YAP (Yet Another Post) on iPhone Annoyances

A couple of months ago I decided to become the proud owner of an iphone. The one I got is the UK version with the 1.1.4 firmware. I am also still using my old (really old) nokia 6210, which is an (almost) 8-year old phone. I became annoyed that my 8-year old phone has certain simple features the iphone doesn’t have. So:

Things nokia 6210 can do, but the current version of Iphone (firmware 1.1.4) can’t (at least without installing any additional packages):

1. View how many characters you have typed in your SMS message. This is really important.. I tend to send 2 or 3 sms messages just for having one or two characters more. If I knew, I could have deleted a space or omitted a comma/dot,etc…
2. Forwarding SMS messages.
3. View a specific SMS message, without the whole conversation (the conversation mode that Iphone shows SMS by default is really nice, but if I need to show a specific SMS message to a friend, (s)he needs to see the whole conversation!). Not very convenient..
4. Turn on SMS delivery reports (certain carriers provide the ability to obtain a report by entering a special character sequence at the beginning of the SMS, but it’s a pain to type it in every time).
5. File SMS messages under different folders.
6. Specify the voicemail number. It does not automatically pick up the voicemail number of my Greek carrier (yes… I know iphone wasn’t supposed to work in Greece in the first place, but still) and I have to dial the number of my voicemail every time I want to check for new voicemail.
7. By default when you receive an SMS, a preview of the text appears automatically on the screen. So, if you are out for lunch or whatever and you leave your phone on the table, all your friends (well… not only friends) can see a preview of the message you have received. It is possible to disable the preview, but that means that you have to enter a 4 digit keycode every time your phone locks. What’s more even with the preview disabled, it still shows automatically the number of the person who texted you!
8. List of incoming/outgoing/missed calls, with the duration of each call and more details… A solution is to install the iLog application.
9. No voice dial. The VoiceDial application can be installed to enable this functionality.
10. Lack of ring profiles. Nokia had a nice “pager” profile, which means that even though the phone was on, both the ring volume and the vibration were off.  So when I go to bed I set it to the “pager” profile and even if someone calls me at 3am, it doesn’t vibrate to wake me up (don’t laugh!).  I also have different profiles. One for a meetings (the ring volume is off), one for the office (where the ring volume is on, but very low and one for outdoors when the ring volume is on maximum). But with the iphone, I always need to play with the volume control from place to place.
11. The alarm does not work when the iphone is switched off! (Yes, I discovered this one the hard way! Luckily it wasn’t an important meeting.)
12. (Added on 13-Jun-08). When I am on the move (i.e. walking) I can easily type on the nokia 6210.  The phone fits in my palm nicely and since it has an actual keyboard, after a while you are used to it and can type without even having to look at the screen after each letter you type. On the other hand, when I want to type an sms on the iphone I need both hands (maybe my palm is too small!) and I need to look on the screen all the time, because -obviously- there’s no way to tell which letter you are typing, unless you actually see it.

I will be updating the list… I am sure it will get quite lengthy…

Now, for more annoyances, which are not so much related to the main phone functionality (i.e. making/receiving calls, contacts management, sms), but to the functionality of the other features of the phone.

1. The build in camera application is too primitive (no zoom, no nothing). A solution is to get the CameraPro application.
2. The usual complaint: No GPS. Even though the LocateMe application can be considered as a substitute, it needs Wifi to operate and is quite buggy (when I am in Greece it shows I am right in the middle of the Atlantic ocean!)
3. No built-in application for video recording.  The VideoRecorder application is a nice alternative.
4. No built-in application for IM.  Fring is an excellent alternative.
5. No bluetooth sync.
6. By default EDGE is enabled. If your carrier (as in my case) does not require any credentials to connect to the EDGE network and there’s no wifi coverage in the area, when you try to access the internet iphone will shamelessly (instead of seamlessly as advertised), make sure to add a few pounds on your phone bill without notifying you.
7. I bought the iphone when I started migrating to linux. Well… officially no linux application is supported. To use iphone as a PDA (i.e. for calendar and contacts management), not only did I have to keep windows and itunes, I also had to buy office 2007! (thank god I am still considered a student and paid only ~£40).  Yes, I have PAID and installed office JUST to be able to sync my pc with the iphone, since I normally use thuderbird and openoffice!

The feature I liked so far the best? VPN support… My e-mail password is transferred encrypted over the wifi network, which means less chances for someone to intercept the password.

Initial post: 13/06/2008

Updates to follow for sure 🙂