Tin
-
06:17:59 pm on April 13, 2008 | # |
I’ve owned my iPhone a little over half a year, now. I wasn’t the earliest adopter, but I jumped right on it when they lowered the price to $400 for the 8GB model. Overall, I’ve been a fairly happy camper, but I do have a few issues. With rumors that a new version of the iPhone is imminent, I had just a few things on my wishlist.
I wish the iPhone was a better music player.
Jobs’ proclamation (at the time) that this was the best iPod ever was probably based on the whole touchscreen premise. While the touchscreen is pretty cool, I’ve had minor issues with music playback. Some of my songs will skip on the iPhone. When I play it back on my computer, I don’t have the same issues. Removing the song from the iPhone and re-adding it will fix the issue most of time, so something must be happening during the synchronization process that’s causing the issue. Maybe it’s not the iPhone at all, but it’s still annoying.I wish it didn’t have a recessed headphone jack.
If you already own a nice set of headphones, forget about it. Chances are, the recessed headphone jack will prevent you from using it, unless you shell out a few bucks for an iPhone headphone adapter. Only Apple can create a niche market for something silly like an iPhone headphone adapter. I hope the next version of the iPhone gets rid of this.I wish Safari didn’t crash so often.
Having the Internet in your pocket is nice when it actually works. Even browsing sites “made for the iPhone”, like the iPhone-version of Facebook, will cause my browser to crash.I wish I could sync directly with Google Calendar.
If you use Windows, you can only sync with Outlook Calendar. I would really like to see the calendar support expanded. Syncing directly with Google Calendar would be nice. I’ll even settle for syncing with Google Calendar indirectly via Lightning, the Thunderbird calendar extension. Let’s open it up, here!I wish the camera was a little better.
The camera, at best, is a gimmick novelty of the iPhone. I don’t have the steadiest hand, but it’s still too easy to ruin a shot unless you can make yourself very still. With digital camera technology getting smaller and better, I expected more.Lastly… something I wished I had done…
I wish I had gotten a screen protector.
Sometimes, you accidentally drop your phone. No biggie, it happens to best of us. I don’t mind the dents around the phone so much. It’s the gashes on the touchscreen that make me sad, because they’re unavoidable. Every time you use your iPhone, you’re reminded of your clumsiness (or maybe just your bad luck with cell phones/portable music players). I should have invested the $10 or so for the Invisible Shield stuff, or whatever product is out there, to protect the touchscreen, one of the coolest features of the iPhone. Note to future iPhone owners out there, do not put your phone in the same pocket as your car keys… especially if you don’t have a screen protector. Bummer.Conclusion
All complaints aside, I do understand that this is a first-generation model. It’s the price you pay for being an early adopter, sometimes. I still like my iPhone very much. Having your cell phone and portable music player in one slick device is very convenient. With the release of the iPhone SDK, I think the functionality of the device will only get better. I’m eager to see if the new iPhone will incorporate any of my wishlist items. I’m not saying I’ll shell out another $400 if they do, but I could use a mulligan on the whole screen protector thing.