Even the greatest gadgets have flaws, and the iPhone is certainly no exception. Praise it all you want, but the “Jesus phone” has plenty of little annoyances or nuisances that get under a user’s skin. Fortunately, technology is all about workarounds to common problems. So we’ve not only put together a Top 10 list of iPhone annoyances to vent about, we’re also offering solutions (where we can) to fix those pesky iPhone problems we hate so much.
1. AT&T Is the Carrier
As iPhone users outside the United States begin to enjoy tethering and multimedia messaging services (MMS), AT&T’s exclusive hold on the iPhone angers existing customers and may be irritating Cupertino as well. The cellular provider is slow to provide tethering and MMS, and it’ll likely charge a hefty sum once it gets around to adding them. Add long service contracts, higher data rates, and unfair usage conditions, such as the inability to use SlingPlayer over 3G even while other AT&T phones can, and you’ve got plenty of good reasons to hate your wireless carrier.
Ideally: AT&T’s exclusive deal with Apple could come to an end, by contract or by Congressional action, and Apple would take its business elsewhere, namely to Verizon. That, or AT&T would stop treating iPhone users like second-class customers.
The workaround: visiting a site called BenM.at and following instructions detailed at iPhoneHacks will reportedly allow tethering without having to jailbreak your iPhone. (Disclaimer: There’s always a chance that AT&T will punish you for being sneaky.) If you’re just fed up with AT&T’s service and want to stick it to the man, unlock your iPhone and switch to T-Mobile—the only other major U.S. carrier using the iPhone-friendly GSM radio band—until a better offer comes around.
2. Remote Wipe Costs $99 Per Year
The iPhone was definitely in your pocket when you got into the taxi, but now that you’re home, it’s nowhere to be found. What to do? If you aren’t already paying $99 per year for MobileMe, you’ve got no way to nuke your phone from afar and protect personal information.
Ideally: Apple could offer a pay-per-use remote wipe feature, without requiring a MobileMe subscription. That’d make it less like buying insurance and more like canceling a lost check.
The workaround: A $2 app called iSecurity (Find My Phone) creates a spoof app called either iPasswords or iBlackBook. The app pretends to hold your personal information. Each time a foolish criminal tries to enter the password for this app, it e-mails you the phone’s location. As an alternative, consider securing your iPhone the old-fashioned way with password protection.
3. E-Mail Management Is Weak
Though the iPhone’s 2.0 OS update added bulk e-mail management, it’s not very good. You can tap individual messages to mark them for deletion or movement to another folder, but there’s no “Select All” option for deleting or moving batches of mail at one time. It’s also not possible to run a search term and delete the results, so forget about easily wiping correspondence with particular people.
Ideally: Apple could make bulk e-mail management more robust simply by adding the features described above.
The workaround: There’s no truly satisfying alternative. Accessing your e-mail account via your provider’s Web-based interface is the only option for more control. It may not be as pretty as the built-in iPhone mail app, but you’ll get some of your functionality back.
4. You Can’t Create Contact List Groups
On the iPhone, everyone’s your friend, even your boss. That’s because the built-in Contacts app won’t let you split work and personal contacts into separate groups or allow you to create custom groups. Everyone’s co-existing in one massive list unless you first create subsections on your computer.
Ideally: Apple could fix this. A simple drop-down list on the info page for each contact, along with separate tabs above the contact list, would do nicely.
The workaround: Get an app to do the job instead. ABContacts lets you set up smart filters that divide contacts into groups by name, location, place of employment, or notes. Groups lets you do the sorting in a drag-and-drop interface, and includes the ability to send mass e-mails—perfect for your mobile spam operation.
5. IMAP Gmail Is Lame
If you’re an avid Gmail user, you know that you can configure the iPhone’s Mail app to retrieve your Gmail. Sadly, the iPhone’s Mail app is devoid of all the features you love about Google’s mail service, especially threaded viewing and starring. If you like to e-mail friends or engage in otherwise long conversation threads during the day, the Mail app will quickly become overwhelmed.
Ideally: We’d like to see Apple blend traits from Gmail’s Web application with its Mail app. The look of Web Gmail would be preserved, but old messages would be cached for offline viewing. Naturally Hotmail and Yahoo mail users would also benefit.
The workaround: While you can’t replace the Mail app entirely, you can swap it for Gmail’s Web app, which sports an iPhone-optimized layout that’s always getting better. Swipe recognition was recently added, so you can archive e-mail messages with a finger stroke, and caching will likely come along with HTML5 support. Add Gmail to the iPhone’s home page through the “+” button in Safari, and toss the old Mail app onto your junk page. You’ll hardly know the difference.
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Hey iPhoneMofo, this is an excellent top ten list. AT&T is the worst, my apartment is an absolute deadzone where I live and I am contemplating getting rid of the iPhone just for that reason. Are they ever going to be carried by another carrier? I hate their customer service too. Back in the day I switched to Cinular, then they merged, I can’t get away from them!?!? I found you through Twitter and am now following you, we are @toptentopten. You can cross-post this to our site http://www.toptentopten.com/ and link back to your site. We are trying to create a directory for top ten lists where people can find your site. The coolest feature is you can let other people vote on the rankings of your list.
Hi Vince, thank you for telling us your personal iPhone story. i think your suggestion is very good.
Jsut want to let you know I found this really interesting