Anand Reviews the Apple iPhone 3G
by Anand Lal Shimpi on July 16, 2008 8:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Mobile
The AIM Application
This is the one application that honestly just bothers me. It could have been so incredibly good, and completely negated the need for text messages - but, it doesn’t - largely thanks to the current iPhone OS not supporting a key feature which will be enabled later this year.
The first iPhone completely redefined texting for me. I had used SMS in the past but I just never really got into it, I was far more of an IM-addict than a text addict. And it was the first sign that perhaps I was actually getting old, since all of my friends who are in highschool or college now do nothing but text each other, and many of them actually hate instant messaging.
The iPhone changed all of that however - I quickly burned through the 200 text messages that came with the first iPhone’s service plan and needed to upgrade to the 1500 package almost immediately. As I wrote last year, the iPhone’s SMS application was quite possibly the most intuitive SMS interface I’d ever seen, and it was beyond easy to actually have a conversation with someone over SMS.
There’s nothing tremendously unique about the iPhone’s SMS app, it looks and works a lot like iChat on OS X. What I really wanted, was iChat on the iPhone, I wanted an IM client that worked the way the SMS app did, but didn’t force me to pay per message. With the iPhone 3G and the 2.0 firmware Apple still hasn’t delivered its own iChat app for the platform, but AOL has.
The problem is that Apple doesn’t allow applications to remain active in memory once you’ve navigated away from them, it’s a key distinction that is designed to keep the iPhone’s interface running as quickly as possible. With an IM client however, you need it to be running in the background so you can be notified of new IMs even when your phone is locked and in your pocket, just like a SMS.
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I love sushi
Apple developed a framework to allow for applications to push notifications to the iPhone without requiring the app remains active and in the foreground. The process works like this: when an application establishes a connection to its server over the cellular or WiFi network (e.g. AIM client on the iPhone connects to an AIM server), there’s a persistent notification connection established between an Apple server and the phone as well. Regardless of whether on the cellular or a WiFi network, your phone will have an IP address that Apple/AT&T are aware of - Apple will simply keep an active connection to your IP, even after you’ve closed the application. Then when the application server (e.g. AIM server) wants to send data back to your phone, it simply goes through Apple’s push server and the data is then pushed to your phone much like a SMS. In the case of an IM client, you can get notifications that messages are available, you can get previews of the actual messages and you can get sound notifications like you would when receiving a SMS.
Unfortunately, this persistent push connection to your iPhone isn’t enabled in the public 2.0 firmware and won’t be available until September. Yet AOL’s AIM client is available, in beta form, today. Herein lies the problem - without support for push notifications, the AIM client is mostly useless as a constant communication device - you can only receive IMs if your phone is unlocked and you’re actually in the AIM app. Obviously, come September, that limitation should get solved but then there are other concerns.
Despite the popularity of AOL’s Instant Messenger, AOL has never done a great job of making a good IM client. Pidgin, Trillian, Adium and even iChat are infinitely better, and the same holds true for AOL’s iPhone client. It’s fairly simple but honestly, AOL just needed to copy Apple’s SMS interface but instead it made the iPhone AIM client feel more like a crappy 3rd party application, than something that belongs on the phone.
Switching between conversations is pretty easy, you just swipe left-right/right-left to flip through all active conversations. The problem is that whenever you start a new conversation with someone, it adds the conversation to the stack.
Woops, I accidentally clicked on this person - there's no easy way to close this conversation, I have to go back to the main menu, select active IMs and then delete it.
For example, let’s say I want to send my friend Manny an IM. I’d select his name from my buddy list and it’d bring up a chat window, simple enough right? Now let’s say I want to go and IM Gary; I go back to my buddy list, select Gary’s name and another IM window is added “behind” Manny’s window. If I am done talking to Manny, there’s no good way of closing his IM window. I have to select Active IMs from the bottom of my screen, hit edit, then delete our conversation, which as you’d expect, also deletes our conversation.
The AIM iPhone client also uses standard IM sounds, which can be pretty annoying. Obviously putting your iPhone into silent mode will get rid of the sounds but it’d be nice to be able to customize the AIM sounds.
The AIM client is obviously in beta, but I honestly can’t help but think that the best option would be for Apple to develop its own iChat client for the iPhone. The Apple-made apps continue to be the best made software for the iPhone, by a large degree, and I suspect that this will continue for quite a while as iPhone app development is in its infancy.
The biggest issue is the lack of background notifications, which makes the AIM app pretty much useless as I don’t keep my phone unlocked and running AIM all the time. We’ll have to see what happens come September, but as it stands this is one major feature that I wanted last June that Apple still hasn’t delivered.
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Sunrise089 - Friday, July 18, 2008 - link
Wow I wish I had first comment here so I could get a response.In Anand's otherwise near-perfect review, he talked about Exchange support but didn't cover my #1 iPhone question: does Exchange support work without the $45 Enterprise Data plan? I can't for the life of my get a conclusive answer if the Enterprise plan is required for exchange, or just required if the iPhone is going to be purchased or paid for through a business.
araczynski - Friday, July 18, 2008 - link
i'm still holding out for the day the iphone comes with some real screen resolution.if the N810 can do much better than this, why can't the almighty apple?
sleepr0 - Friday, July 18, 2008 - link
Lets see:- The 3G doesn't fit the old cradle and the cradle is not included - $15.
- Old cover doesn't fit - $20.
- Unlimited data up $10/month.
- Text up $5/month.
- Cellular triangulation works nearly as well as GPS.
- 3G not significantly faster than Edge and all the new users will take a load off of the Edge network, freeing up bandwidth and making Edge a bit faster.
- Battery life worse.
I'll wait for Version 3, thanks.
wvh - Thursday, July 17, 2008 - link
Why do you buy a new phone when you are happy with your old one – it has pretty much the same functionality anyway? What is wrong with all those people who buy something just because Apple (or whoever) releases it? All these morons queueing up, did they all accidentally happen to break their phone the day before?It's a nice in-depth article, no remarks there, I've just heard enough already about this consumer hype. It's just talking people into fake needs.
Blast me for being negative, but you know I'm right.
michael2k - Friday, July 18, 2008 - link
The problem is that people aren't happy with their old one, and it doesn't have the same functionality, so that is why they queue for the iPhone. So essentially all your base assumptions are wrong.There is nothing wrong with these people; there is something wrong with the RZRS et al they already own, because they were broken the minute they bought them. No accident, they were just made that way.
Giacomo - Friday, July 18, 2008 - link
No, actually you aren't right. You could be, if we were here to make free-philosophy, but that's not the case, we're here to talk about hardware (and related).So then, you are accusing the mass of an excess of "hype" around the iPhone, and well, while it's definitely true that many of those people will buy it for "trendy" purposes, there are surely others (like me) who are about to buy it because they just like it and could benefit from it. In my particular case, I have lost my iPod Mini (...) and my cellphone is at its 4th year of life, with the keyboard almost died (intense 20.000+ sms usage in these years). The iPhone, by simply being, to me, an iPod which calls and writes sms, is great to have both the devices in the "main" pocket.
Full comfort over the whole year (no matter what clothes I'm wearing, the front/right pocket does ALWAYS have my cellphone inside, and thanks to the iPhone, the iPod as well), a brilliant keyboard for my heavy SMS usage, and I could be happy without anything else. Plus, there's something else actually, and I'll surely enjoy.
If we had to think like you in your post, we should all tell you: Why do you read Anandtech? You can live with a 5 years old PC without problems nor upgrades, if you just use some Office, browse the web and check your mail. If you game, well, that's energy consuming, money-wasting, time-wasting, and you should quit. But, of course, none in here would say that to you, neither would I.
Regards
Giacomo
scottwilkins - Thursday, July 17, 2008 - link
First, I've had AT&T for years. Never stepped in a store, and never talked with them about a purchase. They were very helpful and darn quick about replacing my wife's phone when it died. AT&T is the easiest to work with (and I work with most of them because I support a lot of folks on different networks) Plus, the AT&T signal in the places I go beats out all others hands down. So for you to say their signal is bad is very objective and quite stupid, since you did it only probably in one room and not overall.Also, your indications that other phones can't do what the iPhone can do are all false. One thing the iPhone CAN'T do that many many other phones can do is change. It can't change it's interface to suit other purposes, it can't change it's battery, and it can't change carriers. The 3G's only add over the old iPhone is 3G and GPS. All other features are software, and now available on the original iPhone. So an upgrade is useless until you contract is up.
Apple is a closed box. I prefer freedom.
michael2k - Thursday, July 17, 2008 - link
Uh, with a soft interface and touchscreen, the iPhone is just about the only device where it's interface can change as needed; you get two buttons when in Camera mode, 20+ in Calculator mode, 26+ in note-taking mode, etc.Ryl3x - Thursday, July 17, 2008 - link
I will buy at lunch. I read alot of reviews over the web including sites that dedicate themselves to phones. I found this to be one that i could relate to. Thanks.DeesTroy - Thursday, July 17, 2008 - link
My younger brother works for Garmin. You almost certainly won't get voice directions, at least not for free. The licensing agreements with the few companies that make the maps used in mapping software (e.g. Navteq) are very specific about what you can and can't do with the maps they provide. The mapping companies currently charge significantly more if you want to do voice directions. Nokia's purchase of Navteq makes a huge lot of sense given what one can do with maps, a GPS, and Internet all in one package. All of this is probably part of the reason that Garmin is getting into the phone business with the nuvifone.