Why No Photo or Video?

[Sobe]

I consider the "basics" to be what other phones are already good at, things like MMS and mp3s as ringtones (that one might not be so basic, but quite a few phones can do it). I just don't see why Apple needed to start from ground zero with some of these features when the road has already been paved by less impressive phones.

like I said the functionality of MMS is covered even if it is not a perfect replacement.

MP3s as ringtones is a facet of customizability. Would it be nice? sure but the phone works fine with the 2 dozen or whatever ring tones they have. That's buttoning down the core features out of the box.

 

[netdog]

like I said the functionality of MMS is covered even if it is not a perfect replacement.

That's like saying that the functionality of email is covered by the USPS even if it is not a perfect replacement.

MMS is great, and it is how most of the world sends quick pictures snapped with the phones, something that we do quite often. I can't imagine that MMS won't be included in the first software update. Jobs and Co. just missed it here, but hey, I am more impressed by what they did do then by the few things that they didn't get right.

 

[illegalprelude]

That's like saying that the functionality of email is covered by the USPS even if it is not a perfect replacement.

MMS is great, and it is how most of the world sends quick pictures snapped with the phones, something that we do quite often. I can't imagine that MMS won't be included in the first software update. Jobs and Co. just missed it here, but hey, I am more impressed by what they did do then by the few things that they didn't get right.

im with you on this 100%. I think those who ride off the limit of MMS with pictures and say email will take care of it need to put the Apple Kool-Aid down for just a sec because thats just a lame justification. I dont have a single friend or family who checks their emails on their phone while I send picture texts to dad and he does it back because its so simple. Thats apple's thing right? Simplicity ?

 

[Sobe]

im with you on this 100%. I think those who ride off the limit of MMS with pictures and say email will take care of it need to put the Apple Kool-Aid down for just a sec because thats just a lame justification. I dont have a single friend or family who checks their emails on their phone while I send picture texts to dad and he does it back because its so simple. Thats apple's thing right? Simplicity ?

I doubt apple's goal is to make it easier for you to send MMS to non iphone owners.

Sending an email of a photo is trivial within the iPhone interface.

If other phones do not handle email as well, that's not really apple's fault.

 

[Sobe]

That's like saying that the functionality of email is covered by the USPS even if it is not a perfect replacement.

MMS is great, and it is how most of the world sends quick pictures snapped with the phones, something that we do quite often. I can't imagine that MMS won't be included in the first software update. Jobs and Co. just missed it here, but hey, I am more impressed by what they did do then by the few things that they didn't get right.

you're burning down a straw man with the forced USPS analogy. There's no similarity other than that they both deliver messages.

email is just as fast as MMS in my experience (yours may differ). Sending a letter with a glossy is not nearly as fast as email.

What it is is that you object to it on principle for leaving something out that you like to do.

It's a personal bias in terms of wishing to mold the phone to your needs and wants after having purchased what they offered you.

 

[EvilDoc]

I think most people are missing the point. Why couldn't MMS be added, yeah i know you can still email pictures but why leave MMS out? I mean why would they leave something so simple out? Emails cool, but not being able to receive MMS msgs is an strange. I use to have a Sidekick 3 and it didnt have MMS either, i final gave up and got the Dash. Its an awesome phone but it left out some odd things. Another example would be the inability to broadcast SMS msgs, i do this often and it seems like a very basic function every cell phone should have. Im sure that future updates or revisions may bring these abilities to the iPhone and when they do i will buy one.

 

[tjpyles]

Why leave a lot of the features out of the iPod that they have left out that others in the market have included? Apple definitely has a singular way of thinking when it comes to integrating hardware and software. The iPod doesn't have FM, OGG, and countless other things that would be easy to add and yet they are what percent of the current market? I actually have a different opinion than I think a lot of people here - I'm not sure some of these features will ever be added. There has been a lot of hand wringing about why they haven't added certain features to the iPod for years. I'm not saying that we won't see some of these features added; I just think that years from now there is a good chance that some will still be complaining about the fact the iPhone doesn't have _______. All while Apple whittles away at the cell phone market.

 

[kdarling]

KDarling: Can apps be added later? Sure, but that only proves that their market was "understood" after introduction. Nothing wrong with that.

That's an incorrect statement. It's very common in the world of computer software to cut out features due to schedule pressure, then add them in later with a software update (If you had been in the industry as long as you claim you had, you would know this basic fact). I would place my bets that Apple had several software features, maybe video recording or chat or MMS...who knows, that were cut because they couldn't be finished with high quality in time for launch.

It was definitely a simplistic statement on my part, I agree. A side effect of typing with a four year old on my lap. Mea culpa!

We all can intuit that the iPhone was rushed out. It's obvious. So yep, I'm sure the overworked (and reportedly underpaid) Apple folk did the best they could. I'm quite sympathetic to the engineers, being currently in the same boat. But NOT the management, who always cause the problem.

In this case, it looks like lower management did a "yes sir" to Jobs and spent their time on show-off stuff like YouTube and rich email, while ignoring (or being forced to ignore by AT&T) common built-in features like voice dialing, MMS and chat... all things that many free phones do.

I suppose it's possible that Apple did a poll and asked what people wanted, and they got back requests for YouTube and rich email, for example. That's understandable. It just didn't mean that people wanted it in _place of_ their usual options

Regards.

 

[tjpyles]

In this case, it looks like lower management did a "yes sir" to Jobs and spent their time on show-off stuff like YouTube and rich email, while ignoring (or being forced to ignore by AT&T) common built-in features like voice dialing, MMS and chat... all things that many free phones do.

Regards.

I agree with you that I think Apple probably did some market studies, because I know that of the people that I have talked to the three issues you just mentioned are some of the lesser used (my own market study). "Voice dialing, MMS, and chat.." these are not core features to many users. By the logic many use I know this to be true because I have had many smart phones in the past and I rarely used any of these features. I definitely enjoy the included Safari and e-mail options on the iPhone far more. I completely agree with you that YouTube is nothing but FLUFF! I could easily have done without it, and I imagine Apple got some sort of financial incentive on that one.

 

[EvilDoc]

Why leave a lot of the features out of the iPod that they have left out that others in the market have included? Apple definitely has a singular way of thinking when it comes to integrating hardware and software. The iPod doesn't have FM, ORG, and countless other things that would be easy to add and yet they are what percent of the current market? I actually have a different opinion than I think a lot of people here - I'm not sure some of these features will ever be added. There has been a lot of hand wringing about why they haven't added certain features to the iPod for years. I'm not saying that we won't see some of these features added; I just think that years from now there is a good chance that some will still be complaining about the fact the iPhone doesn't have _______. All while Apple whittles away at the cell phone market.

The difference between the iPod and the phone is adding MMS wouldn't have add any additional components to the iPhone. Were Adding a FM transmitter would have added bulk to the iPod. It really doesn't make sense its not like MMS is some dying thing, i can see leaving out the FM transmitter when you walking around with 20 gigs of music.

 

[tjpyles]

The difference between the iPod and the phone is adding MMS wouldn't have add any additional components to the iPhone. Were Adding a FM transmitter would have added bulk to the iPod. It really doesn't make sense its not like MMS is some dying thing, i can see leaving out the FM transmitter when you walking around with 20 gigs of music.

OGG and other formats and features that people have been calling for are all software and wouldn't add anything to form factor.

 

[vannibombonato]

I doubt apple's goal is to make it easier for you to send MMS to non iphone owners.

Sending an email of a photo is trivial within the iPhone interface.

If other phones do not handle email as well, that's not really apple's fault.

You're joking, aren't you?

 

[diamond.g]

You're joking, aren't you?

Sadly no (s)he isn't. I like my iPhone and my wife likes hers as well, but some of the excuses are interesting to say the least.

Yes email is great, but you know what I noticed? Blogspot doesn't do email from yahoo with pictures embeded (or Apple formats the pictures funny).

I am not going to spend the time trying to figure out what phone service all my friends have just so I can append xxx@carrier.whatever at the end. That is a waste of my time and a waste of theirs. I looked into teleflip and from what I can tell it carries the possibility of one simple message being split up into three messages, yeah I am sure my friends without unlimted sms/mms would love that.

Video's, well it was cool taping a whole snoop dog concert when I was in Hawaii (2005 or 2006 bodog concert for those that were in oahu at the time). But other than that I didn't send them cause most of the people I know cant see them anyways.

EDIT: after reading Arstechnica's review, I have learned something else that is disappointing: Emailing photos only send half rez pictures. So all those people saying email was better cause it doesn't resize the picture are incorrect. Photos sent via email are 800x600 not 1600x1200.

 

[vansouza]

who cares

Can't send pictures because it might choke the slow ATT lines and can't do video because there is no external memory... who cares... if the iPhone can not do what you must have it do... don't get the bloody thing. It is perfect for my needs, fits like a glove. I do miss picture messaging, but not a lot because I just send them in email. And that is just fine for me... if it does not do what you need it to do... then just step back from the counter and go on with your life and wait for v2.0. Don't get pissed just because some of us are enjoying our experiences with the new device...

 

[pr5owner]

okay the whole MMS Vs Email thing...

how the frig am i supposed to remember the 80+ carrier and carrier email extensions in addition to the contacts number and area code?

HOW DO YOU REMEBER all of them? is there a trick here? so i have to type them out on the computer in the address book and sync them?

what are you supposed to do? you cant copy and paste them from notes, hell i dont even know what carrier my friends are on half the time since they change often and take their number with them.

 

[diamond.g]

okay the whole MMS Vs Email thing...

how the frig am i supposed to remember the 80+ carrier and carrier email extensions in addition to the contacts number and area code?

HOW DO YOU REMEBER all of them? is there a trick here? so i have to type them out on the computer in the address book and sync them?

what are you supposed to do? you cant copy and paste them from notes, hell i dont even know what carrier my friends are on half the time since they change often and take their number with them.

friendsnumber@telefilp.com but I would check with your friends on if it splits up your messages. From reading their forum it looks like some messages are getting split up into up to 4 sms messages. I imagine that could bug those that have limited txt capability.

 

[Sobe]

okay the whole MMS Vs Email thing...

how the frig am i supposed to remember the 80+ carrier and carrier email extensions in addition to the contacts number and area code?

HOW DO YOU REMEBER all of them? is there a trick here? so i have to type them out on the computer in the address book and sync them?

what are you supposed to do? you cant copy and paste them from notes, hell i dont even know what carrier my friends are on half the time since they change often and take their number with them.

If MMS is the domino for you, then don't get the iPhone. You can replicate its functionality with email, but no it's not the same thing.

If that's a deal breaker for you then find a phone that does MMS and go with that one instead.

 

[illegalprelude]

If other phones do not handle email as well, that's not really apple's fault.

Actually, I think 95% of phones can receive MMS and that is how almost everybody sends pictures so I do think its Apple's fault to leave that out and not the fault of the other 95% of the market who sends pictures via text message.

As far as other posters going "well why the "bloody" did you get it and get another phone", I think you need to drop your Apple Fanboy attitude down for just a sec. Just because its made by Apple dosent mean God himself sent it down to us.

Apple makes fine products, sure but that dosent mean there cant be errors and room for critiques or fine adjustments needed.

 

[jemeinc]

I hear everyone talking about MMS, and the iPhones lack of, but I can't help but feel that if Apple feels they couldn't do it right I'm glad they left it out.. I had MMS on my Treo 650 and it was a joke.. When someone would send a picture I would receive a link that would take me to that crappy Blazer browser (which was slow, and cumbersome even if it was 3G), which would then give me a thumbnail image that when I clicked it it would only get a little bigger- definitely NOT full screen.. When I received MMS messages most of the time I didn't even bother going through all that crap.. Sure, it had the feature, but the way the feature was it wasn't even worth having.. I use the iPhones email to view photos way more than I ever did MMS.. I understand most people don't have this ability on their phones, but there's no doubt the iPhones way produces a better user experience..

 

[Sobe]

Actually, I think 95% of phones can receive MMS and that is how almost everybody sends pictures so I do think its Apple's fault to leave that out and not the fault of the other 95% of the market who sends pictures via text message.

As far as other posters going "well why the "bloody" did you get it and get another phone", I think you need to drop your Apple Fanboy attitude down for just a sec. Just because its made by Apple dosent mean God himself sent it down to us.

Apple makes fine products, sure but that dosent mean there cant be errors and room for critiques or fine adjustments needed.

I'm a lifelong pc/windows user. Getting called an apple fanboy is going to generate some laughs at work and amongst friends.

 

[Cleverboy]

I'm talking from a UI standpoint. For example, in order to allow finger screen scrolling, they had to remove simple copy/paste motions. In order to not clog up the screen, they could only show limited Google search returns. And so forth.

I think there's two basic answers here. The iPhone had a list of "must haves" and a list of "can wait until after launch". On the list of "must haves" were everything... and I mean EVERYTHING that we were presented at the January keynote. Whether in icon form or alluded to, EVERYTHING that was a part of that presentation, was what Apple concentrated on delivering, alongside issues of system stability, performance, and easy of use. A number of things regarding the UI changed slightly between the presentation and the launch. The ONLY thing presented at the January keynote, that apparently ran into unexpected problems, were customizeable ringtones.

Regarding EVERY other feature, whether its MMS, video recording, cut/paste, etc, etc... they fell into two categories. #1.) Difficult to determine a decent solution given the UI or solution would take longer than launch to develop and test. #2.) This feature was crossed off the list of features intended for this device, and will likely show up in future devices, or not at all.

I strongly disagree with ANYONE who simply thinks Apple doesn't understand the market. That just seems foolish. If Apple wanted to, they could have developed the product for another 6 months, or even a year. Apple has ALWAYS been about "simplicity" and "minimalism" wherever possible. I was always angry that the desktop search in the Mac OS never accepted WILDCARDS. Now, however... there's almost no NEED for them using Spotlight and instantaneous feedback.

Not releasing the iPhone with diskmode and/or file browser annoyed me. Rumors that it will be FAR more full-featured and gorgeous than any file browser any phone has ever seen (with coverflow and Quicklook supoprt no less), is encouraging, and makes much more sense. Better to release something LATER than POORLY . This is a subjective statement, true... but I couldn't agree more. If the MMS support was tied in with a later rev supporting video recording... so be it. By the end of the year, we'll know one way or the other.

As I've said... people BUYING the iPhone, should by it for what it HAS and does well. NO ONE should by it for what they expect it will do. That said, I have high hopes that there is an update being worked on in parallel to the launch that simply couldn't be finished soon enough. Early rumors were that the phone would receive a firmware update on first use. We'll have to see what they cook up.

~ CB

 

[vannibombonato]

I think there's two basic answers here. The iPhone had a list of "must haves" and a list of "can wait until after launch". On the list of "must haves" were everything... and I mean EVERYTHING that we were presented at the January keynote. Whether in icon form or alluded to, EVERYTHING that was a part of that presentation, was what Apple concentrated on delivering, alongside issues of system stability, performance, and easy of use. A number of things regarding the UI changed slightly between the presentation and the launch. The ONLY thing presented at the January keynote, that apparently ran into unexpected problems, were customizeable ringtones.

Regarding EVERY other feature, whether its MMS, video recording, cut/paste, etc, etc... they fell into two categories. #1.) Difficult to determine a decent solution given the UI or solution would take longer than launch to develop and test. #2.) This feature was crossed off the list of features intended for this device, and will likely show up in future devices, or not at all.

I strongly disagree with ANYONE who simply thinks Apple doesn't understand the market. That just seems foolish. If Apple wanted to, they could have developed the product for another 6 months, or even a year. Apple has ALWAYS been about "simplicity" and "minimalism" wherever possible. I was always angry that the desktop search in the Mac OS never accepted WILDCARDS. Now, however... there's almost no NEED for them using Spotlight and instantaneous feedback.

Not releasing the iPhone with diskmode and/or file browser annoyed me. Rumors that it will be FAR more full-featured and gorgeous than any file browser any phone has ever seen (with coverflow and Quicklook supoprt no less), is encouraging, and makes much more sense. Better to release something LATER than POORLY . This is a subjective statement, true... but I couldn't agree more. If the MMS support was tied in with a later rev supporting video recording... so be it. By the end of the year, we'll know one way or the other.

As I've said... people BUYING the iPhone, should by it for what it HAS and does well. NO ONE should by it for what they expect it will do. That said, I have high hopes that there is an update being worked on in parallel to the launch that simply couldn't be finished soon enough. Early rumors were that the phone would receive a firmware update on first use. We'll have to see what they cook up.

~ CB

Boy, chill out.
Nobody is saying that Apple has in anyway fooled anybody by not including this or that feature. iPhone delivers what it promises. Up to us wether to buy it or not.
We are simply saying that not including MMS capability is blatantly stupid.
If they did it on purpose they made the wrong choice, if they will add it with future updates they poorly managed the CPS on this.
These are facts, just as much as its a fact that the iphone is overall a stunning device.

 

[jemeinc]

\.
We are simply saying that not including MMS capability is blatantly stupid.
If they did it on purpose they made the wrong choice, if they will add it with future updates they poorly managed the CPS on this.
These are facts, just as much as its a fact that the iphone is overall a stunning device.

I just don't see how you can say "not including MMS is blatantly stupid" is a fact.. It would be nice if it had it- but if it was going to be a very crappy version of it like I had on my Treo 650 I think it's a good idea that they left it out- or held out until they could get it to operate properly..