06 May 2011 / Apple / Technology / Twitter / iPhone iPhone niggles and nitpicks
I love my little glass phone, I use it all the time. Seriously, all the time. Since getting one, I'm amazed at how much less I use my home iMac. And no, I have no reception issues. It's great. However, I have a few recurring niggles with my little monolith. I'd be interested to know if these bug anyone else, or if it's just me (or if I'm missing a glaringly obvious reason why things are the way they are).
Dictionary
Why isn't there a dictionary app? I use the dashboard dictionary/thesaurus on my iMac every day – given that the dock widgets are clearly the precursor of the whole app thing, I don't understand why they didn't just port over the best ones. I realise it'd be a big memory hog, but surely the bulk of it is already on there – the autocorrect is getting those words from somewhere, right?
Settings
Just some consistency would be nice. Some apps can be modified from different parts of the settings – the separation of notifications particularly bugs me – and some have settings in-app. Working out how to make a small change can take a bit of a quest.
White supremacy
This is a wider issue really, about the over-zealous autocorrect built into the iOS. Some words it really can't figure out, but the one that really bugs me is that it insists on capitalising "white". Also, given that I'm on the O2 network, it would be nice if it didn't always correct it to "U2". I really don't think Bono cares about my billing issues.
Twitter
It isn't going away. Acknowledge it. Integrate it.
Stocks
How many people actually use the Stocks app? Why is it hardwired in? It hardly seems like an essential function of the phone. I can't get rid of it, so I've just had to stick it in a folder of useless unwanted apps (alongside the shoddily misspelt Games Center).
Apple.com
Why doesn't it have a mobile version? It's undoubtedly a beautiful site, but really suffers on their own hardware. Odd.
Clock
I love that the Calendar app icon always has the correct date on it, so why doesn't the clock always tell the time? I know it's already up there at the top of the screen, but every now and then I get a bit confused that it's still 10:15. Maybe that's just me though …
The camera
Come on, Mr Jobs. Seriously.
Other
I realise there's a bunch of little bits and bobs on the iPhone that can't be categorised as music, photos or apps, but 2GB of it? What is it? WHY WON'T YOU TELL ME?
Safari
I understand why they limit it to eight bowser windows, but I really wish it'd warn me when instead of opening a ninth window, it's going to simply replace one of the others – and I can never remember what it was! It's like when Homer learns a new fact and it replaces an old one in his head.
Syncing
"Syncing. You may disconnect your iPhone on Wednesday."
Websites
When saving websites to your home screen, it'd be nice if they all had icons, rather than some of them having teeny-tiny ugly screenshots. This is probably the fault of web designers, not Apple, but it'd be nice if there was a standard.
Search
It'd be nice (although I imagine quite troublesome) if the search integrated other searches from within apps, not just Safari and Wikipedia. A few of the biggies would be useful – Amazon, eBay, IMDb.
Effektiveness
Rather than the horrid "oh dear lord water has got under the screen somehow!" wallpaper, or the "MEANWHILE, ON EARTH" one, all iOS devices should come with Effektive's beautiful grid wallpaper as standard. Either that or some nice Danish knitwear.
Reader Comments (14)
An excellent incite into the failings of an otherwise fine product. One thing I would add though is the design if the three pin. Should you not be near your IT, it's necessary to plug into a wall socket to charge (how 20th century). Despite the modest indentations in it's sides, there is barely anything that you can gain a purchase on. Which makes the slippery little bugger a right pain, literally, to remove from the socket. And, if your office is anything like mine, the sockets are so low to the ground that the USB stops me using these outlets. The first job of the day is to go in search of discrete extension.
Still, wouldnt be without my iPhone life line though.
@Mick Good point – I often struggle to get it of the socket too.
@Mick & Daniel - You can grab a different charger (though it's probably expensive). I'm fortunate to own an iPad, so have a different kind of charger!
The icon thing is the fault of the web designer, there's a meta tag or a link ref that allows a designer to define an icon which will be used on the device (and other devices that support it).
I've never used search on the iPhone, it seems too much hassle.
Top of my wish list? I'd like quicker access to the brightness controls. Don't trust the auto-brightness enough to leave it on all the time. Find myself adjusting things a couple of times a day.
Center = American spelling
Centre = French / British / Canadian
@Chris Yup. And I'm British.
Alert! Alert! Their/there error detected in paragraph seven!
I used to have an iPhone. It's a lovely thing with a beautifully designed UI. I bloody hate iTunes though, and the times I had to wait 30 minutes for it to sync the whole phone just because I wanted to add one song drove me mad. I ended up getting an Android phone because despite the UI not being so lovely, it lets me do things my way...
@Rob Thanks! So very ashamed.
Not quite the iphone itself , but the headphones/hands free kit they ship with it . They are truly the most uncomfortable , ill fitting pieces of blandness created by apple . If part of your marketing is the ipod function then make it useable out of the box .
Or am I alone on this .
Re: White Supremacy, I think the iPhone capitalises 'white' because you probably have someone with the surname 'White' in your contacts. I've noticed a few words get replaced with the odd name in my contact list before, so the dictionary must take words from there too.
Also, good point about Safari. One thing that particularly annoys me is that when you re-open the Safari app it also reloads the page you had open so you have to wait about 20 seconds before you can show it to someone.
Hmm... I think I can hear the sound of Louis CK facepalming in the distance.
So right regarding the ninth window nightmare — it's just happened to me (4th or 5th time), so I thought I'd come and share my rage. If you could go back to the previous page in that browser it wouldn't be so bad, or like you said, a polite warning requiring your permission to proceed. But no, there's nothing, just that highspeed whoosh to a random page. So very frustrating!
@Craig, good point in the White / contacts link.
I agree with the plugs thing. This has annoyed me for years; the problem is even worse on the Mac where the powerbrick is larger — I reckon nearly a half of all plugs are unusable with MacBook power adapters, including those on a lot of trains.
Safari drives me nuts: if you accidently hit a link whilst scrolling, even if you hit the little cross to stop loading the new link immediately, you lose the page you were on and then have to spend about an hour waiting for it to reload.
Other niggles: why do I have to delve into settings to see which wireless network I'm on? Why can't the network name be shown in the menu bar? (On the ipod touch I have to spend all day looking at the word iPod. Yes Apple, I know I've bought one of your beautifully named products, but you don't have to tell me every time I use it) Why can't I switch networks by clicking on the wireless logo like I can on OS X without having to drill into settings?
I'd love to see an integrated dictionary like ctrl-apple-D on OS X; hold your finger over a word and the definition comes up.
@Dave All good niggles! It looks like your dictionary wish is about to be granted.