Monday, July 9, 2007

My new iPhone

Yes, I bought an iPhone. 3 reasons:

1. I wanted one. For a year now...
2. My other cell phone was on the fritz. I swear, I didn't sabotage it!
3. My royalty check came in, and it was almost the exact amount of the phone + tax.

I love the iPhone. I want to marry the iPhone. I carry it with me everywhere -- okay, I know it's a phone, and I should carry it with me anyway, but I would even it wasn't a phone.

That said, there are a lot of things that need improvement. It doesn't mean I don't love her, but she could use a tune-up. Here's my laundry list so far (I'll update it from time to time):

Messaging

MMS doesn't exist yet. Every other phone out there worth it's salt has it. I also love the SMS "conversation" view. But it doesn't allow me to save the conversation. Right now, it's all or nothing (clear conversation deletes it all).

Calendar

Pretty good application. Just needs to sync to more than outlook.

Photos

Why is there no Cover Flow capability? It's already built in to the phone for iPod. I'd like to thumb through my photos the same way -- at least my albums, anyway. And where's the clown fish photo? I know I can find it and upload it to my phone, but come on!

Camera

Not so sure about video. We only have so much space. But shouldn't be a difficult option to add. But currently, there are no options. None. Would like to see:

  • ZOOM. Come on, pinching the screen should be able to zoom in and out. I couldn't believe that didn't work.

  • There isn't a physical button on the iphone to snap the picture. It's awkward hitting the screen, and more often than not, I hit it too early. Too late to fix that now, I guess.

YouTube

Liking it for the most part... doesn't seem to be as many available as through the true online YouTube site. It's missing Cover Flow. Yan never have too much of that... And don't force me to flip my phone to the side. allow me to rotate to any angle like with photos.

Stocks

Not sure... I don't use this app much.

Maps

What can I say? Google rocks.

Weather

I can't change the order of the weather widgets. Why not? I should be able to do this, and choose which one is the default. And clicking on a day should give me more information about the weather prediction. I realize the Y! link does this, but it should be native in the app, not launch the browser.

Clock

When I have it docked, I'd like to be able to see a full-screen app that shows me the time, date, weather, etc. When clicking on a World clock, it should zoom in to full screen mode, with the above information for that area. Why can I see only 4 alarms on the screen at a time? Why do I have to scroll if I have more than 4 alarms? Squeeze them together when I add more. And give me the option to have the timer repeat. Would be awesome for poker tournaments...

Calculator

Where to begin? It is not NEARLY complex enough. You can enter only 9 digits in the display, INCLUDING DECIMAL PLACES! That's unacceptable. It's missing scientific functions. There are NONE. Not even fractions! And there are some errors when doing calculations. I won't go into them -- but they need to be fixed.

Notes

It was a good idea, but is it worthy of a whole app space on the main page? Notes should be linked to other apps (calendar entries, photos, contacts, etc.) I should also be able to record audio notes. If only the iPhone had a microphone... oh, wait, it does. Why wasn't memo recording added???

Settings

Not a lot to complain about here... seems to work ok...

Phone

Seems to work well... my issues are with the phone itself, not the service of AT&T.

Email

There is no way to create folders. Why do I have the option to move an email to another folder when there isn't another folder (besides sent and trash) to put it in? Why are my SENT emails showing up in my INBOX on the iPhone? This needs to be fixed asap.

Browser

There is no "history" -- have to go back one page at a time. Would like it if you would hold the back button and bring up a history of pages to go back to. There is no way to save attachments from emails. Should at least be able to save a photo to use as wallpaper or contact image.

iPod

Rocks. 'nuf said.

Main menu

Calendar shows current day (but not month/year). Allow me the option to show the day and year. The weather shows 73 degrees... why not the current temp for my default weather location? The clock shows 10:15... why not the current time for my time zone?

All apps

These apps were all installed on the iPhone, yet they don't talk to each other too well. When creating a calendar entry, I want to be able to link that entry to a note, or a contact so when the alarm goes off in my calendar to "call Mom" I can simply click a button to instantly call her.

Missing apps (my opinion only, others may differ)

  • Memo recorder

  • MMS

  • Video camera (not convinced, but many have asked for it)

  • Book reader

  • Chat

  • Disk mode
Like I said, I love the iPhone. If these things all get fixed (and most of them can be with a software update), I will probably go into sugar shock.

I have been taking pictures with my phone, and sending some of those photos to my iPhone picture blog. Check it out.

If you see anything I'm missing, or want to tell me how you feel about the list or your iPhone, please let me know.