Steve Jobs announced the release of the iPhone 3G today (known colloquially as the iPhone 2.0). The announcement was met with a great deal of wow and a smattering of harumph.
As with most Apple products, the new iPhone will include features that you didn’t know you needed, such as the ability to wipe your data remotely, so that the theft of your iPod won’t necessarily mean the theft of your identity.
However, some features were excluded--features that many Apple watchers were hoping to see. So what’s missing from the iPhone 3G?
- iPhone 3G users will still not have the ability to cut and paste text, a simple yet important task, especially since typing on the keyboardless iPhone is, for many, a challenge.
- Bluetooth is still extremely limited – no support for stereo or digital audio streaming to headsets supporting A2DP, never mind other Bluetooth devices like wireless keyboards.
- The iPhone still can’t act as a modem between the 3G network and another portable device, not via Bluetooth, or via Wifi. If you were hoping to get your PCMCIA-less Macbook Air onto 3G broadband, the iPhone’s not going to play go-between for you. (Here’s hoping the SDK will allow a third-party application to do it. But it should be a feature out of the box.)
And speaking of keyboards, stereo Bluetooth and A2DP would have given iPhone users the ability to use a wireless keyboard, in addition to turning the iPhone into an ad hoc modem. But the iPhone 3G only handles Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR.
- The iPhone 3G doesn’t permit voice dialing, one of those features users expect from a smart phone.
- The videocamera that comes standard with most cell phones is lacking in the iPhone 3G. So much for capturing your own Zapruder film.
- Despite rumors of a potential front-facing camera, the new technical specifications have not listed this feature. A front-facing camera would allow you film yourself, so the lack of it means that even if a videocamera were installed in the iPhone, you still couldn’t get your iPhone iChat.
- Storage capacity is limited to 16 gigabytes, a healthy amount, but with no mini- or micro-SD expansion slot, there’s no chance for expansion or upgrades. With the cell phone industry moving toward larger capacities as well as wireless storage, 16 gig may soon seem quaint.
- AT&T remains the only carrier for the iPhone. Unless you’re willing to hack your iPhone, you’re stuck with AT&T, a company that collaborated with the National Security Agency to illegally data-mine their customer’s communications.
The release of the iPhone 3G will be an important step forward in making the smart phone even smarter. But it looks as if version 2.0 needs a 2.1.
Imagine Engine
June 25, 2008 at 8:33am
What the iPhone is lacking with the exception of better camera and no video call camera it can make up with the App Store and software updates from Apple. One of the comments regarding the back camera has been resolved on unlocked iPhones which can download a trial version (yes you have to pay to unlock all the features) of a video recording application that also records audio up to an hour and stores as MPEG4. Also there's one that provides additional features such as zoom, light settings, delay timer for taking photos, etc. There's another one for voice notes and another for "To Do" list. I'm sure these developers will be working with Apple to release them through the App Store when the 2.0 software update is ready. Since there's already a hack to enable tethering of the iPhone to a laptop I'm hoping someone develops an easy to use app for this through the App Store as I'm sure there are some that would pay to have this feature.
Anonymous
June 16, 2008 at 9:48am
Death Star (att) also uses prison labor.... why do you think they are building prisons everywhere. They have a job waiting for you.....
Doc P
June 12, 2008 at 8:01am
Well-written article, Carol, with salient points. Why inject meaningless political commentary about AT & T? The company and the US gov were in cahoots to keep us safe not to find out our communist leanings or personal indiscretions. Would you not have been more highly critical of the lack of a collaboration if a terrorist attack had destroyed your hometown's source of water or electricity or even worse?
Anonymous
June 24, 2008 at 11:38am
Wrong wrong wrong.
I'd rather not give my money to a company that demonstrably violated my rights. And for what? To keep me safe? From whom? I'm too well educated, with too healthy a sense of skepticism, to buy that line. Sorry. That argument's for chumps and cowards.
Giving up my privacy for an imagined boogeyman? No thanks. I'd rather not entrust my data and give my hard-earned cash over to such an entity.
Those who would trade liberty for security deserve neither, back to the history books, Doc.
The AT&T comment in the article is salient and on-point for those of us who care what sort of nonsense their money's supporting.
Anonymous
June 13, 2008 at 2:44am
The chances of an American being wrongly prosecuted and incarcerated by means of illicit human-rights-violating acts of Government are many times higher than the risk of being a victim of a terrorist act. It would be great if more Americans looked up the statistics and facts instead of blindly trusting their leaders, as it would be obvious to anyone who passed grade school that the Government is watching YOU, not "terrorists".
Buster
June 12, 2008 at 7:44am
Does anyone think that would be a good idea for the iphone?
Anonymous
June 10, 2008 at 10:26am
Just a suggestion if the 3G iPhone is a disappointment buy a Nokia or Blackberry.
Adam Berenstain
June 10, 2008 at 9:30am
Looks like the live search Steve demoed is limited to contacts only. How great would it be if all the calendar events and websites related to your contact popped up as well, or if you could Spotlight a web address buried someplace in your bookmarks?
Albert
June 10, 2008 at 6:01am
I think that feature is tied to exchange server no?
Sean
June 10, 2008 at 7:41am
Any plans for a 32Gig to replace my ipod? that would sell me in an instant.
Anonymous
June 10, 2008 at 5:22am
no one said it was THE company that helped the feds, they say it was "a company".
try reading next time before making a fool of yourself.
Anonymous
June 24, 2008 at 6:55am
Clearly the implication in the article is that if you could choose carriers, then you could choose a carrier that didn;t participate in this questionable activity.
Try UNDERSTANDING what you read next time before making a fool of yourself!
Anonymous
June 24, 2008 at 11:33am
AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth bent over for the NSA.
Some carriers refused.
Here's to you learning google so next time you don't make a fool of yourself!
Anonymous
June 24, 2008 at 11:31am
You are wrong and the author was right. Not all U.S. carriers rolled over for the NSA. AT&T was one that did.
Do your homework next time before making a fool of yourself!
BillyMo
June 10, 2008 at 3:51am
all of the phone companies cooperated with the government during the war, not just AT&T. way to let your bias shine through! but thanks for the feature review, very helpful.
Anonymous
June 10, 2008 at 3:10pm
U.S. Constitution:
Amendment IV:
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
I missed the part about "unless in times of 'war' or haste."
Sorry, nothing to do you with you personally. I'm just flabbergasted by the American publics current willingness to walk away from the protections of the Constitution in the name of "security" and then label anyone who defends the Constitution of the Untied States of America as somehow politically biased or "un-American."
But, you are right, it is off topic. I would have dinged AT&T (and GSM in general) for it's poor coverage in the U.S., myself.
Grail
June 09, 2008 at 11:06pm
Totally agree. Another thing we need more info on is whether the new iPhone can open and edit Office docs. Needs this to make it a real "Smart Phone".
AAinSB
June 09, 2008 at 9:20pm
Another missing feature: not being able to send a picture in a text message...my old Razr could do that!!!
