Things the iPhone can’t do
Gizmodo has released a short bullet-point list of the features the iPhone doesn’t have. These are not just annoyances, like the fact that you can’t really dial a number without bringing up a virtual keypad; they’re full-blown problems that should remind everyone that, when it comes to copyright protection, only Apple sees themselves as more invulnerable than Microsoft. I’ll explain in a minute. First off, here’s the list:
• Songs as Ringtones
• Games
• Any flash support
• Instant Messaging
• Picture messages (MMS)
• Video recording
• Voice recognition or voice dialing
• Wireless Bluetooth Stereo Streaming (A2DP)
• One-size-fits-all headset jack (May have to buy an adapter for certain headphones)Stuff we already knew it didn’t have
• 3G (EV-DO/HSDPA)
• GPS
• A real keyboard
• Removable battery
• Expandable Storage
• Direct iTunes Music Store Access (Over Wi-Fi or EDGE)
Let’s recap. Clearly, Apple went for the multimedia experience here, and a keyboard and buttons would’ve just gotten in the way. Now, why doesn’t the battery come out? Didn’t Apple learn from its previous iPod debacle that preventing customer access to easy replacement for a part that is known and expected to wear out is a terrible business tactic? And on a similar note, it’s great to have 4 or 8 gb of storage built in, but what if I want to save some mp3s on a miniSD card on my computer, then put it in the iPhone to play? Never mind that, actually. iTunes’ “you don’t really own the song you just bought” mentality will surely wipe any musical bit or byte right off any external card or device. It gets better, too. Since you only bought your iTunes mp3 to listen to on mp3 players, you can hear it on your iPhone, but not as a ringtone. Why? Because then they can’t sell you a 30-second excerpt of the same song for another $2 fee.
Furthermore, it’s clear that the phone itself isn’t the leap forward in technology that Apple claims it will be. The recent ad campaign which features Youtube on the iPhone cleverly masks the fact that the phone doesn’t have Flash support, meaning it couldn’t play Youtube videos through its mini Safari browser, only through the proprietary app. Other multimedia content, in other words, is out of reach, making the Youtube offering just a semi-useless carrot to entice the teen crowd. Also, Mossberg’s review of the typing says that, while the iPhone did a good job of guessing what he’d typed (it can’t be possible to push the right ‘virtual’ key on a tiny touchscreen keyboard all the time), it wasn’t as smart as the Blackberry’s word recognition.
Finally, of course, the thing only runs on AT&T’s recently acquired EDGE network, which certainly won’t help me where I live, and probably will only work (and slowly) for people in major metropolitan areas. Plus, the iPhone’s $499 (for the 4gb) or $599 (for the 8gb) price tag is deceptive when compared to other phones, since there’s no way to get a discount on the iPhone with a new service contract. In other words, a BlackJack, which lists at $199, but is free with most contracts, is actually a full $500 cheaper than the iPhone, not merely $300. Just another way for Apple to suck more of its annual tithe out of its devout following of trendies.
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