While Apple has got a lot of things right in the iPhone, here are a few annoyances I have with the platform/gadget.

AppStore is cool, but Apples rules and rights of refusal are not. There are many stories of weird rejections and strict rules against improving on the experience with apps that cover basic functionality Apple itself already have developed solutions for. This means that nobody can create a better music player (with better codec support, integrated Last.fm scrobbling or other nice features), a better video player (again maybe including support for commonly used “internet-codecs”) or release a better browser or calendar..

It also means Apple, or rather Apples app-judges, can refuse to distribute an app even without giving a reason why. I know this is “the Apple way” but it's stupid and frustrating. Even Microsoft would know better

I already mentioned it, but it's a major annoyance for me; the lack of codecs the i*-experience can handle (iTunes, iPhone, iPod). If you are like me and have a lot of FLACs lying around, you're pretty much left to your own devices. There are various solutions to this, mp3fs being one, but nothing would be better than if iTunes could just get it right and convert my FLACs directly for me when sending to the portable gadget.

The connector required for charging is also a minus, not the biggest one, and one that will probably resolve itself anyway, but it's still less than optimal.

I don't think Apple will ever fix the two biggest, most important issues I have with the platform. And if you are now laughing and saying that this is to be expected when you sell out to a vendor of proprietary software and platforms, you're of course right But there are simply too many things going for the iPhone right now, and the Android needs to grow up before it can be a viable alternative. (It probably will in time.)

(As English is our new official company language, and my tweets are now mainly English I think I'll switch to primarily blogging in English. This might change back without warning.)

I've been weighing it back and forth for a while. Which smartphone will be my first, after the Nokia N93 fiasco some years ago? (Symbian S60 seemed so cool back then.) Well, I think I've come to the conclusion that it'll be an iPhone 3GS. Here is why.

I like Android as a mobile OS, probably more than iPhone OSX. But, and this is an important objection, there is no comparably cool hardware devices out yet to run Android. The iPhone 3GS hardware is awesome, has a fast GL capable 3D chip and a speedy ARM CPU. A colleague, who recently got himself an HTC Magic, said that after getting accustomed to the graphics/3D capabilities of the iPod Touch (1st gen) he wasn't exactly bowled over by the Magic.

Then there is the camera features, or lack of, on the Android devices so far. Neither the HTC Magic nor the HTC Hero have very sophisticated camera features. They're decent enough for sure, but one thing the N93 actually did pretty well was to eliminate the need for bringing a pocket digicam. I still have a decent amount of “in the moment” snaps and vids, shot with the phonecam. This includes the need for a proper flash/camera led. Are you listening HTC? The Samsung 7500 something rather will feature a 5 megapixel camera, but megapixels aren't everything, it could be good though.

Another factor is the amount of available addons, cases, cables, gadgets, stuff and weirdness for the iPhone family. This is of course not something one can blame Google or HTC for, it's just a matter of Apple selling so many devices that the 3rd party manufacturers are sprouting around the platform.

The AppStore and the amount of awesome apps and games is another strong reason to get the iPhone. Multitouch and the aforementioned 3D chip launched the iPhone/iPod Touch as a gaming platform in its own right. Sony is forced on the defence and just launched the “PSP Go” as a countermeasure (I don't think it's a good counter though, more on that later). The AppStore is mostly a win for everyone, it's an effective content distribution platform with a massive potential customer base.

Summing it up, when I want the iPhone it's not simply as an advanced smartphone. The iPhone will enable me to bring one gadget that does a lot of things well enough that it eliminates the need for other gadgets in my pockets. No longer will I need a separate mp3-player, I can shoot photos and short videos, I can surf the web efficiently with a browser that works (the Android also covers this bit well), I have a mobile gaming device with a good selection of cheap and cool games on the go. Throw in a GPS and I'm pretty content. This is also why the PSP Go will not succeed. It might be a decent gaming platform (but less so than the Nintendo DS), but it still lacks the other features of the iPhone.

With the iPhone platform, Apple has done a lot of things right, it mixes an attractive OS, good application support, a decent mix of features with a properly sized hardware platform (Nokia has failed on the latter point so many times). At the moment I cannot see any real competition for my kroner. Now I just need to choose a provider. Any thoughts why choose one over the other?

There are sore spots with the iPhone / Apple experience. These will be the focus of my next post..