iPhone OS 3.0 is the iPhone upgrade we needed. The new OS brings the feature set of the iPhone on par with, and in many cases surpassing, those of the competition. But, even with Cut-n-Paste (which I love), shake undo (which I hate), Push notification (which is cool), easier Wi-Fi connectivity (which is surprisingly useful), and all of the other upgrades there are still some things I wish the iPhone would do.
Here's my relatively short list in no particular order of importance:
Profiles:
I've noticed that there are situations where I would prefer to have Wi-Fi on, Push Notification off, and my phone in silent ring mode while there are other times when I want just the opposite, or something completely different.
Currently it is such a bother to go into Settings to reconfigure my iPhone when I need to make those changes. It would be so very cool to be able to save a list of settings into profiles, similar to Airplane Mode, that would let me turn on and off those features in the profile just by selecting it.
I don't just want settings, I want profiles that will reconfigure a broad range of options on my phone.
It would be great if I could create profiles for my job (No Wi-Fi, silent ring, push notify, email, calendar and chat/SMS/MMS at the home screen), home (Wi-Fi, medium-loud ring, email, chat, news and a select few games on the home screen), travel: car (No Wi-Fi, iPod, Maps, soft ring), travel: air (airplane mode, iPod, games on the home screen), and so on.
How about a "Battery Conservation" profile, or an "In the movies"? An "I'm busy" profile could direct call straight to voicemail and IMers know you don't want to be disturbed.
And I want to configure them on my Mac as well, in iTunes, and have the profiles saved and synced to my iPhone. It would be nice the be able to share profiles as well.
It would make iPhones and iPod touches even more unique as the smart phone world gets more crowded with iPhone wannabes.
(Even more) Expanded Bluetooth:
Before iPhone OS 3.0 the only thing we could do with Bluetooth was connect a monaural headset. I never quite understood the logic Apple must have used to decide to exclude wireless stereo headsets from being used on an iPhone. I'm sure hope there was some deep geek technical reason behind that decision.
For instance, by giving iPhones stereo bluetooth headphone capability when the iPhone first came out users might inadvertently cause micro-black holes to form which would either cause the total annihilation of everything in existence, or give the user a mild headache. Apple, being genuinely interested in the welfare of its patrons, wisely chose to delay the release of that feature until further testing was completed. Go Apple!
Of course, all of that is now water under the proverbial bridge, but what still hasn't happened is FULL Bluetooth support. No keyboards, no joysticks, no alien technology, none of the good stuff that's available or will be available.
Again, I don't get why Apple refuses to let Bluetooth loose. I have a nice portable BT keyboard that I'm sure would be perfect for composing emails or typing out ideas for articles. There's also a pretty cool BT joystick from Zeemote that I'm dying to use. If Apple would only stop screwing around just think of the kick-butt games we could play.
Themes:
I really like my iPhone. What it does it does well. I like my iPhone so much, in fact, that I would like to make it more personal, something more than changing the background.
A friend of mine, Jay, has jailbroken his iPhone and has installed all sort of wonderment that lets him access features no standard iPhone can boast. Those features are cool and all, but the one I like the most is the ability to create themes; changing the icons and other desktop features so that my iPhone stops looking like everyone else's iPhone and starts looking like MY iPhone.
Jay's Jailbroken iPhone all themed up
Themes could be a whole new revenue stream for Apple, too. I'd pay 99 cents for a well executed Star Trek or Firefly theme.
System Status:
The iPhone and iPod touch are computers, and like any computer, it would be nice to know what's going on under the covers.
Which apps are running? What's hogging all my memory? What's my uptime?
True, most people don't want to know such things, but that's no excuse for not including a more comprehensive system status reporting tool. There are some free apps that will report what's up with your iPhone, but they are limited in what they show.
Really, a system monitor is something that SHOULD be included with every computer.
Should makers of these apps worry if Apple produces a decent system status app? Maybe. However, I'm sure they can find other thing s to report that will make their app unique.
That's it. That's all I want.
Well, I could stand to be taller, handsomer, and comfortably rich. And world peace would be nice too. If we can get all of that rolled up into the next release of iPhone OS I'd be one happy camper.
I'm sure you can think of a few I-wants of your own. Drop me a line and let me hear about it.