A Year Later: 25 Things STILL Wrong With the iPhone

Nearly a year after I published my list of 25 things wrong with the iPhone, the post has grown considerably with nearly 100 readers adding comments to it.
By now Apple has addressed some of the problems with the iPhone, and I want to thank them for listening to our feedback, but also encourage them to continue to improve the iPhone, even past version 2.0. First:

10 iPhone problems Apple has corrected

1. 3G has been added to the next-generation iPhone


2. The 3G iPhone will have real GPS


3. iPhone 2.0 will let you mass-edit your email by making it easier to move & delete individual emails or groups of emails


4. Apple now lets you add custom ringtones to your iPhone via the iTunes store, albeit for $1


5. Apple made it quicker to dial your favorite contacts by letting you double-click the home button


6. The next-generation iPhone’s headphone input will not be recessed, so you will be able to use any and all headphones with it. Why did Apple recess the headphone jack in the first place?


7. iPhone’s calculator is vastly improved on iPhone 2.0


8. Games and third-party applications will be supported through the App Store


9. You can now send mass text messages


10. iPhone 2.0 will have a search feature for finding contacts quicker.

I’m thankful to Apple for making these changes, but some of iPhone’s problems remain unaddressed. In a year, Apple has responded to only ten of the 25+ complaints discussed in my post — not just by me but by other iPhone owners who left comments.
A lot of iPhone’s problems are due to small, easy-to-add features that are missing even though they mean a lot. Apple can very easily correct these issues, so what are they waiting for?
Here are 25 things still wrong with the iPhone that Apple should consider if it wants to stay competitive in the now-revolutionized mobile phone market:

25 things STILL wrong with the iPhone

Beginning the list are iPhone problems posted in my original list last year.
Note: The iPhone 2.0 software update will not be released until July 11, so some of these things could change. Add your comment to the list at the bottom to increase the likelihood of Apple taking our requests seriously.
1. iPhone still cannot copy & paste text. iPhone lets you email web pages via the Mail application, but what about when you want to copy & paste a paragraph into a form? Or a web address into a text field? (Update: This has been corrected in iPhone OS 3.0.)
2. iPhone still does not display a time stamp for each individual text message. This is not a big deal for me right now, but some readers commented that they preferred each text individually stamped.
3. Still no Flash or Java on Safari Mobile.
4. Landscape orientation for the keyboard is still limited to Safari. I would love to use the Mail app in landscape, and even the SMS and Notes apps. (Update: This has been corrected in iPhone OS 3.0.)
5. Still no privacy settings have been mentioned for the iPhone’s privacy-violating SMS Preview feature. (Update: This has been corrected in iPhone OS 3.0.)
6. No Undo function for when you make a typing error. (Update: This has been corrected in iPhone OS 3.0.)
7. The YouTube app is still non-interactive — that is, you can’t post or view comments — and iPhone lacks support for social networking in general. (Update: This has been corrected in iPhone OS 3.0.)
8. You still cannot save documents to a My Documents type of folder. The only improvement is that iPhone 2.0 will let you save photos from emails in your Photos library.
9. Still no mention of whether we can send more than one image per email. (Update: This has been improved in iPhone OS 3.0. To email multiple images per message, touch down on an image in your camera roll until the word “Copy” appears. Tap Copy. Then paste each image into your email, one at a time.)
10. No cropping option for photos.
11. Although the Contacts app will now have a search function, there’s still no Find function for finding a word in a web page. This is a feature I use a lot in Firefox (CTRL+F). The thing is, Safari Mobile is not that stable yet, so adding a feature like this might bog it down even more.
12. Still no mention of a To-Do list, a useful feature many readers have told me they’d appreciate. (Update: There are to-do list apps in the App Store.)
13. Still no AIM, iChat or instant messenger on the iPhone. Blackberry users have Blackberry Messenger to chat with other Blackberry users, but there’s no such feature on the iPhone. (Update: There are apps that do this in the App Store.)
14. No mention yet of whether the iPhone’s poor camera has improved. How about at least digital zoom, image stabilization and a simple LED flash like that of the Sidekick and the Blackberry Curve?
15. No speed dial feature.
16. No MMS support, although there are workarounds. (Update: AT&T finally added MMS to iPhone in September 2009.)
17. The iPhone cannot be used as a hard drive storage device. (Update: Apps in the App Store do this.)
18. Still no video camera, even though lower-end phones like the MOTORAZR have video cameras. (Update: iPhone 3GS now has a video camera.)
19. You still can’t disable auto-correct on the keyboard. It’s fine with me, but some people have told me it drives them crazy and they’d rather just turn it off. (Update: This feature has been added to iPhone.)
20. You can’t delete individual calls from your Recent Calls list.
21. You can’t delete individual text messages. (Update: iPhone 3.0 now lets you do this.)
22. I would like to see a more advanced Notes application, with spell check, styling options and copy/paste (a feature I mentioned above). Notes should also sync to my computer. And why not also integrate the Notes app with online services, like blogging software? That way you could type a post up in Notes, disconnected from the web, and then publish it on WordPress, for example.
Perhaps this is something a WordPress app in the App Store could accomplish.
23. Safari crashes way too much. This has been a problem with every iPhone I’ve owned, and it’s also been a problem for my readers, who shared their comments on my article about Safari crashing. (Update: This doesn’t happen too me very much anymore.)
24. Let us sync to iTunes via Bluetooth. Currently, iPhone Bluetooth support extends to hands-free devices only.
25. Add voice dialing to iPhone. Without tactile feedback on the keyboard, voice dialing is a must-have for drivers. (Update: This has been added in iPhone 3.0.)
With the App Store coming in July, it’s possible that third-party developers can build software that solves these problems, but to me, most of the features listed are basic functions an advanced mobile phone like iPhone should have.

What do you think?

I would love to hear your thoughts about what’s missing on the iPhone in the comments. If you want to be updated about my future articles, subscribe to this blog.

Posted in: iPhone Problems