiate level only serves to keep that loyalty into there adult life when they can fully appreciate the power of the device for something more than just texting without smudging your screen.

[Masters Dissertations]

Whenever i see the post like your's i feel that there are still helpful people who share information for the help of others, it must be helpful for other's. thanx and good job.