Gay Sci-Fi Nerds (GSFN) Podcast Show

ZDNet has an interesting (for those who own one) article on the iPhone stating the ten things they’d change. Seeing as I have gone out and bought myself an iPhone 3G, here are the ten things, with my thoughts.

1. No keyboard…
   ZDNet’s idea of connecting a Bluetooth keyboard is quite a good one, But I honestly can’t think why I would be typing so much on the iPhone. I’m using it as convergence of information gathering and devices, but also in a quick to access and use sort of way. Would I type an entire blog post on it, I’m not sure though I guess it’s early days for me.
   
2. The camera needs more megapixels…
   The only thing I can say I find lacking in the iPhone is the camera. I used the camera on my previous phones, both Sony Ericsson’s quite a lot. However I am thinking more and more that I should be using a dedicated camera for better shots. Still wouldn’t say no to a 3 to 5 mega pixel camera and a flash.
3. Still no cut and paste…
   Again I’m not sure about this one. I’ve used cut and paste a little on my K800i purely because I couldn’t trust it to post Twitter entries without losing them on occasion. I know it’ll be a useful feature, but I’m uncertain how Apple will implement this on the touch screen.
4. You can’t use the 3G iPhone as a modem…
   This is annoying. What’s the point of having a lovely 3G phone and not being able to hook it up to your laptop to use as a modem? I’m not interested in jail breaking my phone just to run a hack to get it to work. It’s one of those things that should just work, something Apple is usually famous for.
5. SMS/MMS…
   Having only SMS text messaged the once so far (iPhone was finally activated today), I can agree that the interface is clunky looking. Looks weird having a single line input which grows in height as you type but I’m sure I’ll get used to it. As for MMS, never really used it that much, probably 20 or 30 times since MMS was first available to me. I don’t get much either, so it’s not something I’m going to miss.
6. Where’s the video record?…
   Again, video is something I’ve used that much and I’d rather invest in a digital camera that can take good stills and video.
   
7. Non-removable battery…
   I thought this used to be an issue at first with the original iPods which is why I bought an iRiver H10. Now of course I’ve had that for so long, I don’t think I can buy a replacement battery. I’ve also never carried or bought spare batteries for my phones and they’ve lasted quite well. Ask me again in a year’s time what I think.
   
8. No pay-as-you-go iPhone–yet…
   I was thinking of going down this route when I first heard that O2 was going to have a PAYG iPhone. Thing is, what if I want to upgrade to a new iPhone when it will inevitably come out in a year’s time? At least if I’m happy to continue my contract I’ll be eligible for an upgrade, which may solve any battery issues (see above). Apparently O2 were pricing up the 16GB PAYG iPhone at £359 with 6 months Wi-Fi (after that Wi-Fi charged at £10 per month). Perhaps in a years time I can upgrade to a new model and put a PAYG sim in my current iPhone…
   
9. No built-in VoIP client…
   I don’t use VoIP on my MacBook Pro or PC, why would I do it on my iPhone? Having said that, with O2 set to launch a PAYG version in the UK later this year, it would be a very useful way to keep phone bills down.
   
10. Give us more colors–and more storage…
    I considered getting the 16GB white iPhone 3G for all of two minutes. Thing  is, the black plastic back works because it matches the front of the iPhone. I always prefer it when the curtains match the carpets. Any shade/colour other than black on the front of the phone would make it look ugly, much like the white and coloured PSP’s.

These are of course only my views on the 10 things ZDNet would change on the iPhone. To see their opinions, click here.

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