Ten Largely Irrelevent Things You Should Know Before You Buy an iPhone

I must admit it: I’m beginning to contemplate purchasing an iPhone. They are just very, very cool. I mean, really cool. I know it won’t make me cool to have one, but it is a very neat gadget. That’s why I find lists like the below so amusing.

Buyer’s Guide: Wait! Ten Things You Should Know Before You Buy an iPhone – Gizmodo

Let’s work through them one at a time, shall we?

  1. Not all ipod accessories work. Well, duh. You know what? Not all ipod accessories work with my cell phone either. In fact, it’s really annoying that most cell phones use a completely different type of jack than every every device with a headphone. My Dell Axim of courses uses one even different than THAT (at least for the microphone). Them’s the breaks.
  2. AT&T is evil. Again, duh. Compared to? Verizon? T-Mobile? Sprint? I’ve used ’em all. I see no stellar entries in customer service among any of them. Long contracts are for most part the standard operating procedure.
  3. No video recording or MMS. Valid, but given the poor quality of 99% of all cell phone cameras, perhaps this isn’t really such a big issue.
  4. No instant messaging. I’ll grant you this one. Even my little LG CU500 includes AIM/Yahoo! chat (of course billed against SMS totals, which is completely absurd, especially given AT&T’s refusal make an all-you-can-eat SMS plan).
  5. Not for business use. Duh. Not marketed for it. Mostly people complaining about this are really upset that they can’t justify getting their businesses to pick up the tab for a new toy.
  6. It’s not a full iPod replacement, and has no games. I don’t play games on my phone or my iPod. It holds more songs than I need (or likely even have). Oh, and did we mention it is a phone and a web browser?
  7. It’s not a smartphone. Given that smartphones aren’t actually all that smart, I don’t see this as the biting criticism that was probably intended.
  8. The data connection is slow. Yes, they should have used AT&T’s G3 network. It does have wifi however, which depending on your situation, might make the point more moot than you imagine. I spend 90% of my time within range of either my own or other open networks. EDGE is likely good enough while trying to get movie times while standing in line. And AT&T bundled all you can eat network access with even the lowest cost plans.
  9. No GPS. Yes, an obvious feature that I think it should have. But then I’m a GPS nut, and have sworn my next phone will have one in it.
  10. No custom ringtons. Oh darn. No “La Cucaracha” for me.

Sure, people should be aware of these things. But I’m wondering what mythical phone exists that addresses these criticisms. Anyone got any suggestions?

[tags]iPhone[/tags]

2 thoughts on “Ten Largely Irrelevent Things You Should Know Before You Buy an iPhone”

  1. Josh Bancroft

    My experience on these with my iPhone, FWIW:

    1. I’ve yet to run into an accessory that doesn’t work. That said, I only have charging/speaker accessories.

    2. Agree that AT&T is no more or less evil than any other carrier (I’ve used them all). There’s nothing about their contract terms and plans for the iPhone that doesn’t also apply to every other phone they sell.

    3. I never use MMS. Why, when you can email a better quality photo? For video, That’s what the Canon SD700 IS in my pocket is for. 😉

    4. As of a few hours ago, this isn’t a valid complaint anymore. Meebo.com started working on the iPhone today – they added a “Go” button. Works with all IM services.

    5. Also don’t care. Joy > business. 🙂

    6. Agreed. I don’t miss games. More than enough room for my iPod content.

    7. It’s better than a smartphone. Better than any smartphone I’ve ever used, and I’ve used them all. I’m constantly stunned by websites that work (well!) that I never, ever expected to see working on a mobile device like this (Gmail, Flickr, Meebo, etc.).

    8. Agreed. EDGE is slow, but I live in a sea of WiFi. I didn’t even know the EDGE network was down yesterday for me (it was) until I read the story on Digg, and heard people complaining on Twitter.

    9. Meh. GPS would be cool, but my previous phones didn’t have it, either, so I don’t feel like I’m giving anything up.

    10. These will come. And frankly, the ones on there already are much, much better than hearing a tinny version of someone’s favorite MP3 as their ringtone. I’ve always preferred simple ringtones, and the iPhone ones are nice and elegant.

    Start the countdown – I give you a month, max, before you cave and get one. 😉

  2. Pingback: 10 Reasons iPhone Complainers are Full of Baloney at Josh Bancroft’s TinyScreenfuls.com

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