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iPhone- 50 reasons not to buy

Having the "best" cellphone is such a personal thing and these lists of foibles and annoyances apply to pretty much any phone out there, especially feature-rich smartphoes.

I suppose the iPhone's hype is partly to blame, but I don't see anyone out there trumpeting the shortcomings of Blackberrys, Treos, and Windows Mobile devices. Seems silly to have to pick on one phone in particular--if it's not for you, it's not for you.
 
stevep said:
I'm not sure it's a completely informed piece of writing, though the author has made an attempt to be objective.
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Um, no they haven't. It's not objective in the slightest. Some of the points are just wrong anyway. Setting iPhone up against an imaginary product which doesn't exist yet is equally stupid. What about comparing it against what is out there on the market. And a proper comparison, not just a checklist of features.
 
kdarling said:
He didn't say "reasons NOT to buy", emphasis on the REASONS NOT. Someone else added that. He said considerations BEFORE buying, which implies things to think about.
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When an article cannot be held responsible for its title, whether its in a major newspaper or an online publication, we'll officially be able to signal a mainstream effort to corrupt the very essence of meaning. No free passes here (or stained dresses).
extraextra said:
I think the list is done in jest... there don't seem to be any "real" reasons why you shouldn't buy it in that article.
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I agree, like I said in my first post... this reads like a joke. It's a list of gripes and odd-story bits strung together by someone trying to be decidedly negative about the new device. It's somewhat wreckless though.

~ CB
 
elppa said:
It's not objective in the slightest.
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Well, let's take point 1 shall we?

"1. The handset is expensive. It’s even got Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, chuckling over it like an over excited schoolboy. Unlike some of the other top phones out there, you can’t get the iPhone for free even if you pay the top tariff price of £55 a month. You have to pay an up-front fee of £269. Over 18-months, that adds up to a whopping £1,259."

Apart from the second sentence, which is neither objective or subjective (and just an excuse to get a link in), I can safely say that everything there is substantially factual. That makes it objective.

I don't think this article will influence anyone thinking about buying an iPhone though - if they've got half a brain that is.
 
Project said:
Not sure about other countries but I bet you it will be a big success in the UK. The thing hasnt been released yet and EVERYBODY I know knows about it and is interested in it. These are not Mac users or geeks. Just regular consumers..
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Exact opposite here - everybody I know ( mac users or not ) are not interested in the iPhone because it's poor on features and heavy on price. It's the best iPod out there - but it's not the best cell phone out there - it falls very very short in several key areas AND costs an utter fortune. Maybe, if the price drops ( to zero on a contract ) and the SDK is getting used to produce some killer apps for it...but right now it doesn't make much sense if you have an MP3 player of some sort already.

Doug
 
djellison said:
Exact opposite here - everybody I know ( mac users or not ) are not interested in the iPhone because it's poor on features and heavy on price. It's the best iPod out there - but it's not the best cell phone out there - it falls very very short in several key areas AND costs an utter fortune. Maybe, if the price drops ( to zero on a contract ) and the SDK is getting used to produce some killer apps for it...but right now it doesn't make much sense if you have an MP3 player of some sort already.
Doug
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Well, it makes a lot of sense if its a better mp3 player than you have, and you want to consolidate your phone. The impression of "poor features" is kind of funny, because its a spotlight on how finicky the market is, and how fragmented across phones with features all over the map (have this, don't have that, have that, don't have this). for me, the Safari browser and visual voicemail phone features are entirely unique in the market (universally considered improvements) more than make up for features like GPS and MMS, which I've never used (but this is subjective). It certainly depends on how you look at it. The iPhone's become the receptacle of a spectrum of gripes it certainly isn't deserving of. For some reason elements of the cell phone public have irrationally linked the number of different features as a trump card for solid implementation and media convergence. Worth considering.

~ CB
 
djellison said:
Exact opposite here - everybody I know ( mac users or not ) are not interested in the iPhone because it's poor on features and heavy on price. It's the best iPod out there - but it's not the best cell phone out there - it falls very very short in several key areas AND costs an utter fortune. Maybe, if the price drops ( to zero on a contract ) and the SDK is getting used to produce some killer apps for it...but right now it doesn't make much sense if you have an MP3 player of some sort already.
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There's an insane amount of interest in it here where I work (large UK uni). Amongst techies and non-techies alike.
 
emotion said:
There's an insane amount of interest in it here where I work (large UK uni). Amongst techies and non-techies alike.
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Probably is at a uni - but then one will buy it and others will see what it's like. If safari is as unstable in 1.1.2 as it is in 1.1.1 then apple are going to see a lot of sales just vanish.. we're not used to our phones crashing randomly on us.

The current one I just tolerate by telling myself it's practically beta and glitches are expected, but TBH it just doesn't make the grade compared to just about any phone out there. I'm an optimist though and it will eventually (hopefully now that some developers are free from the leopard release they can make some real upgrades).
 
Some of the reasons are understandable, and comments people have left here like "buy a battery pack" simply aren't valid. The iPhone isn't perfect but its a damnsight better than anything currently on the market. Every journalist in the UK seems to want to be controversial and deliver news of the new Nokia "iPhone killer" or what not. Unfortunately they fail miserably and look like cynical know nothings. Perhaps the reason that I most hated was the following:

The phone works on a 2.5-generation network rather than the current 3.5-generation, making it at least four times slower than your current handset.

It is entirely misleading to an alarming extent. The sentence does not specify what will be "at least four times slower" and even that could be considered a gross hyperbole for journalistic effect. The author is in fact referring to download speeds to the phone via its 2.5G edge. Apparently according to this author every one in the UK has a 3.5G handset currently and considering that most of the UK doesn't have 3G his argument is rendered entirely void. In fact, I think it would be safe to call this shoddy piece of journalism completely VOID I would expect better from the Times...
 
I read through the first 10 before I decided this guy is full of it. EDGE isn't a bad network to be on, and it didn't matter for me because I am in Waco, TX and we don't have 3G right now anyhow. 3G and GPS will probably come but with Wi-Fi being nearly everywhere now we can be very happy with the way things are right now. The Nokia N95 runs Windows Mobile which is enough reason to say no to that phone and it didn't matter what phone I got anyhow as far as price because I was in contract with AT&T already from last year getting my Razr and so I was going to have to pay full price on whatever phone I ended up with. The iPhone isn't perfect (is anything "perfect"? Can't all things be improved?) and I dying for the SDK and Flash and the Iphone 2 is going to be amazing (but I doubt I will have the money right off to get one). This guy just seems so anti-Iphone that he is making every little excuse to put it down.
 
TonyHoyle said:
Probably is at a uni - but then one will buy it and others will see what it's like. If safari is as unstable in 1.1.2 as it is in 1.1.1 then apple are going to see a lot of sales just vanish.. we're not used to our phones crashing randomly on us.
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I know of 3 Touches and an iPhone. All user rave about them. Interest is still high.

I'll let you know how I get on with my new iPhone on Friday.
 
elppa said:
Um, no they haven't. It's not objective in the slightest. Some of the points are just wrong anyway. Setting iPhone up against an imaginary product which doesn't exist yet is equally stupid. What about comparing it against what is out there on the market. And a proper comparison, not just a checklist of features.
Click to expand...

I agree that the list is sort of silly, but there's nothing wrong with holding up a product to a "platonic form" of what a mobile phone should be based on the technology available at the time.
 
emotion said:
If you use the data and the Cloud access I'd just say the tariffs were £5 over the odds. That's not so bad. As we all know Apple is never the cheap option.
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My main problem with the Tariffs is that you can pay extra to bump up your minutes, but 500 is the maximum amount of inclusive texts. I send anywhere from 800-1000 texts per month and thus need a tariff that provides for that. If I was to go for an iPhone, I'd end up paying an extra £40 on top of the tariff for an extra 400 texts. I don't know whether O2 is deliberately doing that to ensure extra revenue, but it's a non-runner for me personally. If I didn't send as many texts but used the phone to make calls more, then perhaps it wouldn't be so bad.
 
NATO said:
My main problem with the Tariffs is that you can pay extra to bump up your minutes, but 500 is the maximum amount of inclusive texts. I send anywhere from 800-1000 texts per month and thus need a tariff that provides for that. If I was to go for an iPhone, I'd end up paying an extra £40 on top of the tariff for an extra 400 texts. I don't know whether O2 is deliberately doing that to ensure extra revenue, but it's a non-runner for me personally. If I didn't send as many texts but used the phone to make calls more, then perhaps it wouldn't be so bad.
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Wow, that's a lot of texts. Maybe they'll see sense and allow bolt-ons.
 
ojwk said:
Some of the reasons are understandable, and comments people have left here like "buy a battery pack" simply aren't valid.
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Give me one valid reason why a battery pack is not a viable alternative to replacing the battery when it runs out during the day.

Exact opposite here - everybody I know ( mac users or not ) are not interested in the iPhone because it's poor on features and heavy on price. It's the best iPod out there - but it's not the best cell phone out there - it falls very very short in several key areas AND costs an utter fortune. Maybe, if the price drops ( to zero on a contract ) and the SDK is getting used to produce some killer apps for it...but right now it doesn't make much sense if you have an MP3 player of some sort already.
Click to expand...

You fail to see through the eyes of the average consumer. The consumer does not care about an SDK. The consumer does not even know what an SDK is. What key areas does the iPhone fall in as a phone? I can think of just lack of MMS. What else is there that will make people stop and think?

And your last sentence, speak for yourself. Pretty much everybody who has an iPhone has had an iPod previously, yet people are buying them in droves, despite it costing an "utter fortune". Are they all braindead zealots? Or are they genuinely excited by what the iPhone has to offer and what it excels in?

Probably is at a uni - but then one will buy it and others will see what it's like. If safari is as unstable in 1.1.2 as it is in 1.1.1 then apple are going to see a lot of sales just vanish.. we're not used to our phones crashing randomly on us.
Click to expand...

Gross exaggeration. Safari is perhaps the biggest feature of the iPhone. It crashes every now and then (perhaps twice a week for me). This is not going to make a blind bit of difference to sales.

It's acceptable, I'm sure - however three quarters of the UK doesn't even have EDGE.
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Is this 3/4 of the UK population or 3/4 of the land mass?
 
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