I was reading a post over at iLounge earlier, and then a linked story at Reuters on plans for new iPhone apps from security companies Mcafee and Symantec. When I first saw those two company names, I thought of antivirus / firewall / PC protection type software “ which I have no desire to see on the iPhone anytime soon.
Without the ability to run in the background, that type of software is hopelessly crippled, and if it was able to run in the background (if Apple really is changing course on this subject) then I feel sure they would chew up battery life and system performance in horrendous ways. And of course “ though no platform is impregnable to malware “ the iPhone OS so far has very little to worry about in these areas, and even if it did get exploited, it is easy enough to restore it to a default build within minutes.
What did interest me quite a lot in the Reuters article was this line:
Symantec, the No. 1 software security maker, is looking at developing a backup service that would protect data on the iPhone and allow users to use the device to access information stored on their PCs or on the Web
Backup is the magic word in that excerpt. Hurrah for backup options! This is something I sorely miss from Windows Mobile days “ effective and flexible backup methods. The existing options on the iPhone are pretty pathetic in my view.
I ‘ve tried MobileMe and pretty much hated it. It was incredibly unreliable and limited. I ‘ve seen reports that it is much improved, and far more stable now, but I haven ‘t even given it a second chance and won ‘t be renewing it “ I expected a lot more for $99/year.
Then there ‘s iTunes backup, which is not far off entirely useless. Firstly, there are no options that we can set with it “ we have no say in what is backed up, and what is left out of backup, each time it ‘s done. There are many times when I ‘d love to be able to tell it to only backup apps ‘ data, as nothing else major has changed “ but I can ‘t, it ‘s an all or nothing exercise each time. And the ‘all ‘ doesn ‘t even get all of what is on the iPhone anyway “ it does not backup notes, or the Camera Roll, or positions of apps on home screens, or call logs, just as a few quick examples.
Even more importantly, even the limited and option-less backups we get are often completely unusable “ because when your phone encounters many different types of issues that require a restore to resolve, it is accepted wisdom that your chances of resolving issues are hugely increased by setting up as a ‘new phone ‘ “ which means not using a backup.
For a device that wants to be our go-to mobile device, a true mobile computer and the king of smartphones, this is such a huge, and not very smart, miss.
There are very few things I miss about Windows Mobile, but this is certainly one of them. Backup options were plentiful and excellent, in every sense. There were a number of stellar apps to help you in this area “ my favorite for years was Sprite Backup, but there were others that were also excellent options. You also had a comprehensive range of selections on what “ and even when “ to backup.
Here ‘s hoping that Apple allows Symantec to develop a strong backup offering for the iPhone “ i.e doesn ‘t prevent them from doing so through restrictions on system access or similar. Good backup – real, usable backup should ‘ve been an iPhone feature from early days. Obviously Apple is not going to provide it, so they should just let Symantec and others get on with doing it for them.
Your thoughts? Is backup a big deal to you, or a non-issue?
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