What’s Still Missing

There are still a few things that are missing. While some of them are considered big holes, others are subtle interface tweaks that seem so simple I just don’t get why Apple, who is known for its user interface elegance and design, hasn’t followed through.  The big holes, which are widely publicized, are MMS (texting with images) and tethering (using the iPhone as an internet connection for your laptop, number nine in my list).  According to Apple, both are AT&T restrictions.  MMS is supposed to start working on September 25^th, according to AT&T, but tethering is still a mystery.  AT&T has stated publicly on many occasions that it’s coming, but still hasn’t committed to a specific date.  MMS doesn’t mean much to me for business use, but tethering is a big deal.  Since we made the switch to iPhones for our staff over the last month, we had to be aware that we were losing a feature we relied on with our Blackberries for over two years.  It hasn’t been a show stopper, but we certainly miss it.

On the side of subtle interface issues that are more of an annoyance than anything else (numbers seven and eight in my list), I have to say I just don’t understand two of the limitations of Mail on the iPhone.  If you only have one email account on your iPhone, you won’t care.  However, if, like us, you have more than one (say work and personal), you might.  Personally I have four accounts (three for work and one personal) and yet I still have to stick with one email signature.  Is this a big deal?  No.  Am I whining about something silly?  Maybe.  But with all of the power and functionality in the iPhone, why this limitation?  It just seems so arbitrary and other Smart Phones don’t have this limitation.  Navigating multiple accounts is also a pain and hasn’t changed since my testing last year.  If you want to go from the inbox of one account to another, it’s four steps.  Why can’t Mail on an iPhone work like its big brother does on a Mac?  You can choose to look at only one Inbox at a time or you can choose to look at a merged or combined inbox of all accounts simultaneously. Again, not a show stopper, but something I had on a BlackBerry and lost. Since I need to do this a dozen times a day, it’s annoying.

Pros Outweigh the Cons, Finally

Even with the few things that are still missing, I have to say I am happy with the iPhone 3GS and feel like it’s finally a valid BlackBerry competitor for heavy business use.  I need to point out that it’s the combination of the 3GS hardware and 3.1 software that make the useable combination because the Voice Dialing feature requires a 3GS.  The long awaited search functions and the horizontal keyboard in Mail (added for all iPhones with the 3.0 software) have dramatically increased the usability factor and I no longer feel like I am fighting a device which is supposed to make my life easier.

It’s important to note that there are some additional, under-the-hood changes intended to increase adoption in larger companies, such as data encryption, VPNs, remote wiping of data on lost devices, etc. I didn’t touch on them here because they didn’t factor into our decision, nor will they for many of our clients.  That being said, Apple is definitely working toward removing what many companies feel are impediments to company-wide adoption of iPhones in larger environments.

As I stated last year, choosing a PDA or Smart Phone really boils down to what you need to do with the device.  As busy as we are, I get very frustrated when technology slows me down, making me less productive.  The iPhone 3G with iPhone 2.0 software did just that.  Now it seems the 3^rd time really is the charm and we are no longer the Mac consultants on Blackberries.