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top11 missing mail features for iPhone! update

6th of Aug, 2008ce* in: blog, ideas

As we use e-mail more than SMS here in Japan, I have a look at what could be changed for the Japanese device, by means of a software update. This is basically my wish list for this already amazing device. Practically all of the wished for features listed are apparent on a normal everyday Japanese phone.

11. NEW: cannot forward attachments

Often, phone emails written in Japanese are delivered as “mime-attachment.txt”. Without any form of copy and paste I often forward mails to my computer for difficult kanji translation. When they arrive as attachments, I have no means of forwarding them.
10. E-Mail Names

E-Mails are sometimes listed in the inbox under the email address and not the persons name, however clicking on the e-mail will show you their name not the e-mail address.
9. Heavy Data

Replying to an e-mail always includes the senders message, this must be highly annoying for the recipient on a mobile phone, and increases data sent over the networks.
8. No Alert! :(

Arriving e-mails don’t make the bell (or user editable) noise!! Only SMS do this, however in Japan people use e-mail in the same way other countries use SMS. So often, you don’t know if an email has arrived. Just a dull plunk noise that can’t be changed.
7. No Add to Contacts

if someone sends you their e-mail address or phone number in an e-mail or SMS, when you click on it, iPhone wants to compose a new e-mail or call them, where as it should ask you if you want to save the email address to a new or existing contact, as well as calling/mailing them or canceling.
6. Emoji

Japanese phones have the ability to send “emoji” which are basically a set of 100 or so smiley faces and icons. (that are also used on the Japanese equivalent to “WAP” mobile net to save bandwidth). Personally I don’t mind, save for the e-mails full of meaningless blank squares, which is annoying.
5. No Auto Draft (intermittent)

When you have no reception or wifi and send an e-mail (for example on the train) sometimes the loading wheel just spins forever and the email is just lost, not saved as draft. Ideally the phone should know and not try to send and save a draft.
4. Contact Book is Slow

Contacts list is insanely slow to load, I only have 151 contacts but it can take up to 10 seconds to load, before finding the email or number I need.
3. No Groups for contacts

Adding a new contact does not let you file that contact away into a group (like “family” or “bitches”). In fact the only way to file a contact away into a group without adding them while in that group; sync with your computer’s address book; file contact into group; re sync with iPhone. (also you can’t make new photo groups [folders] and file photos, this all needs to be done on iPhoto)
2. Apple+C = no

No copy and paste. Nuff said.
1. Arg the Pain!

And number one, yep you might have guessed it; Japanese input hangs like a bastard. I can count 3 seconds between typing letters while the phone desperately searches some dark corner of the code libraries for the predictive Kanji. On a normal Japanese phone this is lightening-shit-off-a-shovel fast. This is the number one thing that needs to be updated as currently, it’s a royal pain in the arse for myself and people using the phone in Japanese, to type mails.

If you think about it they have had more than a year to make these bits better. Lets hope they do. (edit: 2.0.1 update didn’t list what was changed, no noticeable changes to the above)

noise (13)

yongfook, Wednesday, August 6, 2008, 16:22

Realtime email alerts do work, but only with a service that supports push email. me.com supports it, and so does ymail.com apparently. gmail.com is a matter of time I suppose.

I feel you with the Japanese input. It’s sluggish and the grammar recognition is shite.

hawken, Wednesday, August 6, 2008, 16:24

there is a real time alert which I use, but you can’t change the sound for it. more cowBell please.

Erik, Wednesday, August 6, 2008, 16:31

8. It’s only the i.softbank.jp account that doesn’t buzz or make a sound when e-mails arrive. MobileMe for example does. Maybe you have the phone in silent mode or turned off mail under settings/sound? It’s a shame you can’t choose what sound though.

SoftBank and Apple really need to sort out the i.softbank.jp issue though.

1. I have Swedish, English and Japanese keyboard turned on and all input is fast and smooth. I think you need the 2.0.1 update. And make sure only one of the JP keyboards are switched on.

All other points - totally agree. Would add to the list that Safari crashes so often I almost don’t want to use it anymore.

Doomsday, Wednesday, August 6, 2008, 16:40

8. My Email does make a sound when it arrives. You need push-mail if you want it to arrive instantly.

4. Update to system 2.0.1, and your address book speed will be fine. Scrolling generally is greatly improved.

2. Copy and paste is on the list of future features.

What else is missing?

- INTERNATIONAL CALL PREFIXES! PLEASE! Only Americans can come up with this. This thing doesn’t recognize international dialing codes. So to make international calls (or see the correct caller ID) I would have to change my entire address book. In fact I would have to change it whenever I change country! Or add additional entries for every contact I want to call from abroad, for every country I travel to, with the correct prefix. That’s information straight from Apple, I am not making this up. Apple, are you f*ucking serious??
- QR code reader. Those available in the app store don’t work. At all.
- A battery. Exchangeable please.
- Gloves. Or fingerprint-proof material.
- You can’t use your old chargers. Including Apple’s own HiFi system. What??
- Save files on your iPhone.
- Create attachments, especially VCards.
- E-mail software should state status clearly when contacting server, not just say “Checking…”

Ah well, now you got me started, I think I can easily come up with a top 100 missing features.

Doomsday, Wednesday, August 6, 2008, 16:43

Actually, the only thing missing is the 3rd generation iPhone, where Apple will have learned from all the mistakes they made with 1 and 2.

Right.

Neil, Wednesday, August 6, 2008, 17:39

You are a grumpy old git.

not sent from my iPhone.

Mike Sheetal, Thursday, August 7, 2008, 15:16

You missed QR code support.
While there are readers, the camera is not up to scratch to do an average sized Japanese QRcode. Basically it needs macro mode so it can focus on close/zoomed codes.
Also the readers need more realtime access to the camera… my old AU phone didn’t need you to taka photo of the code, you just had to point and it would eventually work it out itself.

Mike Sheetal, Thursday, August 7, 2008, 15:18

… and Felica so you can use for Suica on the trains.

Doomsday, Thursday, August 7, 2008, 19:29

And try-before-you buy demos of apps.

Neil, Friday, August 8, 2008, 9:42

US square peg technology forced into the Japanese round hole…it’s only for chatting up dippy women anyway so you guys got what you deserved buying the silly thing. Jeep do it too, the trip computer tells you how many gallons of ‘gasoline’ (US 128 fl.oz ones) you have left and how many miles you can drive before it konks out. Thats useful. The speedo is in km of course, and they did eventually work out where to stick the steering wheel but it doesn’t come with the factory fitted Japanized chick-magnet yet.

bjzaba, Thursday, August 14, 2008, 2:22

Was reading a blog today that said:

“This is a company so obsessed with UI and user experience that it hasn’t yet introduced something as basic as copy and paste on the iPhone 2.0 because, as is rumored, it hasn’t quite nailed a proper UI pattern.”

Apparently they’re working on it. Don’t know if that helps. ;)

Jason, Sunday, September 21, 2008, 1:37

I have been having problems sending mails to some of my friends with au phones. Sometimes when you use japanese it comes out all scrambled. Any help?

hawken, Sunday, September 21, 2008, 13:57

yes I get mojibake emails too… they need to sort this out

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11. NEW: cannot forward attachments

10. E-Mail Names

9. Heavy Data

8. No Alert! :(

7. No Add to Contacts

6. Emoji

5. No Auto Draft (intermittent)

4. Contact Book is Slow

3. No Groups for contacts

2. Apple+C = no

1. Arg the Pain!

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