Yeah, yeah, I love the iPhone. At the same time, I haven't exactly been shy about not using the iPhone as much of a phone. Today I googled across this post at PC Magazine called "Great i, Lousy Phone" that called me out on the issue, saying that I didn't seem to talk on my iPhone much. It's a fair cop and I haven't gone on the record yet except during the TUAW talkcast aftershows. So here are 1. It's the wrong size. I have small hands. Side-to-side, the iPhone is just too wide compared to my Kyocera slider. I can easily hold the slider while doing other things--making dinner, *kof* driving *kof*, attending to children, and so forth. The iPhone has such a large form factor that it's just not physically possible to leave two or three fingers free for other tasks.
2. It's uncomfortable. This boils down to one phrase: face sweat. Holding that glass up to your cheek for any length of time is, well, ick.
3. It's not durable. My kids have dropped my slider a billion times. So have I. With the iPhone, gravity always wins.
4. It's expensive. Even after canceling my data plan, which I only miss on trips and at the doctor's office, it still costs me $29.99 for my pre-paid contract free 200 minutes per month. I pay under $20 to Qwest each month for 500 contract-free minutes. I keep the plan for business reasons, not so I or my family can chat. And while I miss EDGE, I don't miss it $20 a month -- I live in a big city and am usually near a wi-fi hotspot. In fact, my doctor (but not the pediatrician) just installed free wi-fi at the office.
5. The sound quality is dreadful. I have pretty good hearing despite a decade of small people shouting in my ears. And the iPhone just does not deliver enough sound boost to make a normal conversation, let alone one while waiting at the bus-stop, practical.
6. Inadequate speaker-phone. I can put my slider down on a table in speaker phone mode, and walk away while making dinner. Not only can I keep listening, but I can keep talking too. Its pick-up microphone is fabulous. The iPhone? Not so much.
7. Phone calls interrupt games. The whole point of having an iPhone is to enjoy it. I read mail, I surf the web, I play games. Using an iPhone for, well, phone calls takes me away from the actual practical utility of the thing.
So there you have it. Over half a dozen perfectly good (even if extremely personal) reasons why I don't particularly care for the phone in iPhone. I know my case isn't typical. People use their iPhones as phones all the time -- and love it. But for me, it's a portable pocket-computer that happens to make calls. I much prefer it to the iPod touch, with its microphone and speaker and overall better hardware, but I use it much the same way.
So what's your take on it? Is the iPhone the best phone ever made? Or do you just prefer to have the Internet in your pants? Let us know in the comments.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
5-01-2008 @ 2:08PM
Bob said...
then why not use an iPod touch instead?
or, buy a bluetooth headset?
Reply
5-01-2008 @ 2:12PM
mentalsticks said...
hm... yes. Er. Great post. Or something.
5-01-2008 @ 2:13PM
mentalsticks said...
@Bob: sorry, that wasn't supposed to be a reply but a toplevel comment.
5-01-2008 @ 2:19PM
Ryan Trevisol said...
If I read the expensive gripe correctly, did she say she doesn't have a data plan on her iPhone?
These anti-phone iPhone rants have grown tiresome. Erica, could you just fake being deaf and get the hearing-impaired plan already?
5-01-2008 @ 2:19PM
Ryan Trevisol said...
If I read the expensive gripe correctly, did she say she doesn't have a data plan on her iPhone?
These anti-phone iPhone rants have grown tiresome. Erica, could you just fake being deaf and get the hearing-impaired plan already?
5-01-2008 @ 2:32PM
opp said...
as Bob suggested, for some of the reasons listed is why I just picked up an iPod touch.
5-01-2008 @ 4:00PM
applefan said...
Well ya see she wants it to have a speaker and microphone too. She probably likes the volume controls too.
5-01-2008 @ 2:08PM
Peter Zich said...
Yeah I rarely use the phone part of my iPhone. I've also been having some issues with the other end not being able to hear me.
Reply
5-02-2008 @ 12:00AM
Perry said...
You are probably touching the mute button with your face. When receiving a call, press the home button after answering the call to "freeze' the screen back to the home screen.
5-01-2008 @ 8:43PM
Jason Gold said...
i've had that problem too. i don't know what it's caused by. does anybody?!?!?!? please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
5-05-2008 @ 7:12AM
basscadet said...
lol, usability anyone?
5-01-2008 @ 2:14PM
JoshK said...
Hmm I'm just a newly married Joe with no kids and I guess the lack of young ones adds to my joy of using the phone in iPhone. In my car I use it's bluetooth to hook up to my TomTom's speakerphone and out of the car I enjoy talking on it, if I'm on my computer and talking I do put it on speakerphone and I haven't had a problem with the speakerphone or anyone hearing me. In fact, the mic in it has been incredible. In my cheap noisy Honda Civic anyone can hear me. What keeps me from using the iPhone as a car speakerphone as opposed to the TomTom? The speaker part! With the noise of the road I just can't hear what people are saying or I have to lean forward to where my phone is mounted. But the mic is great because no one even asks if they are on speakerphone! I guess my hands are just the right size too, I've had other wide WM phones and this one actually is refreshing and it's thinness makes it easier to grab. But hey, this is just my opinion! Yours are just as valid!
Reply
5-01-2008 @ 2:39PM
Tom said...
Are you serious? I used the tom tom's speakerphone twice with the same lady and apparently she could barely hear me, the noise of the windshield too much for her. I want to use handsfree but it never works out.
5-01-2008 @ 2:47PM
Josh said...
Tom,
I don't have mine mounted to the windshield so that may help. I got pulled over by a cop once (speeding, nothing related to the TomTom) and he told me that the suction cup stuff on windshields shouldn't be there. You know, blocking my view. So as to avoid another cop telling me that I've mounted mine to the air vent next to my steering wheel, perhaps being closer to my mouth and not on the windshield has increased it's quality. There is the occasional complaint of a "clicking sound". I don't talk often while driving (because even handsfree is distracted) but when I do I keep it brief. Maybe this helps understand our difference. Mine is a GO700.
5-01-2008 @ 2:16PM
TomWBrowning said...
The iPhone is the best PHONE I've ever used, no question.
The size is perfect for my medium-large sized hands, I find it much easier to hold than any thin candybar. Plus, less size == less screen.
Face sweat? The side of my head mustn't be as greasy as yours.
I have dropped it three times and it hasn't taken a single scratch.
Pretend you're buying an iPod Touch with an added bonus, it helps.
I have never had a problem with sound quality - indeed it's better by a long margin than my home phone.
The speakerphone is more than adequate if you do the little stick-it-with-pins hack that's circulating the interwebs.
You're suggesting the iPhone makes a bad phone because you don't want to use it as a phone. Huh.
Reply
5-01-2008 @ 2:49PM
Johnny said...
Ditto that. It's WAAAY better than the RAZR and Blackjack I had before it, without a doubt.
I've dropped it many times and it still looks brand new under the case and film. I may be a little OCD, but I've never owned a phone that I didn't constantly wipe the screen clean on. Still, it is never too bad, I just like a perfectly clean screen.
5-01-2008 @ 3:19PM
khedron said...
My Treo picks up smudges from touching my face, even though its screen is quite recessed, unlike the glossy flat iPhone screen. I don't know how people don't have a problem with this.
5-01-2008 @ 6:31PM
Hawkman said...
Agreed. Those are all true of every phone I've ever owned - except they're less true of the iPhone. Particularly #3... it's a really hardcore phone, I've dropped it a dozen times and have one tiny scratch, compared to the two or three falls that have been required to brick most of my previous mobiles. Sure, its other features are far more compelling, but it's a pretty damn good phone too.
5-01-2008 @ 8:07PM
Sparks said...
Yeah, for me... I find the phone portion a great deal more functional than my old HTC Wizard (or previous HTC Blueangel) were. The sound quality is a great deal better, and the phone doesn't feel like a shoddy VoIP app running on an embedded system, like the WinMob phone always seemed to me.
5-01-2008 @ 8:07PM
Sparks said...
Yeah, for me... I find the phone portion a great deal more functional than my old HTC Wizard (or previous HTC Blueangel) were. The sound quality is a great deal better, and the phone doesn't feel like a shoddy VoIP app running on an embedded system, like the WinMob phone always seemed to me.