Just found this thread after posting about the same issue myself and searching for a fix. There doesn't seem to be one.
/[Rant on]
I'm a Blackberry convert and could probably best described as as a "business user". I decided to go with the iPhone because Blackberry apparently decided to "go iPhone" - without providing any iCloud like service (which used to be BIS and BES, now eliminated with the new BB10). So here we are. And Apple should be happy that more and more business users and corporate stiffs are joining the scores of teens and generation Y Starbucks coffee sippers by carrying around iPhones and Mac Books. And there are many reasons to like the devices and services. Some of the stuff is extremely neat and well thought out.
Other things not so much. The example in this thread is key evidence that phone use and email use on the i"phone" is merely an afterthought, catering primarily to a generation of users who don't call anyone and have moved email usage to other web based services. Which is fine but won't make any of the ex-Blackberry crowd really happy. And you want us happy because we all will have to buy new computers at some point. And we're the ones paying for all the gadgets our kids want. So better take care of our basic needs. Which for me are a) fast push emails b) a good way to manage my emails c) quick ways to adept to different situations (I'm at home, I'm in the office, I'm in a meeting, I'm in a call...). d) the occasional phone call even
Apple's not doing that well. The mail app is a pain to use with way too much clicking around to get to where you want to be. It also doesn't allow for quickly glancing at what came to your inbox and then ignoring things. The "badge" will still show x number of "unread" emails - often mails that I never will read and I have to actively click on or change to a "read" status (in a very cumbersome way) in order to set the "badge" number back to zero. Any Blackberry user will know what I mean. It's a workflow issue. Yes, it only takes a second or two. But that's an extra two seconds out of my life each time I check my mails - which comes out to a lot of seconds in a day. Let's say I check my mails 30 times a day (that's conservative) it would come out to 4 hours a year that I lost due to a mail application that's not thought through.
And now I'm finding out that I'll have to live with the buzzing during every call. And all this before I even the ridiculous battery usage or the sheer size of the iphone 5 (yes, it's too big).
I also switched from a Blackberry which I used over BES for work. My phone died and wasn't about to get the touch only BB. It seemed silly to lose the keyboard but not get any of the app support and cloud infrastructure that you get with iOS and android. My work doesn't support android at all, which led me to the iPhone 5.
I totally agree with you. For business use, the iPhone is basically a really expensive kid's toy. It's almost unbelievable how much this thing lacks in terms of email, calendar, contacts, profiles, notifications, customization and even basic messaging.
It really is a ground-up workflow issue. For this vibrating in your ear issue, i've had to disable vibrating all together.
The lack of an led notification light is also sorta unreal. It makes you a slave to your phone in a way that makes me want to rip my hair out. I've seen my wife become super neurotic with checking her phone since she switched from a blackberry about a year ago and didn't understand why. I'm positive this is the reason. When I'm in a meeting, watching TV, anything, I used to be able to keep so many types of messages silent and just glance across the room occasionally to see if I had a blinking light. With the iPhone, anytime it does something, I have to check the screen because I'll either forget about it if I don't and there's no way i've found to create a way of knowing if an alert is an old repeating one or a new one. If you've figured out some type of profile design that helps this, I'd appreciate any input.
I also found that there's no way to not reply-all to a group mms. you have to start a new thread. Also annoying and easy to accidentally reply to the group when you mean not to.
I've been using the notification center as sorta a consolidated inbox, but also a little annoying that you need different apps for email, reminders and text messaging.
And it goes without saying, don't get me started on the keyboard...
Anyway, I bring this stuff up because it blows my mind that so many die hard apple fans refuse to acknowledge that these are issues. And mostly just minor software issues that go a long way.
All that said, there are some apps that are pretty mind-blowing. The Mailbox App is fantastic and if it supported Enterprise, that would solve a bunch of my issues. For now, it's been a godsend for my personal gmail account.