Things iHate about the iPhone

The iPhone is a modern marvel of technology.As a convergence device, it did what many PDAs and cellphones failed to do: excite me enough to buy it. That being said, the iPhone is not the end all of phones, and there are a number of things to improve upon besides just the technology. Apple's iPod spawned a little family of its own, and I believe the iPhone will have its variations as well. Here is a short list of things that I hate about the iPhone:

Smudges and Fingerprints

The iPhone brings out all my obsessive compulsive tendencies. The need to keep the surface clean and free of dirt and grime consists of a ritualistic wipe down after every use.

Headphones

On my old Nokia, I would use my headphones occasionally if I knew I was going to be on the phone for an extended period. I feel that with the iPhone, it encourages headphone use far more than that. One, because you don't want your face oils smudging the screen, and two, all the cool functions of the iPhone during the call require use of the screen. The little click switch isn't enough. That being said, there seems to be quite a difference in sound output of the headphones versus earpiece -- the earpiece volume seems much louder than the headphones. Since the iPhone's roots are iPod based, it makes sense that I would be carrying around the headphones, but it's slightly annoying that after I make a phone call, I need to adjust the volume down for the music so I don't blow my ears out.

iPod roots

The great thing about the iPhone is that it's an iPod and a phone combined, but it's also the iPod-ness of the iPhone that presents issue. The iPhone, by nature of iPod is a closed system; official applications on the devices exist either through Apple or official third parties. There is no SDK (Software Development Kit) to write your own applications, Apple instead has asked developers to simply write them for the web.

Ringtones

The default Ringtones that the iPhone includes are terrible. They don't sound like a cellphone ring -- they are mostly sound effects (similar to those you would find at a novelty store or inside one of those 10,000 SFX! CDs) or musical melodies played on a piano or xylophone. You would think that given Apple's taste in music for their advertising, they could at least have some taste in ringtones, but apparently such things lie in other departments. While Apple will soon allow Ringtones to be made from downloaded music, it will do so by charging an additional 99 cents for the privilege, which I feel is dumb, provided that many other cellphones allow the use of any mp3 clip to be used as a ringtone.

Games

There are none. Without Flash support on the iPhone, we're left listening to music, watching movies or surfing the web. I think with the touch screen and the beautiful display, you could definitely have games on it. The regular timeless classics (Solitaire, Bejeweled, Tetris) could well work with the iPhone.