Why I’m Not Buying an iPhone 3G

In the event you’ve been living by your lonesome on an island without an Internet connection, you’re probably aware that Apple’s new iPhone - the iPhone 3G - is being released on Friday.  You’ve probably heard that it’s cheaper than the original.  You may also have heard that its arrival will coincide with the release of iPhone OS 2.0, a software upgrade (also available for original iPhones) which will usher in Apple’s platform for third-party software on the device.

As a true Apple fanatic, I have known all of this for about as long as any individual piece of this information has been available.  I picked up the original iPhone last year, and almost anyone who knows me will point you in my direction if the topic comes up.  For the past year I have used and abused my iPhone.  It has become an extension of my brain.  It keeps me in contact with people, and makes it easy for me to keep up on what’s going on with the web, be it tweets, superpokes, diggs, comments - what have you.

For the past year I have been a vocal proponent of the device and everything Apple has brought to the mobile arena.  I thoroughly enjoyed buying the device itself, never having to deal with some lame sales pitch about pricing plans.  I enjoyed bringing it home, unboxing it, plugging it into my Mac, and activating it through iTunes - a process which took five minutes, after which I had touch access to contacts, emails, photos, and the web.  After a full sync I had access to my favorite tunes, as well, which continued to play regardless of what I was doing with the device.  The built-in Google Maps app has saved my hide on a number of occasions.

Then there’s the design.  The simple ringer rocker switch, which disables the ringer with the flick of a switch - something every single phone on earth should have.  One also appreciates the proximity sensor, which automatically turns off the screen (and its touch sensitivity) when held to the head; the ambient light sensor, which adjusts the strength of the backlight to match one’s environment; the accelerometer, which informs the device of its orientation, automatically switching between landscape and portrait modes; the quality of the screen, with its glass cover having miraculously survived in nearly perfect condition despite the onslaught of bumps and drops all mobile phones experience.  Then there’s the multi-touch interface itself.  Simple, sexy, and functional.

It was sweet, and I sure am going to miss it, because I am not buying an iPhone 3G, and will be moving on to another device soon.  There are quite a few reasons for my falling out with Apple, and they all revolve around doing what’s best for the consumer - or in this case, the exact opposite.

When Apple announced iPhone 3G at WWDC this year, I was sorely disappointed.  Having expected 3G on the next version on the device, I was hoping for significant improvements, or - at the very least - the correction of some of the most glaring omissions from the original design.  It occurs to me now that Apple has very appropriately named this new iPhone, because “iPhone 3G” is exactly what it is: an iPhone that operates at 3G wireless speeds.  Whether you look at the hardware or the software, it is clear that this is not iPhone 2.0.

There is no expanded built-in memory; 8GB and 16GB are still the only options.

Battery life is up from 8 hours of talk time to 10, but this only applies to calls made in EDGE; 3G talk time is actually worse, at 5 hours.  There is an option to disable 3G, but it’s buried behind menus and there is no way to set calls specifically to use EDGE by default.  This is particularly egregious when one considers that the battery is still not easily swappable by the user.  New photographs of iPhone 3G have shown that there are screws on the bottom of the device which may mean it is possible for the user to physically change the battery, but it will not be like popping the back off a RAZR (a decidedly inferior device).

It still cannot handle MMS, meaning it is still impossible to send or receive picture messages.  Apple’s suggestion is to send emails with picture attachments, but this is a poor excuse for the MMS available on virtually all other phones with cameras.

iPhone 3G still cannot record video.

iPhone 3G still does not support A2DP, which means using expensive and cumbersome add-ons if you wish to use wireless headphones, despite the fact that iPhone 3G - like the original before it - contains a perfectly good Bluetooth chip which would be up to the task if it were available in the software.

Along those same lines, iPhone 3G still will not allow you to tether it to a computer via Bluetooth, which means it is still not possible to use it as a data modem.  For all the talk of Apple going enterprise with Exchange support, I wonder how many business users will - like me - continue to miss this vital piece of functionality.

Apple has also chosen to eschew what I thought was one of the most innovative aspects of buying an iPhone in the first place: iTunes activation.  With the original iPhone, a customer could walk into an Apple Store, buy the iPhone, and be out in less than two minutes.  Said customer would take the iPhone home, unbox it, hook it up to his or her computer, and fire up iTunes.  iTunes would walk the customer through the process of signing up for a plan with AT&T, and activating the phone.  With iPhone 3G, we’re back to square one.

Opening an Apple product has always been a treat.  Apple takes the time and effort to make unboxing the product part of the experience.  Now, the first person who will get his or her hands on your brand new Apple product is the person who charges you for it.  As a longtime Mac user and Apple fanatic, this is heresy.

I could go on, but my point is made.  After ripping the mobile phone world open with the revolutionary iPhone, Apple has chosen to rest on its laurels and go about business just like every other player in the mobile arena.  It has chosen not to correct significant problems with the first version, and has regressed back from its truly customer-centric approach to activation.  I haven’t even touched on how the new $199 iPhone 3G will actually cost you more over the life of the 2-year contract than the original (you’re paying $10 more per month for 3G data whether your area has 3G or not, and you’ll pay extra for the 200 text messages that used to be included in the base price).

I maintain hope that Apple will come around when it’s time for the real iPhone 2.0.  Until then, I’ll be talking elsewhere.

written at July 9th, 2008 and is filed under News Stories, Trends. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.