iPhone Push notifications are a mess. Needs a complete revamp.

I’m surprised iPhone users haven’t been more vocal about this.

Virtually every iPhone user out there would have been delighted when push notifications for the iPhone were announced. “A solid alternative to the ‘background apps'”, or so we thought.

From my experiences and listening to the various bits of discussion out there, I’m not the only one is who is extremely disappointed with what Apple has put together here. I used to be a Blackberry user (Pearl) and used it to talk, chat and browse the web for two days straight, without a need for recharge. Oohh how I took that for granted…

Now, with the iPhone, part of me wonders whether I’m better off returning to the Blackberry or yes, an Android. Don’t get me wrong, unreliable push notifications, poor reception and bad battery aside…I love the iPhone! It’s a gorgeous piece of kit but frankly, a phone, it is not.

With regard to push notifications, the main pitfalls I’ve encountered are:

• Notifications just frequently not working or appearing at all.
• Notifications soaking up battery life – and fast.
• Very few useful notification apps out there that  actually support push notifications, ahem…Skype. (apparently this is due to Apple being ill prepared.)
• The ugly massive button that appears on the home screen – who designed that?It only shows the most recent notification, not good.
• Notifications frequently do not arrive or arrive very late when the iPhone is ‘hibernating’ or not in wifi range, pointless.
• Often applications require logging back into before app push notifications get working again – also pointless.

If I’m brutally honest, in my book, there’s little positive to say about push notifications on the iPhone. I’d like to believe that Apple may revamp the entire system in the short term, but judging by how long it took for copy & paste to arrive – it’s going to be a long time coming.

My mind ponders the idea of getting an Android and making that my primary communications device, whist using an iPod Touch for its media playback, gaming and quirky app capabilities….

Am I wrong here? Are you iPhone users out there actually satisfied?