New iPhone 3G PC user facing loads of PC specific iPhone issues...HELP!!

Question

I finally switched from windows mobile to iphone (my most recent device was the Verizon XV6800), and have to say that I am very close to switching back in the coming days....
There were obviously things that annoyed me about the windows mobile pocket pc phones but I didn't realize until now how much they did do. The iPhone is very cool but lacks multiple basic functions that seem intentionally left out.
BUT I love the iPhone for all of it's other functionality which as I'm sure everyone knows is absolutely amazing, and would rather not switch back to my primitive-yet functional windows mobile device, so I was hoping someone here could recommend some options I have to deal with these issues...
Below is a list of the 'deal-breakers' for me, and unless I can find a solution to address most of them (if not all of them), I am likely to switch back to my Windows Mobile phone...
1) No ability to synchronize your Outlook inbox and email folders (personal data file or .pst). I have been an Outlook user for years and am not about to change. What's so hard about syncing the emails in my inbox and my email folders? Windows mobile has been doing that for years.
2) No ability to sync tasks. What??!! I've already forgotten to do a couple things since I received my iPhone last week. This is basic. And the fact that Apple is letting a company, Chapura, create an app, "KeyTask" that syncs your Outlook tasks for $10 per year is criminal. This is a basic function that should be included and is in all WM phones.
3) Outlook notes. No support. Enough said.
4) No ability to invite attendees when creating a calendar event. I don't even use this option more than with my wife to remind each other of what we are doing but how then are business users supposed to adopt to this? This is just a basic feature of Calendar that has been on WMobile devices for years.
5) Cut and paste. The day I got my iphone someone texted me and asked me to txt them another person's phone number. Instead of going into my contacts and copying the number I had to find a pen and paper and write it down, then type it back into my txt. No stylus but carry a pen! This is incomprehensible. My pocket pc 2002 device had this feature and palm had this feature in the 1990s.
6) No ability to save files to the hard drive. Why? It's a hard-drive. I own it. Let me use it. What do you care if I save files to it? I don't want to have everything in my email and open it from there. What happens when I'm on the subway for 30 minutes and no internet access? Saving files on hard-drives has been a basic feature of computers since the 1980s. I want to put word docs, excel docs, powerpoint docs, PDFs and other stuff on my device to reference at my whim.
7) Why no T9 dialing to search for contacts? With over 500 contacts in my phone, if someone isn't in my favorites its pretty annoying finding them. The number of steps I need to make to actually call a phone number is multiple times more than on my windows mobile 6 phone. If you would just add T9 it would be a huge help. Then I could find contacts with only my thumb.
8) GPS. Why no turn-by-turn directions?
9) I need Office Mobile suite. Many MACs already have office. Why not the iphone? How is it supposed to be business ready without mobile office?
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated... Thanks so much!

Answer 1

m,
I, for one think you have made many very valid points. I was amazed at what was left out of the iPhone OS and now, not available thru apps. My predecessor to the iPhone was a Treo. Pretty limited on bells and whistles, but long on basic functionality and ability to sync with Outlook. For Apple to come out with a device that leaves out so many key functions, as aptly enumerated in your message, is jaw dropping. Cool aside, function in a business tool is paramount!
One correction: email folder syncing is possible with an IMAP account. Not perfect, but functional.
I have been using KeyTasks from Chapura to sync Tasks with Outlook on my PC. (Seems I am the only one on the planet.) It does the syncing reasonably well. However, some basic issues handicap it from Chapura's version on the Treo couunterpart:
-It crashes every time I try to create a task on the iphone.
-There is no support for "Recurring Tasks". No indication a task is recurring. cannot create "recurring reminder" (If I could create a task). When I check a task completed, it does the same in outlook and the recurring reminder is intitiated. Kind of blind faith on the iPhone.
-No "Contacts" field to just click over to a contact entry to call or make notes. I find I have to put contacts names in the "notes" field. Shouldn't have to.
Deficiencies aside, KeyTasks is the only game in town to sync Tasks between iPhone and Outlook. $10 for an essential business tool? How quickly will people spend 5 times that for cool entertainment every week? We must be the only ones out here for which Outlook Tasks capability is non-negotiable and we need to carry it on our iPhones!