advertisement

Ask CNET Asia

Find Products

  • Brand
  • Price
  • Operating system
  • Phone type
  • Connectivity options
  • Touchscreen
  • Built-in digital camera?
  • Filter »

Buying Advice

Editors' Top 5s

CNET Features

 
 Print    Email     Bookmark     Share

Fixing the iPhone



The list continues...

  • MMS (50 percent / 75 percent):
    The iPhone offers SMS text messaging and email, but not the Multimedia Messaging Service that allows for sending images, audio, and video to other phones. This would seem to be an easy addition for current and future models. Of course, if it was so easy, why wouldn't it already be there?

  • Integrated chat clients (33 percent / 66 percent):
    The iPhone makes it easy to get AOL, Yahoo, and Google email service delivered on the phone--but those companies' instant messaging clients are nowhere to be found. Supposedly, you can use Meebo on the iPhone's Safari browser, but those looking for integrated access to AIM, Yahoo Instant Messenger, Google Talk, or MSN (ha!) don't have any easy options. Again, this would seem like an easy software fix--but perhaps AT&T is frowning on such easy access to non-SMS messaging service.

  • Flash support (33 percent / 75 percent):
    The iPhone is supposed to be a little OS X computer. The Flash plug-in is available for Safari on Mac computers, but it's missing from the iPhone's browser. This, too, would seem like a fairly easy fix--if not a top priority--but the fact that Google is converting all of its YouTube video to H.264 format makes me wonder if a Flash solution is coming later rather than sooner.

  • Landscape keyboard on other apps besides Safari (90 percent / 100 percent):
    Prefer to type on the iPhone in landscape mode (horizontally) instead of portrait (vertically)? You can--but only when using the Safari browser. The extra room--and, for many people, comfort--offered by the horizontal orientation makes me think that universal landscape mode will be one of the most likely software upgrades to the iPhone. It's already there--it just needs to be accessible in all of the applications.

  • Video capture via camera (33 percent / 85 percent):
    As Michael Richards knows all too well, most phones can record short video snippets. This camcorder functionality is currently missing on the iPhone. Perhaps it will debut in concert with the MMS capability--or maybe Apple's waiting for the larger memory capacity of a follow-up model before adding it.

  • Customized ringtones (95 percent / 100 percent):
    This one's as close to definite as there is. It'll be added, to be sure, but I bet it won't be the ringtone function you want (use any iTunes song as ringtone). Instead, it'll probably involve you rebuying a snippet of your favorite song.

  • Third-party applications allowed (25 percent / 50 percent):
    This would, in theory, offer a solution to most of the software-related problems above--but why should Apple let anyone else into its walled garden? Until it does, the only third-party apps you'll find on the iPhone will be AJAX-enhanced Web sites available on the Safari browser.

    That's a stab at some--but not nearly all--of the iPhone shortcomings. There are plenty of others, including true Exchange Server email access, video output, and modem tethering. And in addition to the ones I've missed, I'm sure plenty of you disagree with the odds I've given--or even that some of the items mentioned above are even relevant. So fire away in the comments below, and let me know what you think.

    •  

     
    « Previous page

        Talkback
    There are currently no comments for this story.
    To post comments, you need to become a member. It's FREE.
    advertisement