iPhone 4 Necessities

As I crawl through hundreds of unread feed items each day, a certain Apple handheld device is sure to be mentioned a few dozen times. As it stands, the iPhone is the most popular phone probably ever, and since 2007 has been revolutionizing the mobile industry. It has forced competitors to innovate, yet as of yet no other device has been able to stand up to the might of the iPhone.

Apple are in a great position right now. Sales have never been higher, even more incredible is the fact that this is during economic turmoil. The iPhone native App store now has over 100,000 applications, compared to a measly 1,000 apps the Palm App store has only just reached.

The device itself is simple enough to use, yet powerful enough to create amazing software (as long as it doesn’t interfere with the device’s core functionality), elegant and possibly gives the best user experience from any device I’ve ever used. Having said that there are always problems with any device, and the Jesus Phone isnt any different.

So as a new year begins and the flurry of blog posts about the all-but-confirmed next iteration of the iPhone are published, I just want to outline a few things I think are essential for the iPhone to get that bit closer to perfection.

Camera Improvments

The 3gs camera spec bump was both well received and long overdue. But 3mp is not an option for any self respecting phone these days. In 2007, the Nokia released the N95 with a 5MP Carl-Zeiss optics, where as the iPhone 2g (first generation) came with a measly 2mp, without video recording, 4 months later.

Not only that, but Nokia allowed basic editing, options to send photos via bluetooth, and had a flash! Things Apple still are too stubborn to include.

My recommendation? Apple should aartner with a camera manufacturer that knows their stuff, develop a camera to blow others away. Perhaps include 720p (or even 1080p) recording.Also what would be nice if they could create an iPhoto app as standard for basic editing. Mmmmm….

Wireless Everything

I admire a few things about the Palm Pre, most of all, the wireless charging. I’d love if Apple went one step further and introduced that, and wireless syncing. Imagine, no more rooting around your bag for a cable and then spending ten minutes trying to untangle the bloody thing. Steve Jobs famously dislikes buttons, but surely wires annoy him more.

Bluetooth is another thing Apple can do much better with. Sending files through bluetooth has been standard since the beginning of the noughties and yet Apple tend to turn their gaze at the simplest of things.

iFixit has proven that there is an FM Transmitter in the iPhone, but Apple hasnt enabled the feature yet. Seems utterly pointless but hopefully this will change soon.

Innovate & Ask for help

The last few iterations of the iPhone have all been a bit similar, more polished rather than ground breaking. We know, through the wonders of the underground iPhone Dev community, that the iPhone can do so much more than what Apple advertises. If someone can make a better iPod Music application than the one thats already there, Apple should let them.

And Apple, please dont charge developers for the privilege of making you money, because thats just greedy. Let Windows users in, let beginner programmers mess around with the SDK because chances are, they’re going to be the ones making you the most.

iTunester

Now I’m not talking about turning iTunes into a fully-fledged social network, but be a bit more open to other social properties. iTunes 3 was advertised to have tools for the “avid social-networker” but a few links to Facebook and Twitter dont really count these days?

Stuff like Last.fm integration would be nice. Perhaps the ability to tweet what your listening to (that could get a bit out of hand, way too fast). Even just having a bigger presence on social networks would be good. The “12 days of Christmas” application was a decent idea, but if they to really entice people, they should have given away stuff that doesn’t sit in the bargain bin.

Battery Improvements

Every iPhone user has at least one problem, and its this problem. The battery is just too small. I would happily sacrifice size for the abillity to use the phone for a day without charging. What would be ideal is if Apple sold additional batteries so we could exchange between them if one runs out. Perhaps one day we will be able to. Sigh.

Home Screen 2.0

Perhaps one the most aggrivating things about the iPhone is the home screen. On Nokia phones, you can see recent calls, emails, and messages, along with weather information. In the iPhone its just a photo (we have choice in what photo it is :O, kudos Apple), and the date and time. Compared with what the phone is capable of, this is a bit puny. What I really want  is something like this :

‘Nuff said.

Conclusion

Apple really has created a thing of beauty. But some of the exclusions are just idiotic. People are used to having to not charge a phone for days, having important information on the home screen, and just simple things. Apple may be ahead for the forseeable future, but not without innovation. I hope they deliver something outstanding come June, because were waiting, impatiently.