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> The first iPhone was pretty terrible. I definitely do not think that opinion was widespread. If anything I think that the biggest discussed shortcoming of th

> The first iPhone was pretty terrible. I definitely do not think that opinion was widespread. If anything I think that the biggest discussed shortcoming of the first iPhone was that it was only available on AT&T.

herval 3y ago
It was usable on any other network, I had one and it wasn’t AT&T locked Compared to all the smartphones of the time, it was a slow toy with no apps and a 2G connection that was completely worthless It looked nice though, and eventually it got an app store (unnoficially first), and the overall UX was a clear winner (nobody believed touch screens would ever replace blackberry style devices!)
- lotsofpulp 3y ago
  https://appleinsider.com/articles/10/05/10/apple_att_originally_agreed_to_iphone_exclusivity_until_2012 https://appleinsider.com/articles/10/05/10/apple_att_origina... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_iPhone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_iPhone > When Apple announced the iPhone on January 9, 2007,[38] it was sold only with AT&T (formerly Cingular) contracts in the United States.[32] After 18 months of negotiations, Steve Jobs reached an agreement with the wireless division of AT&T[39] to be the iPhone's exclusive carrier. Consumers were unable to use any other carrier without unlocking their device.
  - makeitdouble 3y ago
    A few people had it in Japan connected to docomo as a GSM phone. I suppose there were workarounds for other carriers as well. I don't know how they did it, but "life finds a way" ?
  - hollandheese 3y ago
    There were apps and hacks to sim unlock the original iPhone. I was using mine on T-Mobile after using it for a couple of months on prepaid AT&T GoPhone.
  - herval 3y ago
    I definitely did not use AT&T :) (in fact I didn’t even use my iPhone in the US)
    - vel0city 3y ago
      > on any other network > I didn’t even use my iPhone in the US So you can't really describe the experience for the several different US carriers which it didn't work on, and thus can't really say it worked on any other network. Verizon was a network it didn't work on, and thus fails the "any other network" standard you set earlier.
      - herval 3y ago
        Pedantic much? It worked on any GSM network. Tmobile for instance. Verizon and Sprint were the exceptions in the US, since they weren’t GSM.
        vel0city 3y ago
        It is not a minor detail, Verizon and Sprint were two absolutely massive carriers and it was truly impossible to run the iPhone on those networks. And running it on T-Mobile meant voiding your AT&T contract and paying some big fees if buying it first-hand. Practically speaking, to most consumers it was only AT&T. It is not being pedantic to point out someone is saying something massively untrue. Your comment makes it sound like anyone could just easily take an OG iPhone and run it on any network, but in reality, to US consumers it was only a few smaller networks and only after breaking an expensive contract. See how that's more than just a pedantic difference?
ChrisMarshallNY 3y ago
In the case of my company, the camera was bad. Also, it took over a year to be able to write apps for it. JS Web apps were not “apps.”
ssl-3 3y ago
For example: It didn't multitask, even though other pocket computers for a Long Time had at least the appearance of multitasking. It didn't have the ability to install any additional software, even though other pocket computers for a Long Time handled third-party software just fine. It didn't even have a copy/paste function, even though [WTF? Srsly, Apple?]. All of these things were eventually corrected by Apple, but it was pretty awful until they were corrected: For quite some time, the iPhone was just a rather fancy touchscreen music player with telephone and SMS programs tacked on. (More damning: All of these things were corrected very quickly by third parties via jailbreaks. Some of us were having a ball with first-gen IOS devices very early on in the game, but Apple wasn't any help in getting that accomplished.)
- pazimzadeh 3y ago
  Yeah, but the first iPod touch was great. It came out only 3 months after the iPhone. It seems like the Vision Pro 1 has the M2 so that when the Vision, or Vision Air comes out, it will be at least as powerful as the first Pro. And the Pro 2 can have the M3.
  - ssl-3 3y ago
    First iPod Touch was even worse: It had all of the limitations of the iPhone, plus it additionally lacked cellular connectivity, messaging, voice, Bluetooth, GPS, speaker, Bluetooth, and camera.
    - pazimzadeh 3y ago
      The first iPhone didn't have GPS either. No iPods had speakers back then so that wasn't missed, you just used your earbuds. It was great for browsing the web and media consumption, since you either had WiFi or you didn't (no slow Edge network to tease you). Once the App store came out you had Instapaper for offline reading, and Google Voice for messaging/calls.
      - ssl-3 3y ago
RattlesnakeJake 3y ago
No copy/paste & no apps were the main criticisms, given that Windows, Palm, & other "less-powerful" devices from that era had those features.
- draculero 3y ago
  The lack of Flash support was mentioned a lot of times.
- makeitdouble 3y ago
  Bugginess was to me the main criticism. Albeit not from the computer nerds who knew what they were getting, but the general public who thought they were buying a phone on par with the Motorola, Nokia or Panasonic phones in term of reliability.
Rapzid 3y ago
I remember what I was doing when I first saw it. Eating lunch with a work friend who bought it. I remember what I was eating. It was incredible and obviously a game changer.
chaostheory 3y ago
That opinion was so widespread that it was still common for people to dismiss the second iPhone version.
makeitdouble 3y ago
We should bear in mind that at the time it launched many early adopters were on the fence and kept a second phone around (most people around me did until basically the iPhone 4). We look back at it as a fun area, but it was in part because we accepted it was flawed and limited. When trying to use the iPhone seriously, at some point it wouldn't receive calls anymore (just silently crash the deamon receiving it, you'd never know if not told by the caller afterwards), drop active calls when battery was too low (single digit), call quality could be horrible, stuff would crash from time to time. Memory would leak like a sueve from everywhere so rebooting the phone every now and then was good hygiene. It's only after the 3GS that it stabilized, otherwise antennagate would have been just another tuesday IMO. It was still a stellar device, but not a fully reliable device in any way shape or form.
kybernetikos 3y ago
My memory of it was that when it first came out, it was worse in all ways compared to the best of what already existed, save one, and that was capacitive multi-touch. That was a big enough improvement in itself that nothing else mattered.

herval 3y ago

It was usable on any other network, I had one and it wasn’t AT&T locked Compared to all the smartphones of the time, it was a slow toy with no apps and a 2G connection that was completely worthless It looked nice though, and eventually it got an app store (unnoficially first), and the overall UX was a clear winner (nobody believed touch screens would ever replace blackberry style devices!)

lotsofpulp 3y ago
https://appleinsider.com/articles/10/05/10/apple_att_originally_agreed_to_iphone_exclusivity_until_2012 https://appleinsider.com/articles/10/05/10/apple_att_origina... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_iPhone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_iPhone > When Apple announced the iPhone on January 9, 2007,[38] it was sold only with AT&T (formerly Cingular) contracts in the United States.[32] After 18 months of negotiations, Steve Jobs reached an agreement with the wireless division of AT&T[39] to be the iPhone's exclusive carrier. Consumers were unable to use any other carrier without unlocking their device.
- makeitdouble 3y ago
  A few people had it in Japan connected to docomo as a GSM phone. I suppose there were workarounds for other carriers as well. I don't know how they did it, but "life finds a way" ?
- hollandheese 3y ago
  There were apps and hacks to sim unlock the original iPhone. I was using mine on T-Mobile after using it for a couple of months on prepaid AT&T GoPhone.
- herval 3y ago
  I definitely did not use AT&T :) (in fact I didn’t even use my iPhone in the US)
  - vel0city 3y ago
    > on any other network > I didn’t even use my iPhone in the US So you can't really describe the experience for the several different US carriers which it didn't work on, and thus can't really say it worked on any other network. Verizon was a network it didn't work on, and thus fails the "any other network" standard you set earlier.
    - herval 3y ago
      Pedantic much? It worked on any GSM network. Tmobile for instance. Verizon and Sprint were the exceptions in the US, since they weren’t GSM.
      - vel0city 3y ago
        It is not a minor detail, Verizon and Sprint were two absolutely massive carriers and it was truly impossible to run the iPhone on those networks. And running it on T-Mobile meant voiding your AT&T contract and paying some big fees if buying it first-hand. Practically speaking, to most consumers it was only AT&T. It is not being pedantic to point out someone is saying something massively untrue. Your comment makes it sound like anyone could just easily take an OG iPhone and run it on any network, but in reality, to US consumers it was only a few smaller networks and only after breaking an expensive contract. See how that's more than just a pedantic difference?

ChrisMarshallNY 3y ago

In the case of my company, the camera was bad. Also, it took over a year to be able to write apps for it. JS Web apps were not “apps.”

ssl-3 3y ago

For example: It didn't multitask, even though other pocket computers for a Long Time had at least the appearance of multitasking. It didn't have the ability to install any additional software, even though other pocket computers for a Long Time handled third-party software just fine. It didn't even have a copy/paste function, even though [WTF? Srsly, Apple?]. All of these things were eventually corrected by Apple, but it was pretty awful until they were corrected: For quite some time, the iPhone was just a rather fancy touchscreen music player with telephone and SMS programs tacked on. (More damning: All of these things were corrected very quickly by third parties via jailbreaks. Some of us were having a ball with first-gen IOS devices very early on in the game, but Apple wasn't any help in getting that accomplished.)

pazimzadeh 3y ago
Yeah, but the first iPod touch was great. It came out only 3 months after the iPhone. It seems like the Vision Pro 1 has the M2 so that when the Vision, or Vision Air comes out, it will be at least as powerful as the first Pro. And the Pro 2 can have the M3.
- ssl-3 3y ago
  First iPod Touch was even worse: It had all of the limitations of the iPhone, plus it additionally lacked cellular connectivity, messaging, voice, Bluetooth, GPS, speaker, Bluetooth, and camera.
  - pazimzadeh 3y ago
    The first iPhone didn't have GPS either. No iPods had speakers back then so that wasn't missed, you just used your earbuds. It was great for browsing the web and media consumption, since you either had WiFi or you didn't (no slow Edge network to tease you). Once the App store came out you had Instapaper for offline reading, and Google Voice for messaging/calls.
    - ssl-3 3y ago

RattlesnakeJake 3y ago

No copy/paste & no apps were the main criticisms, given that Windows, Palm, & other "less-powerful" devices from that era had those features.

draculero 3y ago
The lack of Flash support was mentioned a lot of times.
makeitdouble 3y ago
Bugginess was to me the main criticism. Albeit not from the computer nerds who knew what they were getting, but the general public who thought they were buying a phone on par with the Motorola, Nokia or Panasonic phones in term of reliability.

Rapzid 3y ago

I remember what I was doing when I first saw it. Eating lunch with a work friend who bought it. I remember what I was eating. It was incredible and obviously a game changer.

chaostheory 3y ago

That opinion was so widespread that it was still common for people to dismiss the second iPhone version.

makeitdouble 3y ago

We should bear in mind that at the time it launched many early adopters were on the fence and kept a second phone around (most people around me did until basically the iPhone 4). We look back at it as a fun area, but it was in part because we accepted it was flawed and limited. When trying to use the iPhone seriously, at some point it wouldn't receive calls anymore (just silently crash the deamon receiving it, you'd never know if not told by the caller afterwards), drop active calls when battery was too low (single digit), call quality could be horrible, stuff would crash from time to time. Memory would leak like a sueve from everywhere so rebooting the phone every now and then was good hygiene. It's only after the 3GS that it stabilized, otherwise antennagate would have been just another tuesday IMO. It was still a stellar device, but not a fully reliable device in any way shape or form.

kybernetikos 3y ago

My memory of it was that when it first came out, it was worse in all ways compared to the best of what already existed, save one, and that was capacitive multi-touch. That was a big enough improvement in itself that nothing else mattered.