What Features Should Be Included With iPhone 3.0? 606
With the announcement coming tomorrow, Macworld has posted their top list of 15 features they would like to see in an iPhone 3.0 update. The list includes some things that people have been asking for since launch (like cut and paste) and things that were once there but have since been silently removed (like push notifications/background apps). With almost 2 years of time to grow and learn, what other things are woefully inadequate on Apple's popular handheld?
my idea (Score:1, Insightful)
Most Asked for Feature that Will Never Be Implimented on an Apple Product: Removing the DRM.
User-changable battery? (Score:5, Insightful)
Should be top of the list.
Re:Pretty easy list (Score:5, Insightful)
Multitasking (Score:2, Insightful)
huh? (Score:5, Insightful)
The Apple music store is DRM free now.
Are you proposing they remove the DRM support in hardware, so people who bought DRM'd media can't play those files?
Or are you just bitching about something that's sure to get a bunch of other putzes to agree with you?
Re:What about ... (Score:5, Insightful)
A printer! (Score:4, Insightful)
... a keyboard?
I think they should include a printer as well, one which prints out money! That way, the owners might have some way of recouping the cost of a ridiculously overpriced telephone/mp3 player!
On a more serious note. They should include proper buttons for skipping tracks and and changing albums. Whilst the touch screen might look all fancy, it's not very useful when you're walking down a crowded street and just want to stick your hand in your pocket and skip to the next track.
I personally use an MP3 player which doesn't have a screen at all. I don't need one. I don't need to be able to see what tune I'm playing, I can hear which one it is! Maybe with the crappy earphones you get on an iPhone it's harder to hear what tune is playing!
On that note, they really need to include that 8A83E3 chip so we can't accidentally plug in a competitor's earphones and be hindered by superior sound quality! :)
No contracts (Score:4, Insightful)
Modem (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:huh? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:huh? (Score:4, Insightful)
The video store has the same issues that the music store had - the content providers. That's not a product issue. What's more, the tone of the original post was that somehow Apple is fucking in love with the DRM and wouldn't ever leave it out of their products given the choice - something that seems unlikely given the change to the music store.
As for the app store, well, that's not really DRM. That's a closed platform, something which Apple does appear to have some affection for.
Freedom from AT&T? (Score:5, Insightful)
A choice of any bandwidth provider out there?
Working Exchange support (Score:4, Insightful)
I can't believe nobody has mentioned this yet. It plagues everyone I know who bought one of these stupid things thinking that Exchange support meant WORKING Exchange support.
Re:huh? (Score:3, Insightful)
How is this Apple's fault? The content providers insist on these restrictions when they make their deals with Apple. If Apple doesn't make these deals, the content doesn't show up in iTunes, and people like you complain about how the industry is working in an "obsolete business model" and not embracing the online world.
Re:Usable Navigation (Score:4, Insightful)
how about (Score:1, Insightful)
full source code like You get with Android?
Re:Modem (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:my idea (Score:2, Insightful)
Most Asked for Feature that Will Never Be Implimented on an Apple Product Getting rid of AT&T.
If Steve Jobs is reading this... (Score:5, Insightful)
Please, deliver on your promise and fix the app notifications you've announced when the first SDK shipped. There are so many great applications out there that would get a much needed enhancement - IM, GTD apps, Email, etc.
My #1 request is push email that doesn't involve Yahoo, Mail2Web, or Me.com
Re:huh? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:A printer! (Score:5, Insightful)
I think you might be overestimating what's possible with a software update. ;)
MMS (Score:4, Insightful)
MMS. Actual take-a-picture-and-send-it-to-another-phone MMS. Not this half-assed email attachment crap.
Not everyone in my life wants to check email on their phone, even if they had the capability. But everyone, including my grandmother, texts and uses MMS.
Anonymous Nick (Score:3, Insightful)
In my view, Cut-N-Paste, MMS, A2DP and other such features are point items to be added to a stable release. They do not justify upping the major release number. And Apple has been fairly logical about release numbering if you look at OS X. You need something really major to update the release number, possibly something that changes the entire framework.
So with that view, here's my list:
1) Background apps and/or push notifications: Its fairly obvious why this hasn't happened yet. AT&T. Enable push notifications and AT&T's revenue from SMS/texting goes down in a major way as everyone starts using their favorite instant messenger. Not sure how Apple will handle this, but I wouldn't be surprised if push notifications came with a tax/twist of some sort.
2) Mobile Me As an Application Platform: This would work wonderfully with Apple's approach to integrating hardware, software and services to enable a better user experience. Push notifications could be channeled through Mobile Me. In essence open up Mobile Me as an application platform for creating cloud based apps for the iphone. This would also enable syncing for non-apple applications which in my view is a major hole today. Additionally, this ups the ante by an order of magnitude beyond what the other phone vendors can offer. (expect perhaps Google and Android) It could also spur Mac sales if some parts of the Mobile Me integration are Mac only.
I am fairly certain (2) will happen. Whether its tomorrow or later I don't know but I hope tomorrow.
Re:A printer! (Score:3, Insightful)
That is if you still have original headphones... Mine disintegrated after 6 months of very light use.
Re:Bluetooth (Score:4, Insightful)
You can start to think about it, but you won't ever finish, because Bluetooth is just plain too slow for that.
It should be able to sync over 802.11 though. From your pocket. With no user interaction. Finding your computer with Rendezvous.... Mmmm...
Re:Usable Navigation (Score:5, Insightful)
No, but apparently you are the only person who doesn't believe in improving things.
Re:MMS (Score:2, Insightful)
However, I'm living in the US and MMS plans/services here seem very overpriced to me. Perhaps you live somewhere where the MMS rates are reasonable and there's been mass acceptance.
Regardless, it doesn't seem like it would be very hard for apple to implement MMS support; especially considering that Windows Mobile devices have offered that functionality for years now.
Best.....Feature.....Ever..... (Score:4, Insightful)
How about being 'Unlocked' as a feature?
The ability to set the text notification to 1 or X (Score:3, Insightful)
Right now, it defaults to once, and if you don't unlock the phone, it does it again. I'd like to set it just to once ... period. I figure if they allow you to set it to once, why not to X with some suitable max value.
But I'd settle for once. I get a lot of texts while in meetings, and I don't need the confusing second notification in there making me think I got another. Right now, I just glance at the screen and see what's there without unlocking--it's annoying when I see it's the same text from before.
Free Marketing (Score:4, Insightful)
Whilst the touch screen might look all fancy, it's not very useful when you're walking down a crowded street and just want to stick your hand in your pocket and skip to the next track.
Ah, but how would they receive free marketing if you never pulled out your fancy device in a crowded area? People would not be able to woo as they watch you touch your phone and wish to themselves they had their own.
No doubt Apple realized that each time someone used it in a public setting it would be a conversation piece or at the very least get people to think to themselves, "Oh, hey, it's that one phone!", at least during the phone's initial debut. If people are simply pressing buttons, let alone out of the view of public, they lose some buzz.
There are people who are still in awe over the phone, however most of them have gone out and bought one themselves so that they can publicly display the phone themselves. This then becomes a situation of people simply displaying it publicly in hopes to look important or culturally elite, as no doubt all of us have seen quite more than we'd care to.
Re:Pretty easy list (Score:3, Insightful)
Even on your Mac Pro? Odd..
I remember being very frustrated with Flash performance back in the PowerPC days, but I thought most of the performance issues had been settled since the Intel switch?
Hard to believe that Flash would slow your wohle system to a crawl on a Mac Pro...
Re:Pretty easy list (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't know, to me the best answer to the article's question ("what other things are woefully inadequate on Apple's popular handheld?") was:
- Choice of Wireless provider
Not just better than the current i-phone... (Score:5, Insightful)
Most of these points have already been made -- sync all your stuff, not just your email. Make everything searchable, not just contacts. Apple, PDAs have done this since before the turn of the century. Get on the stick.
Full bluetooth support. The i-phone should pair seamlessly with car audio systems that support stereo bluetooth. Blackberry already does this. Funky, proprietary cables and scratchy FM transmitters are so two decades ago.
Support for bluetooth peripherals, including (let me be clear on this) a decent keyboard. Blackberry already does this. Apple, you're missing out on a whole new line of stylish white iphone peripherals. Your marketing geeks should be thinking "micro-office".
Not just tethering, but bluetooth tethering. It's just amazing to me that you can tether a Blackberry to a Mac but you can't tether an i-phone to a Mac. How could Apple allow this to happen?
Speaking of proprietary cables, it's time Apple take a clue from the rest of the cell phone industry and switch to a micro-USB connector on the phone. Last time I said that in this forum, someone replied that Apple has been providing USB support for some time, which just goes to show how misunderstood this issue is. All three of our phones, and the company phone when I have to carry it, will charge from the same charger despite being different manufacturers. The ipod touch needs that proprietary stylish white charger with the stylish white proprietary connector. Where the hell has that thing gone now... Apple, please hear this. Proprietary data connectors are so last century.
MMS... geeze... don't get me started...
Apple has got to stop screwing around with locking down memory and calling it a feature. Flash memory is cheap, plentiful and standardized. A phone without a micro-SD slot is just plain not interesting. Why in God's name should you have to buy another phone to get more memory? How green is that? How financially responsible is that? Ipod and Iphone owners -- let me clue you in on a secret that Apples doesn't want you to know about... Memory has been cheap and more importantly, interchangeable for years. To upgrade my Blackberry from 8 Gbytes to 16 Gbytes costs $40.99 (Amazon) and can be done in a few seconds. To do a similar upgrade to an ipod touch is $284.95 (Amazon) minus whatever I could get on the used market for the old ipod. This is incredibly backwards. Flash memory is a commodity item.
I'm sure there are Apple marketing people who will say that locking down memory in iphone and ipod devices is a positive revenue stream for Apple. To them I say, the current arrangement results in a thriving used device market, from which you don't get revenue. Wouldn't you rather be selling stylish white SD cards at Apple's usual markup?
And finally, I won't even consider a phone that doesn't have a user replaceable battery. My phone is, like, my phone, it's what I use for my livelihood. I can't be without it for any longer than it takes to pop off the back and put in another battery. I'm sorry, if you're going to be a serious contender to serious phone/pda users, you're going to have to rethink this.
Again, I expect the next i-phone to be like the current 3G phone except more memory and a few bugfixes. What I hope happens is that Apple steps up to the plate and fields a phone that does everything the current competition does, only better. But -- reality check -- different isn't necessarily better. Example: Email is not a substitute for MMS. Email is Email, and MMS is MMS, and your competition has both.
Ipod Touch v3 (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Additional features (Score:5, Insightful)
4) Dump iTunes. Seriously, talk about specification creep. When a music player now manages movies, television, that's one thing. But when it's your application manager and synchronization tool as well. Apple really needs to launch a new tool, call iLife or what not. Where iTunes would just be one category. I mean, I really hate having to go under music to find my TV shows and apps and such. LAME!!!
Not to be disrespectful, but are you frikkin' nuts?
Apple's success outside of the computer market over the past few years has been due to their ability to:
iTunes is the key to Apple's strategy. They're not going to dump it, they're going to use it to continue to make boatloads of cold, hard cash. If you want to rename the application to "Apple Online Store", I'm sure they wouldn't mind you doing so on your own computer. But in my mind it's fair to say that iTunes is currently Apple's most important asset.
Re:A printer! (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and state that people do *not* rush out and replace their standard iPhone headphones with a $100-300 pair.
On the other hand, I found some $7,250 [gizmodo.com] speaker cables that you may be interested in!
Re:Free Marketing (Score:3, Insightful)
This then becomes a situation of people simply displaying it publicly in hopes to look important or culturally elite, as no doubt all of us have seen quite more than we'd care to.
And your post isn't the same? "I'm so much better than those sheeple who buy iPhones!"
Bah. Let people have their baubles if they want them. Don't put them down unless they first put you down, lest you become just another variation of that which you despise.
What about common-sense PHONE features? (Score:3, Insightful)
My old Nokia 6310i did all of the above (SMS -> note was actually "move SMS to another folder"). Also, its battery, after 57 months of daily usage, would last about 6 days with medium-light usage. My iPhone sees a bit more usage, but it needs to be recharged every day.
Re:What about ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Nothing is disabled, turned off, removed, commented out, locked etc
And yet, OS X on the desktop supports a bluetooth keyboard. The iPhone supposedly has a stripped-down OS X. Therefore, they must have stripped out USB HID support.
I've not seen bluetooth keyboard in ANY other phone I've ever owned,
See other posts in this thread. It's not just the keyboard, and other phones -- even the ones that aren't "smartphones" -- do far better than the iPhone in that respect.
Re:Pretty easy list (Score:3, Insightful)
Child porn is illegal in many countries, and yet Apple chose to include a camera on a phone which is often given to horny teens who are tempted to make nudie shots of themselves and send them to SOs, who promptly forward them to friends. Should Apple not have included a camera since the camera could potentially enable aspiring underage pr0n starlets?
Re:Say it aint so... (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm not so sure I would describe such basic things as the ability to find a network signal or having functional bluetooth as the latest gizmo. Apple's computers, whatever else we may think about them, fill their niche so well at least partly because they are a fully functional product. Seems to me there are just too many things they couldn't be bothered implementing on their phone in their haste to get it on the market.
The next offering is going to have to be more carefully thought through if Apple wants to maintain any kind of edge. People were prepared to forgive the iPhone's quirks when it was new. Now it's had time to mature and is no longer so new and shiny, people will expect a more mature product.