mac.column.ted: iPhone 3G and MobileMe: New features add little value
Ted Landau
July 2008
The more time I spend with my new iPhone 3G and the new MobileMe software, the more I find that neither of these upgrades were worth the bother. Now, before you start sending me hate mail, let me be clear:
I still consider the iPhone to be one of the greatest technology inventions of the decade. And the new iPhone 3G is even better than the original. The iPhone 2.0 software, especially the App Store, is a significant leap forward from iPhone 1.1.4. As for MobileMe, on balance (assuming the service can ever get past its initial hassles and actually work as intended), I believe it is marginally superior to the .Mac service it replaces.
So what's the problem? The problem is this: The new hardware features in the iPhone 3G and the new options in MobileMe are largely irrelevant to me (and I suspect to a lot of other people as well).
iPhone 3G
Let's start with the iPhone 3G. It has only two major new features: 3G network support and GPS tracking capability. Yes, it also has improved sound (I can now hear my iPhone ringing even in a noisy environment) and a standard-size headphone outlet. But these are small-change improvements. It's 3G and GPS that represent the major differences from the original iPhone. So let's look at these features.
If you had asked me before I bought an iPhone 3G, I would have told you that 3G support is a very big deal. Indeed, painfully slow Web browsing, when using an EDGE connection, was my single biggest complaint about the original iPhone. However, it turns out that the 3G capability makes far less difference for me than I had anticipated.
For one thing, the 3G network is not available in nearly as many places as the EDGE network. I often can't get on the 3G network. Even if I do make a 3G connection, it is often such a weak one (just one bar with occasional dropping off altogether) that the overall speed seems not much different than with an EDGE connection.
Making matters worse, keeping 3G enabled on my iPhone is a significant battery drain. Plus (although I have not yet had problems here), iPhone Atlas reports that 3G can interfere with other iPhone functions, such as using GPS in Maps or making calls through a Bluetooth car audio system.
The net result is that I have decided to disable 3G on my iPhone (via the option in Settings > General > Network). I turn it back on pretty much only if I intend to use Safari and find myself in an area that has a reasonably strong 3G connection but no Wi-Fi availability. This combination doesn't happen very often.
As for GPS, this too appeared at first to be a great addition to the iPhone. I was especially looking forward to using an iPhone as a turn-by-turn navigation aid -- eliminating the need for me to purchase and carry around a separate GPS device. However, as you have probably heard by now, this turn-by-turn feature is not yet available for the iPhone. Without this, GPS in an iPhone offers very little. Remember, even without GPS, your iPhone can still find your current location in Maps and can still use Location Services in other applications (such as for geotagging photos). The non-GPS location ability is not as accurate as GPS and doesn't offer "live tracking" but (at least for my use) it is usually good enough. Finally, there are locations (such as when surrounded by tall buildings) where GPS may not be available even though other networking options are. The end result, once again, is that I rarely take advantage of having GPS on my iPhone.
Eventually, I expect these features to offer more value than they do today (turn-by-turn GPS may even be in the next iPhone update, as reported by iPhone Atlas). But for right now, given my use of the iPhone, the advantages of upgrading from an original iPhone to an iPhone 3G have turned out to be close to zero.
MobileMe
Then there's MobileMe. I am sure you have heard about the troubled start of this new service (read this article if you haven't heard). But forget all of that. My disappointment with MobileMe would remain even if everything about the service worked exactly as promised.
Yes, there are some valid uses for MobileMe (just as there were for its .Mac predecessor). Assuming you are willing to spend $99 a year, rather than seek out cheaper or even free alternatives, you can use it to sync data across multiple Macs, backup your Mac's data to an online source or post photos to a Web gallery. However, I am focusing here on what's new in MobileMe, what you can now do that you couldn't do with .Mac. In this regard, there appear to be only two significant additions: The Web apps (for managing your email, contacts and calendars from a browser) and the ability to push these data to your iPhone. I rarely need to access my data from a browser. Thus, for me, the single biggest new draw of MobileMe is the push function: the ability to have changes made on my Mac (or email that I receive) instantly and wirelessly transfer to my iPhone.
The first splash of reality here is that (as Apple has acknowledged) "instant" can really mean "15 minutes or more" -- when going from your Mac to the MobileMe cloud and from there to your iPhone. But let's ignore this too.
The critical questions for me were: How important is it for my iPhone to receive updated data (almost) instantly? And is it worth the downsides? The answers turned out to be: Not very and no.
I don't often update my Address Book. And I rarely make calendar appointments on such short notice that I need to worry about getting them from my Mac to my iPhone within 15 minutes. Or vice versa. In any case, when I make such changes, I am typically at my desk using my Mac. If needed, I can sync my iPhone in iTunes after making the changes. As for email, I can set my iPhone to fetch new messages every 15 minutes from any email account, even without MobileMe. I have no need to find out about new messages more often than that.
Apple states: "Push is recommended because it helps reduce unnecessary network traffic, and updates data without you have to open an application." True enough. However, except for email, you don't get alerted to when new data arrives on your iPhone. For example, if your spouse enters information to your calendar in iCal, while you are away from home, you won't know about it on your iPhone until you open up the Calendar program and check. So you still wind up having to open the application.
Even so, I might welcome using these push features -- if it weren't for their downside. The biggest downside (as with the 3G network) is that the continual checking for new data uses up the iPhone's battery at a faster rate. Beyond that, putting MobileMe between your iPhone and your Mac adds another layer of complexity and thereby another opportunity for things to go wrong. For instance, a recently posted Apple article states: "When syncing contacts with MobileMe on an iPhone, if you have assigned a specific ringtone to a contact, the ringtone for that contact may revert back to the default ringtone." Oops. That's not what you want to happen.
I can imagine there are iPhone users who would benefit from a near instant wireless updating of their contact, calendar and bookmark data. However, most of these people are in the business world and are using Microsoft Exchange, and thus don't need MobileMe.
Bottom line
The bottom line with MobileMe is the same as for the iPhone 3G: For most users, the newly added features offer little or no value to the service/device it replaces. This means that, if you currently own an original iPhone, I wouldn't rush to replace it. And if you have happily lived without .Mac, I don't see much reason to subscribe to MobileMe.
To send comments regarding this column directly to Ted, click here. To get Ted's latest book, Take Control of Your iPhone, click the link.
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<ul><i>in Europe with ubiqituous 3G, the utility is more obvious</i></ul>
...until you realize how much that costs. Without a data roaming plan, it's $5/Mb or something nasty. So I tried to get a data roaming plan from AT&T for my upcoming trip to France. The hoops they tried to make me jump thru (fax copies of utility bills and my passport) were unreasonable (and insecure) so I told them to shove it. So 3G is useless (to me) for Europe too. OK, the real problem is AT&T but since they're currently joined at the hip with Apple, it still decreases the usefulness of 3G.
The best news is the App Store. I love the Apple Remote application and the VNC client is pretty cool. I'm staying away from the games just to save battery life and my sanity.
Push is cool, but I agree, I don't need. I recently switched my companies email from POP to IMAP. This included push-IMAP. After a short while I switched back to checking once per hour. Makes everything more relaxed.
GPS, I don't need turn by turn (I have a built-in GPS in my car) but getting your position when you are out in the woods on foot is nice.
As far as mail goes, one big feature of .Mac was the ability to create and send from aliases to mask one's primary e-mail address, both from the desktop and from the webmail app. This feature went into limbo during the first week of MobileMe, and the ability to send from an alias is still is not functional (nor does it seem to even be planned to be) on the phone.
In at least one case (ringtones), the answer may have less to do with Apple's engineering than it has to do with the labyrinth of copyright law.
Ringtones are a huge moneymaker, and the RIAA and telcos guard them jealously. The RIAA even specifies which songs can and can not be made into ringtones, and at what price. As far as the telcos go, they make more money from ringtones than Virgin Music makes from the sale of CDs every year.
Copyright restrictions place limits not only on what songs can be made into ringtones, but even how they can be transferred from one device to another. A software system that allowed me to take custom ringtomes from my contacts in my phone and transfer them to my contacts in my computer would almost certainly violate at least fifteen different licensing agreements and copyright restrictions.
The rest of it, though, yeah. Spot on.
I wasn't implying that the ringtone itself would be transferred, but rather that the database field and entry in that field indicating what ringtone is linked should be maintained through the sync process. Of course, the ringtone file itself would only reside on the phone. If you sync a database record minus a field that exists only on the phone, what keeps that field from being somehow affected? My point is really that there should be consistency in the field structure of the database record whether it be on the phone, in the cloud, or on the desktop. Without this consistency, the value/integrity of synchronization is seriously diminished. i.e., If you sync a contact record that contains three phone number fields on the desktop to the contact app on the phone which limits records to only two phone number fields which field gets lost in the sync process?
I don't think 5 second clips are copyrightable. In any case, you are assuming use of DRMed songs as the main source of ringtones. What about the ringtones that come with the phone? Or other ringtones that you copy from your computer to your phone. I see no reason why, if you have them on both the Mac and the iPhone, they should not be playable and editable in the Contacts app of both devices.
This is not compelling to people who already have a first-generation iPhone, but it's big news for people like me; I just bought a 3G.
My experience with the 3G networking doesn't match Ted's. Just for the sake of curiosity, I switched off 3G and tried surfing using EDGE; the 3G networking is consistently much faster. But then, I live in a large metro area with excellent 3G coverage. Service in other places will, no doubt, vary.
The GPS, though, is the real clincher for me. I have a lousy sense of direction, and get lost easily. Before I go the iPhone, I was looking at getting a stand-alone GPS system. What I discovered is that most GPS systems are as expensive as, or more expensive than, a third-generation iPhone, and do less.
A very nice smartphone, that also offers on-the-go mobile apps, Internet access, an iPod, and the best mobile Web browser software yet, plus GPS...or, for the same money, GPS only. That was what made the deal for me.
And I have been very pleased with the way the GPS works. Turn-by-turn navigation isn't as important to me as just knowing where the %@*# I am, which it does admirably...and with turn-by-turn navigation just a software upgrade away, well, that's icing on the cake.
You have my vote; here in Finland iPhone 3G works extremely fine. We have good 3G coverage troughout the country and GPS works also fine. GPS is an answer to my prays; I just want to know where heck I am. Voice telling me "turn right" etc is for someone else...A map telling me the route from "here to there" is quite important.
Safari has been surprisingly good; in WiFi-network it is a killer.
Push e-mail and all that "cloud"-thing: it works better in family and team enviroment. Updates to schedules, calendar, addresses...they by the way work fine with GPS, map and phone. A very valuable thing in my life.
Ted: You thougts were accurate and reasonable as usually. But at my part of world they are "marginally". MobileMe is a very solid service and I can really rely on it. Can You rely on Flicker, MySpace or in some else "Free" service?
iPhone is a very, very good phone and it is going better all the time. And this is just version 2.0...
One additional note that I thought it was worth mentioning. One place I spend a lot of time uses a Juniper network appliance to authenticate connections to the wireless network. This works well (sort of) for laptops but has been the bane of iPhone and hand-held users. At first, it was thought that this was because of the lack of Java support on the devices. However, the trick turned out to be the device needing the ability to keep two or more pages open simultaneously (the authentication page must always remain open). The iPhone's version of Safari handles this just fine!
However, they are of greatl value to me or many other people. This is why the iPhone is selling like hotcakes and is still attracting lines 2 weeks out of its debut.
It depends on what your needs are and where you are.
I love my iPhone 3G. I love the GPS' ability to more accurately locate where I am. From there I can then get directions to where I want to go. I love how much faster 3G is. I have been a .Mac subscriber for years. I find it very useful. MobileMe is a free upgrade and very worthwhile, as has been .Mac.
I realize that 3G is a battery drain.
It also can be easily turned off in the preferences.
I turn on 3G when I surf the web. Then I turn if off afterwards.
I also turn off 3G where it isn't available.
Having 3 G is fantastic.
Being able to easily toggle it on and off is also a fantastic energy saver.
Now a year later, Apple finally adds 3G capability and users and the media complain that 3G network coverage is spotty at best.
Hmmmm.
Remember, Ted Landau built his business by pointing out all the flaws of Apple products. That's what he does. Personally I have yet to experience more than a couple of the myriad of problems reported by MacFixit over the years. No doubt they exist but most certainly not in the numbers implied sometimes.
RE: "Apparently, though, millions of people disagree with him and are buying the device like there's no tomorrow."
I can only reiterate the point I made at the top of the article. I never (I repeat NEVER) said that you shouldn't buy an iPhone. To the contrary, I think getting an iPhone is a great idea. I highly recommend it. What I said was that upgrading from an original iPhone to a new iPhone was probably not worth it for most people.
RE: "Personally I have yet to experience more than a couple of the myriad of problems reported by MacFixit over the years. "
Most of what I wrote had little to do with the sorts of problems reported on MacFixIt. Again, as I tried to emphasize, my concerns here were relevant even if everything was working as expected.
- Ted
Exactly. I saw that Ted. Dead nuts.
And yes, America is not the beginning and end of the 3G world.
In fact many countries had 3G way before the US.
So, my point is, in my country 3G with the main carrier here and A-GPS works very well indeed.
- by chinarose_dotmac July 28, 2008 5:55 PM PDT
- What happens with Iphone geotagged photos ? Does iphoto import the information correctly or does it garble it like every other geotagged photo?
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