…it doesnt have MMS

The most annoying thing is that, although it can take, even edit  (thanks to certain apps) photos, it lacks the ability to send them to my mates via MMS. Fair enough, I could still take a snap and Email to a friend, or maybe even upload to my Facebook for everyone to see, but there have been many times where I have needed this function.

Fortunately I am not alone on this, the guys over at http://iphonemms.net/ have developed a Web App for the iPhone which will allow you to send MMS, but unfortunately it isn’t free. They also have an actually Application in the works which will no doubt soon be appearing on the iTunes App Store. I have a few friends who have used this service to date and they have confirmed it does work.

…I still cannot get new ringtones because I’m from the U.K!

I am someone who likes a different ringtone each week, my song tastes are changing so frequently that my iPhone needs to keep up. If you have ever tried to create a Ringtone in iTunes, you may have experienced the following error message…

According to Apple, this is not because of a Network Connection, but in fact due to the fact I live in the UK and ringtones aren’t availble for me. Six months after first noticing this error, I am still no further on! If it hadn’t been for a great bit of software called iToner, my iPhone would still be blurting out that same noise that would of eventually led me to insanity.

…the Battery life ain’t pretty!

Now a decent Battery life is essential to any decent gadget! I will admit, since upgrading to the 3G version, the battery life seemed better, but not great! I am finding myself nervously worried about using any of the newer features like the built in GPS, purely because it sucks the life out of the thing! this leads me onto my four and final moan of the day…

…the Google Maps doesn’t auto move to the next direction!

This isn’t major as I don’t really use the Maps app unless in emergency travel situations, but it frustrates me because Google should have thought its users would need this feature. For example, If you are driving and you have your iPhone nicely cradled on your cars dashboard showing you where your heading, the last thing you would want to do it have to click the -> arrow everytime you want to see the next turn, because this is dangerous! The location based service should automatically move to the next set of instructions allowing you to concetrate on the driving side of things.

…now I’m tired and off to bed

Well I am tired now so I’m gonna end here, for today anyway! Okay Okay, this may seem like a negative post, and for any people reading who have been umming and arring about whether or not to get an iPhone, please don’t let this put you off! This truely is the best phone! and the pro’s outway the negs by sooooo many! But these are a few things that I feel let the side down on Apple’s end. So come on Jobs get it sorted!

Finally, I came across an interesting site whilst writing this post, which is http://pleasefixtheiphone.com, which shows me that I am not the only one. The site, based around its users submissions, focuses on how the iPhone could be ‘fixed’, check it out if you are an iPhone user with issues. I personally don’t think the iPhone needs fixing at all, I would probably have called the site http://pleaseupdatetheiphone.com or something along that line! Anyway’s let me know what you think about the iPhone and if you want me to add anything onto this post. Woop!

iPhone users will (or should) be aware that the 2.0 software for the device allows installation of a whole bunch of applications that are now available on iTunes, some free, some not. I went through the initial stage, as i’m sure most did where I just couldn’t get enough applications, becoming greedy just to fill up my sexy iPhone screen with new icons! Well after a month or so since the update, here’s my favourite ones…

Facebook - As a Facebook addict, this is the application I was looking forward to most, partly because my job often requires me to be out the office, and how else would I keep up to date with everyones business! Facebook have developed a nice clean user friendly app here, and already released version 1.2 update which brought several more features such as photo comments, more detailed profile view.

A cool feature is the ability to upload a picture straight from the application either by selecting a picture from your current photo’s, or using the built in Camera! Finally, this is free, so if you have an iPhone I don’t understand why you would have this! get it from the iTunes store right now!

Google - Another free app, and one which I thought would be available to everyone on release day, but only the US were treated. A simple application that lets its user search not just straight to Google, but also the content on the iPhone, Locations, Images, News, Shopping and Wikipedia, which is awsum! and very handy! There is also a page on the App that gives you links to all of the other Google web apps available, like there Calendar, Reader, etc. Check it out, its a must!

Remote - Final App for this post, but probably the most useful so far, and made by Apple themselves! The Remote application acts as the name states, as a remote, but for what you ask? well as long as your iPhone is connected to your Wireless network, it can control your iTunes without the need of getting up of your sofa to change a track. As shown below, you get full Artwork straight from your Library, and have access to all the content, and you are able to scroll through the Playlists, Artists, Songs and Albums. I think that one nice addition would be the coverflow then it would truely be a killer app!

I just wanted to let people know that I have designed another site at the following address http://iphone.selfconclusion.co.uk that is based around customizing the iPhone’s home screen by adding new custom web icons. I will be designing more icons shortly, but there are a couple listed on the site at present so everyone can see how it works. These new icons I am bringing to you are not just to pimp up the home screen but there also very useful, for example, the iPhone version of the eBay site is up and running now, and the custom eBay web icon you can add from my new site doubles as a search box linking you straight through to search results stopping you having to actually load up eBay’s home screen first.

Check the site out and let me know what you think. Also don’t forget to spread the word!

The other day I was working on a word document and decided to email it to myself, purely so I could quickly access it via the Gmail site on a Windows machine as I didn’t have access to my USB Flash Drive. It wasn’t until today (three days later) I thought I would clear through my iPhone’s email and get rid of any old email, that I discovered something I never knew the iPhone could do! Okay Okay this may not sound like a great “Feature” and everybody may already know, but when I opened up this email containing the attached word document, the document there was in a box and had a Word “W” logo next to it. I tapped on it and the document opened! There it was, my word document viewable on my iPhone! (See images below)

I was even more suprised that it opened a .docx word file, as this even older versions of word cannot open these without the Microsoft Office Convertor pack installed. Whilst it was fresh on my mind, I began trying out other files to see what else I could read, below are my results…..

• Excel - Opened via Email attachment, but in a similar fashion to the Word file that the document was only viewable and no editing was possible.
• Powerpoint - Not readable on the iPhone, not suprising either to be honest. I personally wouldn’t have any need to open up a presentation on my iPhone although Businessmen may?
• Images - As I’m sure people already are aware, yes the iPhone can open images from an Email
• PDF’s - Surprisingly.. Yes they open on the iPhone. I tested this emailing myself a Magazine scan and man it looked great on the iPhones bright clear display! (see the images below)
• Music - When I tested this, I thought it was going to work as it recognizes the file and lets you open it, but you get an error message saying it doesn’t recognize the format, almost as if it thinks its opening a video clip.
• Video - .mov, .m4v tested so far and I get the error saying format not supported
• Archives - Again, I expected that the iPhone would not open archived files, because quite frankly, what use would it have, not like you could save the compressed files anywere is it!
• Text Files - Similar to Word Documents, text files open but you cannot edit them.

Finding out that the iPhone can handle these various files, most importantly, the Word and PDF files, is something that will come of great use to me. Since setting up my Gmail account up using IMAP, following the ever popular guide from Derek Punsalan (5ThirtyOne.com), I now have access to my Gmail Labels directly on my iPhone. Having access to these labels makes it possible to organize my email a hell of a lot better!

I decided to create a Label on my Gmail account, called “Documents”, to act as a storage point for my Emails containing attachments. Now on my MacBook, I have a number of files that I regularly use as reference, for example a PDF containing tutorials on Photoshop CS3, and to have these available whenever I need them via my iPhones Email would be very useful! By making a new label titled “Documents”, I have a place where I can now store these! So now when I need want to have access to a PDF or whatever I just email it to myself and move it into the “Documents” Label on my iPhone, then should I ever need to check something I can just open the Email up and wallaaaa I’m away!

Now fair enough, this may seem pointless to you, but for me, its great. Should I ever need to view these files I can wherever I am and if I need to forward these on to anybody, for example, a CV or important document, I can just forward the Email on as the file is already sitting there in an Attached Email! Beauty! Apologies for the poor quality images!