Why the new iPhone iOS4 is a failure.

Dear Apple:

I have eagerly awaited each and every update of the iPhone OS (including 4) for just one feature: The ability to delete multiple SMS conversations.

This message is an exercise in personal restraint so feel free to pepper it with with the most offensive and vulgar words you can muster, so I leave the obscenity to you.

Every other regular phone and smartphone on the planet has had this feature ever since text messaging/SMS was enabled by all carriers. It is a seemingly simple feature to add: "Delete All", or even a two step process to account for people who are careless, something like "Select All" and then "Delete All". For an abundance of caution you could even add one more "Are you sure?".

The mail app lets you select multiple conversations/messages and delete them, so you have the know-how and you have the technology.

The SMS/Text messaging app allows you to select multiple messages within a conversation. That is quite handy. However, if you have other customers who, like me, receive hundreds of messages via SMS gateways - each one of those messages is treated as a new conversation, depending on the carrier. AT&T for example assigns a new ID to each message it relays, thus eveery email-to-sms message I get is treated as a new conversation.

Every release of your the iPhone OS including your newest (4) has brought with it the same disappointment. The internet is littered with articles and complaints about this. Currently, the only viable way to clear your SMS messages is to jailbreak your iPhone and use a rather simple app that clears the SMS message database, a rather simple if not nearly idiotic trick.

So it comes to this Apple, for your complete lack of attention to such a small thing to change (I would have rather have the ability to delete multiple SMS than a reflective app-bar) I bid you good-bye. I will do everything in my power to dissuade anyone who even thinks about buying an iPhone or any other Apple product, not to buy an iPhone or possibly any Apple product they think of buying.

As for my current iPhone, I will soon be replacing it with an Android based phone. If you are so inclined, stay tuned to my youtube channel (gargolito) for a very special send-off.


Sincerely,

Anthony Camilo

PS: I currently have 913 "conversations" in my text app, it only takes a few days for me to accumulate that many.

Apple, I fucking loathe you.

***UPDATE***

I spoke to an AT&T rep to switch my slower than an i286-running-vista-pc iPhone 3G for a Samsung Captivate. I casually mentioned my disdain for the iPhone and a shorter sweeter version of this post. He explained that AT&T offers an "Enterprise" messaging plan that does not assign a new ID for every SMS gateway message, and the plan could be extended to me for the low price of $20 extra per month. So both AT&T and Apple are in cahoots on this, for a service that costs neither of them a red cent. So fuck you both, AT&T and Apple. Fuck you very much.