The Beloved iPhone

My first target is the Apple iPhone. This spectacular device came into existence in 2007. In just three and a half short years, the iPhone has commandeered the mobile platform. The name “iPhone” has become synonymous with innovation and beauty. It is both the sexiest looking device on the market and the prime performer. In addition to spawning a whole generation of large, multi-touch touchscreen phones, it ushered in the App Era. Not to mention visual voicemail, full QWERTY keyboards in portrait orientation, etc., etc. Yes, I am fawning over the device, but perhaps that’s because I am posting this from my very own iPhone 4. I use this magnificent phone daily and yet, it is my first victim nonetheless. After countless software updates it is still lacking a few MAJOR improvements. If good ol’ Steve and his crew would oblige,  the iPhone would remain seated in its smartphone throne for many years to come.

First, let’s wander into the jailbroken universe. In this boundless place, iPhone/iPod Touch users are treated with complete freedom. In this blinding, techy bliss, many have seized the opportunity to capitalize on the open frontier of Cydia apps. Cydia, in short, is a hacked App Store. In this candyshop, users can download applications that unlock features on the device that Apple has attempted to keep hidden from the public. Thousands of iPhone/iPod owners jailbreak their devices solely to unlock these capabilities. Among the most popular: allow your phone to become a wireless hotspot (a feature that Android’s top contenders boast; create a “blacklist” of numbers that can be ignored automatically; customize every aspect of the user graphical interface including, but not limited to the Internet browser, music player, wifi bars and the loading or “busy” icon; replace the old shitty notifications system with a lock screen overlay that shows all notifications, rss feeds, sports scores, weather info and more; emulate games from old systems: NES, SNES, N64, PS1, GBA, etc.; among many others. It is wonderful. And legal now. But I am staying faithful to Apple and their official updates on my phone (my iPod was another story). So below I have constructed a feasible list of modifications that I’d like Apple to release in one of their next software updates in, oh I don’t know, the next year? Preferably six months (before the new iPhone comes out)?

Notifications

Let’s be honest. No one likes the notifications on the iPhone. We are stuck in eternal, singular popup hell. You can get a new e-mail, 2 text messages, a few game challenges and a calendar reminder and all you’ll see is the calendar reminder on your lockscreen. “Oh, but some apps show you notifications as well!” No. A red badge with the number of new notifications appears in the top left/right-hand corner of the icon and you have to open it up to find out what you missed. Take notes on Android – its notifications are simple and user-friendly and unobtrusive. Hell, you recently acquired the man who created the Pre’s beautiful notification system… make use of it. Amateur coders in the jailbroken community have a few options for enhanced lockscreens that have the weather forecast, sports scores, excerpts from new emails and more – if they can do it, I’m sure you can too.

Customization

Who doesn’t like customization? No one. Apple made a small step forward with the new wallpaper option for the homescreen instead of the empty black abyss, but that is the extent of it. We need themes. The iPod and iPhone are already the top of the line in handheld gadgetry, but every user would like a few more options. I guarantee it. Take a poll. I dare you. New icons, new loading buttons, new battery meters, new wifi bars; for God’s sake new SMS sounds! Every jailbroken iDevice has Winterboard. Do you know what Winterboard is used for? Graphical facelifts out the ass. Look at the picture above. A theme that looks like Vista – complete with working widgets (something else we need). That’s freaking awesome! I understand that allowing users to create their own and upload them to a public server for iDevice owners to download from probably would make for some security issues, but at least do something “officially.” How about a new app: iCustomize. An official app created by Apple that allows the user to customize their device with Apple-created GUI (graphical user interface) enhancements. A few new keyboards, some alternate icons for pre-loaded apps, graphical overlays for the music player and internet browser, etc. Give us something to quench our artistic thirst. Thank you.

Lots and lots of littler things

1. A radio app. The iPod Nano had one… why does the all-powerful iPhone not? Come on! (That’s something that Nokia’s free shit has that you don’t!)
2. A quick-reply for SMS alerts. When you get a text mid-YouTube video or Angry Birds level, you have to open up the Messages app to respond, then click the Home button, then press on the app icon again (or wait! Utilize the new multi-tasking. Double click the Home button, and press on the app icon again…)
3. Week-view for the Calendar.
4. Updated Weather and Notes apps. Simply put. Make the Weather app more like the Weather HD app in the App Store ($.99) and the Notes app like Awesome Note ($3.99). I love them both dearly over yours… I’m sorry.
5. *More like 4b* The ability to Hide pre-loaded apps that we don’t use (or have gladly found a replacement for). They just take up space on my Homescreen. Yeah, you can hide them away using the new Folder feature of iOS 4.0 and label them “Do Not Use,” but why in the world would we do that? Help us out.
6. Text count on text messages. This may seem extremely trivial, but my girlfriend always doubts that I text her more than anyone else and I would like to prove that to her, but unlike her ANDROID phone, my Messages app doesn’t count how many texts are to-and-from each contact in the Messages screen.
7. Settings that aren’t an icon. Try Android’s way of doing things. If you don’t want to conform to Google, at least listen to your jailbroken community. SBSettings is another one of the top Cydia apps. This allows a drop down menu to appear when you preform a gesture much like that on an Android handheld (a swipe to the left or right along the top). Within this menu you can toggle Wi-Fi or Bluetooth or Brightness or any of a handful of different things. In fact, don’t remove the Settings app. Keep that for more detailed Settings, and just add the simpler, easier-to-access Settings menu to the GUI.
8. Flash, Java, or any other plugin within Safari.
9. Orientation lock in Settings (something that could be on the modified, added-in Settings 2 menu).
10. iTunes sync over Wi-Fi and/or Bluetooth.
11. Folder system within Photos on the device. I want to be able to sort the photos on my Camera Roll into folders that I make and name on the device, not to mention possibly creating and deleting folders for my other photos as well.
12. Haptic feedback option for the keyboard (this is a luxury, and some people even hate it… but at least make it accessible. And don’t say its not possible… there’s a Cydia app for it).
13. A ringtone creation app. The way that Apple handles custom ringtones is ridiculous. Users should be able to take a song that’s on their device (one that they likely already paid the ludicrous $1.29 for) and create a ringtone on the device by cropping the song. It could be as simple as dragging the start point and the end point to where you want them to be and saving them straight into the Alerts files. Come on Apple. Palm had one of these for their Treo-series like 5 years ago. Call it iRingtone for all we care.. and charge $4.99. It’d still be on nearly every handheld sold.
14. We want widgets. The LiveClock on HTC Android phones is elegant, sleek and sexy. Not to mention the FriendStream feature (Facebook and Twitter updates) and the implanted Calendar. Sure there’s an app for that… but we want to be able to place that on our Home Page (and the Lockscreen). Without widgets, the homescreen remains a grid of uninformative icons. Android and Nokia phones have had these for a while… where is the innovative Apple version that trumps everyone else?
15. A mobile version of Garage Band. The iPhone appeals to everyone. Everyone knows what an iPhone is, and does. Many artists, music enthusiasts, DJs, and overall curiously creative people encompass that “everyone” I speak of, and would love to see a mobile version of Garage Band. Sure there are apps that allow you to press virtual keys to play the piano, or strum virtual strings to play the guitar but I want to see Apple roll out the be-all-end-all music creation app (although slightly watered down from the true Mac version obviously) that destroys the competition. Come on Apple. Do it.
16. The ability to make the iPhone into a mobile hotspot. Weak Wi-Fi signals suck. They plague the country, but with your handy dandy iPhone, there could be no more Wi-Fi blues because you could connect to the inernet on your laptop in the middle of BFE (as long as you have cell service), or play friends on your DS or PSP or whatever. And I ask this to be a free service. Yes it’s possible. There’s a Cydia app for that as well. 😉

So this concludes my first foray into product design/product reviews/blogging and the demolition of the beloved iPhone. Comments, questions, concerns are welcome. Do you agree? Did I miss something? Speak out! What would you like to see?