Who doesn't love a new iPhone?! Although the iPhone 3G S is nearly identical to the iPhone 3G on the outside, it certainly has a few more (desperately needed) bells and whistles on the inside. But after all the excitement from the WWDC liveblogging action, I got a second to catch my breath, and tally all of the things the new iPhone 3G S is missing. Yes, there are a few things missing, and the first one is kinda obvious:
- More Carrier Options: I think if Apple allowed more carriers to offer the iPhone, it would totally take over the market. I can't tell you how many people I've talked to that want the iPhone, but won't take the plunge because they either dislike AT&T, or just don't want to change providers.
To see the remaining six things Apple could add to the iPhone to make it just that much better, just read more.
- Lower Upgrade Prices: And I quote directly from Apple's product page: "For non-qualified customers, including existing AT&T customers who want to upgrade from another phone or replace an iPhone 3G, the price with a new two-year agreement is $499 (8GB), $599 (16GB), or $699 (32GB)." Now that's highway robbery.
- Camera Flash: It's great that Apple is giving us a great new 3 megapixel camera with auto focus, auto macro, and auto white balance, but what about a flash for those super low light situations? I was hoping . . .
- Push Email: The iPhone would be my all-in-one business and pleasure phone if I didn't have to obsessively have to check my inbox. Nuff said.
- Ability to Run More Than One App at Once: It's a pain in my rear when I am knee deep in a sweet Tetris game and receive a text message. I then have to exit Tetris, and enter the messaging app. Is there a way to pause one app while you open another? Well, is there!?
- Colors: Remember when the first iPod was just plain white, and then all of the sudden a rainbow of iPod Mini's, iPod Nano's and iPod Shuffles washed over us? Yeah, that would be awesome now too.
- Flash support: With the majority of websites using flash embedded videos, and some of the funnest games out there being flash, it would make sense to have this added feature. I mean, if you want us to surf the web on this little gadget, not to mention that some websites are all Flash, let us do what you made this phone to do — play games, surf the web, and you know, make some calls here or there.
Is there anything you wish the iPhone 3G S had on board?
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Juan Antonio Lopez
i want copy/paste
1Copy/paste will be available when OS 3.0 comes out in a couple of weeks. Also, if I'm not mistaken, the iphone does have push email. In the settings menu, you can set up how often you want the phone to check for email.
2Does it have an FM transmitter? That would be something I could use. All of my Nokia N-series phones and Sony Ericssons had FM transmitters and flashes on the camera.
3The existing iphone already has push email.
4I thought it had Push Email too. It is listed as a feature on the Au Apple site, but on the US one it says you get Push Email with MobileMe... Hrm.
5Push email is available, the email service just has to support it. For some reason Gmail push isn't available on the iPhone but it is on Andriod (and maybe the Pre too?). I think that is Gmail's doing, not Apples.
I don't want background processes, but it would be nice to be able to reply to texts somehow from within an app. The alert could pop up a text box when you hit reply. That'd be nice.
6GeekSugar, I agree with almost everything you posted here! Great analysis!
I do have two points in which I will diverge.
1. As I understand it, push notification is a compromise with allowing multitasking. Future iPhones will probably allow it, but I don't think older iPhones are powerful enough to run multiple tasks at once. I think it's too early to start antiquating those phones.
2. I don't see how a flash would easily match the aesthetics on an iPhone. It would also seriously eat the battery. This is not something that's a priority for me.
Also, GS? Do you know much about OLED technology? These are organic diodes that light up by themselves. They save a lot of battery power since you don't have to have a separate backlight. A lot of people are frustrated that the 3Gs doesn't have this, because the new Zune HD does.
Bri
7Doesn't AT&T still have exclusivity until at least next year still? They may be waiting to release new carrier options until next year. I hope anyway. I'm with Verizon and I refuse to leave them, even for the iPhone no matter how much I want it.
8geek, I agree with all of these! I wish I could get a pink iphone on sprint! it'd be great if it could multitask (tried it on the pre, amazing!) and watch hulu on my phone. ...i think most of those are only fantasies that will never happen though.
9I totally agree with #1. Because that's the only reason I won't get an iPhone. I left AT&T for a reason, and I'm not about to go back to get burned again. Bring the iPhone to T-Mobile - the plan would probably be much cheaper (it would have to be like the plan for the Sidekick), and it actually only requires adding a certain bandwidth frequency to allow T-Mobile customers to use 3G networks anyway.
AT&T does have a contract with Apple for exclusivity until next year [it was supposed to end this year, but AT&T was able to extend it for one more year - ugh]. Even then, there's already talks of AT&T trying to extend their exclusivity beyond that...but I don't think they can keep other carriers out of the market for that much longer.
About #2: EVERY cell phone company is doing highway robbery with upgrades and contracts. I don't understand why you HAVE to be locked into an expensive 2-year contract in general. The carrier gets the phone's worth [if you were getting the phone at a discounted price] from your monthly payments in about a year's time, so it doesn't make sense to have to stay and pay for another year. And not being able to upgrade until you are almost done with your 2 year contract really sucks. But making existing customers pay nearly full price for new iPhones is totally ridiculous, but not surprising with AT&T.
And #5 is a BIG one: iPhones need to be basically like Mac computers - they should be able to run more than one app or do more than one thing at a time. The Pre already does this, and it's been a big selling point over the iPhone, which makes it a very serious contender. Also, switching to Sprint's plans would be cheaper. The only thing the iPhone has over the Pre right now is the availability of apps - though that might soon be a non-issue as developers are adapting their iPhone App Store products for the Pre.
Great analysis, Geeksugar! I very much concur.
10Push may be available through Mobile Me, but setting up how often your phone checks your email is not push, that's still pulling email in increments.
11In regard to #5 - that's the best part about the new Palm Pre - it runs multiple applications. I'm surprised that the new iPhone doesn't do it; they've known since Christmas that the Palm one would do so.
12multi-tasking - definitely would be nice to reply to a text while in a game, etc.
But it is a phone and how many things are you really doing at once?
They do allow some things to run on top of other apps such as the iPod function, i would suspect text will soon to follow... But you must realize most folks forget what they opened 2 minutes ago and with more apps running, the more battery you are using.... I think Apple is on the right track...plus this will lead to my other point about Push notification service in a minute...
My other Huge gripe is the folks whining and complaining about contracts! To be honest, you have so much to learn about business and the world of economies... Just as someone mentioned, go buy a Nokia N95 - unlocked is over $600, just like the iPhone. Carriers have been gracious enough to essentially loan us the few hundred up front so we can pay them back with our monthly service plan over a year or 2. The plans are the same cost pretty much regardless of the phone, so they will take a hit if you stay with them for a couple years...pretty smart and awesome if you tihnk about it... read this article and maybe you will understand: http://i.gizmodo.com/5284318/whiners-of-the-world-shut-up-about-the-ipho...
Regarding #4 - push email - the iPhone offers Push with MobileMe service (which rocks by the way) OTA syncing cal, contacts and mail, iDisk, find my iPhone, online photo services, file sharing, etc. Better than all the services available yet all in one (flickr, etc.)
But anyways Push Notification service offers PUSH and WAYYYYY more.... the P-N-S service offers pushing of a sound, text message or notification ticker (red number on app icon) - this is huge. So of course there will be an app that will check all your email accounts and can notify you via push with a sound, text message or just a ticker. So that clearly covers PUSH email and more... BUTTTTT this applies to ALL applications. any app can provide this, so now Apple has taking the Push email concept, polished it and made it way more powerful. I still think many have no idea of the possibilites. facebook, ESPN, Instant messages, email, rss feeds, etc - realtime push notification to you. I could go on and on...
moving on - Flash Support - yes this would be huge...and will come soon enough (waiting on Adobe)... but its not like it really hinders you... still have you tube and most sites have html available or an app can provide anything you need...
but what does the iphone have that no other phones have... Compass! doesn't sound like much but just wait to see what apps make use of it. think about it, with the compass, gps and accellerometer your phone will know its exact orientation at all times. You could take a picture of a building on the street and with your location, orientation, elevation and tilt, it will know what floor and window of a building you are looking at - the example isn't exciting but apply that to games and other stuff, lots of sweet possibilities...
video recording! - standard yet its 30fps and video editing...pretty huge.
camera flash would be nice but hey, it is a phone and with software you can get by....
But lastly, yes AT&T is dropping the ball. They need to come clean on MMS and tethering - we need dates and details and need it soon. I have long been happy with AT&T but I am yet to test their 3G network (still on edge with 1st Gen iPhone) With the boost of sales and customers, lets hope AT&T steps it up...
13Why complain about running apps in the background, i know its naughty but i trully believe in jailbreaking these devices as i have now had use of bluetooth send and recieve and apps running in the background for months now. I dont see why apple cant do it when 3rd parties clearly can.
14As for flash i do think that this is a must for the iphone a lot more people are using fully flash based websites now adays and to be able to view them fully i the phone would be a huge plus.
The iphone has Push email. Guess you can take that one off your list.
15i'm confused. i'm looking at the settings tab for mail on my iphone and under Fetch New Data I see "push" which i have turned on. are you saying this is not really push?
16I personally don't have an issue with the push aspect. Mail with fetch you mail every 15min but you can also just tap refresh and it'll get it right then.
Push is only enabled for your .me account, contacts and calendars. Your other email addresses sould say Fetch if you look under Advanced
17Push email is a 2-way service. The phone needs the ability and the provider(mail service).
The iPhone is Push ready - and MobileMe and Blackberry offer push mail service.
Other free mail services do not - But here is a great article about how to get it for free:
18http://lifehacker.com/398526/set-up-push-email-contacts-and-calendar-on-...
a keyboard. im all for the iphone but i honestly don't know if i can handle the touch screen...
19The iPhone has "fetch" e-mail for most e-mail clients, like g-mail, not push. There is a difference, and when you need e-mail for your job, that difference can be major.
Also, if you think the iPhone isn't powerful enough for background apps, just look at Backgrounder. It's a jailbreak app that runs background applications wonderfully, and even shows you which apps are running in the background in case you forget.
It can totally be done by Apple. As far as battery life goes, if you don't go crazy with it...just use it to reply to texts, for instance...the difference is negligible. Apple's just being stubborn.
20This kindof goes with the multitasking bit, but I really want to be able to listen to music while using my apps! I hate that I can't keep listening what I was listening to while I play my Scrabble game, and the default game music is so awful that you have to just sit and play in silence.
21you can play music in the background. it's scrabble that is stopping you. background music is an app by app basis. all Apple allow this and many apps and games do too.
22flash support would be awesome. i don't download shows or movies but it would be cool to watch hulu while at the airport chilling.
23I think the biggest thing it DOESN'T have is the OLED screen. That was part of the rumors, and I'm so disappointed. And the matte backing.
24I think that if you setup Gmail as an exchange client (even on iPhone OS 2.0 ) you can get push email.
25-push is available
-$199 for 16gb is not bad at all.
think about what you're getting. phone + ipod function + gps function
if you were to get ipod touch, you're going to pay almost the same price without the phone function. I once had ipod touch which got stolen, i tried to get ipod touch again, but it seemed that going with iphone was such a better deal because u can use it as phone + music + gps even (now that tomtom is making turn by turn function as well)
If you already have 3g with contract left, consider selling your current iphone on craigslist. I'm selling my 8gb one for 360 tonight.
which gives me enough to break my contract ($175) + plus brand new 2 year contract $199 + 26 activation. which means i only have to spend $50 for faster & better iphone.
or you can just renew your contract and get 399$ pricing with +18 upgrade fee. which you spend about 30 bucks to upgrade to better phone.
and AT&T seriously isnt that bad. it's like people complaining about how microsoft vista is bad. I've been with AT&T for 7 years and I don't have any problems calling or anything. and they are upgrading their data speed to 7.2 from 3.6 mbps which will make them the fastest network in the US.
so stop complaining, and if you want to complain, why not just go get blackberry and stick w/ verizon?
26I want to be able to buy and use the phone without having to automatically pay $30 for the data plan that I don't really want. I love the iPhone and would totally buy it but I'm not paying an extra $360 a year. I should have a choice when buying the iPhone, not be forced into some additional feature.
27The iPhone does not have true push email. It has scheduled pulls, which is not the same thing.
28This may not matter so much in consumer land, but in corporate world this is a huge difference which needs more attention.
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