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5 Things I Hate About the iPhone

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The iPhone is a great phone with plenty of great features, but Apple’s darling falls flat in several key places.

After using the iPhone 4S since launch, there are a number of things I hate about the iPhone platform.

(Read: 5 Things I Hate about Android)

I’ve had the iPhone 4S for the past 6 months, after using an Android phone as my primary device for years. You can read my concerns about switching from Android to iPhone, and my experience after using the iPhone 4S for two weeks to get some background.

Email on the iPhone

Mail on iPhoneAfter using Gmail on Android, it’s hard to find an app that compares on the iPhone.

The Mail App is useless for someone who receives upwards of 4,000 emails a month and relies on Priority Inbox just to tread water in a sea of email.

The Gmail app for the iPhone is a joke.

Sparrow for iPhone offers a better solution, bringing the iPhone closer to Android’s ability to handle multiple email addresses and priority inbox, but it’s still not as good at taking me straight to my important messages.

I can finally use the iPhone for email, but I still hate trying to email on the iPhone.

Safari’s Dual Bar

If I had a nickel for every time I tried to enter a URL in search and a search in the URL bar I wouldn’t need to play the Mega Millions lottery this week.

Why Apple continues to stick with this antiquated dedicated box setup is beyond me.

There are alternative browsers available, but unlike Android I cannot set Dolphin to be my default browser.

This means anytime I open a link from email or any app I will be back in Safari. If I need to search further based on that link, jumping out of Safari to Dolphin is a pain.

Safari for OS X Mountain Lion has a single bar, so hopefully the next version of iOS will too.

No Fast Access to Settings

Apple loves to tuck settings away into a neat little Settings icon. That’s great for some settings and users, but what about people like me who want to toggle settings swiftly.

I have to tap four times to toggle Bluetooth on the iPhone, three times to turn WiFi on or off and more to change other often used settings.

Even the cheapest lowest end phones running Android have a widget or a pull down menu that lets you turn these settings off and on with one tap.

Why Apple hasn’t incorporated something similar into the Notification center is beyond me.

The Apple Tax

Apple TaxWhen you want to buy a new Kindle ebook or any other type of media in an app on Android, it’s right there. On the iPhone Apple charges 30% of the purchase price.

This means that Amazon doesn’t let you buy books within the Kindle app. Neither does Audible and a collection of other apps.

Instead, you need to go to the web to make your purchase. Sure, this can be done on the iPhone, but it’s a pain for me and a roadblock for less experienced users.

If you don’t think this is an Apple issue, you’re missing the whole reason behind this. I know that Apple wants to push iTunes and iBooks, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.

The Need to Jailbreak

iPad 2 jailbreak appBefore you comment to tell me that i can do everything I want on the iPhone if I jailbreak, stop.

I’ve jailbroken my iPhone before and it wasn’t as awesome as rooting my Android phone. Instead of worlds of awesome, I experienced weird behavior and bad battery life. Go ahead and tell me I was doing something wrong, but I just wanted to try a few basic jailbreak apps.

Even the apps I really wanted ended up failing half the time, so I didn’t bother purchasing full versions.

I hate that I have to jailbreak my iPhone to get access to the features and apps I want.

Most of Apple’s issues can be addressed in software, while many of my complaints about Android are tied to the hardware.

What do you hate about the iPhone?

25 Comments

25 Comments

  1. Sridhar Katakam

    04/05/2012 at 4:04 am

    Not being able to set Dolphin as default browser in iPhone is indeed a major pain.

  2. Gene Naftulyev

    04/07/2012 at 7:49 am

    4000 email a month? lightweight! iPhone works just fine for me at over 10,000 emails a month across 7 accounts. 

  3. Wkat

    04/09/2012 at 12:00 am

    i want to share my files..but wait! oh your phone is not iphone, so sorry. I want this music of yours..oh wait! have you installed iTunes? No? then lets get iTunes 1st….

  4. Greg

    04/16/2012 at 1:41 pm

        I hate the fact that if Apple rule the world and I have to switch to iPhone because all other phone manufacturers are destroyed, my phone will look exactly like every other phone in the world. My android phone do not look like any other android phone owned by anyone. Even if the that person has exactly the same model, manufacturer and same exact carrier, I can still guarantee our phones will look nothing alike.
        What is with that small screen? So what if the color and clarity of the screen of an iPhone is incredible. The screen is so small that using any android phones with screens an inch or more bigger with lower ppi, you can still read better and see clearer because the images are more than 20-25% bigger. It is like a anyone with a 18 inch HDTV insisting that it is better to watch movies on that screen than a 10 year old 42 inch color television. Just because the color is brighter and image clearer do mean anything, size is important no matter what people tell you. Ever notice iPhone users tend to bend over their phone as they use it? That is because the screen is so tiny.
        iPhone is perfect for people with little imagination or at least not willing to use that imagination to create something unique with their personal phones. It is perfect for people with little computer skills or at least the willingness to use that skill to improve and customize something so personal to them. It is definitely perfect for people that do not mind having the same exact looking phone more people in the world own compare to anyone that do not use a iPhone.That is true because Apple sells more smart phones than any other smart phone maker in the world.
        Interestingly, iPhone owners tend to consider themselves as creative, imaginative, unique and free spirited using the iPhone. The last person fitting those qualities using the iPhone passed away last year and before he did that, he founded a company that maintain s the biggest profit margin over manufacturing cost than any other smart phone maker in the world. Now that was creative.

    • Doom II

      09/19/2012 at 9:10 am

      It’s like comparing customized (tuned) Honda Civic and Porsche. Not a good comparison. And those assumptions about how smart is the person with the iPhone are childish.

  5. Kollin Spenrath

    05/01/2012 at 2:14 pm

    Don’t forget it doesn’t play flash, no turn by turn navigation, you can’t save attachments, nor can you view what is actually on the phone’s local files.

    • Michael Lamptey (@TILT_Dat)

      09/15/2012 at 8:23 pm

      1. It’s true that it doesn’t play flash but adobe themselves now supports only HTML5 on mobile devices.
      2. iOS 6 comes with turn by turn made by Apple+Tomtom, or you can use any navigation app from appstore
      3. You can easily save attachments (just saying) how do you think people get PDFs on there iDevices

      You don’t need to like iOS devices but at least do some research before making such assumptions.

    • Doom II

      09/19/2012 at 9:26 am

      Were you able to find and read the article why Apple didn’t want Flash on their devices even though they could.

  6. erika

    05/08/2012 at 4:16 pm

    Ditto on the turn by turn nav. That functionality on my android has been priceless countless times. Will not give it up

  7. Stacey

    05/11/2012 at 9:12 am

    I’m pretty new at the iphone thing so the things I don’t like might seem basic but: 1. In order to change the amount of time your phone rings you would have to call your service provider and have them manually change it. 2. Why can’t you turn the email/calendar sounds off while you’re on the phone? 3. Why do I have to use an app in order to perform basic things?. I’ve never been a big fan of Apple. I just don’t find them to be user friendly.

  8. Klugey1

    05/14/2012 at 1:20 pm

    I’ve had the Moto DroidX, HTC Incredible, HTC Thunderbolt, and I got my wife the Galaxy Nexus (this is a beast of a phone-good beast). I have rooted all of them, and had all of them working with all the best possible battery life tweaks and best rooted only software possible.

    I also have been using a jailbroken Verizon white iPhone 4S for the past 9 months now, and I truly love this phone. Because it is jailbroken, I have the default browser set to Opera (but can also set it to Dolphin if I want). I really missed the turn-by-turn navigation until I loaded TOM-TOM app, and now have it set up for automatic default turn-by-turn nav. I just used it on Mothers Day to find our Brunch site, and it works great.

    The size is actually just right for me, because I tried using my wife’s Nexus, but it really is too big to wear in my front pants pocket while the iphone size is perfect.

    I have full access to the file directory and can even do it from wifi through my router with WinSCP (this is very cool).

    The ONLY 2 things that my wife’s Nexus has over my iPhone are the ability to use SWYPE (this is a killer keyboard entry app!) and of course her 4G capability. The reality of the 4G use, though, is that we really only notice a difference when we use our laptop on the road and connect to our phones’ wifi hotspots. The Nexus speed rules, but like I said this is only noticeable when using my laptop. The Verizon 3G on the iPhone 4S using Opera Mini as the default browser really rocks, and I actually thought it was just as fast as the 4G THunderbolt when doing direct browser comparisons.

    Another note, I’m using the Windows OS7:Revised theme on my iPhone, so my iPhone looks nothing like the IOS 5.1. If you have never played around with a Windows phone, I must say that the Windows GUI/User Interface is the best that I have seen so far. I have compared my iPhone’s OS7:revised theme to a real Nokia Windows Lumia phone, and they are almost exactly the same interface and it really rocks!

  9. danny

    05/22/2012 at 5:57 pm

    I too switched but to the Nokia 900 also. I love this darn thing. The apps are so much more beautiful for the same app compared to ios and you cut down steps to one or two. WiFi seems to be on auto pilot so it saves on data uses as it switches back and forth when it needs to. I love the big tiles and colors. Its a simple joy to use yet all the same info is there bigger,faster and it just saves so much time. Love this cyan too. Bought the matching headphones also…had too. Two cool is better than one.

  10. Xzvs

    06/25/2012 at 12:51 pm

    We shouldn’t even have to root or jailbreak our phones to get it to do simple things, I recently got the iPhone 4s at a really cheap price so I decided to give it a try, and I really hate it, this operating system is really neutered, Android any old version of Android does more than the latest version of iOS, and that’s out of the box, none of that jail broken crap. The video below said it best, and said what we were thinking.

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NMiY1kSTHZw

  11. OS X Story

    06/28/2012 at 7:11 pm

    Dam It’s true all of this reason is another question but still debatable… As far I know.. The Apple Ways is Use it or LEAVE it :|

  12. jared

    07/21/2012 at 5:56 pm

    My friend has an iphone and he hates it but he loves my android phone because I can do so much more with it and he also hates the internet speed when I have 4G LTE he has 3g and my screen quality is also the exact same as his and I have a bigger screen

  13. dvdisdept

    08/25/2012 at 11:26 am

    I hate having to enter my password when I want to download apps. My droid just allows it but my iPh askes for this required-complicated password that I can never remember. Having to enter a credit card # also makes me hate iPhones and love Droids that don’t require it.

    I also hate the tiny screen, the lack of widgets, that facetime is locked down to only work over WiFi, the battery life, the 512 Mb of RAM when Droids are 1Gb and 2Gb now, the 1 Mhz CPU when Droids are 1.5 dual and quad core, that connector, non-expandable storage, the Apple store 3/4 filled w/ employees, the fact that Apple doesn’t allow resellers to offer price advantages… I’m sick of writing, so that’s all for now.

    • Christian

      10/01/2012 at 2:27 pm

      Jailbreak. Install PasswordPilot (inputs password for you every time the apple store requires it), no remedy for the screen, install IntelliScreenX (Widgets), install 3G Unrestrictor (never see turn on wifi ever again including for store downloads), close apps you’re not using and don’t say you’re using all of them because we know you’re not. Apple Inc. is evil, we all know it. Sell on craigslist. I’m buying a desk from someone in n hour and it’s awesome because there’s no facilitator beyond the craigslist ad. There’s a solution for everything and we can find all the answers here: http://www.google.com. Good luck!

  14. nick Serry

    09/07/2012 at 6:06 am

    oh poor guy has to tap a mammoth four times. iPhone haters gonna hate.

  15. OSX

    09/16/2012 at 8:52 pm

    Android is a phone, iPhone is an “i”phone.. It’s 2 completely different things. i= intelligent. Unlike android software freezing up apple OS doesn’t. Cheap plastic android phones.

    • Doom II

      09/19/2012 at 9:38 am

      +1

  16. Brent

    09/21/2012 at 12:25 am

    Iphone people use their phone as a status in life. They are told what to do with them or else. Every year a new one comes out and the idrones line the streets to get them. Poor souls. I dislike my Bionic but it’s a lot better than any Iphone. Go on hate on me. Down with idrones.

  17. Christian

    10/01/2012 at 2:16 pm

    I agree entirely. Apple needs help with its software (its hardware is pretty great). Thats were jailbreaking comes in. I know you said not to say you did something wrong with your jailbreak… but you did. If you don’t read what exactly the cydia apps and tweaks do or how to use them, that will happen. Check out reviews and add more sources (repositories) that are known for having useful and dependable software. I find the UI of iOS boring and too easy to use. I’ve customized my phone (I have a 4s too) to use specific gestures to my liking as well as setting toggles in the notification center (Wifi, bluetooth, rotation, and a brightness slider. I know everybody is like “what if I spend hours jailbreaking it and then it doesn’t work?” Well, iOS 5.1.1 jailbreaks take less than 5 minutes and computer idiots could even figure it out… you plug the phone in and press “Jailbreak.” Your phone will be up and running shortly on a beautiful, customizable, untethered boot OS. As for your other issues, yes, Apple is evil. No fix for Apple Tax, I use chrome, email, agreed, that’s why I use my computer which I always have internet for through my wifi tether on t-mobile’s network which I now get a whopping 1.03 mB/s (megabytes, not megabits). I love my phone cuz I make it do everything I want it to. Good luck.

  18. Anonymous

    11/03/2012 at 8:55 am

    Don’t forget the number 1 reason to despise Apple the corporation: The battery you can’t replace when it wears out. Now, every company copycatted that design flaw. It might be fine for a Mars Rover, but it’s stupid for an Earth-bound consumer object. I’m (not) sorry, but 4 hours on a charge is utterly unacceptable.

    The lousy battery life is utterly unacceptable because I would not leave out an expensive phone in ANY workplace – even one in Alaska in which I was the only black guy to be found and only in the summer at that.

  19. Carly

    12/14/2012 at 8:13 am

    Iphone is crap. All the stupid girls in my school have them and I cant help but look down on anyone that has a white iphone 4s. Iphones are for dumb people who need dumbed down devices. Android all the way!

  20. Mike

    10/18/2013 at 3:51 pm

    The battery life on the Iphone is a waste. All my phone does is sit there for a few hours with 2-3 dots and I am down to 90%.

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