What Should The Next iPhone Include?
July 10, 2010
The dust has settled on the iPhone 4’s debut. While many remain without the device thanks to shipping delays (or your country hasn't seen the iPhone 4 launch yet), it's never too early to discuss the next version of Apple’s best-selling smartphone and its possible features.
The iPhone that will debut next summer will certainly be more of an enhancement (think iPhone 3GS) than a game-changer like its immediate predecessor. Still, some tweaks would be nice. Camera Short of Apple releasing a self-contained iCamera device with a sticker-price to match, photography experts will always complain that the iPhone camera is lacking something. Even with its 5-megapixel camera with LED flash, the iPhone 4 doesn’t compare to more expensive picture-taking devices, which is just fine. The iPhone 4 is a smartphone first, a camera second, and everyday photographers are alright with this. Yet, at the minimum, it would be nice to see a camera that has at least the same number of pixels as its smartphone competitors. For example, the Android Incredible comes with eight-megapixels. And before you hit the comment button, I do know that cameras cannot be compared by megapixels alone! So rest assured, the next iPhone will sport a better camera, but probably one that will still get its fair share of criticism. Colors Okay, I recognize that creating a white iPhone 4 shows that the process of adding color to the iPhone isn’t as easy as one would expect. Still, it would be nice for Apple to expand its line and offer us multiple colored iPhones. They’ve been doing this for years with the iPod line and it would certainly add to the cool factor if they’d do the same with the iPhone. Cases already come in hundreds of different colors, but it would still be terrific if the device itself came in more than black and white. Storage and Memory Apple is skimpy on iPhone storage space. While the original iPhone came with just 4, 8, or 16 GB of space, today's version isn't much better. Consumers have a choice between 16 and 32 GB, and of course, you can't add external storage. With an iPod Classic sporting 160 GB, would it be asking too much for Apple to improve its iPhone's storage space? The original iPhone came standard with 128 MB DRAM. Today's iPhone 4 includes 512 MB DRAM. Hopefully, memory will also be increased on the next version. A Better Network This isn't so much a criticism of AT&T as it is a desperate plea for Apple to expand beyond its current network offerings. Whether it be on Verizon or another U.S. carrier, competition would improve the iPhone's overall capabilities. A Better Antenna The new antenna on the iPhone 4 was a gigantic selling point when Apple announced the device in June. Of course, with lawsuits now flying, perhaps Apple will rethink its antenna strategy on future versions of the iPhone. Finally, while the aforementioned changes are hardware changes, there are two iOS4 enhancements that I would like to see, both which would greatly improve the iPhone's functionality: Horizontal Screen The iPad works both in portrait and landscape format. Sure, the iPhone 4 allows apps to operate in landscape mode, but I would enjoy seeing all of my apps lined up together and positioned the same on the home screen. Enhanced Time and Weather App The iPhone weather app has been essentially the same since the first generation iPhone debuted in 2007. Sure there are other (and better) weather apps out there, but I am thinking bigger for this one. Android smartphones do a terrific job of showing the time and weather (in big fonts) and it would be nice for Apple to learn from its main competitor on this one. Or, perhaps the next iPhone could allow the use of a weather app as the lock screen instead of static images. The point is this: I'd like to see my weather forecast in big, bright colors and fonts and not just contained in a separate app. What enhancements would you like to see on the next iPhone? Please leave us your comments below.
