Macopinion

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Criticizing Criticisms, Part 2 of 5

by Marc Zeedar macopinion@designwrite.com

AT&T sucks.
I can't argue with this one. My past experiences with the company have not been good, though I must confess my recent dealings have been remarkably positive. Perhaps the company has changed. I don't know. But honestly, I don't think AT&T is much different from any other wireless company. They are all greedy, behemoth corporations with massive bureaucracy who treat customers as necessary evils, not what keeps them in business. Everyone I know complains about their wireless company, but for most switching is pointless because the others are just as bad.

It's also vital to remember that the United States is a huge country and service -- including customer service -- varies considerably depending on where you live. I happen to live in an area with good AT&T coverage, which probably translates into lots of AT&T service centers (there's one just fifteen minutes from me), which means better customer service.

I get annoyed when I read a review that rips the iPhone because AT&T coverage in the reporter's area sucks. No doubt AT&T's working on expanding their coverage, but the reality is that as large as the company is, it's not the end-all, and no single company can cover everywhere. I would advise any potential iPhone buyer to check AT&T's coverage in their area prior to making an iPhone switch. But don't blame iPhone for AT&T's limitations.

Edge is slow.
Everyone's been harping on the fact that the iPhone uses AT&T's slower Edge network instead of a fast 3G network. This is nonsense.

First, remember that Edge has a much wider coverage -- 3G is only available in a few places in the United States right now. What good does 3G hardware do you if the network doesn't exist where you want to use it?

Slow is relative. For me, with no cellular Internet at all prior to iPhone, Edge is surprisingly decent. It downloads email and Google maps works fine. Safari's a little pokey, but I just avoid photo-heavy sites and use "mobile" versions of websites if they are available.

Remember, you don't use an iPhone the same way you'd use an Internet capable laptop: you won't be downloading huge files or even web surfing the same way. Most iPhone Internet access is quick web look-ups or emailing, for which Edge is more than capable.

For me, just the ability to use the Internet anywhere is mind-boggling. Already I've used Google Maps for traffic information, checked movie showtimes while I was near a theatre and had some free time, found restaurants, and more. As a diabetic, having access to CalorieKing.com in my hand is empowering -- now I can research calories and carbohydrates online when I'm at the restaurant and trying to decide what's healthy to order!

Besides, iPhone supports WiFi, which is gobs faster than any 3G network. I use my iPhone all the time on my home WiFi network -- it's great for reading news websites while watching TV. And I've been surprised at the number of places that have free WiFi. Many don't even advertise it, but it's there if you look.

If nothing else, I can use Edge to find the nearest free WiFi location!

Granted, those who are accustomed to living on their Internet smartphones may not like Edge, but the honest truth is that for the vast majority of people out there, Edge is sufficient and will enhance their lives. Edge is not ideal, but it's far better than nothing.

I don't like the tone of many reviews that seem to think Edge cripples the iPhone and makes it useless. It does not. In the future when iPhone is available with 3G support and 3G networks are widespread, Edge will seem primitive. But for now, iPhone with Edge is still a step forward.

The iPhone virtual keyboard is awkward and severely limits the iPhone audience.
Really? I don't find it so. But then I'm used to trying to type letters in with a numeric keypad and the iPhone's beautiful keyboard is heaven in comparison. I suppose if you're used to a hard keyboard like those on smartphones the iPhone soft keyboard takes getting used to, but it's really easy to use. A few minutes of practice and most are getting along fine.

The iPhone's soft keyboard is not necessarily the fastest way to enter text, but is speed the primary concern of most people? I don't think it is. For power users, yes, for heavy texters and teens, maybe. But for regular people? No. Regular people just want simple and easy, and the iPhone succeeds in that category. Most regular people won't do more than enter a few bits of text at a time: type a sentence in an email, type a URL or a search term in Google, etc. Regular people are not going to try to write novels on this thing, believe me.

Yet the interesting thing is that once you get used to the iPhone keyboard, I bet you could write a novel on it. It learns your habits and gets better, so the more you type the better it is at guessing what you meant and fixing your mistakes.

Besides, the whole point of the iPhone is that all the buttons are created via software: the keyboard will just get better! While I can see that the keyboard may make a few people hesitate, the vast majority of people won't think of it as a problem. It's really a non-issue.

The full Internet? There's no Flash! There's no Java! It's useless!
Okay, even smartphone experts have agreed that the web browsing experience on the iPhone is second to none. Yes, it currently does not support Flash (or Java), but is that really such a big deal?

The biggest use of Flash on the Internet is video, primarily YouTube. But YouTube videos do work on the iPhone, if they are in the right format (and Google is converting all their videos to the superior H.264 codec).

As for other uses of Flash, I'm not convinced it's such a big deal. Most Flash stuff is just eye-candy and it shouldn't be a requirement. Even for desktop computers I'm extremely critical of websites that only offer Flash versions. For sites that offer non-Flash versions, the iPhone will work fine for those. And sites that don't -- well it's their loss. They're the ones giving up the hits. I can't imagine there are that many critical sites (i.e. non-entertainment) that depend on Flash. At any rate, this is something that may be fixed with a software update if enough people demand it, so it's a non-issue for me.

As for Java, well, Java apps usually suck. They don't really act like native apps and they aren't very fast. While it might be nice to have a programming environment on the iPhone, I'm not convinced Java is the answer.

macopinion@designwrite.com