[saruti]

I think it's great that Apple decided to improve the search routine but it is far from useful as it relates to searching contacts. It sure is great that I can search on first, last, and company names but what about email addresses and contact notes. There are times when you can't remember a persons name but you remember something you placed in the notes field such as I met so and so at the xyz meeting. Heck the old Palm Pilot did it years ago why is Apple reluctant to add something so simple?

[Hamranhansenhansen]

Quote

We loved the Palm Pre's breezy card visualization of handling multiple open applications
without it being a drain on performance or battery life (Apple's reasoning for not adding it).

This is factually incorrect. Every application you run on the Pre absolutely places an additional drain on both performance and battery life. That is simple physics. Every additional app you run simultaneously is using the resources of the computer. If the computer's resources aren't sleeping, they're using battery life. If you run 5 apps on your Pre all day, it will run slower and the battery will die earlier than if you run 2 apps on your Pre all day. How could it be any other way? The Pre's battery life is already universally acknowledged to be abysmal, even by Palm, who say it will get better when the software matures. Let's not endow it with magical properties.

The multitasking issue is whether workstation-style multitasking is appropriate for a phone device that doesn't have a big hard disk and swap file, which doesn't have the kind of memory we expect in a computer from the last decade, which doesn't have a CS-savvy user who even knows what computer memory is or why you might be out of it, and which travels through the wild world into unexpected situations and must remain responsive at all times. Apple says no, a new kind of multitasking is needed, that is designed for the smart phone specifically. Palm says we'll just do it the way it's always been done on computers in the past.

But on a Pre, if you run 6-8 apps you are done. The UI is totally underwater, the music playback is skipping, and if you launch another app, you get an out of memory error. On an iPhone, you can go "browser, mail, text message, music player, music store, maps, calculator, calendar, Google mobile, browser, notes, settings" all in a few minutes, all with music playing skip-free and no errors, then click home and your phone is still 100% functional. It is back to being ready for anything. A minute later you can do a similar chain of 10 or so apps in response to whatever comes up, and again, your phone remains 100% functional. If what you're doing right now requires 1 iPhone app, or 10, or 100, you can do it and the iPhone won't get unresponsive or throw errors.

A key thing to note is that CS people think of the iPhone's home screen as an "application launcher" and they know that when you press an app, it "launches" and when you go back to the home screen from the app, most apps will "quit". But that is not how 99% of iPhone users see it. To the typical iPhone user, all of their apps are always running, and the home screen is an "application switcher" only. Even if you haven't used an app for weeks, it picks up where you left off, because even though the app was unloaded from memory, its state was saved first so that it loads back into memory where you left off, even though your phone may have been rebooted in the meantime. Users never have to launch or quit an app, or even install or uninstall, they only have to use their apps. As a result, they use many, many more apps per day than any other computer platform. That is part of why there is such a high demand for iPhone apps. The apps do not come with a CS assignment or I-T work attached. They don't stop your phone from functioning. There is no barrier to using them. Adding it to your phone just puts another option in your app switcher.

When you consider that the #1 support call for non-Apple smart phones is people who need help to quit their apps to make their phone responsive again, the iPhone method should not be dismissed so easily, even by very smart CS people. There are 10 years of smart phones doing it the other way, from numerous manufacturers like Nokia, Palm, and Microsoft, and yet in one year the iPhone application platform outgrew them all. So celebrating the Palm Pre's return to doing it the old way is like the old-school smart phone users who demand a hardware keyboard but then peck out 20 wpm on it, while they can't conceive of the fact that iPhone users are doing 40 wpm routinely, in dozens of languages on the same phone. Too focused on the hardware, not focused enough on the use of the device. Too married to old solutions to new problems.

[rem736]

i can't understand why spot light is not capable of searching detailed information such as addresses and phone numbers within the contacts app. sometimes i don't recognize a number on a bill and would like to look it up...but it won't find anything. this should be a no brainer.

[mattelfesso]

Lets face it. The iPhone needs folders and a filing system.
Put apps of one type in a folder for better organization. Save email attachments, text, images, etc. where ever you want. Allow access to this data from multiple apps (alternative text editors for example).
Without a filing system it always feels like you've got one hand tied behind your back.

[bschh]

i really want to be able to group my contacts, like so many phones already do. like put someone in "family" and put them in "bowling team" as well, or something like that. better yet, be able to have the top 10 most contacted people (email, phone, or SMS) at the top of the contacts app and when you get ready to email/call/text a certain person in the top 10, you should be able to tap something to bring up a quicklist of those people, instead of hunting around your contact list.

[iPhoneandiPodHacker]

Not to be negitive but the wallpaper on home screen will probaly never happen and file browsing will probaly never happen. That's some of the reasons why you jailbreak.

[iPhoneandiPodHacker]

Jailbreak then and get catagories.

[mattelfesso]

iPhoneandiPodHacker said:

Not to be negitive but the wallpaper on home screen will probaly never happen and file browsing will probably never happen. That's some of the reasons why you jailbreak.

Perhaps those are good reasons to jailbreak. But that's not a reason why Apple shouldn't do it. The reason Apple doesn't provide a filesystem is probably because 1) its complicated, and 2) it opens up a pandora's box of security issues and new ways to mess up the phone. I'm sure they could come up with a system thats pretty tight if they tried.

[niclet]

1- The ability to change the color of calendars
2- The option to lock the orientation of some app windows, horizontal or vertical (like with Safari, to get easy navigation).
3- Get the "Find my iPhone" button protected by password.
...

[GeeBananas]

How about being able to delete individual phone calls from your call lists? I don't want to "clear all recents," just a few.

[bluemember]

There's a .99 cents app called EliteBrowser that can lock the orientation when viewing websites. It also allows you to hide the toolbars, so you can view the webpage without buttons blocking your view.

[iRonX]

I agree with the 4.0 Wishlist items mentioned but would like to see the following in a future update:

Translucent Keyboard - I am really enjoying the Landscape typing but think they should make the keyboard translucent since it takes up so much space (helpful when replying to an email or adding additional notes to a previous note.

User/Power Settings- I also would like to see user settings (e.g.- If I'm going for a run, I can have "Running setting" set to disable the Shake to Shuffle mode ,Brighter display during an evening run, or if heading to the movies , a profile setting to turn down the brightness and turn off all sounds, etc)

Photos- The ability to name or caption photos on your camera roll

Voice Memo- add a feature to continue recording from a previous recording

App Icons- The ability to choose different looking Icons provided by the developers. When moving the icons, have a menu pop up with the page number to easily assign to the specific page.

iPhone 3G video recording- I understand it won't be at the quality of the 3G S version but we've all seen/heard it has been done on JailBroken iPhones

Voice to Text- for those who still don't like using the virtual keyboard, allow users the ability to speak into the phone to place text into emails and text messages (We've seen this done on Google's App with Voice search)

[Nyec]

Regardless of folders or Spotlight you should be able to organise/arrange your apps in iTunes and then sync to your iPhone. 3.0 allows for 11 pages of apps - who wants to organise 180 apps in the current interface?

[DocZ]

Two issues my employees and I have with this great product. First, it's slippery when you hold it, why not add a grip so that the user could hold the phone better. Second, why does it have to be so slim, add some thickness to it to hold it better and have the opportunity to make a much bigger battery. Making calls on the iphone is a priority for a lot of business people. So, holding it and making the battery last for long time could make the iphone the best phone. Thanks Apple.

[FailasaurusRex]

"1. Write Story
2. ???
3. Profit!"

I love you guys.

[Aardvark]

Sms character counter... It's annoying that you never know how many sms you are sending...

[impact1inc]

For text messages, I wish that there were a key which gave me access to 25 prewritten message (of my own creation) that I could simply scroll down and chose the best one for the situation. It would save a ton of time.

[tjray]

+1 on multiple signatures

Ability to choose custom notification tone for Messages... why is this only limited to phone calls?

[AdamCollet]

If apple wants to look for new features that people like, they need only look one place: Cydia (jailbreak app installer). Whatever is popular there will be popular with users .. and possibly draw some people away from jailbreaking.

Examples:

putting apps in folders - (Categories)

Quick reply/compose for sms while keeping current app open - (biteSMS)

Backgrounding (in a limited way - for the most part, most specify you want a program to background, and have control to un-background applications ... perhaps applications can automatically go into background mode, but it requires a confirmation that that is OK, similar to location services prompt) - (Backgrounder)

Custom background, custom icons, etc. (including other fancier things, such as "live" app icons {i.e. the weather icon changes to show the current weather, the stock icon shows the Dow Jones stats for the day, the clock displays the current time, ipod becomes a small version of the album art, calendar indicates if you have any events that day, Memory Info shows current memory available, etc.}, change what's displayed in the status bar {memory available, mail/sms/message notification icons, etc.}, display stuff on the lock screen {i.e. received emails/sms summaries, calendar events, etc.|})- (Winterboard)

Ability to access a few key settings and widgets while any non-fullscreen (status bar still visible) program is running - (SBSettings)

Ability to close processes (including Mail, Safari, and Phone, which run in the background frequently) - (various Cydia and non-Cydia apps, including SBSettings)

Memory cleaning - this one's not necessarily a jailbreak thing. There are AppStore apps which do this. It should be an Apple built-in app (run for major clean), but it should also run periodically or whenever memory is low in a less-aggressive mode that won't kill anything you want running (just clean up garbage)

File manager - ability to browse files, select them for attachments in emails, view common types (built in to the OS!), etc. Works with Spotlight. - (many apps in AppStore and Cydia - Cydia apps much better)

Some non-jailbreak ideas (I think):

Trial apps - get the full version of an app, free, but it expires (won't run or deletes itself) after x number of days. Developers would be able to specify # of days, but otherwise everything would be handles automatically / by apple, no specific code needed.

Movie rentals - I seem to have read something about this, but don't see anywhere in iTunes to do it. You have the movie (or tv show or whatever) for x # days, and then it gets deleted or is un-watchable without renewing, or whatever. Should be cheaper than movie rental stores, since it's so small (but maybe not depending on the next suggestion).

TV out - an accessory (comes with next version and purchasable for others) which plugs into the dock and becomes some sort of video cable (preferably HDMI or component). An app to control settings, but other than that if it's plugged in it just display whatever you're doing on the phone. Perhaps that settings app has the ability to play movie/other files, which don't necessarily have to be the resolution of the phone (though of course space limitations have to be kept in mind), thus allowing playback of high def or at least full standard def video.

[vaccada]

I think it would be great to have a full internet screen using safari on the iphone, cause at the moment the address bar and the menu bar are always visible. I think it would be cool to give the iphone a shake to make the address bar and menu bar appear and disappear.