Study - iPhone users are delusional

[Kshitiz_Indian]

LMAO, had a good laugh here. :laugh

Study: iPhone Users Are Delusional - Tom's Guide

Here's a snippet of the questions asked, along with a typical answer:

1. The first iPhone was not a 3G phone: What do you need 3G for? You can easily use the iPhone without using a 3G network and anyway, 3G is not particularly widespread, so this is not a problem.

2. The phone cannot send MMS: There is no need to send MMSs, hardly anybody sends MMSs.

3. You cannot forward a SMS: This is a function that hardly anybody uses and was therefore not included in the first iPhones.

4. The phone has a poor camera: The built-in camera is perfectly adequate and the iPhone takes fantastic photos with its camera.

5. It is not a real Smartphone, it cannot multitask: The phone has all the necessary functions and the OS is technically superior compared to other Smartphone OSs currently on the mobile market.

6. The iPhone cannot multitask, resulting in a great number of applications being unusable: The absence of multitasking is a deliberate design decision resulting in a faster UI.

EDIT - Found a larger report summary...
http://www.strandreports.com/sw4031.asp

7. You can not change battery on the iPhone: How many customers run around with spare batteries? None or very few.

8. Apple decides which applications you can install on the phone: This is good, because Apple thereby ensures that you do not get inferior programs on your phone.

9. The app store is a closed universe: Apple knows what is best for end users, which is good for the many iPhone users.

10. The phone does not support Java, so games need to be developed especially for the iPhone: Java is slow and not properly integrated with mobile phones, games for the iPhone are much better because they are directly developed for the iPhone.

11. The app store contains numerous small trivial commercial programs: The app store’s large selection gives users the freedom of choice and the many small programs help make the end users daily lives more fun.

12. It is difficult to use the touchscreen for fast SMS messaging: The touchscreen makes the phone easier to use and you quickly get used to it.

13. The iPhone is a low technology phone packaged in a sleek design: Apple has taken the combination of the design and UI to the next level, therefore the technological specifications don't really matter.

14. The quality of the phone is poor, calls are often interrupted and network coverage is poor: It is a good phone, these problems are due to the operators’ networks and not the phone.

15. You can only purchase the iPhone from operators chosen by Apple: Apple has spent a great deal of time and energy selecting the best operators for customers.

16. The iPhone is targeted at a niche segment and will not be able to develop further: Apple has succeeded in designing a phone for people that appreciate design and user friendliness.

17. The iPhone does not support memory cards: Iphones already offer the necessary memory people require and end users can choose between two models, one with a little memory and one with a great deal of memory.

18. You can not install your own browser: The browser Apple has designed is so superior that you do not need any other browser on your phone.

19. You cannot use the iPhone as a modem for your portable PC: People that have an iPhone do not need their portable when on the move.

20. There is no radio in the phone: You do not need a radio in your iPhone because the iPhone supports iTunes that offers almost unlimited music.

Make no mistake, I do admit the iPhone is a very good device, but in no way is it the holy mother of all other phones, like many iPhone users pretend it is.

 

[Ollie_H]

I love my phone thank you very much. :

 

[barmyarmy]

Also I've used mine as a modem for my PC and to get digital radio...

 

[pcfan123]

I like the iphone, I just hate people who own it. Its some tweaking exclusive club, any douchebag with 300 bucks can have one

 

[sohum]

Aren't most Apple users delusional?

I bought an iPhone on Black Friday. Got a refurbished 3G-S for $50+tax+fees from AT&T with a 2-year contract. Only the second Apple product I have purchased. I had the iPod Touch for about a year and a half, though, so I knew what I was getting myself into. There are a few missing pieces but it was definitely an upgrade from my BB Curve 8310. It's a stop-gap measure for me until a solid Android phone comes out--maybe the Google Nexus One will be it.

 

[SaiSrini]

I have the iTouch for more than 6 months now. Its not the best out there. But its a certain style statement. It feels good to use the iTouch/iPhone as the interface is very smooth and the touchscreen is incredibly sensitive that even a very light touch works. The app store I guess is the best out of its competing versions. But Apple needs to add certain features to make the iPhone/iTouch the best in the market. I am not going to use it as a Phone though. Just as a toy (the iTouch works fine for me). I am waiting for the 3rd GEN iTouch thats going to come with camera, video recording, and all that.

 

[m_vaughan]

Some of those answers are so typical. It's not a smartphone, so I will never consider buying one.

 

[Kev]

Also I've used mine as a modem for my PC and to get digital radio...

Of course, you can do that on any ?20 phone though.

 

[Cricketman]

Thing with the iPhone is that is has amazing features but originally lacked in the most basic and obvious things. Those things were largely because of the iPhone's provider AT&T. Mostly have been fixed.

The hardware issues though I see no real problem, the original battery is good enough and keeps the device slim.

Like the iPhone/Apple or not, the device has set the trend in the smartphone industry. Since it's inclusion more and more phones are coming out with touchscreens, better mobile internet which can now load real websites like on a computer (remember crappy mobile internet?), more features in the device..etc. Good for us consumers anyways .

Me? I like Android. I was an early adopter and have the G1 but my friend has the droid and it is AMAZING. Better than the iphone for me, but the apps truly suck.

 

[SaiSrini]

I dont like the HTC models (HTC Pure and Eris or something..) that comes with AT&T (which is my provider). And I cant change providers right now since my parents and sis have phones that are under contract and I am not yet earning to get a seperate contract for myself.

 

[Kshitiz_Indian]

Thing with the iPhone is that is has amazing features but originally lacked in the most basic and obvious things. Those things were largely because of the iPhone's provider AT&T. Mostly have been fixed.

The hardware issues though I see no real problem, the original battery is good enough and keeps the device slim.

Like the iPhone/Apple or not, the device has set the trend in the smartphone industry. Since it's inclusion more and more phones are coming out with touchscreens, better mobile internet which can now load real websites like on a computer (remember crappy mobile internet?), more features in the device..etc. Good for us consumers anyways .

Me? I like Android. I was an early adopter and have the G1 but my friend has the droid and it is AMAZING. Better than the iphone for me, but the apps truly suck.

The iPhone still doesn't have flash though. That is a BIG drawback, and one of the many reasons for Apple's long battery life. Have a look at Motorola Droid, it has flash and yet a very good battery life.

 

[sohum]

The iPhone still doesn't have flash though. That is a BIG drawback, and one of the many reasons for Apple's long battery life. Have a look at Motorola Droid, it has flash and yet a very good battery life.

The Android is the only platform to have Flash. RIM, WinMo, Palm, Apple... no one else has Flash. The Flash experience on a phone isn't going to be spectacular, either. Finally, when I look at the pages I visit daily on my desktop, laptop and phone, Flash pages don't feature prominently on most of them. The only one I could think of the top of my head is Failblog. As a web-user, I hate pages that are programmed exclusively in Flash. I can understand the use of a flash animation to display movies/other multimedia, though.

From the hardware perspective, the iPhone is decent. Of course, they're getting away with running one application process at a time, so they don't have to load the phone with a powerful processor. The Google Nexus One, for example, is expected to have a processor in the 1GHz range. The iPhone 3G-S currently runs at 600 MHz, so that is nearly a double in processing power, which that phone needs since it can support multiple apps running at the same time.

From a software perspective, Apple still has a lot of features missing. Luckily they push software updates somewhat regularly--hopefully this won't stop. For example, there is no notion of "profiles", something which is common in every cell phone on the planet. The iPhone only has two modes--Silent and Not-Silent. The +-side of this is that there is a hardware switch that allows you to toggle between the two, but I'd prefer more granularity.

Another issue I've found is that it's not possible to natively attach multiple pictures in an email! I was wondering if I was just unfamiliar with the GUI, but this seems to be a design decision. Thankfully, there is a workaround, where you open the photo in the Photos app, copy it and paste it in your saved email. Dumb.

 

[Kshitiz_Indian]

The Android is the only platform to have Flash. RIM, WinMo, Palm, Apple... no one else has Flash. The Flash experience on a phone isn't going to be spectacular, either. Finally, when I look at the pages I visit daily on my desktop, laptop and phone, Flash pages don't feature prominently on most of them. The only one I could think of the top of my head is Failblog. As a web-user, I hate pages that are programmed exclusively in Flash. I can understand the use of a flash animation to display movies/other multimedia, though.

The bolded part is the most important one. I agree with your annoyance with all flash pages. Flash is an important part of a web experience, and I have to say it even though I'm not the biggest supporters of flash, or its resource hungriness! But with the rise of sites like Youtube and Hulu, combined with mobile internet getting better and better, either Flash has to take off on phones or some kind of native video playing has to be done, maybe HTML5.

From the hardware perspective, the iPhone is decent. Of course, they're getting away with running one application process at a time, so they don't have to load the phone with a powerful processor. The Google Nexus One, for example, is expected to have a processor in the 1GHz range. The iPhone 3G-S currently runs at 600 MHz, so that is nearly a double in processing power, which that phone needs since it can support multiple apps running at the same time.

I don't think you can compare the Ghz ranges with processing power ranges, unless they're from the same vendor. I think iPhone uses ARM, whereas Nexus One is supposed to use one from some new company, ranging from 1Ghz to 1.7Ghz or something.

For example, there is no notion of "profiles", something which is common in every cell phone on the planet. The iPhone only has two modes--Silent and Not-Silent.

They'll probably say "There's an app for that."!

Another issue I've found is that it's not possible to natively attach multiple pictures in an email! I was wondering if I was just unfamiliar with the GUI, but this seems to be a design decision. Thankfully, there is a workaround, where you open the photo in the Photos app, copy it and paste it in your saved email. Dumb.

But Apple must have definitely done that because they know whats best for customers!

On a more serious note, the iPhone is a very good piece of technology, its just Apple's policies, manipulation and stuff that irritates me and reduces my respect for iPhone as a very good cellphone.

 

[sohum]

But with the rise of sites like Youtube and Hulu, combined with mobile internet getting better and better, either Flash has to take off on phones or some kind of native video playing has to be done, maybe HTML5.

YouTube already has an App (haha). The bigger sites will create apps if they want to tap into the iPhone audience. It's the smaller sites that fall by the wayside.

They'll probably say "There's an app for that."!

Unfortunately the API doesn't seem to expose that sort of functionality. That said, Apple has to be commended for revolutionizing the API scene for cellphones. If you compare it to the previous generation, RIM, WinMo and Palm apps didn't have that much access to the API of the phone. That's why the app model never took off. Apple opened up a lot with the iPhone but unfortunately they're still "babying" their users by controlling what can go on the App Store.

In the end, Google will win the app store battle, imo. This is because they are open-source. Whereas iPhone developers will have to wait for Apple to agree to expose certain API, Android developers can expose the API themselves. Of course, getting it on the target phone will take a little more effort. The Apple store is a lot more mature because the store was launched with a sexy device. The Android store is only a few months younger than the Apple Store, but the droolworthy devices have only launched over the last few months. In a couple of years, I see the Android App Platform being a lot more featured... even though some people have predicted that the iTunes App Store will hit 300,000 at the end of 2010 and Android will only be at 50,000.

 

[SaiSrini]

YouTube already has an App (haha). The bigger sites will create apps if they want to tap into the iPhone audience. It's the smaller sites that fall by the wayside.

Yeah, but Youtube's app doesnt cover 100% of the videos that are available on Youtube if you access it from a computer. Lot of videos give the message "This video is not supported by the iPod". And even in the search results, you dont get the full range of search results that you get if you search on Youtube from a computer. I wish the iPhone/iTouch had flash so that I could access Youtube from the Safari browser.