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What Features Should Be Included With iPhone 3.0?

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?

606 comments

  1. What about ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ... a keyboard?

    1. Re:What about ... by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Insightful

      All they'd have to do is uncripple the bluetooth...

    2. Re:What about ... by PetoskeyGuy · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Yes! Bluetooth Serial I/O and I would write all my hardware control interfaces for iPhone.

    3. Re:What about ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's exactly whats keeping me from buying one. I want a USB Keyboard, MS WORD compatible text editor and MS Exchange compatibility.

    4. Re:What about ... by Hurricane78 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I second that, and if you haven't seen this, I recommend reading it now:
      http://thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=iphone
      Old, but funny :D

      --
      Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
    5. Re:What about ... by Deanalator · · Score: 4, Informative

      Exactly. Main features I am looking for:

      1. tethering
      2. OBEX file management (to replace USB sticks)
      3. A2DP

      All of which are part of the gimpy bluetooth stack.

      What bugs me the most on the list is the A2DP. My old corny ass motorola phone from 5 years ago can play music through my bluetooth headphones, but my iPhone, which is supposed to be a modern marvel that actually evolved from a music player, cannot.

      Also on my wish list is the ability to develop iphone apps on my computer (OSX does not work at all in vmware), and maybe someday I have dreams of being able to get firmware updates, and be able to install them from linux.

    6. Re:What about ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Letting you use any carrier and not be stuck with ATT. They are just giving market share over to Crackberry with their cheap rip-off.

    7. Re:What about ... by denzacar · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Here is a collection of plugins that I am certain true iLovers will find very handy.

      Particularly during the course of talking/writing about how great the new iWhatever truly is.

      --
      Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
    8. Re:What about ... by SenseiLeNoir · · Score: 5, Informative

      It's interesting that the G1 (which I have) and the iPhone are the only "smartphones" which such crippled bluetooth stacks.

      Lack of A2DP was shortsighted (admittedly cupcake firmware for the Android rectified the A2DP issue for android handsets, but its still lacking compared to other phones)

      My Nokia N95 did a lot better in terms of Bluetooth.

      In fact, one of the best Bluetooth implementations I have seen was on a SonyEricsson phone, which was not even a smartphone, the K800i.

      It has
      - OBEX (send files/contacts/calendars to other devices)

      - OBEX FTP,

      - A2DP,

      - HCI (Aka bluetooth remote control built in, use it to control media player, and even a mouse pointer)

      - HDCP (print to a bluetooth equiped printer)

      - Blutetooth PAN gateway (a Network Access point via bluetooth, allows one or more computers to wirelessly tether the internet connection on the phone.) This is unique as I have not seen any other phone implement this, and implement this well. IT also exposes a USB based Ethernet network too, for wired access. No need to remember APNs, or do a dial up on the computer using either of these two methods.

      - Bluetooth modem the "alternative" common method of accessing the net/modem/fax wirelessly

      - BlueTooth SIM- A funky way of allowing another mobile device (such as a car phone) to use the SIM card on your handset to log in to the network. So you can have a car phone, with the full radio stack, and everything, but keep the SIM in the phone (this will cause your car phone to handle all calls, instead of the mobile handset)

      - A2DP implemented WELL (For example, I had a iPaq as a music device, and i was able to connect this and the ipaq to the BT headphones, and when a call came through it woudl take over the headset using the headset profile, then properly release it afterwards, if the ipaq was NOT paired, then it would also use the A2DP to have a single device connection).

      - Bluetooth serial port.

      It even had an option to allow more than one device to connect at the same time (at the expense of greater battery usage). With this option, I was able to have my Moto A2DP headset, iPaq, and K800 connected to each other. with music going from ipaq to headset. Calls from k800 to Headset, and internet from k800 to ipaq. It worked pretty well.

      Not bad for a non-smartphone. I really miss that trio now, with my "next generation devices".

      --
      Have a nice day!
    9. Re:What about ... by usman_ismail · · Score: 1

      Why bother? Apple has sweet deals with AT&T etc and anyone and their grandma can unlock and iphone thanks to pawnage etc.

    10. Re:What about ... by nmg196 · · Score: 1

      I wish people would stop calling it "crippled bluetooth". It's not crippled at all - it's simply that they haven't chosen to support bluetooth keyboards. Nothing is disabled, turned off, removed, commented out, locked etc and therefore it is not "crippled" as it was never there in the first place. I've not seen bluetooth keyboard in ANY other phone I've ever owned, so it's not like this issue is particular to the iPhone. Bluetooth keyboard support is still pretty rare and I've only come across it on someone else's Windows smartphone.

    11. Re:What about ... by nmg196 · · Score: 1

      > ... a keyboard?

      Yes! I've always wanted my iPhone to be bigger! Perhaps if they add a keyboard to the iPhone they could call it, a netbook!

    12. Re:What about ... by Maury+Markowitz · · Score: 2, Interesting

      > iPhone is all about status/style anyway, it's got NOTHING to do with functionality...

      Pffft. I went through two dumb phones immediately before the iPhone. Here are some of the things I could not get working:

      1) syncing anything with my PC
      2) getting photos off of it
      3) playing music, although both claimed to be able to do so
      4) using the web, which was useless
      5) using any sort of e-mail
      6) using any other apps
      7) using the picture system with anything else, including the MMS that was built in ($5 charge PER)

      Then I got the iPhone. All the problems went away. I browse the internet from anywhere at any time, can get directions without fail, use e-mail, sync everything, and listen to music (which is, a surprise to me, the #1 thing I use it for). I still can't get MMS though, which is ironic but pointless because I can now post the images directly to the web.

      The Motorola was $150, the iPhone $200. If you post that this has nothing to do with functionality, I have to conclude that you're a troll.

      Maury

    13. Re:What about ... by irving47 · · Score: 1

      It is absolutely crippled. In every sense of the word. Go check out BluePhone Elite for Mac OS X or something equivalent for windows. Most $50 Sony Ericsson phones can interact with your computer on a level that puts the iPhone to shame.

      Speaker phone, caller ID on the screen, SMS's through the phone, you type and read on the screen... Proximity sensing to turn off your screen saver. All sorts of cool stuff that the iPhone doesn't allow. Oh, and FILE TRANSFER built in...

      --
      I had a sucky sig.
    14. Re:What about ... by Zerth · · Score: 1

      Blackberries do it, even though most of them already have physical keyboards. And even the Storm can cut&paste.

    15. Re:What about ... by Sancho · · Score: 1

      There are a lot of reasons that Apple won't do A2DP (yet).

      1) They'd want to make wireless headphones so that they could cash in on that accessory market. There's simply no way that they're going to enable A2DP before they have headphones on the shelves.

      2) It's a fairly hefty drain on battery life, which doesn't make the product look good.

      3) They may not want to differentiate their product lines in this way, which means that they'd have to add Bluetooth to their other devices. This would cost money in materials, and possibly in additional licensing costs.

      I'm with you on a way to develop and test iPhone apps in another OS....I wish they'd provide this.

    16. Re:What about ... by nmg196 · · Score: 0

      You've missed my point entirely. It's generally accepted that to "cripple" is when you purposefully disable something that is already there in the software. There is NO bluetooth keyboard support in the iPhone bluetooth stack, therefore it is not crippled! You cannot cripple something which is not even present in the first place. My car is not "crippled" because it does not have wings. If I wanted something with wings, I could have bought a plane.

    17. Re:What about ... by nmg196 · · Score: 1

      > Most $50 Sony Ericsson phones can interact with your computer on a level that puts the iPhone to shame

      Bad example. I have a $150 Sony Ericson K800i and a bluetooth keyboard and I can assure you they do not work together. I repeat - bluetooth keyboard is rare.

    18. Re:What about ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's a terminology issue. Background for those not in the know follows.

      Rather than being a catch-all protocol capable of doing everything, Bluetooth has the concept of profiles. One profile may support a wireless headset. Another may support file transfers. There are profiles for serial ports, keyboards, headphones, etc. A manufacturer doesn't take some big blob of Bluetooth and strip out things that they want you to pay extra for--rather, they implement profiles appropriate to the device.

      However most mobile phone carriers in the US don't implement Bluetooth--they get phones from other manufacturers. These manufacturers may have provided a pretty good Bluetooth stack with a complete set of profiles appropriate to the device. The carrier, however, may decide that they don't want you to use the Bluetooth modem profile, so in their customized software build for your phone, they'll strip it out. On the Interwebs, this is referred to as crippling Bluetooth. They're taking a Bluetooth stack and removing functionality that they don't want the end-user to be able to use.

      This is semantically different from a manufacturer simply choosing not to implement the feature in the first place. If Apple contracted out the Bluetooth stack and then stripped out things that they didn't want to include OS support for, that's certainly crippling it. I've seen no evidence that this is the case, though. Instead, they've simply provided a lower functionality stack.

    19. Re:What about ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      a decent music player. And oh! A decent program to use it with. iTunes blows.

    20. Re:What about ... by LifesABeach · · Score: 1

      Being able to buy an iPhone for use with my Sprint account? :)

    21. Re:What about ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      This is wrong. It is there in the hardware, but Apple has chosen not to interface with that functionality, so yes, it is crippled. Go read some of the back stories on modmyi.com. If you have a jailbroken iPhone.
      Using apple keyboard -
      http://www.modmyi.com/index.php?pageid=home&news_page=2

      video showing iphone to iphone gaming
      http://www.flickr.com/photos/56083335@N00/3288725388/

      Now, like the man said, its crippled.

    22. Re:What about ... by Carewolf · · Score: 1

      ... a keyboard?

      While we are at wonderful, but extremely unlikely wishes:

      An SD Card slot.

      It would make it standard compatible with non-Apple MP3-player, non-Apple Mobile phones, and every digital camera on earth. Of course it would also force Apple to lower prices for high capacity versions. Of course it is as unlikely as any other step towards standard interfaces.

    23. Re:What about ... by nmg196 · · Score: 0, Troll

      So my PC is "crippled" because the manufacturer decided NOT to install EVERY available piece of software for the platorm? Great argument. Not.

    24. Re:What about ... by SanityInAnarchy · · Score: 4, 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.

      --
      Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
    25. Re:What about ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      productivity suites?
      Open.iOffice.Org
      Taking little notes is not enough.

      I would switch services just for the phone if it wasn't for the price of service and lack of quality of customer care that a friend just had with AT&T(tm).

    26. Re:What about ... by ChunderDownunder · · Score: 1

      Wow, no Bluetooth headphones? Are we still living in the 20thC???

      I can't believe Apple peddle this garbage. Bud earphones out of your ear when the cord is gently tugged. Then there's the quasi-decapitation when the cord gets tangled as you're taking off your backpack or when you stand up while the device is still on a table.

    27. Re:What about ... by s73v3r · · Score: 1

      Developing and testing iPhone apps outside of OS X will probably happen when you can develop and test Windows Mobile apps outside of Windows.

    28. Re:What about ... by brainiac+ghost1991 · · Score: 1

      Exchange works fine, it even works with RPC over HTTP, like outlook from an external network... OTA updates, contacts, calendar & email, only thing that doesn't work is tasks

    29. Re:What about ... by mdwh2 · · Score: 1

      So you had a crap phone - it doesn't make the Iphone the best ever (and $150 to $200 is hardly a fair comparison). My Motorola V980 phone can do all of the things you list, no problem. I don't go on posting Slashdot articles about it all the time though. I paid £80 for it four years ago, whilst the Iphone would cost me, today, £342.50 (price from the Apple store). (Of course, I realise that the Iphone has much better features that my phone in other areas, but this would be expected with such a difference in price, and a gap of four years, and the same would be true of any high end modern smartphone - the point is that if I'm paying for such a phone, especially one that gets paraded on Slashdot as if it was the Best Thing Ever, I expect more than simply "getting photos off it" etc.)

    30. Re:What about ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I only need Barcode 1D reader!

    31. Re:What about ... by hobbit · · Score: 1

      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.

      Eh? What makes you think that they use the same Bluetooth stack on your Mac and on your iPhone?

      --
      "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something" - Plato
    32. Re:What about ... by zblack_eagle · · Score: 1

      Does your PC manufacturer lock down your system so that the only way you can add functionality is either through a method controlled by them or by a method they claim is illegal?

    33. Re:What about ... by Buscador · · Score: 1

      Exactly why I am still using my K800, and my smartphone sits in a drawer. Well, that and the fact the K800 has a better camera. I just wish it supported HSDPA. I have been an Apple fan for a couple of decades now, but I honestly can't understand the hype about the iPhone. The UI is nice, but from a feature standpoint, it is decidedly third rate.

    34. Re:What about ... by bigplrbear · · Score: 2, Informative

      It's interesting that the G1 (which I have) and the iPhone are the only "smartphones" which such crippled bluetooth stacks.

      The G1's bluetooth isn't crippled anymore in Cupcake (which is coming in a month btw)

    35. Re:What about ... by SanityInAnarchy · · Score: 1

      What makes you think that they use the same Bluetooth stack on your Mac and on your iPhone?

      What reason would I have to believe they'd throw out a perfectly good desktop Bluetooth stack, and rewrite it from scratch for the iPhone?

      --
      Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
    36. Re:What about ... by bemymonkey · · Score: 1

      Maybe they're just banking on the fact that most people concerned about audio quality will want a decent pair of headphones wired directly to the jack (probably with a portable amp). I know I don't want A2DP for my day-to-day listening - it's just too fiddly, both in terms of fidelity and skipping... the SE bluetooth headset (HBV 200 something) I tried went back after 3 days because it didn't play nice with any of my source equipment (PCs, laptops, V600i, K610i, HTC Prophet), producing a lot of skips and extra noise. Maybe the DACs on that thing were just crappy, but hey, that thing cost over $100 - do I really have to shell out $200+ just to get a proper interface that I can plug my headphones into?

      Not to mention it's another device to charge, and it only saves me about 30cm of wire :P

    37. Re:What about ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      get over it, im a supporter of iPhone and a Mac user but the bluetooth in iphone is crippled. Basic functionality is not there.

      An old SonyEricsson is way better. BTW SonyEricsson has the best implementaion of Bluethooth compare with any other phone maker.

      I got my wife a iPhone. But for me the iPhone does not work. There are 2 main reasons and a third sub reason wich is the bluethooth implementation. The 2 others where copy paste & filehandling

    38. Re:What about ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes your PC is crippled

    39. Re:What about ... by hobbit · · Score: 1

      Perchance it's different bluetooth hardware?

      --
      "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something" - Plato
    40. Re:What about ... by Deanalator · · Score: 1

      Except that I have tried that with every recent version of every vmware product (as well as kvm, qemu, and virtualbox), and every hacked disk I could find online, with every boot option that I could find, and it simply does not work for me (which seems to be pretty common if you look on the various forums).

      I always get some random mesh of disk read errors, bios errors, and signal timeouts that break the install.

    41. Re:What about ... by Ultra64 · · Score: 1

      Great argument. Not.

      Oh snap!

    42. Re:What about ... by Elwood+P+Dowd · · Score: 1

      Apple will do firmware updates over the air long, long before Linux anything.

      --

      There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
    43. Re:What about ... by Vlado · · Score: 1

      My last few Nokias had this support built-in.
      Pretty much every other functionality that Irving47 is quoting, as well.

      So, while I wouldn't say it's something I felt like I wanted to use (Nokias have keyboards after all) it is something that was available to me.

    44. Re:What about ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's nice. I wanted a hot dog, an apple danish and a small tub of half melted ice cream. So I went out and bought them.

    45. Re:What about ... by SenseiLeNoir · · Score: 1

      Oh I have cupcake installed, and actually I have more than that as I compile Andriod myself), and actually have a ADP1 (Android Developers phone). The new firmware and features are excellent, though still its BT feature are lacking compared to the K800 and others.

      When i mentioned the G1, and the iPhone, I was mentioning current firmware available on Those devices to ordinary customers, without resorting to hackery, or jailbreaking.

      --
      Have a nice day!
    46. Re:What about ... by Mackidockie · · Score: 1

      ... a keyboard?

      A keyboard--that actually works. Great idea. The iPhone's keyboard is it's UI's weakest feature.

  2. my idea by girlintraining · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Most Asked for Feature that Will Never Be Implimented on an Apple Product: Removing the DRM.

    --
    #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
    1. Re:my idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Most Asked for Feature that Will Never Be Implimented on an Apple Product Getting rid of AT&T.

    2. Re:my idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Surely you aren't trolling AGAIN!? We had this a few days ago with the spin batteries.

    3. Re:my idea by Telvin_3d · · Score: 2

      What DRM? I keep hearing about how much DRM there is on my iPhone and all the things it prevents me from doing. So I keep looking for it, but I have yet to find it. I mean, all those pesky mp3s I ripped from various CDs seem to be playing fine. And those DVD rips that I converted into mp4s with open software play happily. With one of the many file handlers on the app store, I can open and read 99% of the text formats out there. As far as I can tell, the only types of formats the iPhone won't play are ones that do include DRM or are simply beyond the hardware. So what DRM is on the iPhone?

    4. Re:my idea by PJ1216 · · Score: 2, Informative

      Run an app that you didn't purchase from the App Store. *That* DRM. I have an iPhone 3G and I wish I could get apps elsewhere that Apple didn't approve of for whatever reason.

    5. Re:my idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Never heard of jailbreak or the reasons one might want to do that? It has nothing to do with DRM on apps/media but the ability to install and run whatever software you please.

    6. Re:my idea by usman_ismail · · Score: 1

      As i posted in response to another comment, why bother nice people, like Jay Freedman, have done already done this for Apple.

    7. Re:my idea by tverbeek · · Score: 1

      That's not DRM. Whose digital copyrights are being managed by preventing you from installing third party software? "Closed system" != "DRM"

      --
      http://alternatives.rzero.com/
    8. Re:my idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are just another stupid sad piece of shit. You and people like you are like they idiot suburbanites with their SUV's blissfully driving the planet off the nearest cliff. See, stoopie, and for all of your sychophants and clones, it's not that the DRM limits your ability to play media in the near term, it is that if it and devices like it didn't support DRM from jump, we wouldn't even be having this conversation. Market forces would cause the media companies to release everything unencumbered and anything you buy could be played any way and on anything you want. It's a long-term proposition but I wouldn't expect little pissants like you to understand the concept. Why don't you just eat shit and die somewhere?

    9. Re:my idea by PJ1216 · · Score: 1

      It is DRM as only approved applications are allowed to be installed. It's "Digital Rights Management" not "Digital Copyright Management." Seeing as how its spelled out in the EULA that you're not allowed to jailbreak or install 3rd party apps, it sounds like they're digitally managing the owner's right to install their software of choice on their hardware.

      That is DRM to me.

    10. Re:my idea by cbhacking · · Score: 1

      or are simply beyond the hardware

      Umm... those things have what, 500MHz processors? There is no audio codec in the world that is beyond that level of software capability. Hell, at the resolution they run at, I doubt there's any video codec which is either (encoding is another story, though even then I suspect it's easily possible). The Nokia n800 has a higher-res screen and a slightly slower processor, but it can play any audio or video format I ever found. It can also use Flash - I've used it for Pandora.com and occasionally YouTube (via YouTube.com - the iPhone app is great but it *ONLY* works on YouTube, as opposed to, say, Hulu).

      --
      There's no place I could be, since I've found Serenity...
    11. Re:my idea by hobbit · · Score: 1

      MP3/AAC decoding is done in hardware on the iPhone and iPod, in order to offer a half decent battery life.

      --
      "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something" - Plato
  3. User-changable battery? by CrtxReavr · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Should be top of the list.

    --
    "So is the BSD licence even more 'free' (than GPLv2)? Yes. Unquestionably." --Linus Torvalds (TinyURL.com/2vugzl)
    1. Re:User-changable battery? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

      What a great idea. We should also be allowed to download these new batteries through ITMS.

      idiot.

    2. Re:User-changable battery? by UnknowingFool · · Score: 1

      It isn't mentioned in the summary but the 3.0 update that is expected is a software update not a new iPhone model. Your change might be hard to do in a software update.

      --
      Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
    3. Re:User-changable battery? by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      Top of the yawn list, maybe.

    4. Re:User-changable battery? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why the hell are you listing a hardware feature as a request for the latest version of the software?

    5. Re:User-changable battery? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      agreed, but then again they assume you buy a new ipod every time a new one is released, Apple is the biggest greenwash of a company ever since putting up that "green" macbook and just not telling everyone about all the batteries they make that ruin perfectly good hardware

    6. Re:User-changable battery? by Patik · · Score: 1

      To be honest, having owned several iPods including the Touch (and no other Apple products), I have never missed not having a replaceable battery. Just plug it into the PC, or into an AC adapter. Why fumble with taking the battery out, putting it in a charger, etc? The slimmer size is well worth the (theoretical) niceness of being able to carry an extra battery.

  4. A free by Chrisq · · Score: 4, Funny

    unlimited porn subscription

    1. Re:A free by DoofusOfDeath · · Score: 1, Funny

      That's for their specialty product, the iWack.

    2. Re:A free by AGMW · · Score: 1
      unlimited porn subscription

      Unfortunately this might bring you to the attention of Apple's Police force ... we call them the iPlod in the UK.

      --
      Eclectic beats from Leeds, UK
      handmadehands.co.uk
    3. Re:A free by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      already implemented, look for iphone porn grid on google

    4. Re:A free by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Tube8.com works wonderfully in the iphones version of safari. They include a little link that says "Play on iPhone" on the flash error page.

    5. Re:A free by Zantetsuken · · Score: 1

      Ya, but it'd all be Lemon Party and Goatse...

    6. Re:A free by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's a web browser. That was a feature from the start.

    7. Re:A free by cm613 · · Score: 1

      www.redtube.com you don't need to buy a new iPhone for that

  5. Sorry, I forgot by Chrisq · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    This is an apple product, better make that a free unlimited gay porn subscription.

  6. Pretty easy list by Fast+Thick+Pants · · Score: 4, Interesting

    -Standard USB data/charging cable
    -USB mass storage support
    -Video recording
    -Tethering
    -Multitasking
    -MMS

    1. Re:Pretty easy list by Joehonkie · · Score: 4, Insightful

      How will they put a standard USB port in a software update, again?

    2. Re:Pretty easy list by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 1

      As long as you are dreaming, how about 3rd party browsers that aren't just skins of mobile safari? Or being allowed to run 3rd party applications that haven't been cryptographically blessed by his steveness?

    3. Re:Pretty easy list by interkin3tic · · Score: 5, Funny

      -Tethering

      Well shoot, you can just put your own tether onto it, be it lanyard you made at summer camp, a dog leash, one of them there chains that keep people from stealing your wallet, or something else. Or you could just hold onto it better.

      -Multitasking

      Here again, no need for updates from apple. I mean, I talk on my phone all the time while doing other things. Not driving though, they just outlawed that. And if you buy TWO iphones, you can use two apps at the same time. Imagine being able to use the lightsaber app while using the zippo app!

      -Video recording

      Tape a video camera to the iphone.

      -USB mass storage support

      While you're taping a video camera to the phone, go ahead and throw a USB thumb drive in there.

    4. Re:Pretty easy list by nine-times · · Score: 1

      No thanks on the standard USB charging. I'd rather be able to plug my dock into a stereo and get line-out audio, or have the option to get a dock with a remote, etc.

    5. Re:Pretty easy list by RudeIota · · Score: 1

      The iPhone data cable has always had a USB connector at the end... I think that's good enough.

      --
      Fact: Everything I say is fiction.
    6. Re:Pretty easy list by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      How about Java and Flash and other ways to develop for the platform. I am sorry I never caught on to Objective C

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    7. Re:Pretty easy list by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ... Run Windows ME so ol' Bill's wife can finally have one, and not be the laughing stock of all her friends.

    8. Re:Pretty easy list by kjj · · Score: 0

      Objective C never caught on, period. I mean when Ada and Pascal are kicking your ass in terms of number of developers you know your language is in trouble.

    9. Re:Pretty easy list by horatio · · Score: 1

      I don't really need video recording, but I am a bit miffed that I have no way to record voice calls. There are apps that let you use the device like a voice recorder - but that is only for things like lectures, not for phone conversations.

      --
      There is very little future in being right when your boss is wrong.
    10. Re:Pretty easy list by ceejayoz · · Score: 0

      I like my battery to last more than 15 minutes, thanks. The Mac version of Flash has always slowed systems to a crawl - even my work Mac Pro.

    11. Re:Pretty easy list by legrimpeur · · Score: 1

      the device is just not powerful enough to afford freeing up control on application that can run in background.

      So here Apple is right. I see already angry customers that, after having installed a gazillion apps running in background, put the blame on Apple for the device unresponsiveness.

      Probably in the future when more powerful mobile cpu's will be available...

    12. Re:Pretty easy list by sam0737 · · Score: 1

      I think it's called Windows Mobile, not iPhone.

      Oh wait it might not have USB mass storage but pretty close experience on Windows.

      Microsoft is shipping a reasonably good SDK, plus programs can be done in C++, .NET or even Java if you got some runtime installed.

      Really...I love my Windows Mobile despite lacking of some cool features, and UI response is a bit sluggish, but at least it's more feature packed, and the platform is ironically much more open IMHO.

      For iPhone 3.0, I hope someday I could get finger-nail friendly multipoint touch screen. Yes I know they used to design the UI with fat finger in mind, but still I love to touch it with my nail instead...finger is just too big for the screen.

    13. Re:Pretty easy list by Sandbags · · Score: 1

      Since the charging cable comes free with the phone, I actually quite prefer the universal port to having a USB connector plus a seperate video connector (remember, you can run video to a TV WITHOUT an intermediary PC...)

      Storage support would be nice, but I can get a 8GB USB stick for a fraction of adding 8GB to an iPhone... I also loan my USB's to people, something I'm certainly not going to do with my iPhone... plus, having to lug a cable anough is much more cumbersome than a USB stick, and I'm certainly not going to WiFi enable my USB drive...

      Video recording would be nice, but the camera sucks so bad it's not really worth back porting the softwsre on the current generation. Wait for the 4G model.

      tethering suport. Agreed. Would be a plus. How much would I use it? not at all if it was more than $10/month. I have no need for it in my area (wifi exists anywhere I typically bother to stop, and i rarely have need for it other than long stops or what I can already accomplich on the phone.)

      Multitasking? Nope. Background apps yes, copy/past via clipbard betwrrn apps, yes. Letting them chew on my battery in the background? no.

      MMS. Only if it's free, otherwise, I'm sticking to e-mail. What they really need is to partner with AT&T so incoming MMS are decoded and sent to my inbox instead of sending me a text message with a web site link and a complex password I have to write down to type in later.

      Critical things to me: none of the above...
      1) Unlock bluetooth... I want A2DP support (play through car stereo in STEREO without using FM friggin crap transmitters. Also external GPS integration. (use an existing GPS to control calls, play music, access address book, etc, also allow the GPS to use the data connection to get traffic data if capable.)
      2) Voice Dial. Hello?
      3) Turn by Turn GPS. REAL GPS, not google maps. I'm taking road sign indications, lane navigation, auto route planning, voice propmt, perspective angle, everything. Also, GPS needs to be able to be interrupted by other apps and alerts, plus also run in background and continue to speak directions even if not on the screen otherwise it's useless. Up to $49 a year to buy access to online maps is completely acceptible. (real time maps and traffic would be better than a downloaded map file, if I don't get real time data it's not worth it)
      4) background alerts. Nuff said
      5) UNIFIED INBOX!!!!
      6) Remote directory search (Exchange public address books/domain user search)
      7) support to create meetings and invite others, including tracking responses. Also support to accept meetings from others. Platform independent support using iCal and vCal files both. Also, LET ME USE COLORS ON THE CALENDAR, the same colors I already set in my mail clients!!!

      --
      There is no contest in life for which the unprepared have the advantage.
    14. Re:Pretty easy list by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      The iPod connector itself already has a USB port stuffed into it, along with TTL serial, dedicated power, audio in & out, and some other stuff:

      http://pinouts.ru/Devices/ipod_pinout.shtml

      For those of us without X-Treme soldering skills, here's an easier way to get at them:

      http://www.podgizmo.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=27

    15. Re:Pretty easy list by oldhack · · Score: 1

      But I've better use iTape to tape'em all. Other tapes of inferior quality would probably damage My iPrecious.

      --
      Fuck systemd. Fuck Redhat. Fuck Soylent, too. Wait, scratch the last one.
    16. Re:Pretty easy list by bar-agent · · Score: 1, Informative

      I don't really need video recording, but I am a bit miffed that I have no way to record voice calls.

      I like this idea, but the legal complexities are an issue. Even in the United States, laws differ from state to state, but the iPhone is sold worldwide...

      --
      i'd hit it so hard, if you pulled me out you'd be the king of britain [bash.org]
    17. Re:Pretty easy list by Moridineas · · Score: 2, 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...

    18. Re:Pretty easy list by Tony+Hoyle · · Score: 1

      That's illegal in many countries. Apple would never add it.

    19. Re:Pretty easy list by powerlord · · Score: 2, 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

      --
      This space for rent. All reasonable inquiries will be entertained at proprietors discretion.
    20. Re:Pretty easy list by fermion · · Score: 1
      It is interesting that people want a video camera when we don't even have a decent camera. It is that people are so obsessed about making movies about themselves that they don' care that the quality sucks.

      As far a tethering, I would be much happier if this happened on the Mac side of the equation. Why does the air have cellular connection? Why does not every macbook have this as an option? The antennae can be built in just like the WiFi. Sure, the built in antennae sucks, but it save extra baggage. I would pay ATT $20 a month more on top of the iphone account to have access anywhere for the macbook. The battery life on the iPhone is horrible enough without using it as a tether.

      Copy and paste, as the article mentions would be good. The fact that mail can't work in landscape is a crime. MMS is important to those that want to make movies of themselves, but, as mentioned, a decent camera would preferable, and I don't want to pay more so that we can have MMS. Multitasking would be good.

      As far as standard USB and mass storage, I would much prefer it if the iPod Touch and iPhone could wireless connect as a mass storage device to a compute. Most computer have wifi now, and Apple uses such technology for the Air and Airport. It does work. It could even be a bluetooth connection. This would be a security risk, but I would prefer it to changing the connector.

      --
      "She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
    21. Re:Pretty easy list by Blackjack+Joe · · Score: 1

      I don't really need video recording, but I am a bit miffed that I have no way to record voice calls.

      I like this idea, but the legal complexities are an issue. Even in the United States, laws differ from state to state, but the iPhone is sold worldwide...

      My old Sony-Ericsson S710a phone from 2005 could record a phone call. It even produced a beep so that the person I was talking to would know that we were being recorded.

    22. Re:Pretty easy list by horatio · · Score: 1

      I like this idea, but the legal complexities are an issue. Even in the United States, laws differ from state to state, but the iPhone is sold worldwide...

      I'm confused. You're the second person who has replied the same thing. Because it *could* be used for something illegal, they don't include the feature? Or is it because the phone even having the ability to record the call is illegal? I know that my sprint motorola slvr L7 was capable of recording voice calls - but it was limited to user's choice of recording for 1 minute or 10 minutes. So ... is Apple just claiming that they won't support it because of these reasons? Is sprint/motorola doing something illegal? Besides, I thought it was *my* obligation to follow the local ordinances, not for Apple to restrict my ability to use the phone in this manner?

      --
      There is very little future in being right when your boss is wrong.
    23. Re:Pretty easy list by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 1

      And this affects Apple offering the option why?

      Unless I've missed the change, it is not the manufacturer's obligation to produce a device that is incapable of illegal conduct.

    24. Re:Pretty easy list by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      -Standard USB data/charging cable

      No, could help to circumvent apples foodchain -> ain't gonna happen.

      -USB mass storage support

      No, could help to circumvent itunes -> ain't gonna happen.

      -Video recording

      No, could help to circumvent M.A.F.I.A.-C.P. -> ain't gonna happen.

      -Tethering

      No, could help to circumvent at&t business model -> ain't gonna happen.

      -Multitasking

      No, could help to circumvent at&t SMS price model -> ain't gonna happen.

      -MMS

      doubt it - in europe most phones have it, and still noone wants it -> ain't gonna happen.

    25. Re:Pretty easy list by lupis42 · · Score: 1

      It does interest me that every feature on the list is available on my Windows Mobile phone... It's like Windows 95 in reverse.

    26. Re:Pretty easy list by DdJ · · Score: 1

      -Standard USB data/charging cable

      Well. Maybe. I'm unwilling to give up the dock -- it has too much utility that you can't trivially replicate just via USB (audio/video in/out, other signaling).

      So, if we take for granted that the dock is sticking around, this would be either in addition to the dock port, or via a dongle.

      If it's in addition, what happens when you have this and the dock plugged in at the same time? To two different computers? I think this is confusing enough for this phone's target market (which is *not* geeks) that it's a decent reason for Apple to rule this solution out... unless they do what they did with the eMate. The eMate had the same dock connector that other Newtons had, but it also had a standard serial port. They could not be used at the same time, as they only had one set of electronics "behind" them. So what Apple did was cover them with a door that normally covered both, but could be slid aside to expose one or the other at any given time. That worked fine then, and would work fine for this.

      Or people could just get a dongle for this, which you can do today.

      -USB mass storage support

      Might be nice. But I think we'll never see it. Opens up too many avenues for hackery of too many kinds. I wouldn't hang my hopes on this.

      -Video recording

      Yeah, this is something I'd like to see, and I can see Apple eventually doing this. I could see some special integration with iMovie and MobileMe here, something like tying in your GPS coordinates.

      -Tethering

      Would definitely be nice. I think AT&T is the bad guy here. I don't expect to see it. (Until/unless one of the things *I* have been waiting for shows up. That is, a documented, supported API for a Bluetooth stack. When that happens, we can get things like Salling Clicker ported to the iPhone.)

      -Multitasking

      I understand why people want it. But it's really a bad idea on a device like this. That is, fully unrestricted multitasking is.

      What *might* work is for apps to have associated background threads that follow different rules than the rest of the app.

      Essentially, permit devs to submit apps as app/daemon pairs, with rules around the behavior of the daemon, and make one of those rules that the app *must* work correctly when the daemon is disabled. Then let users prioritize apps in the background. Maybe it's like "if any app gets background time, it's AIM, and if there's cycles left over, it's Facebook". Or maybe a user gets to pick exactly two and no more apps that get background time.

      But this is hard to explain to developers, and hard to explain to consumers. Hackers will rail against how restrictive this is compared to what they're used to. Many "regular people" won't understand what's going on unless the message around it is crafted *very* carefully. I think from some standpoints this could be made to work, but I'm not sure enabling it would end up being a win.

      -MMS

      Everyone thinks this is simpler than it really is.

      I can send an SMS (plain text) message from my iPhone (via AT&T's GSM) to someone on Verizon (CDMA) with a StarTAC, or to someone with a European phone, or to an email gateway.

      How many MMS-capable phones have you experimented with?

      I've experimented with a few on a few different networks. They all work fine... within the network you're on... if you're sending media that the target device understands. Once you start to go cross-network, all bets are off. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't work, and sometimes it translates it to a normal text message with a link to a web site that lets you view the multimedia. This is not a situation... that's not going to come to the iPhone. When SMS is more standardized across all devices and carriers, so that everyone can always send it without worrying about it... that won'

    27. Re:Pretty easy list by NJRoadfan · · Score: 1

      While you are at it with all that tape, you might as well add cutting and pasting to the list.

    28. Re:Pretty easy list by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I also loan my USB's to people

      I bet all that desoldering and soldering gets tedious after awhile.

    29. Re:Pretty easy list by bar-agent · · Score: 1

      Well, assuming it isn't flat-out illegal for the general public to record a call, I suppose the only software issue is whether the phone needs to beep or not.

      --
      i'd hit it so hard, if you pulled me out you'd be the king of britain [bash.org]
    30. Re:Pretty easy list by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      -Tethering- netshare works great as a wifi AP.

      - Multitasking- Backgrounder works great, single button press to background, double to quit app.

      -Video Recording- Cycorder works fine. it gets choppy in low light due to the censors limitations though.

      - USB mass storage support- SSH server on Iphone and SCP works fine for me.
      If you need to move files around from the phone, there is mobile terminal, or mobile finder. Mobile terminal actually has some really cool swipe tech to input common terminal commands with the flick of a finger.

      of course, you need to jailbreak the phone for all of this...

    31. Re:Pretty easy list by silent_artichoke · · Score: 1

      The iPhone touchscreen seems to be thermally driven. This is why your finger works, but your fingernail or stylus does not.

    32. Re:Pretty easy list by Yaztromo · · Score: 1

      the device is just not powerful enough to afford freeing up control on application that can run in background.

      This is completely untrue, however the truth is more complex than most /. users seem to presume.

      From everything that I've seen and experienced, the iPhone is more than powerful enough to support background tasks. Indeed, it already does with a number of built-in apps.

      "Power" is not the problem from what I can see. As a phone, the iPhone needs hard guarantees as to processor availability. Let's face it -- if the iPhone permitted background tasks, and every stupid "toy" application from the AppStore decided to do background stuff, and it impinged upon the users ability to use the phone portion, the complaints would be absolutely deafening (both inside and outside /.). And rightfully so. Likewise, if the background multitasking for a dozen apps caused stutter or hiccoughs when playing back music or videos, the iPhone/iPod Touch would be garbage.

      These issues are solvable, however I don't think XNU (the OS X kernel) has support for hard real-time computing (the Wikipedia article on XNU mentions it only has "very soft real-time support"). Apple would want some absolute computing guarantees for the telephony and multimedia playback capabilities of the iPhone/iPod Touch, and then ensure that only those functions have access to the hard-real time scheduler within the kernel. All other processes would get a standard priority-based scheduling from whatever CPU time was left after the real-time threads get their runtime.

      So it's doable, but it does require some pretty significant core architectural changes to the software platform. Fortunately the hardware shouldn't have any problems with this, so it will be interesting to see what Apple comes up with. As an iPod Touch user, I'm a bit ambivalent about background execution support -- while there are some apps where it would be really useful (like for instant messaging, receiving VoIP calls, or listening to Internet radio), I also know that there are going to be a number of apps that will abuse this support unnecessarily. Time will tell, I suppose.

      Personally, I think if Apple does introduce hard real-time support in XNU it would be pretty exciting.

      Yaz.

    33. Re:Pretty easy list by Hijacked+Public · · Score: 1

      I would much prefer it if the iPod Touch and iPhone could wireless connect as a mass storage device to a compute.

      There are several apps that allow this. I use AirSharing and got it when it was free, I think it is a pay app now.

      And the camera sucks as do all cell phone cameras. The limitations of physics prevent us from getting proper light without far more glass than I want my cell phone to carry around.

      --
      "Sacrifice for the good of The State" - The State
    34. Re:Pretty easy list by maxume · · Score: 1

      It has a headset jack, the distinction is pretty narrow. I suppose it is easier to restrict 'special' audio equipment than it is to trust all iPhone owners though.

      --
      Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
    35. Re:Pretty easy list by horatio · · Score: 1

      IIRC, in the state of Ohio where I live, the law is that sans warrant, only one party has to be aware that the call is being recorded. I could be wrong about that. Your basic point however, is right. Lots of stuff like this varies from state to state, and country to country.

      --
      There is very little future in being right when your boss is wrong.
    36. Re:Pretty easy list by horza · · Score: 1

      Any Symbian phone can record calls without beeping.

      Phillip.

    37. Re:Pretty easy list by socsoc · · Score: 1

      USB mass storage support

      So basically Air Sharing?

      Tethering

      So basically bring back NetShare?

    38. Re:Pretty easy list by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's pretty obvious that people are reading the headline and assuming it to mean a third generation iPhone.

    39. Re:Pretty easy list by FrkyD · · Score: 1

      I dont know. My Windows Mobile Phone feels more like Windows 95 in low gear.

    40. Re:Pretty easy list by lupis42 · · Score: 1

      I was thinking of the "Windows 95 = Mac 89" bumper stickers from around that era. iPhone 2009 = Windows Mobile 2003?

    41. Re:Pretty easy list by kimvette · · Score: 2, 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?

      --
      The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
    42. Re:Pretty easy list by ozphx · · Score: 1

      Sounds like you should go and get something made by HTC then. My Touch Diamond is pretty much superior to the iPhone in every way (and its even smaller).

      The only thing its missing is the multitouch - but I can't see myself using that on such a limited screen (and I own and use a TouchStream stealth - so its not like I'm a stranger to multitouch gestures).

      I can add some more too:
      * Run applications from anywhere
      * Multiple programming languages/frameworks (Winmo native / .net compact / java)

      I've just never bought into the iPhone hype. My Diamond was cheaper as well...

      --
      3laws: No freebies, no backsies, GTFO.
    43. Re:Pretty easy list by sam0737 · · Score: 1

      No it's not thermally driven. It's driven by capacitance.

      I used to have a TouchStream keyboard, and Apply accquired the maker of this keyboard before making iPhone. basically the keyboard is two big multitouch touchpad, all keys are virtual.

      It could detect 5 fingers + palm, with interesting gestures. (twist, zoom, chord, etc etc)

      Well, nevertheless to say, you can't use it with fingernail either. And it's a very good reminder for cutting fingernail...

    44. Re:Pretty easy list by Mr2001 · · Score: 1

      The G1 has USB charging and line-out.

      --
      Visual IRC: Fast. Powerful. Free.
    45. Re:Pretty easy list by Mr2001 · · Score: 1

      [USB mass storage support] Might be nice. But I think we'll never see it. Opens up too many avenues for hackery of too many kinds. I wouldn't hang my hopes on this.

      Hackery? No, not really. Just let people use some portion of the phone's storage as a USB drive. You don't have to expose the system files, if that's what you're worried about.

      I understand why people want it. But it's really a bad idea on a device like this. That is, fully unrestricted multitasking is.

      And yet it seems like this is already supported by so many other smartphones. Why can't Apple do what they do?

      But [separating "app" from "daemon"] is hard to explain to developers, and hard to explain to consumers. Hackers will rail against how restrictive this is compared to what they're used to. Many "regular people" won't understand what's going on unless the message around it is crafted *very* carefully. I think from some standpoints this could be made to work, but I'm not sure enabling it would end up being a win.

      I think this is way too pessimistic.

      Look at Android, where apps are divided into not two but four different types of components, in order for the system to start and stop them as needed. Developers adapted easily enough, and consumers can't even tell the difference. You don't need to know that the Last.fm app is divided into "activities" and "services" unless you're writing the Last.fm app. From a user's perspective, all you see is that your stream keeps playing in the background while you're doing something else.

      Sometimes [MMS] works, sometimes it doesn't work, and sometimes it translates it to a normal text message with a link to a web site that lets you view the multimedia.

      And yet people still use MMS, even though it's imperfect. People know its limitations and still want to be able to use it on their iPhones. What's the holdup?

      Consider this. Today, using some handsets, you can send MMS messages where the media is a MIDI file. What do you think would happen to that if an iPhone received it?

      Um... it would get played through some sort of MIDI synthesizer? QuickTime can do that. What do you think happens when your Mac receives a MIDI file as an email attachment?

      No offense, but these are some pretty weak excuses. Other phones already support all these features. The problem isn't that the features are impossible to implement, but that Apple refuses to implement them.

      --
      Visual IRC: Fast. Powerful. Free.
    46. Re:Pretty easy list by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Should Apple not have included a camera since the camera could potentially enable aspiring underage pr0n starlets?

      Depends how nice their tits are.

    47. Re:Pretty easy list by cerberusss · · Score: 1

      How will they put a standard USB port in a software update, again?

      It's Apple, man. Need I say more~

      --
      8 of 13 people found this answer helpful. Did you?
    48. Re:Pretty easy list by FrkyD · · Score: 1

      Nope. My point is that my iPhone outperforms my windows mobile phone. My Tytn came with a buggy bluetooth stack, a gsm stack that would silently die in the background leaving me with no phone service, an impossible interface that required the stylus, and a system that couldnt be easily upgraded to fix the bug infested system it had been delivered with.

      reminds me a lot of windows ME actually.

      The iPhone on the other hand was missing some functionality, but the basics were solid. Much of the functionality has been added bit by bit as time goes by, a lot like the way OSX was built up.

      My main point is that neither one is really in the past, but neither one really lives up to the promise of the currently available hardware. The iphone with limited functionality, WM phones with limited stabillity and clunky UI.

    49. Re:Pretty easy list by lupis42 · · Score: 1

      My Touch Pro has been extremely stable, even the third party apps are remarkably stable. The touch interface is good, and it has an amazing keyboard with tactile feedback, so that I can use it without looking at what I'm typing. Really, the only downside is that the physical screen could be larger, but at least it has an acceptable resolution. Oh, and the browser supports flash and java.

    50. Re:Pretty easy list by DdJ · · Score: 1

      (Regarding multitasking:)

      And yet it seems like this is already supported by so many other smartphones. Why can't Apple do what they do?

      Apple can. They won't, and it would be a bad idea for them to with the current technology, just as it's actually a bad idea for several of the devices on which it's already being done.

      If the iPhone ran a RTOS from the screen down to the bones, and if consumers were used to what that meant, it'd be different. But if you accept that certain aspects of a phone have hard RT requirements (and I think Apple does), this places severe restrictions on what you can do in the background.

      (Regarding separating apps into separate pieces that are submitted together, such as UI app and background daemon:)

      I think this is way too pessimistic.

      Look at Android...

      I really, really do hope you're right, and I confess I don't know enough about Android internals. We'll see how they do in the marketplace. With luck, it'll all work out, and then Apple will shamelessly rip off the architectural features that make this work. I really do hope so, I want various background behaviors in several apps, including some that I haven't finished writing yet. (For example, a "pill timer" that reminds me to take my Ritalin is useless if it can't notify me unless the app is running.)

      And yet people still use MMS, even though it's imperfect. People know its limitations and still want to be able to use it on their iPhones.

      Now, see, you have to be careful here. SOME people know its limitations and want to be able to use it. But an awful lot of the target market for the iPhone do NOT understand its limitations. Apple will NOT enable the feature unless it can be done in a way that doesn't impact those people at all. This is the sort of lowest-common-denominator thing Apple does which infuriates Linux users and many other hackers, but which is pretty much non-negotiable. Is there a set of people who want it and are willing to live with it being imperfect? Absolutely, but that's not good enough for Apple, especially not when full-fledged email is right there already.

      (Regarding MMS receipt of MIDI files:)

      Um... it would get played through some sort of MIDI synthesizer? QuickTime can do that.

      But the iPhone cannot.

      You can try this today. You talked (under the mass storage device section) about setting aside a portion of the internal storage for use as a storage device. There are apps on the app store that do exactly this, just not via USB. I have a WebDAV one installed. You can load arbitrary files in there. If you load an MP3, or an AAC, or an MPEG, or a PowerPoint file, or a PDF, or any number of other files, you can tap on them from within that app and they all load up fine -- the MIME stuff and the "open this resource" stuff all kicks in, and it just works.

      I ran tests, though, and can confirm that the iPhone has no MIDI capabilities at all. The QuickTime frameworks that formed the basis had them, but they were stripped out intentionally in moving them to the iPhone.

      COULD Apple enable 'em? Sure, honestly, they just have to refrain from disabling them. But they intentionally disabled them. The interoperability issues are larger than most people think. Yes, this is in part because Apple is MAKING them larger than they necessarily have to be, but that's something we have to take into account.

    51. Re:Pretty easy list by DdJ · · Score: 1

      WELL!

      Seems I was either partially or completely incorrect on a few points.

      Some level of something they're referring to as MMS is going to be supported on some devices. They're claiming there are hardware requirements that prevent it from working at all on the first generation iPhone. They also gave an example of one of the things you could send being Google Map coordinates. So they're setting compatibility expectations very low. Maybe it's only 3G-iPhone-to-3G-iPhone-over-the-same-network? Have to see how it plays out.

      There's also some kind of tethering support in there.

      It's interesting. Still sorting through the announcement, trying to figure out implications. I'll be grabbing that beta SDK relatively soon, I think.

  7. Non-ATT Service? by blahbooboo · · Score: 0, Troll

    ATT sucks suck sucks on the East Coast. It's why I won't buy an iPhone.

    1. Re:Non-ATT Service? by n1ckml007 · · Score: 1

      The ATT service is OK in Vermont other than the price, however there is no 3G (yet).

    2. Re:Non-ATT Service? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Not around here it doesn't. If you want suckage talk to Sprint or T-Mobile.

    3. Re:Non-ATT Service? by scubamage · · Score: 2, Informative

      Agreed. AT&T service is pointless in PA/NJ.

    4. Re:Non-ATT Service? by GigaHurtsMyRobot · · Score: 1

      Working just fine here in Northeast PA. I was a Verizon fanboi until recently, but I haven't had a single issue with AT&T so far.

    5. Re:Non-ATT Service? by Steauengeglase · · Score: 1

      AT&T sucks. It's why I won't buy an iPhone.

      Fixed.

    6. Re:Non-ATT Service? by PJ1216 · · Score: 1

      I live in Central NJ and I couldn't agree more. I switched from Cingular to Verizon to AT&T over the past few years (I didn't switch to AT&T for the iPhone. I switched about a year ago for other reasons and when the 3G came out, I wanted to converge my music player and phone, so I got the 3G). I did notice more dropped calls after switching to the iPhone, but I did notice dropped calls in general after switching to AT&T. With Verizon, I never had a problem. I've yet to find a place where Verizon has no service and AT&T does BUT I know of a few places that Verizon has service and AT&T doesn't. When my contract is up (in just under 2 years... blarg), I wanna switch to Verizon and the Storm (or whatever phone may be out by then)

    7. Re:Non-ATT Service? by furby076 · · Score: 1

      I live in center city philly (AT&T said they have tons of great towers here)...dropped call after dropped call. In 5 years of verizon..not a single dropped call on my end.

      THe phone I had from AT&T? First the sent me a new sim card. Then they did the software update on my phone. Then sent me a replacement phone. Then sent me a newer generation of that phone. Then they let me out of my contract. Then they sent me a $250 fine for terminating my contract early. Then I had to fight (luckily i had a letter from them letting me out of my contract without a fine).

      Unfortunately AT&T sucks in service in center city philly.

      --

      I do not support "The Man". I also do not support your irrational stupidity
    8. Re:Non-ATT Service? by scubamage · · Score: 1

      Be careful, Mr. Murphy is ever the douchebag about enforcing his law. A friend of mine was doing consulting for AT&T wireless and the director of marketing offered him an Iphone as a "hey our service doesn't suck that bad, try this to prove it!" sort of thing. After numerous dropped calls outside NYC (a pretty much inexcusable place for ANY company not to have coverage), he uses it as nothing but a fancy PDA and switched back to using a junky clamshell phone from Verizon. It worked, but not enough to satisfy a can't-ever-miss-a-call consultant.

    9. Re:Non-ATT Service? by blahbooboo · · Score: 1

      and yet I get rated as a troll??

  8. Price by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

    and make it open.

  9. OS Change. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    +Android

  10. C&P and Thunderbird support by _Shad0w_ · · Score: 2, Informative

    I'd like to second the desire for copy-and-paste; it's the thing that has really been bugging me since I got an iPhone.

    Being able to sync with Thunderbird, without having to do the "Thunderbird sync to Google, iPod sync to Google" thing would be nice. If they could add support for syncing calendars with Sunbird at the same time, that would be spiffing.

    --

    Yeah, I had a sig once; I got bored of it.

    1. Re:C&P and Thunderbird support by ivan256 · · Score: 1

      What, exactly, would you copy and paste?

      I had a phone for years (Treo) that could copy and paste, and I never used it. I don't miss it on the iPhone at all. There are tons of things I'd rather see them fix about the iPhone software before copy and paste. For example, background processes, the push service they promised and never delivered (without any additional service fees), and using the landscape mode keyboard in the SMS app...

    2. Re:C&P and Thunderbird support by peragrin · · Score: 1

      Other than copy & paste my other daily pet peeve is
      Easy Bluetooth on/off.
      My Bluetooth headset is built into my car. Not having to charge it makes me happy. However I leave Bluetooth off most of the time I am at work to conserve battery life in the phone.

      So I leave work with bt off, get a call and struggle to activate it. What I want is simple. Easier ways to turn features as they are.

      --
      i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
    3. Re:C&P and Thunderbird support by NatasRevol · · Score: 1

      Copy & paste links/bookmarks/text to email. Note the plural. Not just one link from Safari.

      I miss this functionality all the time. For sending info/instructions/scores/etc to friends & family.

      --
      There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
    4. Re:C&P and Thunderbird support by Barsteward · · Score: 1

      If you want to use it in the corporate environ, then cut/copy and paste becomes a must with email. It certainly got used heavily at the global bank i worked at when i was supporting blackberrys

      --
      "The hands that help are better far than lips that pray." - Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899)
    5. Re:C&P and Thunderbird support by Skippyboy · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Regarding the calendar issue - GMail now has an Exchange interface that supports calendar and contacts.

      Since the iPhone only supports one Exchange server at a time (that's what mine told me) I changed my work email to IMAP only, and set up my personal Gmail account to the Exchange service and now - all my contacts and calendar are synched.

      Also - I found an app that synch's my work Outlook/Exchange Calendar with my Google calendar - so I leave it running on my desktop at work, and everything is automagically synched!

  11. Multitasking by coffeepriest · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The iPhone has quite a few otherwise great apps (like IM clients and such) that don't get used much because they can't run in the background. AIM or Yahoo IM aren't much use to me if, in order to stay connected to the IM service, the phone has to have that app running in the foreground at all times. Seriously, add multitasking. Let users answer texts or change the current song while still running another application in the background.

    1. Re:Multitasking by godawful · · Score: 1

      the newest AIM client gets around this. it will leave you signed into the system if the app isn't running, it'll then send you a text message for any incoming message which you can reply to via text.

      it isn't the prettiest thing, but it works.. though obviously you'll want unlimited texts

      --
      Live EVERY week... Like it's Shark Week
    2. Re:Multitasking by XMyth · · Score: 1

      They will probably be adding background notifications so that IM apps and the like can send notifications to your phone while they're closed. This is probably ideal for that type of operation anyways.

      There are definitely other things that should be able to run in the background though (Pandora for one).

      Also, you can already change the current song (if you're playing it through the iPod) without closing an app.

      In your settings, assign double Home to Music Controls. Then while in another app, double tap home and you'll get a pop-up with prev, play/pause, and next.

      Lastly, if your phone is jailbroken, you should check out iRealQuickSMS for replying to text messages while you're using another app. Really great utility. It is ~$5, but definitely worth it to me and I don't even text very often.

    3. Re:Multitasking by IndustrialComplex · · Score: 1

      the newest AIM client gets around this. it will leave you signed into the system if the app isn't running, it'll then send you a text message for any incoming message which you can reply to via text.

      it isn't the prettiest thing, but it works.. though obviously you'll want unlimited texts

      I've often wondered if the reason that they didn't have these clients able to be backgrounded is because AT&T wanted their cut in the form of SMS.

      I refuse to pay the money for unlimited texts (yes it's nearly a pittance, but for me it is principle).

      Of course, I've jailbroken my phone, so I CAN background the aim client...

      --
      Out of modpoints but really liked a post? 1BDkF6TtmmeZ3yqXbz9yhdYVqRYnwFoXDj
  12. Maybe let me choose my own provider? by NewbieProgrammerMan · · Score: 1

    How about letting me use something other than AT&FT? No? Then I don't care what shiny new items are on your feature list.

    --
    [b.belong('us') for b in bases if b.owner() == 'you']
  13. huh? by Reality+Master+201 · · 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?

    1. Re:huh? by Hozza · · Score: 1

      The Apple video store, and the Apple App store, are however swimming in DRM.

      Your point was?

    2. Re:huh? by SoCalChris · · Score: 2, Insightful

      What about their audio books? Honest question, I'm not trolling. I know that Audible still has DRM, and I'd assume that Apple's store has it also since Audible provides content for them.

    3. Re:huh? by Reality+Master+201 · · Score: 3, 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.

    4. Re:huh? by bonch · · Score: 2, 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.

    5. Re:huh? by nine-times · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I don't know what girlintraining was talking about, but I'd love to see the whole thing just opened up in terms of installing applications. Give up control. Let me install things straight from the Internet without the store. Stop restricting what applications people are permitted to write.

      I don't know if Apple is allowed to do that because of some deal with AT&T. Maybe they're required to take measures to restrict certain kinds of functionality. Still, it's something I'd like to see.

    6. Re:huh? by BMonger · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yeah let's remove DRM from the Apple Apps so we can run the Apps on.... on... ummmm....

    7. Re:huh? by Prof.Phreak · · Score: 1

      Nah, something that would let -me- (the developer) write an app for the iphone, and run it on -my- iphone without paying Apple $100 for the privilege of doing so.

      --

      "If anything can go wrong, it will." - Murphy

    8. Re:huh? by aztektum · · Score: 1

      I'm wondering if the GP is talking about the lock-in of the hardware which != DRM

      It is funny/sad though how Jobs/Apple supposedly bullied the music industry into letting them drop DRM, but believes it has the right to tell people what to do with their iPhones.

      --
      :: aztek ::
      No sig for you!!
    9. Re:huh? by nsayer · · Score: 1

      ... My wife's iPhone, perhaps, without purchasing a 2nd copy?

    10. Re:huh? by Reality+Master+201 · · Score: 1

      It's possible ATT requires it, but I think it's mostly about 1) apple maintaining control over the "user experience," 2) reducing the likelihood of iPhone viruses running rampant, and 3) getting a cut of app sales. That last one is probably a big consideration - the iPod was a runaway success, not because of the hardware, but because of the iTunes store, which makes several metric shitloads of money a year for Apple.

    11. Re:huh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So we can run apps with more capabilities and without having to put up with Apple's arbitrary and slow approval process.

      But like another poster said, it's really not DRM, just a locked down execution environment. But aside from that technicality, it still needs to go.

    12. Re:huh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well i agree with This statement,

      It would be Cool if they removed the DRM so it will not be that hard to port linux to it.

      Imagine a world where you can't install whatever software you like on your computer, why should handheld devices be any diffrent?

    13. Re:huh? by XMyth · · Score: 5, Informative

      You do know that you can use a shared iTunes account on multiple phones and you won't have to purchase apps twice, right?

    14. Re:huh? by ceejayoz · · Score: 1

      That's simple - you use one iTunes account on both iPhones. Everyone I know with more than one iPhone in the family already does this.

    15. Re:huh? by 0xdeadbeef · · Score: 1

      Or are you just bitching about something that's sure to get a bunch of other putzes to agree with you?

      Are you playing a contest to see who can be the most submissive fanboy?

      Would it help you understand if someone threw a hammer through a giant television showing an Apple commercial?

    16. Re:huh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      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

      Original post in it's entirety:

      Most Asked for Feature that Will Never Be Implimented on an Apple Product: Removing the DRM.

      It might just be me, but it seems you are reading a lot more into that statement than was actually written.

      Also, you said:

      The video store has the same issues that the music store had - the content providers.

      And then said:

      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.

      The problems both the music & app store had, originally, were due to DRM restrictions the phone had in place. Once they removed the DRM from the music store, the issues went away, despite your original assertation that it was a content provider option.
      Additionally, the apps store is not a 'content' issue- you can't have the content unless it's from the store- because of DRM restrictions.

      The "Reality" of the situation, is that you are a raving Apple fanboy, and can't handle any criticism directed towards the object of your fascination.

    17. Re:huh? by Reality+Master+201 · · Score: 1

      I'm not an Apple fanboy, and I don't own an iPod or an iPhone, nor have I plans to do so. I have no horse in this race.

      But supposed it's easier to call me a fanboy than seriously address my point, making you one of the putzes whose agreement girlintraining was seeking.

    18. Re:huh? by nsayer · · Score: 1

      Well, that is a workaround, but the fact that it is necessary to work around the DRM makes the GP's point.

    19. Re:huh? by Mattazuma · · Score: 1

      There is DRM related to video out functionality. If an accessory manufacturer doesn't buy Apple's chip, they can't access the video out. There also is DRM in the headphone controls for the new Shuffle.

    20. Re:huh? by 0xdeadbeef · · Score: 1

      Oh, a disinterested, impartial observer, who, nonetheless, reads threads that do not concern him. What point are you making, anyway? I believe you are making the assertion that criticism of DRM and platform lock-in should only be applicable to music, and not the general category of media and peripherals. Please, go on, elaborate and correct me.

    21. Re:huh? by Horn · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I'm sure allowing people to pirate apps easier is near the top of Apple's todo list.

    22. Re:huh? by samkass · · Score: 1

      the iPod was a runaway success, not because of the hardware, but because of the iTunes store, which makes several metric shitloads of money a year for Apple.

      [citation needed]. Apple's quarterly reports don't show the iTunes Store making gobs of cash. It appears to be in a distant third behind Mac sales and then iPod/iPhone sales. And considering how many terabytes of app downloads are free, Apple probably isn't making huge amounts of profit on apps, either. The iTunes Store is essentially a way for Apple to sell more hardware, which is why they've been pushing for cheaper music since the beginning.

      --
      E pluribus unum
    23. Re:huh? by n+dot+l · · Score: 1

      I'd be happy if they removed the DRMish iTunes requirement. Just show me my music in a mounted file system of some sort, and let me drag stuff on and off the device the way I can with any other portable media player.

    24. Re:huh? by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      Pointing out that someone is full of crap != fanboy. If I called Steve Jobs a cannibal, and you said there was no evidence that he is, would that make you a fanboy? Didn't think so.

    25. Re:huh? by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      It's funny how otherwise Libertarian/freeper Slashdotters feel entitled to tell a company how it should build it's products.

      Don't like how Apple manages the iPhone...then don't frikkin buy one. They aren't holding a gun to your head.

    26. Re:huh? by The+End+Of+Days · · Score: 1

      I'm pretty sure the point is much simpler: if you don't like the restrictions on a given piece of hardware that no one is forcing you to buy, don't buy it. Bitching in public isn't really an effective option.

      I do like the bitching, though. It makes me laugh.

    27. Re:huh? by girlintraining · · Score: 1

      So let me get this straight, you get modded +5 insightful for essentially calling everyone an idiot because "DRM" could only mean iTunes? Let's have a review of what "DRM" is on/related to the iPhone:

      The applications are locked down and can only be purchased from Apple,
      The hardware is locked only to certain cell phone vendors (in most markets),
      The TRSS headset connector is recessed on the original (not 3G), requiring purchase of either an adapter or an apple-branded headset,
      Battery cannot be replaced by the user (arguably another case of hardware-based DRM as this is a standard industry feature on most other phones),
      Over 200 patents filed regarding the iPhone hardware -- many of which are bogus -- and massive legal campaigns to prevent any direct competition,
      oh...
      and iTunes.

      And about "bitching"... I think Apple's use of DRM and relative popularity amongst the mainstream has catapulted these issues into the public eye and an awful lot of people don't know what they're missing and would be rightfully upset to find out that Apple is only offering a fraction of the potential of the hardware to their users, simply because Apple feels it's the only one that can deliver them "the right experience". And regardless of how many people do or don't disagree with me, it doesn't change the fact that removing DRM from the iPhone would add tons of functionality to it -- more than bigger batteries, applications, or accessories ever could.

      --
      #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
    28. Re:huh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hey, piece of shit DRM troll. Remove the DRM from the hardware and you remove the incentive for publishers to release their media DRM encumbered. Simple market forces will result in media being free from restrictions. Now, go back under your bridge you stupid astroturfing piece of garbage.

    29. Re:huh? by Sancho · · Score: 1

      They removed DRM from the music, and appear to be doing just fine. The MPAA really ought to look closely at that and try following suit.

    30. Re:huh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So let me get this straight, you get modded +5 insightful for essentially calling everyone an idiot because "DRM" could only mean iTunes? Let's have a review of what "DRM" is on/related to the iPhone:

      The applications are locked down and can only be purchased from Apple,
      The hardware is locked only to certain cell phone vendors (in most markets),
      The TRSS headset connector is recessed on the original (not 3G), requiring purchase of either an adapter or an apple-branded headset,
      Battery cannot be replaced by the user (arguably another case of hardware-based DRM as this is a standard industry feature on most other phones),
      Over 200 patents filed regarding the iPhone hardware -- many of which are bogus -- and massive legal campaigns to prevent any direct competition,
      oh...
      and iTunes.

      Don't forget to patent because someone else might patent it and get a patent grant for something you're using already in your product. They come and sue you and shows you THEIR patent. You are left kicking yourself for not patenting first. It happens and happened and will happen again.

      'But that patent is bogus' isn't going to convince the judge.

      And about "bitching"... I think Apple's use of DRM and relative popularity amongst the mainstream has catapulted these issues into the public eye and an awful lot of people don't know what they're missing and would be rightfully upset to find out that Apple is only offering a fraction of the potential of the hardware to their users, simply because Apple feels it's the only one that can deliver them "the right experience". And regardless of how many people do or don't disagree with me, it doesn't change the fact that removing DRM from the iPhone would add tons of functionality to it -- more than bigger batteries, applications, or accessories ever could.

      Assumption: More features/functions/flexibilities will sell more products overall.

    31. Re:huh? by hobbit · · Score: 1

      The problems both the music & app store had, originally, were due to DRM restrictions the phone had in place. Once they removed the DRM from the music store, the issues went away, despite your original assertation that it was a content provider option.

      You really don't get it, do you?

      You don't just "remove the DRM" when the DRM is the reason you've got something to remove it from in the first place.

      --
      "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something" - Plato
    32. Re:huh? by hobbit · · Score: 1

      You think they just removed the DRM from the music, and suddenly everyone in the RIAA said "oh yeah, that does actually make everything better"?

      --
      "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something" - Plato
    33. Re:huh? by hobbit · · Score: 1

      The point he's making is that someone disagreeing with an Apple hater is not necessarily an Apple fanboy. Obviously.

      --
      "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something" - Plato
    34. Re:huh? by hobbit · · Score: 1

      The TRSS headset connector is recessed on the original (not 3G), requiring purchase of either an adapter or an apple-branded headset

      I've had headphones from Sony with those mini jacks, and I'm willing to bet they and Apple are not the only ones that use them.

      Battery cannot be replaced by the user (arguably another case of hardware-based DRM as this is a standard industry feature on most other phones)

      Ah, yes, the standard industry battery. I just love that I can take any battery from any Nokia phone and use it in any Motorola phone.

      Over 200 patents filed regarding the iPhone hardware -- many of which are bogus -- and massive legal campaigns to prevent any direct competition

      Did you give any consideration to finding out what "DRM" means before chiming in?

      --
      "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something" - Plato
    35. Re:huh? by Sancho · · Score: 0, Redundant

      No, I don't.

    36. Re:huh? by hobbit · · Score: 1

      So who is the "they" in your "they removed DRM from the music"?

      --
      "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something" - Plato
    37. Re:huh? by intheshelter · · Score: 1

      You don't just "remove the DRM" when the DRM is the reason you've got something to remove it from in the first place.

      I guess I don't get it, because that sentence doesn't make an ounce of sense!

    38. Re:huh? by hobbit · · Score: 1

      What do you remove the DRM from? Music.
      Why do you have music in the first place? Because of the DRM.

      Make more sense now?

      --
      "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something" - Plato
    39. Re:huh? by intheshelter · · Score: 1

      No. You're saying I bought music because of DRM?

    40. Re:huh? by hobbit · · Score: 1

      I'm not saying anything about you. The "you" in this context is Apple. I'm saying the reason that Apple had music to sell in the first place is because they DRMed it.

      --
      "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something" - Plato
    41. Re:huh? by intheshelter · · Score: 1

      I would agree with that, but they were obviously forced by the short-sighted RIAA.

  14. Improved camera APIs by Bob+Hearn · · Score: 2

    The current (legal) ones really tie your hands.

    1. Re:Improved camera APIs by th1nk · · Score: 1

      The current (legal) ones really tie your hands.

      jailbreaking isn't illegal

    2. Re:Improved camera APIs by Myrcutio · · Score: 1

      but it is against the legally binding terms of use you signed to get the phone. they could charge you with breach of contract at most.

    3. Re:Improved camera APIs by Ihmhi · · Score: 1

      Unless you're one of the smart people who just cancelled the contract (or bought a first gen iPhone and never got a contract with AT&T).

    4. Re:Improved camera APIs by Bob+Hearn · · Score: 1

      The point is that if you're an iPhone developer, you're stuck with sucky camera APIs. There are better, private APIs, which header files are available for. But if you use them, your app will not be approved.

  15. A printer! by telchine · · 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! :)

    1. Re:A printer! by thrillseeker · · Score: 1

      They should include proper buttons for skipping tracks and and changing albums.

      The Blackberry Storm is worse ... why do people who design interfaces to mobile devices not try to make the onscreen controls AS BIG AS POSSIBLE?

    2. Re:A printer! by Cybershark302 · · Score: 5, Informative

      skipping tracks is as simple as clicking the inline button on the earbuds. pause is a double click. The buds also double as your headset so that phone calls automatically pause the music and give you a chance to answer with another simple squeeze of the button. Hanging up is just one more squeeze again and then back to the music. It's not advanced, but it's perfectly sufficient...

    3. Re:A printer! by The+End+Of+Days · · Score: 4, Informative

      Click the headphone button twice to skip to the next track, three times for the previous track.

      I'm not sure why I bothered responding, though. It's pretty obvious you just wanted to get a quick bash in.

    4. Re:A printer! by GigaHurtsMyRobot · · Score: 2, Informative

      What? Everything I saw on the Storm was gigantic! That's why I hated the phone... I actually have dexterity and coordination. I much prefered the tiny keyboard of Windows Mobile with flick gestures, but now I have an iPhone.

    5. Re:A printer! by onion2k · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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 think you might be overestimating what's possible with a software update. ;)

    6. Re:A printer! by Archimonde · · Score: 2, Insightful

      That is if you still have original headphones... Mine disintegrated after 6 months of very light use.

      --
      Trolls are like broken clocks. They show the truth two times a day. The rest of the day they talk nonsense.
    7. Re:A printer! by Telvin_3d · · Score: 2, Informative

      Mine, and most people's I know, are doing fine. But there are lots of 3rd party alternate headphones out there made to work with the iPhone. They have the microphone and control buttons. Some of them are dirt cheap. And, oddly enough, the apple store carries many of them.

    8. Re:A printer! by Firehed · · Score: 1

      I bought a replacement set for five bucks at the local five-dollar store (inflation, I guess...) that has an inline mic and button like the original headset. The inline mic is quite a bit bigger than the original iPhone one, but the headset seems a bit more durable, sounds quite a bit better, and is also more comfortable.

      I'd like to try them out with the new shuffle to see if the supposed DRM really is true. I won't have volume control (!), but the inline pause/skip button works fine with the iPhone so hopefully would work on the shuffle too. Doesn't help me with plugging it into my car stereo which is why I'd like a shuffle, but that's beside the point.

      --
      How are sites slashdotted when nobody reads TFAs?
    9. Re:A printer! by ZX3+Junglist · · Score: 1

      I think they should include a printer as well, one which prints out money!

      Sorry, that's server-side functionality only.

    10. Re:A printer! by cayenne8 · · Score: 1
      Any new rumors about WHEN the new hardware is coming out? I'd heard the new iPhone 'should' be released in the June '09 timeframe....

      Any other word confirming this? I'm holding off to buy an iPhone till the new one comes out, hopefully with many features listed in TFA...also, hearing they might have a multi-core processor in the phone? 32GB? Better camera?

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    11. Re:A printer! by cayenne8 · · Score: 2, Informative
      Do that many people actually STAY with the included cheap-o earphones? The sound on them isn't really all that good. I got a pair of the Shure SE530's....man, now THOSE are good sounding earphones. Even the model or two down from there are great....

      Oh..and I think it is from the website I liked...but, when you order, call them and ask for the 'code' to get the discount. Usually it is just the model of the earphones, in this example se530 did it. I got them for about $200+ off the MSRP.

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    12. Re:A printer! by radish · · Score: 1

      ridiculously overpriced telephone/mp3 player

      Huh? It's $200. How is that "ridiculously overpriced"? It may be more than you want to pay, which is fine, but compared to similar products I think it's quite fair.

      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!

      Personally, I like to be able to choose what I want to listen to rather than leave it to chance. That's what the screen is for. Not to mention the whole web/email/games/facebook thing. But whatever floats your boat, choice is a wonderful thing.

      --

      ---- Den ene knappen er powerknapp, den andre er Bender voice knapp "Bite My Shiny Metal Ass"

    13. Re:A printer! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You bought high-priced earbuds? God what a fucking waste of money. Good lightweight headphones are cheaper and better.

    14. Re:A printer! by Archimonde · · Score: 3, Informative

      I had couple of pairs of apple ipod and one iphone headphones but they are all the same concerning the build quality.

      The rubber rim on the earbuds start to crack and disintegrates whether you use them or not after couple of months. After that the rubber which is around the (male) connector likes to get loose because it dilates after a while. After it gets loose, it starts to crack, and in couple of weeks time it will fall apart too. Lastly, as the rubber around the connector is finished, the wire will snap just at the connection with the plastic at the connector itself. This happened 3.5 times now (I managed to save the last pair with alot of electrical tape and handling it like its a grat mogul diamond) out of 4 pairs I have. I have never seen such poor quality from so expensive players/phones before.

      If you don't believe me, take a look at the pictures here and here.

      Lastly, I would have bought some other iphone compatible headphones but there are none in croatia unfortunately. Moreover, I still haven't found the adapter to use any other headphones in my first gen iphone.

      --
      Trolls are like broken clocks. They show the truth two times a day. The rest of the day they talk nonsense.
    15. Re:A printer! by nobodyman · · Score: 4, 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 speaker cables that you may be interested in!

    16. Re:A printer! by penguinchris · · Score: 1

      I know you're joking with the cables, but there really is a huge difference between Apple's cheap earphones and a good model from Shure or Etymotic - even if you get the $50-80 versions and not the $100-300 ones.

      If they sold a short extension cord with the in-line buttons on it so that you could use any headphones you wanted, that might be nice for those who appreciate good quality sound. Those of us that do like good sound get used to and learn to love the sound from whatever components we use. I'm not going to switch from using the $70 Etymotic ER-6 earbuds I have used for years just so I can use the in-line buttons on an Apple product (for the record I've never owned an ipod or iphone, and don't plan to.)

      Average consumers obviously don't care, and probably just switch to whatever earbuds came with their yearly ipod/iphone upgrade without noticing if it's any different.

    17. Re:A printer! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's pretty obvious you just wanted to get a quick bash in.

      Why is that obvious? Is everyone supposed to know you can click that button? My Blackberry has a button on the headphones; I've never tried skipping that way, but now I will. It never occurred to me that it was anything other than an answer call button.

    18. Re:A printer! by The+End+Of+Days · · Score: 1

      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! :)

      The bashing at the end made it obvious. I'm all about receiving the clear signals people are sending.

    19. Re:A printer! by sexconker · · Score: 1

      When Steve Jobs returns to Apple (set for June).
      It'll be the last Apple dealie with Steve (assuming he lives that long) and he'll be handing the reigns to his successor.

    20. Re:A printer! by commodoresloat · · Score: 1

      Apple has some in-ear buds with the mic and controller that you can get for about $90 on the apple store; they sound pretty damn good. The Shures are still better in terms of sound quality but the Apple high-end buds are worth the price if you want better sound quality AND the features of the apple buds.

    21. Re:A printer! by Pieroxy · · Score: 1

      You have to stop believing everything you read on the internet. Seriously.

      You may have one or two sets of defective earbuds, but mine, my wife's and my father's are all 18 month old and are doing perfectly fine. Plus I have another set from an iPod Shuffle and they are also doing fine 3.5 years later.

      I don't know what you did with yours, but they are obviously not a sign that ALL iphone earbuds are crap.

    22. Re:A printer! by cayenne8 · · Score: 1
      "You bought high-priced earbuds? God what a fucking waste of money. Good lightweight headphones are cheaper and better."

      I know that headphones are better...but, not really that good for the gym where you move about, etc. The earbuds stick and stay in your ear better.

      Also, I prefer the earbud for air travel...they're better at blocking ALL sound really than sound cancelling headphones.

      I have some nice grado cans for listening at home, or maybe at work....but, earbuds do have their place in some environments.

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    23. Re:A printer! by broken_chaos · · Score: 2, Interesting

      They could repurpose some of the buttons on the device if the screen is currently off. Leave the on/off button doing it's current function ('waking' the screen), and change the home button to play/pause, push-and-hold on the volume up/down changes track, instead of making the volume repeatedly go up.

      Er, at least I think the iPhone has a volume control on it. I know the iPod Touch 2G does, and I'd love this to be done for it's controls...

    24. Re:A printer! by supernova_hq · · Score: 1

      Unless you want to use headphones that actually have a sound quality better than your little sister screaming into one of those spring microphones.

      Not that the audio hardware in the iPhone is worth connecting good headphones to anyways...

    25. Re:A printer! by Sancho · · Score: 1

      Weird. Mine survived at least one trip through the washing machine, and they sound just fine.

    26. Re:A printer! by Widowwolf · · Score: 1

      Actually one click is to pause, 2 clicks is to forward to next track and 3 clicks is to back one song..and to get out of pause, just click it and it will resume

      --
      ~~"Of course, that's just my opinion. I could be wrong." ~~Dennis Miller
    27. Re:A printer! by Archimonde · · Score: 1

      Actually those pictures and text is mine so I can believe myself thank you very much;)

      I don't like to contradict people, but four sets of basically the same earbuds where 3 where bought in usa and 1 in germany in the last 2 years suggests it isn't just some defective batch or anything else. Moreover, I've been to stores plenty of times meanwhile to see and feel other apple earbuds and they are *completely* the same. The build quality is simply poor. They look ok but they quicky change the tune when used.

      I bought my little sister and her friend (still kids) a pair of some philips ear canal headphones around this time last year. They were not really dime a dozen, but not expensive, not even medium priced. As you probably know, kids don't really care much about handling stuff rough (and they shouldn't really) but even today these two pairs of earphones sound and look as the first day I bought them (minus the ear wax on the friend's pair). That is what I expect from the products I buy. I don't expect them to fail in a matter of months, not even years.

      But as you say, and do not get me wrong, you have yours lasting for years, but I can imagine that only if they are handled more gingerly than diamonds. And that is not what, in my mind, personal electronics is about.

      --
      Trolls are like broken clocks. They show the truth two times a day. The rest of the day they talk nonsense.
    28. Re:A printer! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How about "rush out and replace Apple's crappy headphones with something better"? How about "find Apple's included headphones don't fit and rush out and replace with something that does"?

      Yeah, I'm as off-topic as the smug bastard I'm replying to. Mod him down and my comment will disappear.

    29. Re:A printer! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've had mine for about a year and the rubber rim around the headphone is starting to come off. Most of the folks I know with iPods have had to replace their headsets within a few months for similar problems. This is a common problem. I think more people would complain except once the replace the cheap apple headphones, they realize that they are better off. I gotta be honest. I don't hate my iphone, but I am not in love with it either. I owned a creative before this for mp3s and a Nokia as a phone. I can honestly say that other that there are only 2 advantages to the iphone. The web browser, and its only one device, and I could probably get over carrying 2 devices.

    30. Re:A printer! by Archimonde · · Score: 1

      I agree somewhat. I really love the the huge screen, great pixel density, the nice and polished GUI (albeit somewhat too simplistic) and the best browser and music/video on the mobile. But the weight and size is really a bad side (first gen owner here) and so is weak vibrating alert and very weak external speaker. There comes a time when I really prefer my nokia 6500c because it is so much lighter, has much less volume and most of all, you don't feel it in your pocket, which is especially noticeable in the summer when people are dressed lightly so you don't have iphone weighing your shorts down. As I found out you don't have to have an expensive and somewhat fragile mobile phone all the time with you. I mean, phone calls, sms, mail (gmail mobile client is very good) is more then enough more than 70% of the time. So that part of time you are lugging around other parts of the iphone which you don't really need. When this iphone goes to the eternal hunting grounds, I'll probably buy an ipod touch, because it is lighter, thinner, has the same best mobile browser, excellent audio/video player and I can take it with me when I really need it.

      --
      Trolls are like broken clocks. They show the truth two times a day. The rest of the day they talk nonsense.
    31. Re:A printer! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Umm. The earbuds that come with the iPhone HAVE a button that does exactly what you want, right near where they split. One click for pause, two for skip forward. Maybe even other click types for other features - not sure. I only ever pause or skip with shuffle on.

    32. Re:A printer! by Lars+T. · · Score: 1

      If they sold a short extension cord with the in-line buttons on it so that you could use any headphones you wanted,

      The problem is, the in-line buttons on the Apple earphones are "close to the heart" so to speak, on a short extension cord they would be close to wherever the iPhone is - what do you think is more ergonomic?

      --

      Lars T.

      To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck

    33. Re:A printer! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, get the proper iPhone earphones (assuming you're using earphones when walking down a crowded street - otherwise you'e an obnoxious tool).

      Of course the issue with the proper earphones is that they have poor sound quality but hey, this is a SOFTWARE update.

    34. Re:A printer! by mdwh2 · · Score: 1

      You can get phones, mp3 playing, and copy/paste for much less than $200 these days.

    35. Re:A printer! by hobbit · · Score: 1

      Double-clicking the home button brings up the iPod transport controls. They're always in the same place onscreen, so I can easily FF, rew or pause without looking at the screen.

      (Or I can just click, double-click or triple-click my earbud mic.)

      --
      "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something" - Plato
    36. Re:A printer! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      what do you think is more ergonomic?

      It is quite clear that the person you're replying to is far more interested in sound quality over ergonomics.... or they just may not like ear buds.

      It is a music player after all... I haven't heard from anyone suffering from ipod related RSI yet.

    37. Re:A printer! by carbon116 · · Score: 1

      If you still have the original headphones, you clearly don't like listening to music.

      --
      I'm too cool for a sig.
    38. Re:A printer! by Negatyfus · · Score: 1

      Actually, clicking the button once is for pause, twice is skip to next track and three times gets you to the previous track. But you're right, it's perfectly sufficient. :)

    39. Re:A printer! by isorox · · Score: 1

      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.

      No, but I have a pair of $20 closed-cup headphones that I love, use for about 8 hours a day, and have lasted 2 years without showing any sign of age. I hate in-ear ones.

    40. Re:A printer! by RMH101 · · Score: 1

      Apple don't sell their own adaptor of this type, but Shure do, and many Apple stores carry it. http://www.advancedmp3players.co.uk/shop/Accessories.7/Shure.44/MPA-3C/Shure_Music_iPhone_Adaptor__MPA-3C_.3097.html has an overview of it. They've used sensible cable length for it, too.

    41. Re:A printer! by intheshelter · · Score: 1

      $199 is ridiculously over priced? Are you a freetard?

    42. Re:A printer! by FictionPimp · · Score: 1

      What about when I'm in the car. I have a aux cable going from the headphone jack to the aux in on my car stereo. To skip tracks while driving I have to reach down and find the iPhone, pick it up and look at it, slide to unlock, type in my password, then press the screen once to get focus then press the skip button. All while looking at it to make sure I hit the right spot.

      That sounds safe....

    43. Re:A printer! by FictionPimp · · Score: 1

      That also assumes you are using headphones. I don't use headphones. I hook the iphone into my car's line in jack.

    44. Re:A printer! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      u have some toxic cemical around you that rubber cant handle?

    45. Re:A printer! by Lars+T. · · Score: 1

      The iPhone "is a music player after all". Sure. And ergonomics is the opposite of RSI. Sure.

      --

      Lars T.

      To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck

    46. Re:A printer! by vertinox · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure why I bothered responding, though. It's pretty obvious you just wanted to get a quick bash in.

      Holy s****? You say? I've had my iPhone for several months and never realized it had this feature.

      I mean, its not like anyone hear on Slashdot reads the iPhone manual. Why should you need to?

      --
      "I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
      -Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
    47. Re:A printer! by Buck2 · · Score: 1

      using bluetooth, the iPhone pauses the song for you to deal with the incoming call on your headset, then resumes when you hang up

      Not brilliant, but pretty convenient.

      --

      As my father lik@(munch munch)... ....
    48. Re:A printer! by FictionPimp · · Score: 1

      I know that. I just want to change songs. The phone part works fine. It's the iPod part that is lacking.

    49. Re:A printer! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The iPhone "is a music player after all". Sure.

      You dont think the iPhone is a music player?

  16. Tethering by Sockatume · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Not just because it's absolutely awesome to download horror films in a field somewhere and watch them on a real screen, but because it would force mobile phone service providers to offer it as a consumerland option. It beats the hell out of a seperate USB-stick mobile broadband package, even at £5 extra per month. And it would mean that you finally have a mobile broadband option for your Macbook.

    --
    No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
    1. Re:Tethering by Austerity+Empowers · · Score: 1

      Amen, I won't be buying any smartphone until I can tether.

    2. Re:Tethering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      awww it's cute because you think that providers offer tethering cheaper than standalone USB-stick packages. Sorry, just bitter that Canadian providers gouge us as much as they do ;_;

    3. Re:Tethering by maypull · · Score: 1

      I have a mobile broadband option for my Macbook:

      JoikuSpot on my Nokia E71.

    4. Re:Tethering by Tony+Hoyle · · Score: 1

      It won't - BT is pretty slow really.. OK for browsing but not much else.

      I doubt you're going to get a deal for less than £5 a month on the iphone either... those dongles are well worth the money (and work perfectly under OSX).

    5. Re:Tethering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And it would mean that you finally have a mobile broadband option for your Macbook.

      Gee ... I guess the Verizon USB stick I'm using with my MacBook doesn't count as a "mobile broadband option for your MacBook"?

      How about the build in AT&T wireless card I'm using on my Mini9 running OSX? (http://www.mydellmini.com/forum/how-to-install-mac-os-x-dellefi-method-t3925.html) Yeah, its not "official", or even supported, but it still works great (along with the WiFi, WebCam, Bluetooth, three USB ports, removable battery and the price that puts Apple to shame).

    6. Re:Tethering by Sockatume · · Score: 1

      Sure, the trouble is that support for tethering at the service provider end varies greatly*, and AT&T/O2/whatever offering it for the iPhone would lead to the rivals racing to provide it on their own networks.

      *Some networks reserve the right to pull the plug if they see you're apparently downloading iTunes shows on your £50 Nokia, for example, regardless of your mobile data limit.

      --
      No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
    7. Re:Tethering by Sockatume · · Score: 1

      True, there are plenty of perfectly good options, but it always bothered me that Apple didn't offer an official solution. It might be that they're sitting it out until the whole 4G thing is settled, of course. Historically Macbooks have supported the kinds of standards that hang around for a half-decade and if an HSDPA Macbook Pro is left by the wayside by WiMAX, that wouldn't really be true any more. And frankly, I think that using your existing iPhone as a 3G modem on your laptop is the kind of elegant solution Apple would get behind.

      --
      No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
    8. Re:Tethering by Sockatume · · Score: 1

      No doubt, it'd have to be wired tethering. If only to help stave off the inevitable battery-flattening for a few minutes.

      --
      No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
    9. Re:Tethering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      True, there are plenty of perfectly good options, but it always bothered me that Apple didn't offer an official solution.

      That's because this is one of those few cases where there is no "official" solution they could provide that would work everywhere for everyone (due to the competing wireless standards and frequencies in use everywhere). They are also focussed on getting their laptops light (Air), and using any extra space to pack in more battery (MacBook Pro 17"). There is no room for an "Apple Branded solution" because they are focusing on other existing technologies (LED backlit screen, built in battery, etc.).

      It might be that they're sitting it out until the whole 4G thing is settled, of course.

      Yes, because the 3G rollout is just about complete everywhere (its barely penetrated the US market which is Apple's bread and butter), so its now an obsolete technology (which it isn't).

      I wouldn't expect 4G to be deployed within less than 5 years, and 3G isn't going to go away anytime soon. I seriously doubt that is Apple's reasoning.

      And frankly, I think that using your existing iPhone as a 3G modem on your laptop is the kind of elegant solution Apple would get behind.

      Sure they would get behind that idea, it would mean you'd have to buy an iPhone if you wanted that "feature". :/

      Lots of us like our phone small and dumb. Its a phone, I dial, I talk, I'm done. It keeps a charge and does it well. Until battery solutions improve dramatically I don't want it doing anything else. Also, most "tethering" is only a stop-gap solution for a real connection since you're monopolizing your phone while you're on-line.

      Its literally like going back to the days of Dial-Up and needing to use your phone line to get on-line. Unless you have a second phone, don't bother trying to use your phone as a phone till you're done.

      I'm amazed that people think of this as a 'good' solution.

    10. Re:Tethering by Eil · · Score: 1

      Not just because it's absolutely awesome to download horror films in a field somewhere and watch them on a real screen, but because it would force mobile phone service providers to offer it as a consumerland option.

      But you have to remember who controls the features available to individual iPhone buyers. I'll give you a hint: it isn't Apple.

  17. Usable Navigation by PetoskeyGuy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Google Maps on the phone is useless for actually getting somewhere. It draws a nice line but without turn by turn navigation or even detecting when you're off the path and re-calculating it's no good for driving.

    I know it says it's not meant for that but that strikes me as trying to cover up being inadequate with some after the fact documentation and legalese.

    1. Re:Usable Navigation by n1ckml007 · · Score: 1

      you can see turn by turn by clicking the "list view". However I do second the need for dynamically updating the directions when in motion.

    2. Re:Usable Navigation by interkin3tic · · Score: 2, Funny

      I know it says it's not meant for that but that strikes me as trying to cover up being inadequate with some after the fact documentation and legalese.

      What does it say it's "meant" for? Entertainment purposes only? Google maps by miss cleo?

    3. Re:Usable Navigation by bigjarom · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Am I the only one in the universe that can look at the 'nice line' and then just remember where it leads?

    4. Re:Usable Navigation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Add to that map caching. Why not spend a couple 100MB of the gigs of storage so I can keep from downloading the same images again and again?

    5. Re:Usable Navigation by Stonekeeper09 · · Score: 1

      Try using xGPS

    6. Re:Usable Navigation by RudeIota · · Score: 1

      I'm pretty sure he meant "turn by turn" as in voice instructions.

      --
      Fact: Everything I say is fiction.
    7. Re:Usable Navigation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      By that definition, every map ever made is useless for actually getting somewhere.

    8. Re:Usable Navigation by XMyth · · Score: 4, Insightful

      No, but apparently you are the only person who doesn't believe in improving things.

    9. Re:Usable Navigation by XMyth · · Score: 1

      Seconded! Also because it's fun having Stephen Hawking tell you how to get places...

    10. Re:Usable Navigation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Google maps by miss cleo?

      I'm seeing you go off-route in the future, and possibly a new baby.

    11. Re:Usable Navigation by Urza9814 · · Score: 1

      Uhh, the iPhone _will_ re-calculate the route when you've gone off the path. I've seen it do it.

    12. Re:Usable Navigation by IndustrialComplex · · Score: 1

      I'm pretty sure he meant "turn by turn" as in voice instructions

      I think more along the lines of switching to the next direction once you pass the previous on the GPS. It's very annoying to know you reach a location, then look down to your phone to click the next button which then zooms your map into the next direction at such a level that you have no idea if it is 10 miles or 10 feet away without reading the details of the next item.

      Basically, every time you pass a marker, advance it to the next marker without changing the zoom on your map, and you would make a lot of people happy.

      --
      Out of modpoints but really liked a post? 1BDkF6TtmmeZ3yqXbz9yhdYVqRYnwFoXDj
    13. Re:Usable Navigation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Could you please explain to me what benefits are to be derived from turn by turn navigation? Is this an aid for someone who isn't able to read a map?

      I have a Griffin RoadTrip and use my iPhone all the time for navigation while driving works great. http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/roadtrip

      My experience with turn by turn directions on my computer has been that they're usually choosing the wrong route. I can read a map and would prefer to choose my out route.

    14. Re:Usable Navigation by RiotingPacifist · · Score: 1

      isnt that just a bookmark directions from (where i am) to (destination) and automatic reloading the page, you could do that in a firefox/opera extension...oh right!

      --
      IranAir Flight 655 never forget!
    15. Re:Usable Navigation by paulthomas · · Score: 5, Informative

      The reason you don't get turn-by-turn directions with Google maps is that Google's agreements with map/GIS data providers (all those with copyrights listed in the bottom corner of your map) forbid it.

      A license that allows turn-by-turn directions that is controlled by GPS costs money, hence why there aren't any free apps that do this, except for one, AndNav for Android, that uses Open Street Map data instead of commercial map data.

      In fact, AndNav started out doing this with Google Maps until running into this problem.

    16. Re:Usable Navigation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've used my iphone driving with no major problems. If you're smart enough to read a street sign it works great, unless you need the voice to actually tell you when to turn left.

    17. Re:Usable Navigation by egomaniac · · Score: 2, Informative

      Unless you're referring to a 3rd-party app or a beta firmware or something like that, you're smoking crack. The Maps application built into the iPhone does not automatically recalculate directions when you go off-course.

      --
      ZFS: because love is never having to say fsck
    18. Re:Usable Navigation by Mononoke · · Score: 1

      Are maps really that difficult to read?

      --
      NetInfo connection failed for server 127.0.0.1/local
    19. Re:Usable Navigation by Andy_w715 · · Score: 1

      G-Map does turn by turn.

    20. Re:Usable Navigation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes. Prick.

    21. Re:Usable Navigation by nmg196 · · Score: 1

      Nope... it won't. It's totally static and does no route recalculation at all. It has no concept of whether you're on or off a route in the first place - it's just Google Maps with a marker to show you where you are.

    22. Re:Usable Navigation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      www.amazegps.com

    23. Re:Usable Navigation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      what about Nav4All and Amaze? also free.

    24. Re:Usable Navigation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Google Maps on the phone is useless for actually getting somewhere. It draws a nice line but without turn by turn navigation or even detecting when you're off the path and re-calculating it's no good for driving.

      I know it says it's not meant for that but that strikes me as trying to cover up being inadequate with some after the fact documentation and legalese.

      unless you can actually read a map in which case its works fine

    25. Re:Usable Navigation by socsoc · · Score: 1

      The little blue dot follows me while I drive. If you can't infer the directions based on that dot combined with periodically pulling over and recalculating the route once you get lost, perhaps there are bigger problems afoot with your nav skills.

    26. Re:Usable Navigation by King_TJ · · Score: 1

      Actually, I often use the Google Maps feature on my iPhone in TANDEM with my in-car GPS unit.

      For example, I had to locate a new house a guy just had built, so I could go out there and help him get his broadband Internet set up.

      My GPS, despite having the latest available map data (Jan. 2009) didn't know the name of his street. I remembered, though, he told me about a recycling center landmark I'd see just before I turned - so I searched for it on Google Maps, and obtained a street address for it. My GPS was able to find THAT one - so it took me right up to his neighborhood.

      I'm not sure I'd really want turn-by-turn navigation on my iPhone anyway. It sounds great, until you consider the device is primarily still a phone. What happens if you try to take a phone call that comes in while you're driving, trying to find a place? Do you really want it to stop navigation the whole time you're talking?

    27. Re:Usable Navigation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Perhaps you live in North Dakota where you can just point your car and go.

      Some live in areas where it isn't such a nice line, nor is it possible to always hit (or even see) the turn on the first try.

      Try to be less passive-agressive and sanctimoneous next time. As for me, ha! I live for it.

    28. Re:Usable Navigation by Jester99 · · Score: 1

      If you press the little button in the lower-right corner of the screen, and then select "list" mode, you get turn-by-turn directions.

    29. Re:Usable Navigation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      The best option currently is a jailbreak app called xGPS. It has voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation and can re-calculate routes.

      It's got a couple bugs right now (they just added the voice part), but it gets the job done.

    30. Re:Usable Navigation by filthpickle · · Score: 1

      I want Nimoy....but only if he calls me captain.

    31. Re:Usable Navigation by spyowl · · Score: 1

      I believe the issue is that Google isn't allowed to provide such service with Google Maps. Google has licensed maps from different sources, which in turn have re-licensed it or are providing their own paid services such as turn-by-turn navigation, re-routing, etc. I believe the license agreement Google has limits the use of maps to not allow these services specifically. If you use Google Maps API, they make you agree to such terms too.

      Want to do all that stuff? Get your own maps and host the service on your own servers. Something like andnav2.

    32. Re:Usable Navigation by cm613 · · Score: 1

      Technology is never having to remember anything

  18. No contracts by jag7720 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    No contracts to buy one would be number one on my list

    1. Re:No contracts by Richard_at_work · · Score: 1
      Done -
      • 8GB Pay as you Go on O2 - £342.33p, including 12 months unlimited data and wifi.
      • 16GB Pay as you Go on O2 - £391.27p, including 12 months unlimited data and wifi.

      http://shop.o2.co.uk/promo/iphoneindex/Pay_And_Go/3G

    2. Re:No contracts by OzPeter · · Score: 1

      On a recent visit to Australia I saw posters advertising pre-paid iPhones

      --
      I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
    3. Re:No contracts by nsayer · · Score: 1

      Um, that happened almost a year ago, dude. linky.

    4. Re:No contracts by yodleboy · · Score: 1

      "No contracts to buy one would be number one on my list"

      I just don't get this contract paranoia that always pops up in iPhone threads. Do you change providers that often? Do you cancel your phone service to have money to pay the electric bill? If so, then it wouldn't seem like cell service would be that important to you.

      You may have a beef with AT&T, but for every one of you, you'll find someone with a similar beef with Sprint, TMobile, etc. None of them do more than the bare minimum, so pick your poison. Personally, I've been with AT&T (cingular, et al.) for 8 years. Yes, they do things occasionally that are irritating, but I have to ask if another provider would be any different and unfortunately (judging from people I know that ARE on the other providers) the answer is no, they wouldn't.

      I go into the stores, talk the to sales reps and they are just as clueless as AT&T reps. The devices are not a compelling reason to switch either. Pre iPhone, none of the competition offered anything substantially different. Post iPhone, they are still playing catch up to its usability. I spent most of those 8 years getting a new phone every 6-8 months and waiting for what was essentially a small PC that happened to make calls. If i gotta extend my contract 18 months to get it, who cares?

    5. Re:No contracts by OzPeter · · Score: 1

      According to comments on that link prepaid will not work with an iPhone out of the box. Instead you have to use a jail broken phone. If that is the case the it really doesn't count

      --
      I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
    6. Re:No contracts by sunderland56 · · Score: 1

      I don't think it is switching carriers regularly that is the issue. The problem is being tied to one sole carrier, AT&T.

      I currently pay roughly $55 a month for phone + unlimited internet usage on my Windows Mobile phone on another carrier. With AT&T and a iPhone I'd be paying $70 or more. I'd buy an iPhone for use with my current carrier; but I won't switch carriers just to get an iPhone.

    7. Re:No contracts by Tony+Hoyle · · Score: 1

      Actually yes, I change providers every 6-12 months or so.

      Only new customers get the discounted phone deals they advertise, so it makes no sense to stay with the same provider (and they've shown no inclination when asked to match the deals either).. I cycle through the 4 main providers here constantly - but what it does mean is I will *not* take long contracts.

      Currently I'm on £20 a month unlimited data, with no minimum contract.. someone I know just managed to wangle a better deal for £15 a month unlimited text *and* data (but he uses the phone a lot more than me, so is probably worth more to them).

      I've still got an iphone in desk. It's not been used for ages since I upgraded.. but I'm stuck with it for nearly a year because of the stupid contract.

  19. Get Well Steve by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    Because if you're in as bad shape as Woz, you need all the help you can get!

    It's well known that fat men cannot dance, not Cmdr Taco, not Chris Farley, and not Woz.

    So get well, and who really cares about a freakin' phone, really?

  20. yeah, but by Reality+Master+201 · · Score: 1

    Your other choice would be T-Mobile, which has crappier service than ATT. Anything else would require a significant redesign of the product.*

    *yes, I'm aware there are other, smaller GSM carriers in the US; realistically speaking, you're still tied to ATT or T-Mobile for most population centers in the US.

    1. Re:yeah, but by Achromatic1978 · · Score: 1

      T-mobile is nice - if you have coverage. I used to work 5 miles away from their American head office, and a significant population base on the east side of Seattle. Zero bars. Fun times.

    2. Re:yeah, but by prockcore · · Score: 1

      Why would it require a significant redesign? Why is it that HTC can design a phone to take either a GSM or a CDMA radio, but Apple can't?

  21. Modem by n1ckml007 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    -Ability to use as a modem (via bluetooth and USB or even ad-hoc WiFi).

    1. Re:Modem by SolarStorm · · Score: 2, Insightful

      This is absolutely the one thing that would complete the phone for me. Currently I have my phone and a MC950D to use with my laptop. A consultant at work has jail broke his phone, but because mine is a corp phone, I cannot. Thus we spend more money than we need two with the phone plan and the separate data plan for the 950. Even with my old phone I was able to use it as a modem if needed. It was expensive, but available. This is just blocked.

    2. Re:Modem by n1ckml007 · · Score: 1

      So the MC950D uses your existing ATT contract's data plan?

    3. Re:Modem by nsayer · · Score: 1

      Tethering I'm sure is #1 on most folks' list, but you can count on AT&T to charge extra for the privilege. I'd be surprised if the cost of tethering wasn't made to be almost the same as the cost of buying a 3G modem for your computer and putting it on the same account - probably $50-$60/mo for unlimited data.

    4. Re:Modem by SolarStorm · · Score: 1

      No we had to get a separate data plan. Its on a sliding rate depending on data usage.

    5. Re:Modem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I use my iPhone in just that way. Yes, it's jailbroken and it would be nice for the feature to be built in and "legal". As it stands, I use PDAnet, and don't pay a dime extra for tethering (which it does via the USB cable or Ad-Hoc Wifi). Cut 'n paste would certainly be handy, but I'd rather have full bluetooth functionality first.

    6. Re:Modem by Nick+Ives · · Score: 1

      Wha? How can a provider charge extra for using your phone as a modem? How on earth would they know?

      I'm on a UK T-Mobile PAYG plan and I use my N95 as a modem all the time.

      --
      Nick
    7. Re:Modem by nsayer · · Score: 1

      How on earth would they know?

      It's perfectly simple. Oh, excuse me, you're in the UK. It's bloody simple, really. The iPhone doesn't support tethering. When it does, I imagine that turning it on will cost you $50/mo. Since the $60 data plan AT&T offers for their laptop dongles is unmetered (up to 5GB/mo, which is an awful lot), offering a similar plan for iPhone tethering doesn't require them to tell the difference between tethered bits and iPhone bits.

      I'm on a UK T-Mobile PAYG plan and I use my N95 as a modem all the time.

      I'm happy for you. I'm in California, and AT&T runs things differently. So far as I know, any AT&T phone that can be tethered either has a metered data plan that would make it prohibitively expensive to actually use it for tethering, or with a plan that costs about $50-$60/mo, making it equivalent to buying one of their laptop dongles.

    8. Re:Modem by Nick+Ives · · Score: 1

      When it does, I imagine that turning it on will cost you $50/mo.

      How though? How can your network control what features on your phone are turned on and turned off? Do they have a backdoor that lets them do that? Is that normal for phones in the USA?

      As far as my network is concerned I'm just using my 3G / GPRS connection, they can't tell if it's me using an application on my phone or if I'm using my phone as a modem. My phone is opaque to them.

      --
      Nick
    9. Re:Modem by nsayer · · Score: 1

      As far as my network is concerned I'm just using my 3G / GPRS connection, they can't tell if it's me using an application on my phone or if I'm using my phone as a modem. My phone is opaque to them.

      But here the network knows what kind of phone you have. iPhones have their own rate plan. It's unmetered, but half the cost of a laptop device equivalent plan. It's that way because they know you can't tether an iPhone.

    10. Re:Modem by Nick+Ives · · Score: 1

      OK, I see your point. Of course network providers can see what phone you're using so they offer an artificially low price for an "unlimited" data service on an iPhone because they know you can't possibly be using it as a modem.

      In fact, given how the iPhone is locked down they probably could enable or disable the feature in software and thereby tie it to your price plan. Lame.

      --
      Nick
    11. Re:Modem by nsayer · · Score: 1

      In fact, given how the iPhone is locked down they probably could enable or disable the feature in software and thereby tie it to your price plan. Lame.

      Those who don't need tethering will continue to pay less for their unmetered data service as those who do. That's not so lame, actually, unless there is data that demonstrates that iPhone users use data bandwidth at the same rate as laptop users (I rather doubt that).

  22. Less Smugness? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    How about the next version include less smugness?

    Sent from my iPhone

    1. Re:Less Smugness? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That would require a user upgrade, not an iPhone upgrade. I just haven't figured out how to implement that upgrade myself.
       

    2. Re:Less Smugness? by Uberbah · · Score: 3, Funny

      In that case I'd like the next version to be named iRony, just for you.

    3. Re:Less Smugness? by Galois2 · · Score: 1

      They could include a coupon for a free Palm Pre.

    4. Re:Less Smugness? by s-orbital · · Score: 1

      Reminds of the time my sister called me a "yuppie scum" via an email which had a signature indicating it was sent from her Blackberry.

      --
      Patent: from Latin patere, to be open
  23. Bluetooth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Bluetooth is one area where the iPhone lags significantly behind most other phones on the market. It might not be crucial to the PDA-like tasks of the device, but most modern phones have support for a variety of bluetooth protocols. I can just imagine bluetooth calendar syncing.

    I won't even start to think about syncing music with iTunes over bluetooth... mmmmmmm...

    1. Re:Bluetooth by ivan256 · · Score: 3, 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...

    2. Re:Bluetooth by catmistake · · Score: 1

      is it me? or does Bluetooth just suck? OK, its great for 2 things... wireless keyboards/mice & phone headsets (Its a narrow/slow data pipe & A2DP quality still doesn't approach wired fidelity... analogue wireless even sounds better). But on small portables, it eats battery life...

      I can't believe the industry did something great by agreeing to standardize a technology... and then choose such a let down technology to standardize...

      Can you imagine if Bluetooth had been as functionally successful as something like MIDI? Bluetooth has amounted to empty promises and dissatisfaction... yeah, works I guess... but it sucks. Don't hate the player, its not Apple's fault it sucks.

    3. Re:Bluetooth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's an app for that.

    4. Re:Bluetooth by broken_chaos · · Score: 1

      In my experience, bluetooth is mostly used for wireless accessories - like the keyboards/mice/microphones you mentioned. I don't usually find people using it, unless they have no choice, for anything else.

    5. Re:Bluetooth by fm6 · · Score: 1

      It's definitely you. Bluetooth may not work well with all the things people try to do with it, but the use cases where it is useful are pretty common. Do I need to point out all the bluetooth borgs you see on the street? Not to mention wireless keyboards and mice you can use without a dongle, being able to sync your phone without finding a USB cable...

  24. iPhone pi by davidwr · · Score: 1

    I'm much more interested in what flavors iPhone pi will come in.

    Yeah, I know it's only a minor update to the 3.x series but I'm hoping for strawberry.

    We already know what shape it will be. Pi r round.

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
  25. linked phone numbers in meeting notifications by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This one drives me nuts. My life is conf calls yet when a call number in included in a meeting invite, IT'S NOT LINKED like phone number are EVERYWHERE else in the phone apps.

    1. Re:linked phone numbers in meeting notifications by Trashman · · Score: 1

      Seconded. This is so annoying.

      --
      Do not read this .sig
    2. Re:linked phone numbers in meeting notifications by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      OMFG YES. Hurray for interface consistency!

    3. Re:linked phone numbers in meeting notifications by spankyofoz · · Score: 1

      pfft, just copy and paste the number.

      It doesn't get any more basic than that, does it?

      --

      - There is no point, it's like a sphere -
    4. Re:linked phone numbers in meeting notifications by ryanw · · Score: 1

      This one drives me nuts. My life is conf calls yet when a call number in included in a meeting invite, IT'S NOT LINKED like phone number are EVERYWHERE else in the phone apps.

      Well, at least you can copy and paste the phone number to be dialed..... Oh wait.. nevermind.

  26. OpenSSL Support by Stonekeeper09 · · Score: 1

    It has IPSEC and a couple of others. I want OpenSSL.

    1. Re:OpenSSL Support by Stonekeeper09 · · Score: 1

      Damnit, OpenVPN i meant :(

  27. what I want by pha7boy · · Score: 3, Funny

    would be a way for the apple software to prevent people from posting "First" comments on any website via the iPhone.

    --
    -- All this knowledge is giving me a raging brainer.
    1. Re:what I want by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      First

  28. Cut'n'paste by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Cut'n'paste.

    1. Re:Cut'n'paste by silent_artichoke · · Score: 1

      Here ya go... Cut and paste

  29. Self-Destruct Function by semiotec · · Score: 1

    which can be activated remotely by sending "666" to the phone.

    1. Re:Self-Destruct Function by poetmatt · · Score: 1

      Damn you, that was exactly what I was thinking of.

      Maybe they can have a "fix it" button that causes it to self destruct?

    2. Re:Self-Destruct Function by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, on a serious note, that functionality would help get iPhones into corporate environments. I know that both Blackberries and Windows Mobile devices support remote erasure both on request from Exchange/BES, or if someone enters the password wrong enough times. This is what the iPhone needs, coupled with transparant encryption of the user files.

  30. MMS, Bluetooth, C&P, Video by JimXugle · · Score: 1
    • Cut/Copy/Paste
    • MMS
    • Proper full bluetooth support. This means A2DP for music, DUN, FTP, SAP/SIM Access, Phonebook access.
    • Video recording
    • 2nd camera facing the user
    --
    -jX

    Don't you just love politics? It's like a comedy of errors.
  31. Voice Dialing? by CSHARP123 · · Score: 1

    Voice Dialing is one of the feature that is listed. I do not have iPhone, I thought VD was a standard feature on the phones coming out today. The phone I have was bought in 2006 (Motorola razr), even this dinky phone has voice dialing. I cannot believe people stood in line to buy a iPhone that do not even offer voice dialing for that hefty price?

    1. Re:Voice Dialing? by lucifuge31337 · · Score: 1

      Probably because most people do not use voice dialing. I only use it in my car, and it's built into my bluetooth hands free kit. And even at that, I usually don't use it as I have a jog/shuttle button and a screen on the kit that's just as easy to find numbers with.

      --
      Do not fold, spindle or mutilate.
  32. Oh sweet! by Samschnooks · · Score: 1
    Important features that should be included...
    1. Lower price.
    2. Ability to use with any provider I want.
    3. Black turtle neck.
  33. walled garden by jollyreaper · · Score: 5, Informative

    The iphone is awesome and I want one but it's still a walled garden so I'm avoiding it. Here's a perfect example:

    http://appstorehell.chocoflop.com/wiki/Main_Page

    What the hell is wrong with my iPhone / iPod application and why do I not get any answers after months of waiting ?

    So you got an iPhone and thought it was a great device and you decided to write software for it:

            * You learned objective-C and Cocoa programming
            * You paid 99$ to register as an official developer
            * You wrote a nice application
            * You submitted your application.
            * and then...

    Image:mail.png It doesn't get rejected, but you get a message that says...

    Your application YourApp is requiring unexpected additional time for review. We apologize for the delay, and will update you with further status as soon as we are able. Thank you for your patience.

    Looks like nothing to worry about. So...

            * You wait for a week, then two, then three, four, five, six...
            * You write e-mails to devprograms
            * You make phone calls to developer support

    But you never get any answer ? After a pair of months you get used to the idea that your app will never be accepted nor rejected.
    Image:question.png So what is happening really ?

    Knowningly or not you most likely hit on one of the "secretly forbidden" features that Apple doesn't want on the AppStore. Those are issues that are not specifically mentionned in the agreement and that they are not willing to defend. Their solution, which is unofficial but which has proven to be systematic is to let developers linger in silence for ever.

    It's a cool technology but Apple's engaging in superdickery here, same as the American cell carriers. Apple had to use their clout to get unmetered broadband from ATT but cheering them on for that feels kind of like WWIII Ukrainians cheering on the nazis for pushing out the communists.

    --
    Kwisatz Haderach
    Sell the spice to CHOAM
    This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
    1. Re:walled garden by molarmass192 · · Score: 1

      Sh!t ... I got one of those emails ... it's been about a month of waiting now too. I was as careful as possible about not using anything on the no-no list, but there is content scrapped from an Apple iPhone "partner". I guess I know what the hold up is now.

      --

      Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws-Plato
    2. Re:walled garden by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Seriously!

      I think the iPod Touch is exactly the device I have always dreamed of but this bogus walled garden system makes it just an expensive brick, to me.

      I don't mind buying the tools, etc, but let me have access to the local filesystem and run arbitrary binaries on it (which includes distributing arbitrary binaries to others to freely use).

      If I bought the device, how come I still don't own it?

    3. Re:walled garden by RazzleDazzle · · Score: 2, Funny

      Putz! I can't believe you just let Apple win on this point via Godwin's Law.

      --
      ZERO ZERO ONE ZERO ONE ZERO ONE ONE! Just brushing up for my next big invention: Ethernet over Voice (EoV)
    4. Re:walled garden by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When did WWIII take place again...?

    5. Re:walled garden by jollyreaper · · Score: 1

      Putz! I can't believe you just let Apple win on this point via Godwin's Law.

      I could have been comparing them to the communists. :)

      --
      Kwisatz Haderach
      Sell the spice to CHOAM
      This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
    6. Re:walled garden by jollyreaper · · Score: 1

      When did WWIII take place again...?

      whoops, too many i's. Then again, their leader's lookin' awfully covetous of his neighbors --

      If you're new and want a clue
      where not to go to don't you go
      where fascism sits (snap snap)
      Putin on the blitz!
      Different border nations know
      don't you bait the bear or you'll get
      blown to bits (snap snap)
      Putin on the blitz!

      --
      Kwisatz Haderach
      Sell the spice to CHOAM
      This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
    7. Re:walled garden by ghostis · · Score: 1

      You managed to include both Nazis and Communists in a comparison regarding a cell phone. You, sir, win an Internet for hyperbole.

      ;-)

      --


      Computer Science is all about trying to find the right wrench to bang in the right screw. -T.Cumbo?
    8. Re:walled garden by intheshelter · · Score: 1

      I am an Apple fan, have Macs and an iPhone, but I agree on this one. I like the idea of the App Store, I think it benefits consumers and developers, but they should only test apps for possible malware and stability. I don't like Apple deciding whether an app is "appropriate".

  34. Cheaper price by OzPeter · · Score: 1

    The lowest price you can get an iPhone contract for in the US is $US70 per month. My cousin in Australia has her iPhone contract for $AUD58 per month.

    And I have seen posters in Australia advertising pre-paid iPhones.

    --
    I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
  35. Freedom from AT&T? by Austerity+Empowers · · Score: 4, Insightful

    A choice of any bandwidth provider out there?

    1. Re:Freedom from AT&T? by socsoc · · Score: 1

      Like we have ever experienced a phone free from carrier locks in the states... The only other national GSM provider is T-Mobile anyway.

      Features like visual voicemail require carrier support, there's no way they would unleash the phone upon the smaller regional utilities and suffer the customer backlash when that feature didn't work.

    2. Re:Freedom from AT&T? by Austerity+Empowers · · Score: 1

      I would gladly give up that feature along with AT&T.

      I'd never use it, and I'm sure I could implement the same feature with gmail and a good application...if I wanted it. Which I don't.

    3. Re:Freedom from AT&T? by socsoc · · Score: 1

      You would never use a feature that downloads voicemail to your phone as data and let you pick and choose which to listen to? Sheesh... continue on.

    4. Re:Freedom from AT&T? by Austerity+Empowers · · Score: 1

      It's called email, you can attach voice if you want. If you are a bandwidth provider who doesn't want to deal with proprietary interfaces this would be easy to create.

      I have had this tool available for my corporate voice mail for a long time, but I never use it. Not many people leave voice mail anymore. I either get IMs or email or I get paged by the cheapo company pager.

  36. Working Exchange support by MrEricSir · · Score: 3, 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.

    --
    There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
    1. Re:Working Exchange support by nine-times · · Score: 3, Informative

      Can I ask what problems you have with the Exchange support? I don't really have any problems, but maybe there's something I haven't really tried?

    2. Re:Working Exchange support by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've been using my first gen iPhone with my employers Exchange service (as well as my MobileMe account) since iPhone OS 2.0 came out. Not sure what problem your having.

    3. Re:Working Exchange support by XMyth · · Score: 2, Informative

      Exchange support seems to work great if your exchange server is setup to support it. Everyone I know who has an iPhone plus Exchange (including myself) never complains about it except for one friend who can't sync at all....but it's a server configuration issue for his company...not an iPhone issue.

    4. Re:Working Exchange support by MrEricSir · · Score: 2, Informative

      1. Only the inbox will download new messages, all other folders must be synchronized manually
      2. Manually syncing a folder fails about 2/3 of the time

      Both of these bugs are pretty major on their own, but together it makes iPhone is basically worthless as an Exchange client.

      Additionally, IMAP support has the same bugs.

      --
      There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
    5. Re:Working Exchange support by filthpickle · · Score: 1

      I'm also curious, as I've had zero exchange issues also.

    6. Re:Working Exchange support by God_TM · · Score: 2, Informative

      I agree... iPhone's implementation of Activesync is abysmal... In addition to points 1 and 2 above, with the the iPhone you cannot: 3. Specify the time you want to receive incomming emails (or do you enjoy receiving spam at 3 in the morning) 4. Perform off-line synching of email (you must be connected to the exchange server to delete a message) If you've ever used a MS mobile OS (such as Windows Mobile 5 and up), you'd understand how much better the iPhone could be for 'real' enterprise level communication.

    7. Re:Working Exchange support by BarryJacobsen · · Score: 1

      1. Only the inbox will download new messages, all other folders must be synchronized manually 2. Manually syncing a folder fails about 2/3 of the time

      Both of these bugs are pretty major on their own, but together it makes iPhone is basically worthless as an Exchange client.

      Additionally, IMAP support has the same bugs.

      I'll second the IMAP problem - I'd love it if it checked my sub-folders like every other mail client (including mail for OS X!)

    8. Re:Working Exchange support by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Exchange works great for me.

      How about ability to search emails? That wasn't mentioned in the article....

    9. Re:Working Exchange support by Morky · · Score: 1

      Exchange support is really good, actually, for the features supported. If you mean more complete Exchange support, I wholeheartedly agree: Out of Office setup, Schedule visibility when setting up meeting invitations, rich text editing, to do list syncing, etc.

    10. Re:Working Exchange support by Morky · · Score: 1

      Ah, yes, you're right about that. I don't have problems with the manual sync if I have a solid data connection, but you're right, all folders should be synced at all times. Oh, another big one: email searching.

    11. Re:Working Exchange support by shankarunni · · Score: 1

      1. Only the inbox will download new messages, all other folders must be synchronized manually

      Thank *goodness* it does it like that.

      I normally get several hundred messages a day, most of which are boilerplate notifications from our SCCS, or bug system, or .... I categorize all these into folders, so that only things that *I* need to look at are left in the Inbox.

      This way, my iPhone isn't constantly beeping with dozens of messages every few minutes.

    12. Re:Working Exchange support by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah... my iphone actually works better with Exchange than my Mac does.

      Though I have had problems with undeletable emails that really were deleted already.

    13. Re:Working Exchange support by commodoresloat · · Score: 1

      You can turn off the damn beeping too you know :)

    14. Re:Working Exchange support by God_TM · · Score: 1
      Activesync allows for the synching of specific folders (so you could set it up to sync everything except the 'SCCS' folder in your case). You don't need this feature naturally, as you keep everything important in your inbox. I on the other hand (as do many Exchange users), keep only unsorted things in my inbox, and have subfolders for my organized important stuff.

      Also, you can add to my list, the ability to:

      5. Add a calendar invite from the phone.
      6. Set calendar categories.
      7. Set message flags/categories.
      8. Server side searching.

    15. Re:Working Exchange support by King_TJ · · Score: 1

      Not that it probably helps you, but I have to count myself and the other managers in my company among those who have Exchange support working on our iPhones without any real issues.

      The only hassle I ever had with it was when I initially configured one of the new iPhones, and it refused to log in to the Exchange server properly. Kept rejecting the password, despite it being the correct one. I really don't quite understand what happened there - but the issue seemed to resolve itself after enough time passed, and after a number of attempts. It's been working flawlessly ever since.

    16. Re:Working Exchange support by MrEricSir · · Score: 1

      It's definitely an iPhone issue. The Windows Mobile phones sync just fine.

      --
      There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
  37. how about by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    full source code like You get with Android?

    1. Re:how about by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      how about a cup of STFU?

    2. Re:how about by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why is no one else suggesting this? It's the easiest feature to implement!

  38. Remove cancer by bonch · · Score: 0

    I would like iPhone OS 3.0 to remove the cancer I get in my head from using my cell phone, either as a baseline feature or in an update later on.

  39. Returning to music from phone call by n1ckml007 · · Score: 1

    Nice feature when listening to music (Pandora), you can hear an incoming call and you can answer it. However there is no setting to return to automatically return to the music, or at least re-launch whatever app you were using before the call came in. Also while the headphones with the built in mic is awesome (no need to unplug headphones when answering a call), it would be much cooler if there was voice activated answering, so you don't have to pull your phone out to answer the call. Along with that, voice announced caller ID (again so you don't have to pull your phone out) (Panasonic has it on their land line phones).

    1. Re:Returning to music from phone call by TheMeuge · · Score: 2, Informative

      You know that the mic tab on the iPhone 3G is a button, right?

      You can answer/end a call by clicking it.

      You can also start/stop playing music by clicking it when not calling... and you can double-click to advance to the next song, and triple-click to go back a song.

      Unfortunately, the lack of voice dialing is really something I don't understand. I can connect my Acura audio system to act as a bluetooth speakerphone for my iPhone... but I cannot dial numbers by just clicking the button on the wheel and speaking, the way my parents can with their cheapo phones...

    2. Re:Returning to music from phone call by n1ckml007 · · Score: 1

      Thank you I'll check that button out on the mic / earbuds. Apple just needs to implement: - announcing caller ID - voice dialing (and answering?) - restart of the app you were using before the call came in

    3. Re:Returning to music from phone call by n1ckml007 · · Score: 1

      Also the ability to remap the microphone "button" on the earbuds to other apps.

  40. If Steve Jobs is reading this... by Renderer+of+Evil · · Score: 4, 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

  41. Support fot two sim cards by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It could support two networks simultaneously...

  42. Via software update? by wiredog · · Score: 1

    If so, that's some pretty impressive software.

    1. Re:Via software update? by CrtxReavr · · Score: 1

      Meh. . . that's what I get for not RTFA.

      --
      "So is the BSD licence even more 'free' (than GPLv2)? Yes. Unquestionably." --Linus Torvalds (TinyURL.com/2vugzl)
  43. An important feature by fragment1618 · · Score: 1

    Self-destruct.

  44. Fix the ridiculous spellchecker by Colourspace · · Score: 1

    For a start when I put two xx's at the end of a message to a close friend, don't replace it with Fx. Oh and when I write out cunt, I mean to, so don't go sweetening it for me (same for other swears).

    1. Re:Fix the ridiculous spellchecker by SolarStorm · · Score: 1

      You do know that you can turn the spell checker off? General Settings Keyboard (Although not the most intuitive)

    2. Re:Fix the ridiculous spellchecker by filthpickle · · Score: 1

      it's more of an auto-complete than a spellchecker...and it works better than any others I've used (admittedly not many, but I HATE T9)....but yeah, it's annoying when it doesn't work.

      I could be imagining this, but I think it stopped replacing 'fuck' with 'duck' after I x'd it out several times.

    3. Re:Fix the ridiculous spellchecker by Colourspace · · Score: 1

      Thanks for that, I had had a good look months back but couldn't see it. Funny, how could I miss it? Might have been drunk at the time though so all bets are off...

  45. If Only...... by senorpoco · · Score: 1

    Deathray.

  46. also.. by strikeleader · · Score: 1

    A rotary dialer

  47. iPhone 3.0 should be...scrapped... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Apple shouldn't be allowed anywhere near hardware (designing, building, selling)... It's all crap.

  48. probably Unlikely. by senorpoco · · Score: 1

    Linux.

  49. MMS by Knowbuddy · · Score: 3, 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.

    1. Re:MMS by daninbusiness · · Score: 2, Insightful
      I disagree with the notion that MMS is necessary and everyone uses it - I have never used MMS, neither do any of my friends, and as such I don't miss the feature at all.

      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.

    2. Re:MMS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have owned cell phones for 16 years and have never ever sent or received an MMS message.

      Nobody I've asked about it has either.

      Email on the other hand has been used by just about everybody I know, including me (mostly on my iPhone).

      MMS is just a quaint relic of the past and I hope it dies.

      Having said that, I hope Apple adds the feature in 3.0 just to shut fucktards like you up, and leave you with no more bogus reasons to slag the best mobile platform available today.

    3. Re:MMS by jimallison86 · · Score: 1

      But everyone, including my grandmother, texts and uses MMS.

      I wish I could teach my grandmother to text. Every time I see her there's always something wrong with her phone she says.

      It always turns out that someone sent her a text and the notification just confuses her, as does the inability to find the SMS menu.

    4. Re:MMS by Inda · · Score: 1

      MMS is a must. And no, it's still quite expensive in the UK.

      It's not just for sending photos. My wife is forever sending me videos (no giggling at the back), it's like voice mail for her. In fact I wish more people would send vioce mail like this. I get charged for hearing my messages so I turn it off most of the time. I sometimes send contacts (*.vcf) over MMS, ringtones too.

      --
      This post contains benzene, nitrosamines, formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide.
    5. Re:MMS by shadedream · · Score: 1

      I fail to understand peoples obsession with MMS... sure every teenager on the block is doing it, and yes maybe your grandmother.

      I OCCASIONALLY text message but only because I get 200 free on my first gen... but why would you CHOOSE to send data by a means that charges you upwards of a couple hundred dollars per megabyte to close to a thousand depending on provider or plan.

      I forget the site but someone did a little research on it and posted a graphic recently displaying the relative cost per MB of data and it was ridiculous how much it actually comes out to be for text and MMS. Data connections were the cheapest followed by voice.

    6. Re:MMS by Knowbuddy · · Score: 1

      Yes, MMS is wicked expensive past a certain point. As is SMS. But I'm not talking about using MMS/SMS as a primary means of communication. For my family, MMS and SMS occupy the space between zero communication and 15-20 minute conversations or emails. We don't always need to have full-blown conversations, but the quick notes of SMS and pictures of MMS help us keep in touch.

      When someone goes out fishing and catches something nice? MMS. When someone gets the first big snow of the season? MMS. When someone sees a movie and wants to encourage or discourage others? SMS. When someone goes out to a particularly nice restaurant, or maybe to a place that has significance to the family? MMS. Got a question that doesn't need answering immediately? SMS. Just finished a good book? MMS.

      We're not talking about a Twitter stream level of traffic here. Maybe a few pictures and texts per week. No one goes over their cell plan's allotment, and if we do the $0.25 per message isn't an issue.

      It's a small price to pay for the feeling of cohesiveness we have in a geographically diverse family.

    7. Re:MMS by shadedream · · Score: 1

      When someone goes out fishing and catches something nice? MMS. When someone gets the first big snow of the season? MMS. When someone sees a movie and wants to encourage or discourage others? SMS. When someone goes out to a particularly nice restaurant, or maybe to a place that has significance to the family? MMS. Got a question that doesn't need answering immediately? SMS. Just finished a good book? MMS.

      Funny... thats exactly what I use e-mail for on my phone... gives the added benefit of having it on a computer too to reuse. Also doesnt cost me an additional fee a month or per message...

  50. One word by HogGeek · · Score: 1

    Encryption!

  51. Anonymous Nick by Anonymous Coward · · 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.

    1. Re:Anonymous Nick by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I second that. Everyone is so intent in looking at Apple with a microscope that they aren't looking at the bigger picture.

      Side Note. MMS?? Apple is doing us a favor by keeping it out. Its another non-standard, multimedia exchange format with severe limitations. And you gotta pay for it. Nothing that HTML or Rich Text Mail cannot do.

      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.

    2. Re:Anonymous Nick by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is it bad that I can't figure out what the hell number two even means? All those buzzwords hurt my mind.

  52. How about ability to run background processes? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I can't believe nobody's mentioned this one either... but you can't run a background process, or even a cron-job-like process on the iPhone. From a developers standpoint, that's definitely something I want.

  53. Rotary Dialling by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No! Rotary dialling! With a touch sensitive screen that should be no problem.

    1. Re:Rotary Dialling by nsayer · · Score: 1
  54. Well ... by jopet · · Score: 1

    Keys so I dont need to stare on the screen to type, compatibility with standard headphones, a FM radio receiver, user replacable battery, MMS, decent camera, camera for video calls, freedom to use the provider I want, ...
    Oh wait, there are dozens of other mobile phones that have all that for less cost.

    Nevermind then.

    1. Re:Well ... by ceejayoz · · Score: 1

      compatibility with standard headphones

      Uh, have you tried just plugging one in? They work fine...

      a FM radio receiver

      Entirely possible without needing a receiver. The Public Radio application streams NPR audio from anywhere to anywhere - I can listen to Cincinnati's NPR station from here in Rochester. Superior to a radio tuner.

      I'm amazed more radio stations aren't putting out apps to do this.

      MMS

      Attach your pics to an e-mail! One of the many benefits of an actual e-mail client on the phone.

  55. Auto Help by SolarStorm · · Score: 1

    When reading through this list, I am amazed at all ofthe things people want that are already available as a free app Voice dialing landscape typing Auto Correct Spelling ... I guess one thing they could add is "Clippy" for the people who dont want to read the instructions.

  56. Exchange support seems to work well by zerofoo · · Score: 5, Informative

    We've got an entire company of these things, and no one seems to complain about exchange support.

    I personally have one as well, and I have yet to have a problem with it.

    -ted

    1. Re:Exchange support seems to work well by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Notes and Tasks aren't synced, that stopped my company from making the switch from our Blackberrys.

  57. Linux support by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hey Apple, stop being a douchebag company and start allowing Linux users to use your products without having to hack them first.

  58. The basics! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    * MMS !

    * MMS !!

    * MMS !!!

    * Call Filters/Blocking (i.e. Prevent side chic from ringing your phone when you are laid up with your main chic, or, send your boss straight to voice mail). My LG phones have had this for years!

    * Caller ID Spoofing (OK, not so basic)

    * Simply Bookmark Syncing to Mobile Safari from Firefox

    * Better Native Calendar/Contact Syncing to Google.

  59. Solution by blahbooboo · · Score: 1

    Just copy and paste it, problem solved! oh wait...

    never mind.

  60. Cribbed or Coincidence? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Most of this list matches the top items on www.pleasefixtheiphone.com.

    Now for the flame bait: Most of these features are on the latest BlackBerries.

    1. Re:Cribbed or Coincidence? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Disclaimer: I have an iphone...

      The only external access we have to our (work) email currently is through a webVPN session. With the first iteration of the iphone(belonging to a friend of mine) I was able to log on and view/send/delete my work email.

      I just tried to set that up on a NEW blackberry, and it said the page was too big. It only said that after about 3 minutes of waiting...

      Needless to say, that clued me in to one of the big advantages of the iphone: good web support. Now, if it would only support flash...

    2. Re:Cribbed or Coincidence? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Many of these features have existed for years in other devices dating back before not only iPhone but iPod too.

    3. Re:Cribbed or Coincidence? by intheshelter · · Score: 1

      The most notable exception on the Blackberries of course is a well thought out UI. Adside from that it's just swell using a phone an rubics cube at the same time.

  61. windows mobile by Bizzeh · · Score: 1

    what you get when you include all these things into iPhoneOS 3.0 is exactly what we already have with Windows Mobile 6.1, and it works brilliantly, without bugs, without crashes, and, the entire thing is open and fully documented.

    1. Re:windows mobile by bevoblake · · Score: 1
      Has Windows Mobile improved dramatically? WinMo 5 is the worst operating system I've ever used:
      • Phone locked up
      • Needed to go into memory to close open apps on a regular basis - the UI for this was quite poor
      • Doesn't update the signal strength properly
      • Frequently sends calls to voicemail when clicking the answer key
      • Must remove the battery to properly restart the phone
      • The interface with my bluetooth randomly decides to disconnect/reconnect

      I could go on listing issues all day, but it suffices to say, the OS is terrible. I'm willing to believe that M$ can improve this product, but they have so far to go from my original Moto Q. Also, any copy paste support yet? I don't get why Apple and MS didn't have those working out of the gates.

    2. Re:windows mobile by Bizzeh · · Score: 1

      winmo 5 is like win98, and winmo6.1 is like win7.... they are worlds apart... also, if your going to use windows mobile, dont use it on a motorola, your going to get a bad experiance if you use awful hardware. for windows mobile, always use a HTC based device. and yes, 6.1 does have copy paste.
      i have a sony ericsson XPERIA X1, and the phone hasnt locked up once, you can close background apps from a menu on the "today" screen. signal strength updates quite well, as with GPS and bluetooth, only 2 things the phone can do when a call is coming in is answer it or reject it, and these buttons are completly exclusive buttons (reject can be set to reject and do... where it does something after rejecting it, ie send to voice mail). to power down the device, you simply hold in the power button for 4 seconds as with a standard pc, bluetooth is one of the stronger things on the phone, i managed to lock onto a signal through 3 concreat walls and have a fast enough transfer rate to send about 100mb worth of images in a time where it didnt seem like it was "taking the piss".
      on top of that, all the features people have asked for on the iphone, including the open software operating system (Windows CE is now, well, shared source, its the same, you can do wtf you want with it as long as you dont claim it to be your own) and totally open API system which is similar to windows its self, so pretty much anyone who is already a windows dev can code for it, and you can code for it on a mac, linux or windows... you arnt tied into buying one of those white pieces of shit and paying to be a developer to write code for your phone.

  62. a fan? (old joke) by peter303 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Steve hates fans and keeps them out of this toasters, oops, computers.
    Maybe one of the 25K apps simulates the sound of a fan.

    1. Re:a fan? (old joke) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      toasters

      Racist!

      Only one more Friday of fun :'(

  63. A2DP Profile Re:MMS, Bluetooth, C&P, Video by AJ+Mexico · · Score: 1

    Yes! The audio A2DP Bluetooth profile has been such an obvious omission. Car stereos and headphones are ready and waiting for iPhone to catch up here.

    --
    Computers obey me.
  64. My Wishlist by Trashman · · Score: 2, Interesting

    1. A more complete bluetooth stack that does OBEX and A2DP and Syncing.
    2. an IChat client.
    3. A side swipe like the one in Mail and SMS to delete individual calls from the recents List.
    4. Notes Sync with the Desktop.
    5. Voice Dialing (ala Voice Commmand on Winmo) would be nice.

    --
    Do not read this .sig
    1. Re:My Wishlist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      3. A side swipe like the one in Mail and SMS to delete individual calls from the recents List.

      Should read:

      3. A side swipe like the one in Mail and SMS to delete individual calls from the recents List so that I do not get in trouble for calling a certain someone when another certain someone checks to see if I've been calling a certain someone.

    2. Re:My Wishlist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      1. A more complete bluetooth stack that does OBEX and A2DP and Syncing.
      2. an IChat client.
      3. A side swipe like the one in Mail and SMS to delete individual calls from the recents List.
      4. Notes Sync with the Desktop.
      5. Voice Dialing (ala Voice Commmand on Winmo) would be nice.

      For voice dialing, try Vlingo. It's in the App Store, it works great, and it's free ;)

    3. Re:My Wishlist by Trashman · · Score: 1

      While you are correct in that it can keep certain cheating individuals out of hot water w/ their S/O's. If I really wanted to store the Mistress' number on my phone, I'd add it as an alternate to an existing contact.

      Won't raise suspicion unless you're S/O answers your phone and it's the other one calling...

      And, before you go there; No, I'm not cheating.

      --
      Do not read this .sig
    4. Re:My Wishlist by King_TJ · · Score: 1

      Decent list, except voice dialing, I've come to realize is not much of an issue at all for me.

      Most decent in-car bluetooth kits handle the voice dialing part of things on their own, after downloading a copy of your most current phone directory from your phone.

      There's also the "Say Who?" dialer application you can always download (lite edition is free) and use, too.

  65. Wozniak's original Blue Box by boeroboy · · Score: 1

    A program to make free long distance phone calls whenever you want. It may come in more handy on the iPod touch than a iPhone, which would be redundant.

  66. OpenGL ES 2 graphics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Would be nice to see the graphics component upgraded to OpenGL ES 2, which supports a programmable shader-driven pipeline.

  67. Nothing... not here anyway. by cdpage · · Score: 1

    until i can afford a data plan worth mentioning in Canada... Nothing!

  68. Re:huh? - not outside USA by Ralph+Spoilsport · · Score: 1

    USA is sans DRM. Canada is not. Nor is europe.

    --
    Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
  69. One-handed operation and relability by obarthelemy · · Score: 1

    are the two most important features, to me, for any smartphone. I haven't yet found them. My last phone, a WinMobile 6.0 monster, is 1- dead after 2 weeks 2- required 2 hands to use... and really felt like it would have loved to have a keyboard... For making phone calls and adresse book lookups...

    Stop it with the featuritis. Do less. Do it better.

    --
    The Cloud - because you don't care if your apps and data are up in the air.
    1. Re:One-handed operation and relability by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Pervert

  70. GPS turn-by-turn & window mount. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Audible turn by turn directions, 3d nav, & window mount accessory.

  71. Best.....Feature.....Ever..... by IHC+Navistar · · Score: 3, Insightful

    How about being 'Unlocked' as a feature?

    --
    Knowing Google's lust for data collection, the Soviet Union is still alive and well inside the psyche of Sergey Brin....
    1. Re:Best.....Feature.....Ever..... by RealGrouchy · · Score: 1

      Or uncensored?

      - RG>

      --
      Hey pal, this isn't a pleasantforest, so don't waste my time with pleasantries!
  72. AJAX / Flash / JAVA by c0d3r · · Score: 1

    How about the ability for web applications, flash/flex applications and java applications to run off of its web browser?

  73. That's not a "workaround" by SuperKendall · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Well, that is a workaround

    No, a workaround is something you have to do in order to do something the product was not designed to do.

    The App Store was designed to work with all of the products you might own, so being able to use the apps on multiple devices is not a "workaround", it's by design.

    Stripping out the DRM to give free apps to others is a "workaround"

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:That's not a "workaround" by nsayer · · Score: 1

      The app store was not designed for "shared" accounts for families. In fact, the TOS for the store says one account per person.

      QED.

    2. Re:That's not a "workaround" by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

      The app store was not designed for "shared" accounts for families.

      Since we use a shared account for a family, it is. It supports multiple devices. Hard to get around the facts of what it does no matter how you try. Hardly matters what the TOS are when the actual implementation operates differently.

      QEDer

      In fact, where in the TOS does it say one account per person in a family? Are you sure it didn't say Household and you misread?

      --
      "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    3. Re:That's not a "workaround" by nsayer · · Score: 1

      From the TOS:

      You are solely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality and security of your Account. You should not reveal your Account information to anyone else or use anyone else's Account.

      The plain language meaning of that phrase implies that shared accounts are not allowed.

    4. Re:That's not a "workaround" by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      The plain language meaning of that phrase implies that shared accounts are not allowed.

      No, it doesn't. At all. Not even remotely close. But thanks for trying.

    5. Re:That's not a "workaround" by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

      You are solely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality and security of your Account. You should not reveal your Account information to anyone else or use anyone else's Account.

      I'm married to a lawyer. You misread. It says the person who signed up to use the service should not use anyone else's account. Note it does not say that others without accounts cannot use yours.

      It also doesn't say that's grounds for terminating the account, if you read even more carefully you'll note this is in a section about protecting details of your account from others.

      --
      "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    6. Re:That's not a "workaround" by tverbeek · · Score: 1

      No... that's an amateur lawyer's deliberate misreading of plain language. Most people recognize that in English, "you" and "your" can be plural pronouns, which apply just as easily to a family unit as to a single person.

      --
      http://alternatives.rzero.com/
    7. Re:That's not a "workaround" by node+3 · · Score: 1

      Quote or no QED.

      From the iTunes user agreement:

      (iv) You shall be able to store Products from up to five different Accounts on certain devices, such as an iPod or iPhone, and Apple TV at a time; provided that each iPhone may sync ring tone Products with only a single Apple-authorized device at a time, and that syncing an iPhone with another Apple-authorized device will cause any ring tone Products stored on such iPhone to be erased and, if you so choose, to be replaced with any ring tone Products stored on such other Apple-authorized device. Additional restrictions apply to Movies Rentals, as described below.

      QED

    8. Re:That's not a "workaround" by node+3 · · Score: 1

      The plain language meaning of that phrase implies that shared accounts are not allowed.

      No, it's saying you are responsible for what happens to your account, so you shouldn't hand out your password. It's boilerplate security advice. It does not imply that shared accounts are disallowed. If they were disallowed, it would explicitly state it.

      You're inferring what isn't implied to make a point which isn't valid. This is exceedingly obvious if you read the part where you can have multiple accounts authorized on the same computer and can sync multiple accounts with iPods, iPhones and AppleTVs.

  74. On that note... by RudeIota · · Score: 1

    Perhaps DRM encompasses this, but I'd like to see the device opened up a bit more itself. Being able to use it with something else other than iTunes (Songbird, for example) would be really nice.

    As we all know though, that isn't going to happen.

    --
    Fact: Everything I say is fiction.
  75. Like always... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... Apple will give a rat's ass about what we/the users want, and, like always, the fanboys will cheer it...

  76. Better call log by schickb · · Score: 2

    Aka recents. You can't even tell how long an individual call lasted with the current implementation.

  77. 5 most requested features by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Here are the 5 most requested features (all available in a jailbroken iPhone via Cydia)

    1-Copy/Paste - Clippy
    2-Video recording - Cycorder
    3-Bluetooth - iBlueTooth
    4-Tethering - PdaNet
    5-MMS - SwirlyMMS

    Two other must install apps for the jailbroken iPhone -

    1) iRealSMS/BiteSMS - Full featured SMS app (forwarding, sending contacts etc)
    2) Winterboard - Facelift for the iPhone

    If only all these come as part of iPhone 3.0...sigh

  78. The ability to set the text notification to 1 or X by Kostya · · Score: 2, 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.

    --
    "Doubt your doubts and believe your beliefs." -- Switchfoot, Ode to Chin
  79. Re:Usable Navigation (route change by dragging) by n1ckml007 · · Score: 1

    Oh I would add to this the ability to change the default routes by dragging the "line".

  80. Skipping Tracks by thedoe · · Score: 1

    Actually, most people don't seem to have realized this, but the mic on Apple's default white headset works for this. One squeeze pauses the current track, a double squeeze is equivalent to "Next", and 3 squeezes is "Previous". That was a lifesaver during the winter when I had no desire to take off my gloves. It's also the reason I haven't felt the need to get better headphones.

  81. Email is fully assed by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    I think it's absurd to claim that the utter hack that is MMS is a "better" way to send photos than email. On phones where I had MMS I never used it, email is far superior because the person will either get the email on the phone (that supports proper email) or at home, I only have to send it once.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  82. Small laundry list by cheier · · Score: 1

    - Support for ics calendar files in Mail.app
    - More Bluetooth functions, like sending contacts to other phones via bluetooth, or being able to interact with other peripherals
    - Support for unlocking functions, like many other sane GSM phones. I want to use my AT&T sim card in the US, but I'm locked to my Rogers SIM in Canada.

  83. How about PUSH mail for all? by Kostya · · Score: 1

    I know right now they have this one connection that they send push notifications down. I'd love some way to attach my other mail servers to that channel.

    I'm not expecting to see that any time (if ever), but man, that would completely and utterly rock. I could hook my work Zimbra server into that channel and get instant notification of work email. I've gotten so used to MobileMe/.Mac being that way that it sucks having work be on a 15 minute refresh.

    And yes, once you get used to it, you want to know immediately for all the rest of your email. Right now, I just set my phone to silent with vibrate off when I need privacy--then the phone just leaves me be during my DND times.

    --
    "Doubt your doubts and believe your beliefs." -- Switchfoot, Ode to Chin
  84. Weapons by Quiet_Desperation · · Score: 5, Funny

    In the dark, dank economic times ahead, we need weapons in the iPhone because its cheery and inviting glow will attract the unemployed proletariat riff-raff out on the streets.

    I suggest a titanium telescoping katana that rotates into a Calabi Yau hyperspace manifold when not in use, or an iPhone app that opens a wormhole to a universe full of angry bees.

  85. Bluetooth keyboard by pak9rabid · · Score: 1

    The ability to use a bluetooth keyboard. Would make having to sysadmin some shit while on a camping trip much easier.

  86. Oh god, where to start... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    1. Keyboard
    2. Clamshell
    3. Not an Apple product
    4. Open SDK
    5. Free app installation
    6. No locked-down apps
    7. And not a cell phone

    Then I would totally www.openpandora.org buy one.

  87. Free Marketing by darthservo · · Score: 3, 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.

    --

    Prove it.

    1. Re:Free Marketing by Blimey85 · · Score: 1

      I'm still in awe of the phone and I have one! I don't get it to show off but I do have it out quite a bit. Waiting in line, while I'm driving (kidding!), anytime I bored really. It's great for making the lines at theme parks suck a little less.

      --
      How is it that one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?
    2. Re:Free Marketing by Maury+Markowitz · · Score: 1

      > If people are simply pressing buttons, let alone out of the view of public, they lose some buzz.

      Which is why they put completely functional controls on the ear phones, so you could operate it without pulling it out of your pocket?

      Your lawgic is showing.

      Maury

    3. Re:Free Marketing by node+3 · · Score: 2, 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.

    4. Re:Free Marketing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, you're both wrong, it's handled on the headset included with the iPhone; the iPhone's headset has a small control button, simply press it to pause, or double press it to advance one song on your playlist. It also answers/disconnects calls with this button/microphone.

  88. SDK by jlebrech · · Score: 1

    How about an SDK that works for Linux or Windows!!

    A linux SDK would be ideal, because anyone with non-apple hardware can run it, and if they really want to develop for iphone they would install linux first or in a vm.

  89. Make it work like the iPods by NiceGeek · · Score: 1

    I'd settle for it behaving like a regular iPod. I could take my iPod to any computer and as long as that computer was authorized to play my iTunes purchases, I could play the music on it. This is not the case with the iPhone without doing a bit of hacking (not difficult, but I shouldn't have to do it)

  90. Freakin' track description in iPod app! by patniemeyer · · Score: 1

    How about being able to access the track description in the iPod app? The "best iPod" is lacking the most basic functionality of the first iPods.

    Does anyone actually use their iPhone to list to podcasts? Why isn't anyone else complaining about this? Gee, I could listen to "NPR Fresh Air 03-09" or "NPR Fresh Air 03-10"... I think 09 sounds more interesting than 10 doesn't it? I'm sure glad I can't find out what it's actually about... because that might mess up the beauty of the interface somehow.

    Arg!

  91. Not just better than the current i-phone... by roc97007 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...but at least as good as the phones currently out there. This is where Apple shows that they're up to the challenge, or not. Simply providing a 32 Gbyte version of the same old thing (which is, sadly, what I expect) is not going to be good enough.

    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.

    --
    Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
    1. Re:Not just better than the current i-phone... by roc97007 · · Score: 1

      Geeze, how could I forget this? Apple, remember that commercial you did a long time ago -- "the first office network at 30,000 feet". Remember that? Now, how could that concept be applied to the PDA?

      --
      Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
    2. Re:Not just better than the current i-phone... by socsoc · · Score: 1

      If you are going to be a serious contender in the commenting on an iPhone article, at least spell the name of the device correctly.

    3. Re:Not just better than the current i-phone... by King_TJ · · Score: 1

      Of course, nobody but Apple can say for sure, but everything I've been reading on rumor sites and so on points to the next iPhone being QUITE a bit more than just "same as the current 3G phone except more memory and a few bugfixes"!

      Most likely, they'll be utilizing a new mobile processor with dual-cores. (Remember, Apple bought out a chip fab company a while back, and people were trying to figure out what purpose that served them? Well, that plant specializes in low-power CPUs for things like mobile phones, not computers.) This would probably solve the problem they've claimed has kept Adobe Flash support away ... lack of CPU power to make it work 100%.

      As someone who has owned both the first gen. and the 3G iPhones, I can also tell you the non-replaceable battery has been a total non-issue for me. What I did with the 3G was buying a "Powerslider" case which contains a 2nd. battery inside of it. The case slides around the phone, essentially docking the phone to it, and it drains the case battery before starting to use the iPhone's internal one. Yeah, the case was another $99 and it makes the phone thicker, but it also protects it and keeps it from slipping out of my hand....

      Agreed on the memory card though. It's silly not to offer an SD slot on the thing....

    4. Re:Not just better than the current i-phone... by mdwh2 · · Score: 1

      I agree (many items on these list have been standard for years on any cheap old phone!), but I wonder why we put hopes on Apple on the first place. Why not just focus on the market leaders who are ahead? An article on what features we want in a new Motorola or Nokia phone would be much more interesting, and we wouldn't have to bog ourselves down with "Ooh, can we have custom ringtones on my voicemail, just like every other phone has done for years?" It's like complaining that the Amiga isn't as good as the competition, and hoping that maybe they'll catch up.

    5. Re:Not just better than the current i-phone... by roc97007 · · Score: 1

      You're absolutely right. The thing is, the stuff Apple did get right is really very cool. I'm frustrated that the list of annoyances is too long for me to consider owning one. When I was a Palm junkie, I felt the same way about the Centro. Bluetooth 1.2? In 2008??

      --
      Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
    6. Re:Not just better than the current i-phone... by teg · · Score: 1

      A couple of comments:

      • The cable can't be changed - it isn't just a USB cable, it transfers many other things too
      • Support for replaceable cards take more space than just adding the flash in the phone. You need a slot, room around the slot, pins etc. I've got a replaceable card in my current phone, but it's been inserted since I bought it.
      • MMS - I sent maybe two of them last year. Email is a lot better. I wish there was an easy way to send my pictures as email from my N95, but the builtin email client sucks to bad to be used and I can't find the pictures inside the gmail app I downloaded.

      I agree with you on many points, though - so I don't have an iphone yet, just an ipod touch:

      • Bluetooth. I don't care about file transfer, but I do care about audio profiles, syncing and tethering
      • Cut and paste. I have a password management app that syncs with my mac, and typing strong, generated passwords in the web browser is more fun than I want
      • Notifications and/or background apps. I want IM :)
      • And I want skype and Gizmotalk

      That said, what I like about the iPod (and thus iphone, I guess), is that while it doesn't try to do everything (like my Nokia) it does what it does well(unlike my Nokia). Web browsing, email, media are all much, much better than on my N95- and the app store is light years ahead on the situation on Nokia with random downloadable apps everywhere which I can't really update and have to find/download whenever I upgrade the firmware.

    7. Re:Not just better than the current i-phone... by Elwood+P+Dowd · · Score: 1

      a thriving used device market, from which you don't get revenue

      The better your used market, the more you can charge for new products. Customers will consider the resale value when making a purchase from you.

      --

      There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
  92. speed by hosecoat · · Score: 1

    sometimes it's so slow to load up an app. Why is loading the phone app so slow, the calculator?

  93. iTunes Jail -- music player as a storefront?!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Seems like a pointless, no-brainer, but I really dislike having to use my iTunes player to browse the App Store.

    Couldn't we please use our own browser(s) to navigate the descriptions and find applications we would like to buy, and when we click BUY it actually launches iTunes to handle the billing transactions and phone sync, etc.?

    In that way, we can also bookmark or send hyperlinks to friends showing them the neat App we just discovered. Frustratingly, that can't be done with the App Store.

  94. Other than the features already listed... by ajshankar · · Score: 0

    * A way to search mail! It's absurd that you can't do this already.

    * A way to disable the slide lock. I can't think of a good reason why I have to slide to unlock every time, especially since I have a case protector that recesses the main button and makes it even more difficult to accidentally press. At least give me the option to turn off the lock.

    * Better contacts dialing/searching support. If you don't know what you're missing, try any WM device. The iPhone takes twice as many actions to call someone.

    * A scroll bar for long documents or emails. Sure, it's easy to automatically get to the top of the document, but often I need to scroll to the bottom, or to the middle. This requires lots of tedious finger-swiping.

    Similarly, it would be nice for the hardware volume buttons to double as page up/page down buttons when you are reading a document. (Other devices allow this remapping, and the buttons revert to their original actions in the home screen or during a call.) It's irritating to have to swipe to scroll since it covers up what I'm trying to read, and it's much easier to keep my thumb on the volume buttons and scroll that way. Again, it's hard to know what you're missing unless you've tried something better.

    1. Re:Other than the features already listed... by ajshankar · · Score: 0

      And one more thing: smarter auto-correction. I've now typed my name hundreds of times, and it still, even to this day, automatically "corrects" it to another word.

      That's right: every time I type my name, I have to manually cancel the auto-correction. This is, to put it mildly, really irritating.

    2. Re:Other than the features already listed... by Dog-Cow · · Score: 1

      The iPhone can't disable the autolock? On the iPod Touch, it's under Settings -> General.

    3. Re:Other than the features already listed... by ajshankar · · Score: 0

      Autolock is a feature that automatically turns off your display after a period of time. This is a sensible feature. My issue is with turning the display back on, which always requires a finger swipe, whether the display was turned off by Autolock or manually. I want to remove the finger swipe requirement.

  95. Soft "Quit" from apps by scorp1us · · Score: 1

    Invariably for the bundled iPhone apps, "back" is top left, and "forward" is top right.

    I'd like to see all the apps amended to have a "back" button on their root screen to go back to the application menu. So many time I think back-back-back, then I can't go back anymore and have to hit the damn button.

    --
    Slashdot's rate-of-post filter: Preventing you from posting too many great ideas at once.
  96. Copy and Paste by Ximok · · Score: 0

    Copy and Paste would be useful.

    Tethering would be cool too

  97. Features by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    802.11n
    Storage expansion slot
    a sex box

  98. Additional features by PortHaven · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Additional Features:

    1) Flash Player, especially since Adobe's been working on it and stating that it's more so a policy issue. (Policy is what seems to be blocking Flash, TomTom, multi-tasking, and more.)

    2) Set WiFi alert time. I mean seriously, you drive through downtown and you can't even use your iPhone thanks to all the wifi alerts. That said, you'd still like to know if wifi is available when you're lounging around somewhere. Let us be able to set the following: a) Alert after 30 seconds of availability (this would eliminate the alerts popping up while driving), b) alert met to open/unlocked networks or ALL networks.

    3) File transfer (let me be able to easily move files I want available locally on my iphone). And let me move files from other iTunes manually. Enable disk use (wireless and USB), USB a must and wireless a plus.

    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!!!

    5) Ability to print basic text would be nice.

    ***

    1. Re:Additional features by MidKnight · · 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:

      1. Get iTunes onto the majority of consumers' computers (thanks to the iPod's success)
      2. Convince media publishers that all those eyeballs looking at iTunes every day want to buy things
      3. Use iTunes as a distribution channel and the "hub" of people's digital lifestyle

      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.

    2. Re:Additional features by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

      I like the idea of the WiFi alert time, though I usually don't find the alerts s overwhelming I can't use the phone...

      You can already transfer docs to and from the phone with an app like ReaddleDocs, which acts as a WebDAV server.

      I don't find iTunes too hard to use to manage all the various content, you don't go to "music" to find apps as they are all in a Apps tab.

      Greater bluetooth support in general (I like the idea for simple text printing) would be nice.

      --
      "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    3. Re:Additional features by broken_chaos · · Score: 1

      iSync used to be used for iPod syncing beyond music. Now it's seemingly entirely unused. An odd decision, yes.

    4. Re:Additional features by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Get iTunes onto the majority of consumers' computers (thanks to the iPod's success)

      Getting iTunes onto the majority of computers has nothing to do with the ipod. Well, little to do with the ipod. Not that many people own one (I know it's the most popular mp3 player...not that many people own an mp3 player. Slashdot users and friends and family are a biased sample). They got itunes into everybody's computer because it comes with the default installation of OS X AND the default installation of Quicktime on windows, unless you specifically go search for the itunes-free version.

      They're doing the same thing with Safari, because their windows update tool wants to install the thing even if you've never installed it, unless you're computer-literate enough to know how to use the right-click key and choose to hide it (which is also not something most people can do).

  99. Simple by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Android. ;-)

  100. Yeah, like a real integrated contact manager... by Tran · · Score: 1

    Like the Palm's Datebook, or my favorite Palm app from way back when - Iambic's Agendus.
    Apple needs to make a single datastore available for this to work. The great thing about the various palm organizers was that they used the same data store, so that you could try out different apps without having to re-enter data or export/import.

    I would love to make an appointment for my doctor/kids doctor/plumber by just looking the name up instead of having to type it.

    1. Re:Yeah, like a real integrated contact manager... by Champ · · Score: 1

      The BAD thing about a single PIM database, like on the old Palm devices, was if the unified database didn't support something a third-party developer wanted, they had to either have a separate app-specific database (in addition to the main one), OR sneakily encode the data in the existing database in a non-standardized way (e.g., base-64 encoded in a comment field).

      Messy. Either way, migration isn't as simple as you might like.

  101. More Security ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Device Encryption
    Proper support for Remote Wipe
    Long Password Support (More than a 4 digit pin)
    A version WITHOUT a camera (so you don't have to have a 3rd party remove the camera from the device for some more secure locations.)

    Without a number of these features the iPhone will not be able to be a 'secureable' device according to U.S. Federal Guidelines. (At least according to Homeland Defense...)

  102. Well... by kitsunewarlock · · Score: 1

    -USB Support -Global Win95 .exe support -Micro Projector with extra and easily replaceable bulb. -Projector keyboard.

    --
    Ginga no Rekshiya Mata Each page.
  103. Android by speedtux · · Score: 1

    I'd like to see Android running on an iPhone-like piece of hardware.

    I own an iPod Touch, and I'm not ever going to buy an iPhone or another Touch. The phone software itself is mediocre, but what really kills it for me is iTunes and Apple's un-productivity applications (Address Book, Calendar, and all that other crap).

  104. short sighted by earnest+murderer · · Score: 1

    I know you're being a bit sarcastic, but really... how long/why shouldn't an iPhone dock have a keyboard and display connectors.

    With just a little more software and a display buffer an iPhone would be a perfectly workable workstation for the vast majority of people who use computers to browse the web and send e-mail and look at an occasional document. Just allowing users to access mobile.me would resolve much of the existing software limitations without actually writing any code.

    Hell, with a bit of ram/electronics in the dock you could forgo the display buffer in the phone to drive a 24" display (presuming it isn't able to do so already).

    --
    Platform advocacy is like choosing a favorite severely developmentally disabled child.
  105. Features I want by Blackjack+Joe · · Score: 1

    These are in my priority list:

    1. Copy/Cut and Paste

    2. Background usage of audio streaming apps such as Pandora, Slacker, and FStream. If the iPod function can work in the background, there's no reason these other apps shouldn't be able to as well.

    3. Record Phone calls. I could do this on my previous cell phone.

    4. Video Record. Once again the camrea on my previous cell phone could do this and it wasn't even as good quality as the camera in the iPhone.

  106. A2DP PLEEEEEASE! by Innovative1 · · Score: 1

    A2DP!! It only makes sense that we would want to use headphones with a portable music device.

  107. Search for email? by JerkBoB · · Score: 1

    The single biggest annoyance for me is the lack of a way to search my email. I use IMAP and have server-side filtering into folders, but I still need to search for stuff every once in a while.

    I've worked around it by creating special folders like "Travel" so that I can quickly find itineraries and crap when I'm on the road, but that's kind of retarded. I'd much rather search for e.g. AXIOM in the sender field.

    Oh, well.

    --
    A host is a host from coast to coast...
    Unless it's down, or slow, or fails to POST!
  108. COPY/PASTE by wardk · · Score: 1

    please?

  109. New features? by Timoris · · Score: 1

    What should be added? The Abillity to automatically self destruct when the user's ego reaches a certain level.

  110. Ipod Touch v3 by Quantus347 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I dont know wbout the iPhone, But for its phoneless cousin, Id like to see it retain its GPS and Microphone capabilities. There are tones of fantastic apps that dont work because they dont have the GPS antenna or audio mic that the iPhone version has. Also decent file transfer. I had to buy a wireless router and a third party app just to get non-itunes related files on my itouch. If they dont get some of this basic functionality, they are going to loose to Blackberry pretty fast

    --
    Common Sense isn't as Common as people think...
  111. Not needed by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    Who cares about a user replaceable battery, when you can get an external battery pack of the same size as an extra battery? The only time you ever need more power is on a plane flight, otherwise extra batteries are too bulky to carry.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  112. COPY AND PASTE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    COPY AND PASTE
    COPY AND PASTE

    for the love of god copy and paste

  113. Say it aint so... by DomainDominator · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Apple fan-bois routinely tell me that Apple is on the "bleeding edge" of innovation at all times and no one else is compared to them. I guess it's mostly marketing hype. I mean heck, when I was shopping for an MP3 player I looked at the iPod Nano and saw what they were charging for accessories like battery chargers and slipcases. Apple has always marked up their products like 500%.

    1. Re:Say it aint so... by Pieroxy · · Score: 1

      If your friends tell you Apple is on the bleeding edge, it just means they just did not get it. Apple is about having a balanced product, which makes it lovable.

      Unlike other phone makers (or mp3 makers) they don't believe in throwing in 4435 feats in their product to make the feature list on the back looks impressive, when only a handfull of them are really usable.

      Apple will never sacrifice usability just to throw the latest gizmo in a device.

    2. Re:Say it aint so... by BrokenHalo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Apple will never sacrifice usability just to throw the latest gizmo in a device.

      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.

    3. Re:Say it aint so... by Eriky · · Score: 1

      That's right. Usability is the standard. Everyone can say whatever they want, but Apple is making huge profits with no real competition, because all the other hardware/software makers are still competing with eachother for more and more "features" hidden behind countless amounts of sub-menu's.

  114. Magical Pony! by Repvblic · · Score: 2, Funny

    I always found the weakest part of the iPhones interface to be the lack of the Magical Pony to ride around while you laugh at the poor fools stuck with lesser phones.

    1. Re:Magical Pony! by ozphx · · Score: 1

      Lesser phones? Have you read any of these extremely basic requests? This is functionality that any other smartphone user has been enjoying for years. Shit, my 5 year old XDA2 would probably beat the iPhone in a "for-business" comparison, and I'm fairly certain that my current Diamond kills it in almost every way possible (except getting high-fives and handjobs from dudes wearing turtlenecks).

      --
      3laws: No freebies, no backsies, GTFO.
  115. Many misunderstandings on your part by SuperKendall · · Score: 0

    You post shows evidence you have little contact with actual iPhones: ...but at least as good as the phones currently out there. This is where Apple shows that they're up to the challenge, or not. Simply providing a 32 Gbyte version of the same old thing (which is, sadly, what I expect

    I don't think you understand that in fact Apple is talking about an OS UPGRADE tomorrow, which in fact does mean new features. They may also talk about a newer iPhone but at the very least we already know we are going to hear about something that exceeds your expectations.

    Most of these points have already been made -- sync all your stuff, not just your email.

    It backs up the WHOLE PHONE every time you sync. It also directly syncs to calendars, contacts, email, and bookmarks...

    Make everything searchable, not just contacts.

    That would be nicer.

    [multiple "iphone is not a blackberry" complaints removed]

    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.

    I can connect to any standard USB charger. And of course connect to any number of useful external peripherals that make use of the base connector you dislike. It's a cable you have to carry either way.

    MMS... geeze... don't get me started...

    Yes, lets not, real phones can email images. Time for the hack that is MMS to die for good.

    Apple has got to stop screwing around with locking down memory and calling it a feature.

    I can understand your complaint when owning a device that does not make automatic content management easier for you, but even the 8GB iPhone I have now is usually not constraining. I hesitate to compromise the compactness of the device to add SD support. If you must have SD support, there are other phones.

    And finally, I won't even consider a phone that doesn't have a user replaceable battery.

    Well since external battery packs are the same size, your loss.

    Again, I expect the next i-phone to be like the current 3G phone except more memory and a few bugfixes.

    Again, we already know it is not.

    But -- reality check -- different isn't necessarily better.

    Different is not necessarily better, but it is better to have differences. Blackberry appears to have everything you want, and they aren't going anywhere. Why would you seek to make all phones clone the Blackberry instead of letting a phone work differently for people that prefer that approach? It's pretty funny that you offer Apple advice on how to (in your mind) improve sales for the iPhone, when in fact they have no problem in that regard.

    The path Apple takes is whatever they think will help iPhone users. They do not seek to replicate the Blackberry, and I think that makes for a better phone market. Similarly Palm is also taking a path unique to Palm and I applaud them for it.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Many misunderstandings on your part by roc97007 · · Score: 1

      While I was re-reading my own article, I was worried that I was throwing too many Blackberry references out there, which creates an opportunity to cloud the real issue. I don't suggest that the i-phone be just like a blackberry. Some people prefer a larger screen at the expense of a tactile keyboard, and all the other things that makes an i-phone an i-phone, and that's ok -- it depends on your personal usage and style. I don't have an iphone (my company issues them, but I looked carefully at the strengths and weaknesses and decided on a Bold instead) but we do own an ipod touch, and it's a really cool device with a cool interface.

      It's not about making the i-phone the same as a blackberry. It's about keeping up with technology. Blackberry didn't invent stereo bluetooth, tethering with Macbooks, native DiVX support, micro-SD cards, or the micro-USB connector. They took advantage of those technologies to put out a more feature-rich phone, and -- this is the point -- they're not alone amongst Apple's competitors to do so. The Blackberry just happens to be the phone with which I have most recent experience. We could instead talk about the Treo, which had in the 1990's features the i-phone doesn't yet have.

      When the i-phone first came out, it was a truly innovative GUI and packaging around... let's call it a collection of mature technology. Two factors have since changed -- "Mature" has progressed to "Elderly", and competitors are right on the edge of catching up on the packaging and GUI.

      Apple has undeniably led the way, for some definitions of "way" -- my Bold probably wouldn't have had native wifi if they hadn't had to compete with the Jesus Phone, and for that I am thankful. There's a whole bunch (some would say too many) of new touch screen phones that wouldn't exist if the iphone had not. There's no denying that the i-phone has been insanely successful. My point is that there is danger in thinking your only competition is your own previous model. Palm made that mistake, and nearly vanished -- could, still. Microsoft made that mistake... and that story hasn't played out yet. Blackberry still has their own special hubris -- that it isn't mobile email if it doesn't go through a blackberry email server. Finally people are starting to code around that. (Web mail doesn't count.) Apple undeniably had a winner -- the question is, do they still?

      --
      Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
    2. Re:Many misunderstandings on your part by Culture20 · · Score: 1

      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.

      I can connect to any standard USB charger. And of course connect to any number of useful external peripherals that make use of the base connector you dislike. It's a cable you have to carry either way.

      No, it's two cables he has to carry versus one cable. The iphone cable may be USB on one side, but it's proprietary on the other.

    3. Re:Many misunderstandings on your part by dunkelfalke · · Score: 1

      try htc touch hd. it has got everything you want. in fact, the device is so good, it leaves iphone far behind.

      --
      "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
    4. Re:Many misunderstandings on your part by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

      It's not about making the i-phone the same as a blackberry. It's about keeping up with technology. Blackberry didn't invent stereo bluetooth, tethering with Macbooks, native DiVX support, micro-SD cards, or the micro-USB connector.

      But that's not necessarily "keeping up with technology". That's choosing weather or not to abandon certain aspects that past phones have used. As noted, leaving out SD support is a valid choice because it keeps the phone smaller. Choosing to not support bluetooth stereo keeps battery life longer. Supporting fewer video formats again is a choice driven by longer battery life (and thus smaller device size) by allowing the codecs that are supported hardware acceleration. Not supporting micro-USB does nothing to harm the user since you can still recharge with any USB port, and you get added functionality from the dock connector with a huge range of devices already built for the iPhone.

      As for tethering, that's an AT&T issue - there was a tethering app, but Apple had it pulled at the request of AT&T. Until AT&T works out how they want to charge for iPhone tethering it's not really an Apple technical issue. Those that were lucky enough to purchase the app before are in fact tethering today...

      --
      "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    5. Re:Many misunderstandings on your part by roc97007 · · Score: 1

      I seen it. A friend has one. Touch screen and slide-out keyboard. A little on the thick side, but chock full of features.

      It runs Windows Mobile 6. He (my friend) has had better stability than most, because with the exception of turn-by-turn instructions, he has no 3rd party software installed that might affect reliability. He sometimes goes a whole day without having to reboot his phone, and it will reliably receive calls, say, 17 times out of 20. Pretty good for Windows Mobile.

      But, you see, I'm not just looking for features. There used to be this concept called "dial-tone reliability", which means no matter what, even in pitch dark, you'll still get a dial tone, and your call has a very high likelihood of going through. This was back in the days of land lines, maybe you don't remember.

      What Windows Mobile brings to the table is "PC reliability". A phone as reliable as your average desktop computer. I'm sorry, that doesn't work for me. Maybe I'm old-fashioned. Perhaps my standards are too high.

      Before I get another Windows Mobile device, I'd get an i-phone 3G and just leave it on Edge.

      --
      Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
    6. Re:Many misunderstandings on your part by dunkelfalke · · Score: 1

      this is htc touch pro what you have seen. touch hd hasn't got a keyboard. it is the same size as iphone, but has got a 800x480 display.

      windows mobile isn't as bad as you have seen. if a device crashes often, chances are that the device is broken. pretty much everyone in my family has got a windows mobile pda phone (because of the features) and they have to reboot maybe once in a month or so. no problems with calling or receiving calls whatsoever.

      my own one crashes every three days or so, but only because it is a wm5 phone flashed with a beta wm6.1. i can live with that because the device is so useful. i can live with pc reliability because it comes together with pc functionality. if i were only interested in making calls, i would rather buy an old nokia 8210 which i'd have to recharge only every two weeks or so.

      btw don't talk to me about dial tone reability, i was born and raised in the ussr. every windows mobile phone is more reliable than a soviet land line.

      --
      "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
    7. Re:Many misunderstandings on your part by roc97007 · · Score: 1

      > btw don't talk to me about dial tone reability, i was born and raised in the ussr. every windows mobile phone is more reliable than a soviet land line.

      Welcome to the US. Fair enough. It's all about expectations.

      There are three people in my department who had company-issued windows mobile devices, including me. Two Treos and one HTC. We returned the Treos after a couple months because they (both of them) wouldn't go a full day without rebooting, and they had a tendency to not ring on the next incoming call if you'd previously run any application that used the sound driver. The forums would say something about not releasing the driver when the phone needed it -- I never figured out what it was, didn't care, got rid of it. The one person in our department who still has a Windows Mobile phone hangs onto it grimly because he likes the (HTC) hardware.

      My daughter has had a Blackberry Curve for the last 15 months. She's a teenager and a geek, and is very hard on the phone, both physically and software. (Software-ly?) She's always installing and uninstalling third-party stuff and almost every feature is under regular use. During that 15 months, the phone has rebooted exactly once, last December when we replaced the battery. That's what I look for in a phone/PDA, and is why my next phone was a Blackberry.

      In all fairness, since this is an Apple thread, she's also very hard on her iPod Touch. I allow her free reign to download any free application from the app store, but I monitor her account to see what's on the phone. I think she's downloaded every freakin' third party app you could get for free, and (with permission) quite a few 99 cent apps. The Touch has never, as in, never ever, hung, crashed or spontaneously rebooted. That's what I look for in an appliance. The iPhone and iPod Touch are fundamentally robust, as in, robust in their core operating system, an area in which Microsoft would have to spend too much money (completely re-writing a lot of their code) to compete. (And an area where no gui overlay can help.)

      But again, it's all about expectations. If PC-level reliability is good enough for you, then more power to you. That certainly gives you a wider range of hardware to choose from. For the rest of us, there's Symbian, RIM and Apple. (And potentially Android, but it's too early to tell.)

      --
      Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
    8. Re:Many misunderstandings on your part by dunkelfalke · · Score: 1

      ah yes, treo. they are really bad (made by htc but designed by palm who never got the hang of multitasking). such a thing with sound never happened on any of my htc devices and i owned a lot (wallaby, himalaya, blue angel, three universals...).

      anyway, i tried the iphone. i really wanted to like it, but all the time i had the feeling that the phone was severely castrated by design. i was used to real multitasking, copy&paste, a2dp and bluetooth data transfer of windows mobile, so using the iphone was for me a huge step backwards to palm os and alike. also i prefer to have the possibility to use stylus and to use the touchscreen with gloves on when it's cold outside.

      --
      "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
    9. Re:Many misunderstandings on your part by roc97007 · · Score: 1

      You *need* a stylus to poke Start -> Programs -> Accessories (...) on that tiny screen. It's an exercise in fine motor control. It's a fine paradigm for a PC, but a poor paradigm for a phone.

      --
      Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
  116. Email improvements by Dynedain · · Score: 1

    Besides the universally lamented cut&paste, I'd love to have rules/filters in email so I can autosort incoming messages (particularily spam).

    I'd also love the ability to have multiple email signatures, instead of one global email signature for all accounts.

    --
    I'm out of my mind right now, but feel free to leave a message.....
  117. Re:huh? - not outside USA by Yaztromo · · Score: 1

    You should check on that again. At least here in Canada, the vast majority of the music in the iTMS is now indeed DRM free. I believe their original target for 100% DRM free Music in iTMS was April 2009, so they still have a few weeks to go.

    Yaz.

  118. Anonymous Coward by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I would elect that encryption be the most important update.

    I work for a company that is going to kick the iPhones off the exchange server due to the inability of encrypting the data on the phone.

  119. access to GPS data from WebApps by lixlpixel · · Score: 1

    i'd like to have access to the GPS data from WebApps.
    that way you don't have to rely on GeoIP data and relly could customize content and make WebApps location-aware.

    maybe a whitelist of sites which have access to the data, or a popup asking for confirmation that the site can use the GPS coordinates...

  120. no mobile contract by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    no contract requirement with any mobile phone company.

  121. Re:The ability to set the text notification to 1 o by filthpickle · · Score: 1

    This drives me crazy as well, and I'm almost certain that it didn't always do that.

  122. a few sanity savers by watsondk · · Score: 1

    how about offline maps?

    with the nightmare costs of data, its so expensive to use the GPS, that there is no real point in having it in the first place.

    and yes I am aware of the app for jail broken phones which does this. just would be nice not to have to jail break

    --

    next, what about some way to actually get the contents of the notes off the iPhone

    I did not believe even apple would add something this dumb. whats the point of having the notes function if you can do nothing with it. who wants to take notes, only to have them inaccessible outside the iPhone.

    on the same subject, why not allow notes to be emailed?

    --

    next, what about actually being able to read pdf and other files outside of mail?

    without having to pay more $$$ for a third party app for this sort of thing, or using a free one, which is so limited as to be useless

    --

    why not let us use the iphone as a portable storage device? just like the (non touch) ipods do? and all without the need to jail break

    yes the space is limited, but still nice to have the choice

    --

    finally, how about letting us compose SMS/Email in landscape mode?

    this makes zero sense, why have something which can rotate when functions like mail and sms do not support it.

    whats the problem apple? makes too much sense?

  123. make it popular in japan... by ForeverOrangeCat · · Score: 1

    Local TV streaming to my phone.

  124. THINGS IPHONE STILL NEEDS by lifesizeactionfigure · · Score: 1

    I love my iphone apps. I'm an app-store and app sniper addict. I have more apps than even fit on the iPhone.I can deal with that... but the 9 page organization scheme HAS to go!

    If there's one thing I would ask Apple for, it would be folders to organize my apps into, all accessible springboard style from the main page of apps.

    Another thing I would love to see is customizable size icons. I would love to be able to view my apps in "list" view like OS X has in the finder.

    I would also love to have a bigger "dock" portion of the screen to fit more frequently used applications.

    I don't like that I can only have one ActiveSync-based account set up on my iPhone, even if I'm only using one for email and the other one for calendar only. I want BOTH my push email and my google calendar sync please!

    Customizable alarm sounds and alerts!

    Quick memory flush without having to restart!

  125. I just want by wykell · · Score: 1

    for Steve Mobs to not pee on mine. As far as updates to the phone goes, that's about all I desire.

    --
    --- He advocated thrift and hard work and disapproved of loose women who turned him down. ---
  126. not just buttons but snappier too! by commodoresloat · · Score: 1

    I think you might be overestimating what's possible with a software update. ;)

    YOU DARE to question the capabilities of Apple software updates?

  127. This is more like it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    1. Tied to AT&T with $2,000 "cheap" iPhone only plans
    2. A2DP
    3. Bluetooth sync
    4. Bluetooth file sharing
    5. Voice dialing
    6. Contacts with photo icon on main screen
    7. Proper GPS
    8. Turn by turn GPS software
    9. MMS
    10. Flash
    11. Push Notifications
    12. Copy/cut & paste
    13. J2ME
    14. Proper Camera with autofocus and flash
    15. Multitasking
    16. Stable Web Browser
    17. Landscape system wide
    18. VGA or WVGA display
    19. Video recording
    20. More than 128mb of memory
    21. Mark all mail as read/delete all button
    22. Global search
    23. Exchange email search
    24. Tethering (cable and bluetooth)
    25. Application organization so there isn't the need to continually scroll like butter
    26. Micro SD slot
    27. Hardware keyboard
    28. Easy USB drive mode
    29. To Do List sync
    30. Notes Sync
    31. Wifi Sync
    32. Replaceable Battery
    33. Standard USB connector

  128. and music! by commodoresloat · · Score: 1

    For fsck's sake, give programmers the ability to access the data on the phone/ipod. It's ridiculous that there are dozens of music and DJ-related apps (and thus programmers interested in such capabilities) but none of them can do anything with the music library on the device itself. The piracy fear is ridiculous - it's no different than the risk of piracy on hard drives, DVDs, or any other storage device. There's no reason to cripple this device in this way; all it does is annoy users who would like to use the more advanced capabilities of these devices.

  129. Yeah, right... Offtopic... by denzacar · · Score: 1

    Admit it - you pussies have no balls to admit what you really use a hand-held screen for.

    --
    Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
  130. Delete All?!?!?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How about a delete all function for email?

  131. Video Recording by sabre307 · · Score: 1

    No one seems to be talking about the 300lb gorilla in the room, but video recording is a DEAL BREAKER. I have continued to use my blackjack for the past few years and refused to upgrade simply because the iPhone doesn't do video recording without jailbreaking. I got really excited when the G1 came out and... damn, no video recording. WTF?!?!?! How can these guys make these phones that are so close to being great and leave off such an obvious feature. I will wait with baited breath to see if Apple finally wakes up on this one, and if not, I will soon be the proud owner of a Storm, since RIM is the only company that seems to get it when it comes to mobile devices.

    --
    My software never has bugs.
    It just develops random features.
    1. Re:Video Recording by Darkness404 · · Score: 1

      ...So you get a Storm? Are you kidding? The Storm was bashed almost more heavily then the iPhone. The main problems with the Storm was that it tried to take the "normal" BlackBerry OS and shove it into a touchscreen device and expect it to work. Why not get at least a BlackBerry Bold or a Curve? But from every review I have read, the Storm is more or less the worst BlackBerry phone you could get.

      And yes, there always seems to be very obvious things left out of every phone. Why can't someone make a QWERTY keyboard/captive touchscreen phone with A) Decent Bluetooth B) A decent OS C) An easy way of developing applications D) No "approval" process E) A camera that actually works F) SMS along with MMS with lots of options (signatures, deleting individual messages, an option to view things "IM style" or E-mail style, etc), G) Copy and Paste and H) Decent predictive text with correction (the predictive text of a Storm with the correction of an iPhone)

      --
      Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
  132. What about common-sense PHONE features? by wabb1t · · Score: 3, Insightful
    I'm still surprised how many features that I've come to expect from a normal phone (it's still called the iPhone, right?) are missing... Here's a short list:
    • Call duration display after hanging up. At least for the last call, if not for all calls.
    • Deleting individual SMS. I hate keeping useless stuff in conversations, just to avoid losing that single SMS that has any importance among 10 that are useless.
    • (related to the above) ability to save a SMS as a note
    • Ability to forward a SMS
    • Deleting individual calls from the recent calls list. Because sometimes I don't want certain numbers in my recent calls list (be it an ex girlfriend, or customer, or something else).
    • Sending a contact via SMS, or receiving one.
    • Having a date in the calendar marked as an anniversary or birthday, and having the phone notify you, and calculate the years passed... OK, this one is more of an extra, but I used it a lot.

    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.

    1. Re:What about common-sense PHONE features? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This. Also, ringtones for groups ("families," whatever.) This is something a $100 pay-as-you-go phone on the shelf at Radio Shack can do, and it's invaluable for keeping spammers from being able to call you. Why can't my iPhone do it?

    2. Re:What about common-sense PHONE features? by Inda · · Score: 1

      WOW. I take it you a serious about those missing features? The SMS stuff has been standard on all phones for years.

      --
      This post contains benzene, nitrosamines, formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide.
    3. Re:What about common-sense PHONE features? by wabb1t · · Score: 1

      Yes, I'm quite serious. Just search the 'net (forums and blogs) trying to find a solution, I know I failed to find one.

      The SMS and call history stuff are reasons that will probably make me buy another phone soon (even though they've announced SMS stuff is coming to the 3.0 OS, which is due this summer).

  133. global search by DMoylan · · Score: 1

    global search.

    my palm had one. my nokias had one. why not the iphone?

    the notepad as it exists on the device is useless if you have lots of notes as you have to manually search for what you are looking for. its a fucking computer. it should do the searching! it can hold 16gb of info but searching is manual?

    an option to add a bluetooth keyboard would also be nice.

  134. What about a decent calendar application... by cagnol · · Score: 1

    A calendar application that has revolutionary features such as the possibility to see the full week at once, or the possibilty to search for an event by entering its name.

    These features were available on my Palm m100 about ten years ago!

  135. Best mobile e-mail client? by Culture20 · · Score: 1
    TFA:

    In many ways, the iPhone's Mail program is the best mobile e-mail client out there.

    I wasn't drinking anything, but I almost choked on my own saliva. I'd rather use alpine on my iphone than mail.app. I've managed to crash that thing plenty of times, and there's no searching, no gpg/pgp, no preventing it from attempting to open _everything_ in your mail folder including archived folders from years ago, yadda yadda.

  136. Copy and paste? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Where is this feature?

  137. Not much. by slimjim8094 · · Score: 1

    I've jailbroken the phone. So I have copy/paste, turn-by-turn directions, tethering, (almost) full bluetooth stack, background applications (try backgrounding Pandora and browsing slashdot while in the car!), etc.

    Frankly, I wish I didn't need to do that, but it was really easy. No complaints here.

    (though I will admit that my RAZR was nice - A2DP, bluetooth modem, hci, ftp, usb modem - no hacking required!)

    --
    I have developed a truly marvelous proof of this comment, which this signature is too narrow to contain.
  138. WWIII?????? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wait, the Nazi's are back in World War Three(WWIII)? I never would have seen that coming...

  139. A TEXT EDITOR ! ! by johnrpenner · · Score: 1

    i don't want a Flash Player on my iPhone - just a waste of annoying blinking bandwidth wasters.
    what we really need is a good text editor. there are several dozen note taking, doc-opening type utilities on the iphone - none of them are any good or even remotely useful (no - Text Guru doesn't even come close).

    it was back in 1984 that MacWrite still couldn't swap its files to disk, and we were stuck with smaller than 32k text files. now, with the iphone -- its back to the future -- still cant open a basic text file (averages anywhere from 200k - 2Mb) -- i had this on my palm pilot back in 1998 with QED -- forget the friggin sharks with lasers on thier head -- all I want is a decent TEXT EDITOR.

    Text Editor 1.0:

    > Must Have:
    - opens text files (must open files up to 2Mb in size)
    - copy and paste between files
    - both regular 'Finger Scroll' (drag text) AND 'Index Scroll' (drag edge for lengh of document)
    - user can permanently set Background & Foreground Text Colours
    - multi-file search and replace (i.e. search the content of all text files in a directory)
    - user settable global font (set it once to MONACO 10, and never touch it!)
    - every file must open at the same scroll and cursor location as when it was saved.
    - ability to 'Bookmark' up to 256 scroll settings per text file
            *even if it means adding a search string like  into the text.

    > Should NOT Have:
    - Should NOT Open IMAGES or Pictures
    - Should NOT have FONTS / Sizes / Styles > NO RTF / Rich Text!!
    - Should NOT Open PDF or Word Docs

    if we can do software synths and video - why o why cant we even get a basic text editor!?!?

    aaaarrrgggghhh!!!

    2cents from toronto island
    j

  140. Electronic Compass by Ichijo · · Score: 1

    An electronic compass for the GPS that automatically orients the map in the right direction.

    --
    Any sufficiently unpopular but cohesive argument is indistinguishable from trolling.
  141. grprs proxy support by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    standard, not like in jailbreak

  142. Re:Pretty easy list - USB mass storage support by johnrpenner · · Score: 1

    yeah - USB mass storage support - is probably the best thing they could add (back) to the ipod.

  143. BlackBerry OS 5.0 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    BlackBerry OS 5.0! ;)

  144. A simple way to exchange contact info by SpryGuy · · Score: 1

    This is what is really maddening to me.

    I meet up with a long-lost friend or co-worker, and we're both standing there with iPhones, and there's no way to exchange contact info.

    Basically it ends up looking like this: I open my contacts, hit "add new contact", and then pass my phone over to him, and he types in all his info.

    Why can't I just hit a button to mail my contact info to him? That way, I only have to type in an email address. And if he emails me HIS contact info, why can't I just "select" the contact info (or have the iPhone simply recognize the info) and then hit a button that says "Add to contacts"?

    Even copy/paste won't help too much on this one. There really just needs to be better dynamic contact sharing ability.

    Another scenario: A friend of mine has contact info for a mutual friend. I currently have to laboriously copy it in. Why can't he just send it to me, and voila, it's in there? Like a text message, just ... boom, it's done?

    Beyond that, I have all the standard requests: Copy-Paste, Event Notification framework, better way to organize apps, better landscape support, a way to 'lock' the screen to keep it from slipping into landscape when you are, for instance, using the iphone while lying down, MMS support, tethering support, flash support in Safari, video support (and frankly, i'd like the video player stripped out from teh iPod button, and treated more like the 'photos' button, with the 'camera roll' equivalent for video right at the top, and then better categorization and organization of videos below), options for editing the typing dictionary, mark-all-as-read in email, ability to use maps without a connection (cached image), ability to turn-off or hide pre-installed apps taht you never use (like 'stocks')...

    And one I'd like personally, the ability to send an option to add a confirmation before it calls a number you've touched. I can't count the number of times I've accidentally called someone and had to scramble for the 'end call' button before the person on the other end got the ring... ugh.

    --

    - Spryguy
    There are three kinds of people in this world: those that can count and those that can't
  145. Common shared app data... by argent · · Score: 1

    ... that's the thing that I can't believe they haven't implemented. That was one of the coolest things about the old Palm OS, a common database format that was easily discoverable to let developers integrate with each other almost promiscuously...

    Cut and paste, yes, but that's only the beginning.

  146. umlauts quick mode by gorgonite · · Score: 1

    I'm a Kraut. If I want to enter an umlaut I have to press the corresponding vowel and wait for about 2 seconds until a bubble pops up where I can select my favorite umlaut. I hate these two seconds.
    What I would suggest: allow people to bring up this bubble by a small gesture, e.g tap the character and then slide down.
    By the way: slashdot seems to be umlaut-challenged, too.

  147. Frequently pasted items by davidlowie · · Score: 1

    how about a little database of things you frequently want to paste in to web forms such as your last name, your email address, your phone number. In addition of course to copy and paste. And for the love of god, allow me to send and receive pictures in SMS messages like all the other phones out there that cost $200 less than mine can do.

  148. ActiveSync by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's called ActiveSync, call your mail admin, it may not be enabled.

    More Info

    I don't use an iphone myself (AT&T sucks!) but I did check it out when I got my blackberry.

  149. How about FWD a freaking SMS by giorgist · · Score: 1

    I mean what's the point of leaving that out ?
    You get an SMS invite to a gig, you want to pass it along ...

    Have iPhone, RETYPE IT

  150. Actually one by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    No, it's two cables he has to carry versus one cable. The iphone cable may be USB on one side, but it's proprietary on the other.

    Let's play "Count the cable(s)"!

    Scenario one - I have a phone with a miniUSB port. To charge it, I carry a cable that is USB on one end and miniUSB on the other.

    Count, one!

    Secenario two - I have an iPhone, and USB to iPhone cable that comes with the phone. To charge it, I attach that cable to any USB port.

    Count, one!

    So how does 1 = 2? For either phone you have to carry a cable to charge it. You only have to carry one cable if you expect to find a USB port anywhere (like if you are traveling with a laptop).

    The scenarios are identical, you take one cable with you.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Actually one by roc97007 · · Score: 1

      > Let's play "Count the cable(s)"!

      > Scenario one - I have a phone with a miniUSB port. To charge it, I carry a cable that is USB on one end and miniUSB on the other.

      > Count, one!

      > Secenario two - I have an iPhone, and USB to iPhone cable that comes with the phone. To charge it, I attach that cable to any USB port.

      > Count, one!

      Woah, New Math! Let's say, as in the original example, that I own (stay with me, this is a stretch...) more than one electronic device, (hard to believe, huh?) and they're not all made by Apple. I could stop there, but I see the necessity of really grinding this example into the dirt. Wife has a Motorola flip phone, I have a Bold, daughter has a Curve, and let's say the company phone I sometimes have to carry is a Nokia. How many chargers do I need for these four phones from three different manufacturers? One.

      Now, let's say I chose the company iPhone instead of the Blackberry. How many chargers do I now need? For those who went to public school, the answer is, two. One for all the other stuff, and one for the iPhone. I actually need three, because I personally own a 3rd generation iPod which, although it shares the same connector as the iPhone, it won't @$*#(^& charge from USB.

      Ok, let's grind this example into the bedrock. Let's say that you're on a trip to the middle of nowhere, to the place where God Left His Car Keys, and you forgot your damned charge cable. You have 20 minutes to buy another one before your battery expires. Good thing USB to mini-USB cables are available anywhere... Wait, no, you have an IPHONE. Oh God, you need a stylish white data cable with a proprietary connector that no other company on earth uses. Lucky for you there's an Apple store near every major airport... except this is Dumphuke, Arizona (north-east of Prescott) and the local Rat Shack doesn't sell stylish white cables.

      It won't be too long before you won't be able to buy a cell phone with a proprietary data/charge connector, with the single exception of the i-phone. And somehow Apple users will just accept this. Nay, I tell a lie, they won't just accept it, they'll see it as a feature.

      --
      Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
    2. Re:Actually one by mpcjans · · Score: 1

      Let's count again. I have two phones (two HTC devices) and an external harddrive. They all use miniUSB. How many cables do I need? 1 I change one of my HTC devices to an iPhone. How many cables do I need? 2 Standards really work best when used for more than one device.

    3. Re:Actually one by ProfessionalCookie · · Score: 1
      Whatever. USB-A to Mini-A is ubiquitous. I use the same cable for my canon digital camera, my sony HD Cam, my Seagate external hard drive...my western digital external hard drive, my GPS logger (which also has bluetooth but charges over usb) etc etc.

      When I travel I take three cords. Two USB A to USB mini A and my iPhone cable. Because I have an iPhone and I wish I could plug it into the it's-everywhere-else USB mini A connector. Good day.

      PS I have a sneaking suspicion that this will not be included in the 3.0 software update.

  151. Re:The ability to set the text notification to 1 o by Kostya · · Score: 1

    You aren't imagining it--iPhone 2.0 brought this wonderful feature :-(

    Apparently people complained about missing text messages, and Apple's solution was to give you two--with no option to opt out. Great. I just don't get how you go to two without an option to stay at one. Sigh.

    --
    "Doubt your doubts and believe your beliefs." -- Switchfoot, Ode to Chin
  152. Java anyone? by trycoon · · Score: 1

    - How about Java ME that 95% of the other phones already supports, and so that I finally run programs developed at my company.
    - Flash so that I could browse the web.
    - Stop forcing developers to upload applications to appstore and to pay fees for a account and SDK.

  153. What Features In The Next Motorola Or Nokia Phone? by mdwh2 · · Score: 1

    Well, according to this list, it's about the functionality that they'll add in the next version ;)

    I was going to joke about copy/paste, only to see that they're seriously having to ask for it (and what happened to "But we don't need primitive features like copy/paste, because Apple does it in some new manner, although I can't tell you how"?) In fact, I note that my years old cheap non-smart Motorola V980 has 5 of the "features" on this list (I don't even consider them features, just standard functionality). I had no idea that you couldn't even use the Iphone as an Internet connection for computer.

    I'm wondering why this is news at all. Most new phones don't get a Slashdot story at all - even from major players - let alone a story about a mere wish list before a product's even released.

    But that's part of Apple's brilliant marketing: the fact that the Iphone misses basic bog standard features itself gets them free advertising, because you have everyone requesting the features, and then queuing up desperately to get hold of the new phone when it's finally released, years behind the competition (as happened with the Iphone 3G).

    Let's start a thread here - What Features Should Be Included With The Next Phone From Motorola Or Nokia?

    This will be a much more interesting discussion, since we don't need to fill the list with basic features that other cheap phones have had for years - we can discussing interesting new possibilities that people would like to see? Let's hear an idea that's more innovative that "custom ringtones for my voicemail"(!)

  154. No Camera! No Camera! No Camera! by tikifrank · · Score: 1

    Why in god's name won't they make an iPhone with either no camera or failing that, a removable camera? There's a statistically significant number of us out there who can't bring cameras into our workplaces. There's a company that will remove the camera for $100, but I can't stomach the idea of paying somebody to rip out a feature I don't want anyway.

  155. Cut and paste coming for sure (I think) by jvj24601 · · Score: 1

    http://www.pcworld.com/article/161284/digg_founder_offers_sneak_peek_of_iphone_30_copypaste_feature.html

    Can't wait for the next-gen hardware upgrade (fingers crossed for 32gb). I'll finally be able to replace my crappy phone and iPod Nano with an iPhone (just a mediocre phone, but that's fine by me).

  156. That's just the problem by commodoresloat · · Score: 1

    If it were truly compatible with Microsoft Exchange, it would be far more buggy, insecure, and crash-prone than it is.

  157. A small slot for a .... by sparkeyjames · · Score: 1

    handkerchief so you can wipe Steve Jobs fecal matter off of your nose.

  158. how about call features? by NynexNinja · · Score: 1
    There are many possible call features, here are a couple:
    • Ability to block a phone number
    • Abtility to route a phone number to a specific voice mail message.. have custom voicemail greetings per inbound caller ID
    • Ability to route a phone number to any other number, bridging the call and then recording it
    • Ability to record a phone call

    Most of these have features already been implemented in jailbroken phones, but it would be nice to have these features without having to void your warranty.

  159. Voice Dialing !!!!!! by FlyingGuy · · Score: 1

    I love my iPhone and even when using it w/bluetoothe or earbuds it is still damn dangerous to drive with the thing because you MUST look at the stupid screen to dial it. Even my ancient Nokia had voice dialing! Only a few key numbers, but it worked well.

    Cut and fucking paste already GOD DAMMIT! Go ahead, try an type in a 30 or 40 digit wireless access code!

    --
    Hey KID! Yeah you, get the fuck off my lawn!
  160. Just a few by ashwinds · · Score: 1

    - wireless sync
    - easy tethering
    - horiz keyboard everywhere
    - background apps
    - SMS/Calls blacklist
    - Send Contact by SMS
    - Copy + Paste
    - Flash
    ..... gee there are way too many and people above have covered it all.... and those features should have made it to 2.0

  161. A room with a moose! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Prepare for your mooooosy fate!

  162. easy: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    t-mobile

  163. Next track by multimediavt · · Score: 1

    RTFM! You don't have to reach in your pocket if you use the included headphones you can switch tracks by double pinching the mic/button assembly. Single pinching starts and stops play, and triple pinching sends it back a track.

  164. My old B&W Nokia was better... by Rastignac · · Score: 1

    - How about showing the number of characters when typing a SMS (36/200, 37/200, etc) ?
    - How about showing an icon saying "incoming" or "outgoing" in front of each call in the phone log ? (Without having to click the arrow to see the details).

    These things exist for years on other phones...

    You can add many other things to this list:
    - Having more than one camera roll to store all the photos, manageable from the phone.
    - A direct "new tab" button in the bottom bar in Safari.
    - Enabling developpers to use TvOut for all the applications (games displaying on your TV !).
    - Etc...

    --
    -- Rastignac was here.
  165. MMS, please...! by forrie · · Score: 1

    MMS, for crissakes! :-) They've ignored that for a long time.

    I agree with another poster here, the Google Maps feature is completely useless for traveling. Too slow, not enough detail, kludgy.

    I'd like to cut-and-paste from SMS so I can "separately" send similar comments to people.

  166. features by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    1) if i get an sms i may want to call the sender because my reply will be too wordy to reply by sms. iphone makes me click 5 or 6 times to do this. no quick 'call sender' option. my old windows mobile MDA Compact (imate jamm) had this years ago.

    2) Maybe, just maybe, someone asks me to send them a contact. Why do i need to then find a pen? why can't i forward a contact via sms. All phones i've ever used for the last 10 years or so have had this feature.

    3) Why is the contact button hidden in the phone button? shouldn't this be top level?

    4) some people i communicate with can't receive emails to their phones. i cannot send them a picture and need to ask a friend to send the pic from me on their "Not-an-iphone" phones.

    5) user replacable battery.

    6) forwarding SMS messages - i get jokes via sms quite a bit. i used to forward them on to others, since i got an iphone, i can't. the chain ends here.

  167. A better interface by AP31R0N · · Score: 1

    i'd like a more logical interface that does what should happen when i do X instead of what they think it should do. When i click a phone number DON'T DIAL IT! i'll tell *you* when to dial you fucker! Also, don't make synchronizing delete my apps. Let me use iTunes at work and at home without destroying my apps and downloads. Let me load music into the damn thing. There's a button that says iPod for some reason it refuses to let me load music. Make it a drag and drop folder interface, you know, like every other fracking mp3 player.

    --
    Utilizing the synergization of benchmark e-solutions to pre-workaround action items!
  168. End of Days mods himself up here w/ mult acct's by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See subject-line, plus this URL also -> http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1147437&cid=27056793 where The End of Days admits to his use of multiple registered accounts here to mod himself up with.

  169. Mail is my filesystem?! by grepdisc · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Complete cleaving the tether to a local machine: permit downloading files (txt, pdf, etc.) while browsing and allow access to them between apps (e.g, safari, mail, Annotater, who's going to write vi?).

  170. Talk about new math... by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    Woah, New Math! Let's say, as in the original example, that I own (stay with me, this is a stretch...) more than one electronic device, (hard to believe, huh?) and they're not all made by Apple.

    Lost me there, since there's a limited subset of things for which your single cable scenario would work - you ask me to presuppose you own a few non-Apple devices as well, but then you ask be to believe that every single one of these devices uses the same mini USB for changing. It's not impossible, but increasingly unlikely as the device count rises - and at the core of things, a big reason to have an iPhone is to replace those multitude of devices. In which case, we are back to one cable...

    Furthermore, if you have a family your children are statistically likely to have an iPod variant. By taking the mini-USB path, you are in fact increasing your cable count to two when you could have had just one.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  171. Easy by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    I have two phones (two HTC devices) and an external harddrive. They all use miniUSB. How many cables do I need?

    Two at least, because you'll want to be able to charge something at the same time as you are using the USB drive. I know, because I've travelled with similar sets of devices.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  172. My wishlist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Crucial:

    1. Uncripple bluetooth!
            1.a. Ability to use iSync (no need to start
                    iBloat^h^h^h^h^hTunes just for a quick vcard update)
    2. Spotlight search for *any* word in the adressbook (just like
                    Adressbook.app does it)
    3. MMS
    4. FIREWIRE!!!!! That USB dreck is so unstable and
                    unpredictable and it sometimes doesn't even work with
                    Apples own keyboard or a hub or even a Macbook or
                    anything. I am not interested in geeky speed comparisons
                    of the two, I just want a cable that fucking works! Please
                    Apple, bring back Firewire to your products! Pleeease!!!
    4.a. Ok, how about an USB cable that works behind a Hub then?
                    Really? Is that too much?

    Would be nice:

    5. Landscape keyboard
    6. When reading an SMS: the ability to call the sender by
                    oneclick (should be easy)
    7. Real GPS with navigation
            7.a. ...for running and biking
    8. Flash

    Right now, I wouldn't buy it a second time.

  173. Just bought iphone by ErwinB · · Score: 1

    I just bought an I phone with an Sim Onlycontract and some mobile internet on it. Works fine! Can't wait for Iphone updates!