Tough love from the iPhone 3G crowd

 

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Posted on 18 Jul 2008 at 08:21

Enthusiastic new iPhone owners are starting to sound like the cast of long-running stage musical: "I Love you, You're Perfect, Now Change."

Only days after snapping up the latest iPhone, they still glow over their purchase - but they're already brainstorming ideas Steve Jobs could use for Apple's next iPhone.

In comparison to last year's model, the latest iPhone's faster 3G connection, better sound quality, location-aware navigation, and third-party applications left new owners with no doubts that waiting in line for hours was worth it. Click here to read PC Pro's full review.

But even the happiest among them are offering tips for improvements for the iPhone as well as reasons why it won't completely replace other gear such as BlackBerrys or laptops.

Read Darien Graham-Smith's thoughts after a week with his new iPhone here.

Some of the gripes appear easy to fix, while others may take a bit more work by Apple engineers.

A common one is about the inability to copy and paste text on the iPhone. BlackBerry or Palm Treo owners can easily copy numbers or text from an email and send them to a friend on the go.

"I'm still very confused why they don't let you copy and paste on the phone," says Nick Divers, 22, of New York, an aspiring filmmaker who traded his Treo for an iPhone. "I've upgraded to a better product that can't do one simple thing."

Shervin Pishevar, 34, head of Social Gaming Network, claims the lack of copy and paste was a reason why he stopped using the first iPhone about three months after he bought it.

Still, Pishevar and his son camped out in Palo Alto, California, to buy the new iPhone. He lauds new applications from the "silly" PhoneSaber, which mimics the sound of a Star Wars light saber when the iPhone is waved around, to the "inspirational" Star Finder that shows information on the night sky, depending on the user's location.

But Pishevar's got a new pet peeve. While Apple's iTunes pauses a song during a call and starts playing where it left off afterward, third-party applications such as Pandora's music service quit when Pishevar uses other iPhone features.

"Applications should not stop working when you go away," he says. "For a game, you shouldn't lose where you are."

Music on the move

Rob Biederman, 21, who works at an investment bank, gave up his BlackBerry for an iPhone, but was upset to find he could only buy songs from iTunes when his device is linked to Wi-Fi.

"That was a big disappointment because I expected to be able to download songs from iTunes [over 3G]," says Biederman, who wants to be able to buy new music right after a cool new song catches his attention in a shop or on the street.

Ben Gersch, 31, loves his new iPhone but is disappointed that it lacks the ability to record video or the option to turn the camera to the front for video conferencing. "Looking right at the phone and talking to people would be interesting," says the New York-based portrait painter. "The technology is there. It's an easy jump."

Keith White, an entertainment lawyer who manages singer-songwriter Wynter Gordon, bought his iPhone for its media features. He has used it to play music files and approve a segment sent from the recording studio while he was in his car.