Why I almost didn’t get an iPhone
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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..
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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 😛
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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, <a href="http://elektronisk.net/node/12">mp3fs</a> 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.
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The connector required for charging is also a minus, not the biggest one, and one that will probably <a href="http://www.macrumors.com/2009/06/29/apple-to-adopt-micro-usb-connectors-for-iphone-charging-in-europe/">resolve itself</a> anyway, but it's still less than optimal.
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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 <a href="http://elektronisk.net/node/13/">too many things</a> 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.)
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