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Five More Reasons Not to Buy the iPhone

by Switched Staff on June 25, 2007 at 05:14 PM

Five More Reasons Not to Buy the iPhone
Earlier this month, Forbes outlined the five biggest reasons why you might skip the all-night camp-outs and hold off on buying the first-generation iPhone on June 29. Some of the reasons Forbes cited -- like the $500-$600 price tag, required two-year contract, and lack of high-speed 3G capability -- are still valid. Others, such as the short battery life, are less important now that Apple has announced a longer iPhone battery life of eight hours.

Considering the sheer hassle (namely, the long lines) involved in buying this thing, it might be time to look at some other reasons to hold off. Take a look at our list of extra reasons not to buy the iPhone – we hope they make you feel a little less like you're missing out on the most-hyped launch since....PlayStation 3? (you know, should you actually decide to go home and rest after a long week's work on Friday.)

1. You Must Have an iTunes Account. Not the hugest deal considering that most people use iTunes anyway, but it would be nice to have some other options for purchasing and managing your music.

2. No Direct-to-Phone Downloads. There's nothing like hearing a song you like (or thinking of a song you want) and downloading it right then and there, directly into your phone (or audio player). Sure, you can't do this with your iPod, either, but the feature is increasingly the norm on music-capable phones from Verizon and Sprint. Now, given that Apple has said that the iPhone will feature a full version of iTunes, it's perfectly possible that, come Friday, over-the-air downloads via Wi-Fi could well be a reality on the iPhone.

3. No built-in GPS. Like over-the-air downloads, built-in GPS is increasingly the norm on many lower cost phones from Sprint and Verizon. Sure, the iPhone has built-in Google Maps that give you directions from point A to point B, but good luck if you deviate from the route or get lost, since the lack of real-time GPS won't recalculate routes automatically based on your actual location (which you probably won't know anyway, since you'll be lost). To be fair, many of the other smart phones competing with the iPhone don't have GPS built-in either – case in point, the otherwise very satisfying BlackBerry Curve – but the feature is increasingly commonplace on many new phones from Verizon and Sprint.

4. Even 8-gigabytes (GB) of memory is not enough . If you watch a lot of TV, or are going on a long trip that involves even just one ten-hour-or-more flight, you'll quickly run out of video entertainment with just an iPhone. And since it has no expandable memory option, the iPhone can only hold a Nano's worth of media and that's it. Now, each movie takes up about 1-gigabyte of space or approximately 250 songs. This means that if you have, say, three movies and 1,000 or so songs, you've pretty much tapped out the larger iPhone's memory.

5. It won't play nice with your work e-mail. If you wanted to use the iPhone as your work phone, you'll most likely be out of luck, since the it won't play nice with Microsoft Exchange Server, which is one of the most widespread work e-mail systems. Yes, it'll connect with your Outlook and transfer emails that have already been retrieved on your desktop, but don't expect real-time push work e-mail a la BlackBerry. [UPDATE: It looks like Apple has added Microsoft Exchange Server compatibility, but you still have to get our employer's IT department to implement some settings -- good luck!)

So, it's okay. You can rest easy and go home on Friday, without an iPhone. Even if you still can't stop thinking about it, you can always get a line waiter on Craigslist for $250 or so (at last count).

From Forbes.


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