iPhone: An Unfinished Symphony

There's no doubt Apple has created a masterpiece of technology with the iPhone. Its four movements, the video iPod, Web browser, phone, and email device are terrific. But based on a week of use by thousands of owners, myself included, and intensive testing by some of the respected technology analysts and reporters, it's clear that the iPhone is an unfinished symphony. Here are eight examples:

1. The iPhone is subject to repeated crashes. When an iPhone crashes the application closes, the screen goes black, and then returns to the home screen. It happens using Safari, Google maps, and when using the iPod.

2. The Bluetooth only works with headsets and cannot be used to transfer photos or files to your computer. Verizon was roundly criticized for doing the same and Apple/AT&T should not get a free pass.

3. There's no cut and paste capability. That means there's no way to take text from an email and paste it into the calendar or elsewhere.

4. There's no To Do list, one of the basic applications of PDAs. Even the Newton had that!

5. There's no way to use third-party applications. That's a huge limitation and is really a must for long term success..

6. The typing auto-correction is hit or miss as if the built-in dictionary is incomplete. Some proper nouns are capitalized, some are not. Some words are auto-completed while others are not.

7. There's no way to delete more than one email at a time, even those emails in the trash file.

8. There's no way to edit email attachments or to add attachments to emails.

Don't get me wrong. The iPhone is a breakthrough product that's a quantum leap over its competition. Maybe it was just introduced a few months before it was ready. Fortunately, improvements and fixes will come with time, and make what is already excellent even better. It's just that perfection will have to wait a little longer.