Rotten apple

Ok, I know that lots of people know me to be a huge advocate for apple and the mac, but I'm gonna go ahead and say this. The iPhone sucks. Big time. Apple has made a rotten piece of shit. What the hell were they thinking?

Now before the millions of you out there who are loving your iPhones start spitting and hissing at me, I have to say that I love my iPhone too. But I am just so sorely disappointed and frustrated at it! Its a love/hate relationship and apple should really get a big knock on their heads for screwing this one up. Apple has always come up with great, user-friendly and well thought out products so I wonder why they couldn't do the same with the iPhone.

Let me just state for the record that the iPhone is a fantastic piece of hardware and technology. The gorgeous 3.5 inch screen, the amazing multi-touch interface, fantastic crisp sound and the list goes on. Its no wonder its so desirable and has become a huge money making machine for Apple. But why oh why have they screwed up on some basic fundamental features? Simple things that you'd expect to do on your mobile phone has become a chore on the iPhone. Some are even impossible! Let me list out my main gripes.

1) Ringtones. What is up with the ringtones? Why do I have to use the crappy ringtones that come with the iPhone? They suck. I want to use my own ringtones or mp3s! What's the point of having those amazing little speakers on the phone that blast out clear crisp sounds when we are limited to the crap that's loaded in the iphone? Ok, fine, I know we can purchase custom ringtones from iTunes. Why would I want to spend money on ringtones?? Ok, I know I can make my own ringtones from my collection of mp3s, but its a troublesome and tedious process and I AM LIMITED TO 30 seconds for my ringtone?!? So say I have this fantastic tune from coldplay that I want to use as my ringtone. Previously, all I had to do in my sony ericsson was load the mp3 in the phone and then select it as a ring tone. I could listen to the entire song play out as I make the caller wait for me to pick up. Now with the iPhone, I have to choose which 30sec portion of the song is my favorite, convert that 30 second portion into a ringtone and then load it into the iPhone. 30 seconds!! Crap.

2) Alarm. Ok, the alarm gripe is pretty much the same as the ringtone problem. Coz the sounds for the alarm come from the same list as the ringtones. Again, I WANT TO USE MY OWN SOUND FOR MY ALARM!

3) Bluetooth. This technology known as bluetooth is really a marvel. Wireless data transmission. Fantastic. With my sony ericsson, I could use it to zap data (pictures, sounds, contacts etc..) to other phones or to my computer. I could also use it as a remote control if I wanted. And of course it works great for my bluetooth earpiece when I'm driving. With the iPhone, all its bluetooth can do is connect with a bluetooth headset. Nothing else. What the hell? Did apple just put in this amazing cutting edge technology, only to dumb it down to one function?? How stupid is that?

4) Battery life. What good would a smartphone be if it were dead all the time? The battery can barely last a day! How efficient and productive will you be when all you're doing all day is trying to find a power outlet or USB port to charge your iPhone? Scrolling through my contact list....*blip* it dies. Sending an email.....*blip* it dies. Surfing the internet to see where I can buy a new phone that works....*blip* it dies. You get the idea.

5) Data connections. Wow! The iPhone comes with 3G, EDGE and GPRS to ensure that you're always connected for data! Well, what if I DON'T WANT to be connected? What if I don't like paying for unknown usage of data?? when I click on "turn off 3G" it automatically jumps to EDGE or GPRS. Why aren't there options to turn off EDGE and GPRS as well? This sneaky iPhone is always sending and receiving data somehow. Its like some kind of secret spy sending out info about where I am and what I'm doing. I want to be able to shut down the data connections! Again, there are ways. But why can't apple just make it simple?

Now I ask myself, why. Why did I decide to swap away my slim and simple sony ericsson that just works, for this bulky heavy brick that infuriates me? WHY?