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The iPhone Update Just Wasn’t Enough For Me. How About You?

Posted January 16, 2008 7:00 AM by Gregory Ng
Categories: Opinions 

After I had half a day to digest today’s keynote address. After I pulled my jaw off the floor and pre-ordered myself a MacBook Air (really excited), I had a chance to finally digest the iPhone announcements today.

I had hoped that finally there would be an iPhone update worth unjailbreaking my phone for. Surely, the major update that would rock the iPhone world would come at the biggest stage of the year: the keynote address at Macworld.

But after reviewing all of the cool new features in this update, I have decided, it isn’t good enough. I know what you are thinking: “This whiny guy is a spoiled little baby…blah blah blah”.

Well, it’s tough to settle for something like the “January ‘08 Update” when a jailbroken phone can get you most everything you could want. It’s tough to believe that things can’t be done when third-party developers not only did it but gave it to us for free.

I was hoping for 3 things: an iChat client, SMS Picture Mail support, and enhanced camera features. We got none of those with this update. I, on the other hand have been enjoying 2 out of the 3 on my iPhone for the last 3 months.

I am able to instant message with Apollo IM and I can use a digital zoom on my camera with Camera Pro. I still have to resort to viewing picture mail online but 2 out of 3 ain’t bad.

So how about you other owners of jailbroken phones? Was this update enough for you to give up your third-party apps?

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Comments

  1. was enough for me im a very happy (legit) iphone user, all thats missing is the sdk (feb) and copy and paste maybe if it implimented well.

    Posted by bob on January 16, 2008 7:14 AM

  2. erm, is this an american site? i thought at&t didnt support mms in america anyway? anyway as a uk user ive always hated over priced mms and have very rareley used it.

    Posted by bob2 on January 16, 2008 7:16 AM

  3. While I did like the new maps features and the ability to send text messages to multiple recipients I was underwhelmed.

    Where is my Chat client?  My To Do List?  My Notes that sync back to the computer?  Flash & Silverlight support in the browser?  Cut & Paste?

    Especially the To do & Notes - my goodness!  My original Palm Pilot like 8 years ago did that!

    Posted by Bob on January 16, 2008 7:36 AM

  4. Two things disappointed me - firstly, that Apple hasn’t given us a chat client, and secondly, that the operators, eg O2 in the UK, have apparently continued to tolerate Apple failing to provide them with a handset capable of generating lucrative MMS (picture message) revenues.

    Posted by Seamaster on January 16, 2008 7:47 AM

  5. Still missing… SSH, cut and paste and a robust chat client.

    Posted by Topo on January 16, 2008 8:39 AM

  6. To me, it is kind of embarrasing that Apple is advertising these “new” map features when they are inferior to GPS which has been out for years. 

    It would be like Sony doing commercials on upgraded rear projection televisions when plasmas have been out for years.

    I was very disappointed with the Iphone update.

    Also one question for you experts. I keep hearing that we are waiting for a 3g version due to the fact that that 3g drains the battery too fast.  If this is the case, then how does Voyager and all of the other 3g phones work.  It seems to me that this has already been figured out.

    Posted by fbomb on January 16, 2008 9:19 AM

  7. In the absence of GPS, Maps is to the iPhone what the one-button mouse was to the Mac - something patently inferior, hilariously touted as being at least as good as something obviously far better.

    Posted by Seamaster on January 16, 2008 9:31 AM

  8. even as someone who hasnt hacked my iphone- i dont think this update was enough. i keep waiting - i really wish EDGE were faster somehow - and that i could mms people attempt to send me pictures so often - and im so sick of seeing that message about checking them online.

    i dont know. i was really excited at first - but now not so much.

    Posted by sam on January 16, 2008 10:10 AM

  9. ugh!... still no cut and paste!... I did the update (or should say I’m doing it NOW) but that was the number one thing that would have made my day

    Posted by angryf on January 16, 2008 11:01 AM

  10. There will not be iChat on iPhone. Stop dreaming.

    Anyway, you’ve got nothing to complain about. In order to get home screen rearranging; web clips and lyrics, we iPod touch users have to pay £12.99 or $20. They come as a bundle with apps we may not even want which either should have been there for day one or optional for everyone. New buyers get this stuff free.

    Not cool.

    Posted by Paul Douglas on January 16, 2008 11:09 AM

  11. Ho ! I so need a search feature .  I’ve had that for years with my old Treos . Also multi-calender support with colors . So now its wait till Late February . Maybe I should git a life !

    Posted by byronchurch on January 16, 2008 11:12 AM

  12. I haven’t jailbroken my iPhone and I am happy with the upgrade. None of the things you want would mean that much to me.  I love the new feature of adding a web site icon to the main page. That saves me a lot of steps when browsing.(Maybe there are jailbroken apps that have done this for months - good for them)

    As far as the fake-GPS goes, it is good enough.  I’ve never been that worried about being able to at least get an adress of my current position and locate myself that way, so the old Maps was good enough for my use, but this feature does save me that step.

    I am disappointed about the lack of cut and paste however.

    Posted by Dawn on January 16, 2008 11:14 AM

  13. I really am blowing away by peoples comments about “the coolest” thing (referring to the IPhone). Most must be the typical Mac user and for sure must have had “bag” phones before. I can list 10 things that are missing from the IPhone and should have been “givens”. As far as the new update goes, I am very happy for SMS allowing more then one recipient(duh). Thats like one of the “given” option that should have been there. The google “triangulate” is a plus but GPS would be better and allow another catch-up for the IPhone. “Move” icons around…well, its my experience as a Tech that most get confused if u do that. Go figure.

    Posted by randym on January 16, 2008 11:19 AM

  14. I’ll be keeping my iPhone jailbroken until some nice apps start coming out with the SDK. The only feature that I liked from the update is the fake GPS, besides that I still want Copy & Paste, MMS, Video Camera, etc.

    iTunes VIdeo rental is nice and all, but I’d rather go and rent a movie and rip it to my iPhone and keep it for as long as I want. I’m still trying to figure out why Apple’s iPhone Software engineers haven’t bothered with the updates that everyone seems to be asking for. It seems like a no brainer to me, but then again I’m not a developer…or Steve Jobs. Either way, they still gave us a nice piece of hardware.

    Posted by bmai on January 16, 2008 12:15 PM

  15. Bmai, I’m convinced its not the developers at all. This is purely a marketing and sales decision.

    Posted by Gregory Ng on January 16, 2008 12:37 PM

  16. I love apple and will always have an iphone but that being said, Apple annoys me with some of their business ideas. 
    Take Voyager-put every available tool on the phone, next year model put newest tech on new model.

    Iphone-leave off everyday items and add them later hoping people will buy the new model for the old product.

    It would be like a car company coming out with a new car and leaving out the cruise control and power steering on purpose so they could add it to the next model in hopes to boost sales.

    Posted by tbone on January 16, 2008 12:49 PM

  17. still no a2dp support

    Posted by Daniel on January 16, 2008 4:41 PM

  18. I have been patiently waiting for 3 things that would make my iPhone much more useful:
    1. Copy/paste
    2. Ability to sort contacts via the Company name
    3. Search functionality. Imagine being able to search for a contact or a calendar event….as you can do on a Blackberry?
    Please…these seem like such basic requests!

    Posted by Rick on January 16, 2008 4:48 PM

  19. Wow, what a bunch of whinners, it was just a few days ago everyone was hoping that the gear preview of 1.1.3 was real, and that the features looked pretty cool, you knew there was no cut and paste in 1.1.3, why bring it up again and again.
    You thinks jobs dosent care about these features you mention? Of course he does, and im sure there woking on it. This is apples very first cell phone, not the second or third or fouth model, and i for one am grateful that a company like apple would even offer updates at all, there not obligated to add a single feature to this phone, they could have waited for iphone 2, so give em some credit, and lets be thankful for the things that do come our way.
    When we are grateful, the universe has a way of adding more honey to the pot.
    Turn your mind away from things which are not permanent. - Buddha

    Posted by Stephen on January 16, 2008 6:02 PM

  20. The word on the floor at Macworld is that people still can’t believe that Cut and Paste hasn’t been figured out by Apple.

    Posted by Hadley Stern on January 16, 2008 6:06 PM

  21. When Apple truely opens the iPhone to third party apps (not just those offered by Apples captive Feb. SDK users,) I will remain happy and free. In other words, when AppTap type programmers are welcome to do what they do best and charge what they want to charge, without giving Apple a cut, much like programmers for any other OS, my iPhone will remain jail broken. Sadly I do not think this will happen until there is true competition to the iPhone, perhaps Android will be that motivator.
    Or maybe I’ll be happy in a cage with copy/paste. You never know.

    Posted by Lonnie on January 16, 2008 9:19 PM

  22. Oh year, another biggy, bluetooth stereo headphones. I do need that.

    Posted by Lonnie on January 16, 2008 9:29 PM

  23. Cut and paste would be nice if I had a cool bluetooth keyboard. And get rid of Comic Sans in Notes and allow us to sync them to our Macs.

    Posted by Jeff on January 17, 2008 8:19 AM

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