Just to add some more:

- A headphone jack that allows me to use ANY headphone I want without having to use an special cable or something to overcome the retarded recessed jack design. How’s that for innovation, Apple?
- Ditto on better camera and yes, goddamn YES, video recording.
- A decent battery life, although asking for video recording is like a practical negation of it. Or a pipe dream.
- For some of us in the corporate world, Exchange on iPhone is a BIG deal. The only thing it needs is to perform flawlessly at all times.
- And of course, 3G support. Not a big issue in the US, but it certainly is everywhere else.

– beto on 9 May 2008 @ 8am

“My iPhone is the most expensive thing I’ve ever dropped in the dog’s water dish.” LOL. I drop mine at least once a week but I just can’t bring myself to cover up the sleek design with a protective case. I figure I’ll be in line for 2.0 because I will have broken mine by then.

Apple’s earbuds are the best I’ve ever used though. Read “best ever” as “stay in my ears for any length of time”.

I’d like to see a better speaker phone. Right now if you call an iPhone and they put you on speaker you hear yourself when you’re speaking, very distracting.

– Stephanie on 9 May 2008 @ 8am

Spotlight for contacts, SMS and email.

– TIm on 9 May 2008 @ 9am

No list is complete without proper MMS support. It’s atrocious on the iPhone. I hate having to go to viewmymessage.com to view a smaller-than-postage-stamp size photo. Plus, I can never get the site to work when I’m on EDGE.

Also, I would like the ringer to be louder and the vibrate to be stronger.

– Matt on 9 May 2008 @ 9am

More-accurate location information would enable a host of fascinating third-party friend-tracking and social-networking applications. But will GPS work indoors? Maybe the bluetooth or wifi radios could serve the who’s-in-the-room purpose better, and let the current antenna-triangulation hack serve for friend-tracking.

– Nic on 9 May 2008 @ 9am

There is a case by incase that’s a rubbery slip for the phone. It’s great except when trying to get the phone out of a pair of tight jean pockets.

And do we think it would be too much to ask for true MMS? The “viewmymessage.com” stuff just smacks of weak sauce.

– John Athayde on 9 May 2008 @ 9am

Don’t forget bluetooth A2dp support for stereo audio over bluetooth.

– A on 9 May 2008 @ 9am

I’m a pretty hardcore Apple guy but I recently was given a Nokia N95 8GB (nice party favor) and have been blown away by it. It basically answers almost all of Derek’s wants: amazing camera both still and video, good ergonomics, great 3G and 3.5G connectivity. Worth checking out.

– Dan Levy on 9 May 2008 @ 10am

Can you name an Apple product that got thicker, heavier, slower, or less storage in a second version?
The PowerBook G4 got .1″ thicker with the switch from Titanium to Aluminium. God, what a waste of brane

– bonaldi on 9 May 2008 @ 10am

I’m gonna play devils advocate here, just because I found myself disagreeing with some of your points -

I don’t think they will add a rubbery grip, it would make it too hard to slip into your pocket, I personally hope they don’t add one. I had a rubbery case around mine for awhile and it made it *impossible* to put in my back pocket.

I couldn’t care less about the camera, I think I’ve used a cameraphone maybe twice in my life, until cameraphones actually progress to the point of being useful (and even the best camera phones are still borderline useless), I’d rather companies omitted them and saved the weight/space/size.

My iphone is scratch-free after nearly a year of use … I really hope they don’t introduce plastic parts.

Yeah, the proprietary headhphone jack sucks. Either the headphone jack needs to go, or they need to start making some headphones that don’t totally suck. Most of the third party options are still junk, with the exception of the most recent round of Sures combined with their iphone cable (which is really well thought out, because you end up with one pair of headphones that works well with both the iphone and the ipod due to the exchangable half-length prefix cable).

MMS support would be good … but I don’t really care that much about it. I think I’ve reccieved two MMS messages in the past year, never bothered to check them out.

Yeah, bluetooth that is actually useful would be nice.

What I want is a real GPS.

I go for days and days without having to charge … but I don’t use the speakers to listen to music.

– JoeBoy on 9 May 2008 @ 10am

I personally love the recessed headphone jack and hope they keep it.

The reason it’s recessed is so that when you plug in a jack, if you bump the stem the pressure is not transmitted to the connector component.

I had a headphone jack break off the motherboard of a PowerBook once, and it was impossible to fix. For the amount of abuse my iPhone takes in my pocket every day, I’m glad that the headphone jack is well protected, even at the “cost” of having to get iPhone-specific headphones.

– rdas7 on 9 May 2008 @ 10am

JoeBoy –

I haven’t liked the rubbery cases, either, which us why I don’t use one, which is why I keep dropping my iPhone. I don’t want the whole case to be rubber, obviously. I just wish the thing wasn’t so slippery. Maybe a new case material will do the trick.

– Derek Powazek on 9 May 2008 @ 10am

I agree: a headphone jack that works with normal headphones.
Also: bluetooth for wireless synch and to share internet with my laptop when there’s no wifi.
Don’t care: video, MMS.
Really care: BETTER RECEPTION!!

– Chris on 9 May 2008 @ 10am

@joeboy&derek

I have Agent18 case for mine, and it has just the right amount of texture for grip/pocket. The bottom slides out with just enough resistance and lock for easy dock with the cradle. I’ve dropped it quite a few times and provides a decent protection. Highly recommended.

– steve on 9 May 2008 @ 10am

A few thoughts:

If it does go to plastic, i’d prefer a matte finish (like, for example, the Samsung M610; i’ve had mine for 2 years, and at least a hundred drops and 30 kicked-across-the-rooms later, it still looks and feels great. That, and shiny plastic comes across as cheap.)

I’d like to be able to stream video from my iPhone to an AppleTV (so i could just load up a video on my iPhone, and wirelessly play it on any one of my friend’s Apple TVs, making DVDs seems even less relevant.) This wouldn’t necessarily need to be a 2.0 thing, could theoretically be done for the current gen.

I’d also like the iPhone to be able to act as an airtunes destination. (and on the flip side, let the iPhone send audio to other airtunes locations)

Some “back to my mac” like features (maybe even streaming audio from my mac at home) would be cool, even if it’s relegated to WiFi-only.

Maybe there should be a separate article for an iPhone App Wishlist (or i’ll just register PleaseBuildThisiPhoneAppForMe.com - or iPhoneAppWishlist.com)

:)

– Jeffrey M Foster on 9 May 2008 @ 11am

Derek nice list but my list would include additions to the Mail app right at the top. I use Mail a lot, probably more than any other app on my iPhone and it’s missing some basic features and some advanced features. Here are some:

1. Mark all emails read. Why isn’t already implemented I have no idea.
2. Check mail in all inboxes at once.
3. I click access to all email. I have 6 email accounts on the phone and it gets annoying when I have to navigate into one inbox, back out and into another. There should be shortcuts to all the inboxes.
4. Copy and paste. This is more of an overall OS feature but it’s badly needed in Mail.

Other features I’d like to see:

- MMS
- Some kind of file system where you can save and access files.

Like you I’d be the first one in line for Gen 2.

– Antonio on 9 May 2008 @ 11am

I’m holding off to the 2.0 to see if it’s any better in the UK. (The iPhone is a bit laughable feature-wise here).

* Bluetooth modem? I don’t want to pay another contract for a crappy USB dongle. I want unlimited data over soon-to-be 3G.

* There’s both Wifi and Bluetooth. Not having wireless sync is inexcusable.

* No bookmarks sync with Firefox. Again inexcusable - more people use Firefox on Mac than Safari, and Firefox is open source so they’re only not interfacing with it out of snobbery.

– Kroc Camen on 9 May 2008 @ 11am

In regards to rubber cases or not, have you tried leather/pleather cases? They should offer better grip and protection than no case at all, but wouldn’t have the aesthetic and pocket-compatibility issues of a rubber case.

– Blain Hamon on 9 May 2008 @ 11am

Eyelet for goofy cell phone dongles.

Stereo bluetooth.

Auto-answer when using bluetooth headset or in car. Makes it more compliant with hands-free laws (California this July).

Text messages read aloud - good for hands-free driving. Goes well with auto-answer.

Voice dial - name and numbers - makes it easy to dial without looking and using one hand. Also makes it more compliant with hands-free laws.

GPS navigation with maps built in so no carrier charge.

Tethering via bluetooth.

Voice to text for hands-free texting. Any one-handed texting help would be appreciated.

iPod song ratings - displayed and alterable.

iPod song skip forward/back without re-enabling iPhone.

Media slot.

Movie recording.

Removable battery - so I can carry a spare.

Internal camera optical zoom.

(just kidding about the dongle eyelet)

Note: this is a wish list, not what I expect!

– Steve Wozniak on 9 May 2008 @ 11am

Second the MMS request. Also, let me select more than one dictionary. Typing in more then one language is a pita on the iPhone.

– LKM on 9 May 2008 @ 11am

Why faster shutter? Instead of “properly” exposed motion-blurred shots, we’d get underexposed less motion-blurred shots.

– scutdog on 9 May 2008 @ 11am

No list is complete without proper MMS support. It’s atrocious on the iPhone. I hate having to go to viewmymessage.com to view a smaller-than-postage-stamp size photo. Plus, I can never get the site to work when I’m on EDGE.

Why are you so desperate to pay ten cents per message to send what is essentially a heavily restricted email? Why don’t you just use actual email? If the phone can send MMS, it can send it to an email address. Just set up a gmail or yahoo email account just for MMS and then have them send it to that address instead. Not only does it work really well, you get a practically infinite archive of your MMS (as opposed to having to purge your phone every so often) and you don’t have to pay $0.10 for each one. And you can send MMS back by sending an email through the ATT email->MMS gateway.

I use this everyday and feel stupid for ever having used MMS on my old phone.

– Grover on 9 May 2008 @ 11am

Antonio — OMG, Mail! How could I forget? I desperately need “Flag” and “Junk” buttons in Mail on the iPhone.

– Derek Powazek on 9 May 2008 @ 12pm

Add to the list:
- Cut and paste
- Louder ear slot
- Haptic glass

– Kawika Holbrook on 9 May 2008 @ 12pm

@Grover:

Why MMS? I agree, email is so much better. However, 90% of the time I am trying to get a photo to someone, they are not at a computer! Most of my friends and my wife don’t use email every minute of the day. They laugh when i tell them that even though I am an uber geek and have the best phone in the universe, I can’t receive the photo of their stupid dog they just sent me. In reality, quite a large number of “normal” cellphone users do use MMS. We as iPhone users are left out in the cold.

– Mike on 9 May 2008 @ 1pm

Derek - I’d be impressed if they squeezed better battery life from an iPhone battery, especially if they’re adding 3G and GPS. The thing is, when you’ve got Wi-Fi and Bluetooth turned off, and screen set to mid-low auto-brightness, and auto-sleep, battery life is absolutely stellar. And when you’ve got all those things cranked, battery life is still better than I would have expected. And if you’re using the internal speaker to play music all the time, of course that’ll drain your battery quicker.

Grover - I hear what you’re saying about the horrors of MMS, but the fact remains that nobody I know has a smartphone, so there’s pretty much no way for them to just snap a pic and send it to my phone number without me having to dick around with viewmymessage.com. Plus, I’ve tried sending picture messages through the AT&T –> MMS gateway and never got it to work properly. Link me a solution and I’ll check it out…but I’ve certainly tried.

– punkassjim on 9 May 2008 @ 1pm

What aboot Flash working on Safari for the iPhone and the iPod touch?

– Lar on 9 May 2008 @ 1pm

1) GPS that knows exactly where I am so I can tell it to find the closest ______ to where I currently am.

2) GPS with traffic load on roads

3) GPS with voice announced turn by turn direction so I don’t have to look at my iPod to see the directions.

3b) GPS software that allowed me to create routes ahead of time and easily pick one from a list but will look at traffic loads and ask with a voice if you want to take a faster route around traffic and let me speak to it to say yes or no and route accordingly.

4) Sync address book to my Prius

5) Wireless play music from my iPhone to my Prius

6) Handsfree answer and dialing of phone when I’m in my Prius

7) Being able to mark and delete multiple read/unread e-mails at the same time.

8) Have mail work more like Mac Mail on my iMac. All accounts show up in one list but be programmable to have work/non-work inboxes.

9) Think about this. Make the side of iPhone give a little if you grip it. And have a strip of rubber that is recessed until you grip the iPhone. This will do two things. It will let you grip the iPhone while at the same time not stick when you put it in your pocket.

10) Music Playlists - I would like to be able to set Shuffle per playlist OR be able to specify play list types. I don’t mean smart and dumb play lists, but music and audio book. Obviously I don’t want audio books to shuffle and I bounce back and forth between music and audio books based on when I’m in my car, in my house, out walking the cat (seriously).

– OlsonBW on 9 May 2008 @ 2pm

My top wishlist item, even for iPhone 1.0

Car mount with powered dock and Line Out.

Oh I desperately need a car mount for my iPhone. It is too hard to use the touch screen while driving, it would be easier (and safer) to have the iPhone mounted where I can see it without having to hold it with the same hand I’m using to push buttons.
Griffin has the TuneFlex Aux 2.0, it’s almost perfect in every respect, it has a gooseneck to hold up a dock connector and mount. It has a Line Out so I can connect my car cassette adapter. I even emailed Griffin, they say the TuneFlex Aux works with the iPhone (even though it throws up an unsupported device “airport mode” warning). But apparently it doesn’t come with a plastic dock piece to fit an iPhone, just for iPods, there’s one for the iPod Touch but it’s too thin. Damn, so close, it’s almost perfect, but totally won’t work because I can’t put the iPhone IN the mount.

– Charles Eicher on 9 May 2008 @ 2pm

Dog bowl, eh. Well, like Stephanie, I’ve dropped mine a couple of times, and it actually has a crack running across the glass, which, surprisingly, is invisible at the angle I usually use the phone. It may seem bizarre, but it’s very usable and I’m waiting for v2 to replace it.

Main reason for my comment is the dis on push email. I actually don’t care about push email, but I very much want my calendar, contacts, and notes to update wirelessly via .mac. I don’t care if it’s push, or if I have to set the phone to do it on a schedule, but I want to share a calendar and contact list with my office and my wife and have one update propagate system wide. This seems a fairly simple no-brainer for .mac and part of what should scare RIM the most, IMHO.

– Craig on 9 May 2008 @ 3pm

In terms of subsequent models getting worse, I have to say I was pretty unhappy when they transitioned from my lovely 12″ Powerbook (on which I am typing this) to the heavier, bigger MacBook. I didn’t need a bigger screen, I just want small. Now they have the MacBook Air, which is absolutely gorgeous but still wide and deeper than my Powerbook.

But I guess, in a way, the iPhone is becoming my new laptop, or at least a very capable most-of-the-time replacement.

– JS on 9 May 2008 @ 3pm

Skimmed many of the comments, so apologies if this has already been said: Remove (or move) the mechanical on/off switch that’s just above the volume control. For this functionality, I’d rather go to the “Sounds” settings to avoid the all-too-often experience of unintentionally turning off the sound and wondering why I can’t hear incoming calls.

– Rich Freed on 9 May 2008 @ 3pm

Rich - That’s funny, because the physical volume switch is one of my favorite things about the iPhone. When I use my iPod, I really miss it.

– Derek Powazek on 9 May 2008 @ 4pm

Don’t most MMS carriers let you put an email address in the To: field instead of a phone number? I know I’ve done that in Germany on O2.

Going in the other direction, I’ve always been able to send a message with a picture via Email to an MMS phone. The actual email address varies by carrier, of course, but “phonenumber@carriername.net” is pretty common.

I have unlimited data on my iPhone. I don’t want to pay extra for an MMS if I can do the same thing for free.

Rich:

Regarding the mute switch: I want the option to *disable* the mute switch. Virtually all the time, I want the ability to mute the iPhone. Sometimes I don’t want that option.

My wife would welcome the removal of the mute switch; she bumps into it too frequently.

– gopi on 9 May 2008 @ 5pm

My 4th gen (click wheel) iPod 40GB is thicker than the 3rd gen 20GB iPod. Thick enough that it won’t fit into a 3G dock. So there’s another one.

– Dan on 9 May 2008 @ 6pm

Bluetooth profile for Bluetooth keyboards (ie. HID profile).

That’s all I want. Please, Apple?

– dj on 9 May 2008 @ 7pm

Great todo list, Derek, but just can’t understand the cut/copy and paste omission. That’s what makes this a computer.

– Scott on 9 May 2008 @ 7pm

@Nic: GPS doesn’t really work indoors unless you have like a glass ceiling. That’s because it works using satellite signals from at least 4 satellites (usually more are available) to compute your position through triangulation (technically it’s not exactly triangulation). That being said, you can frequently get positions inside if signals are bouncing through windows or through flimsy roofs, though this can also degrade the accuracy. At any rate, I think GPS is an important addition for all phones, and also a cool development opportunity (if Apple gives access to the various bits of data GPS provides).

I think a ton of new cool things will come with just the iPhone 2.0 OS and SDK-based third party aps. Should make for a cool upgrade, even for first gen iPhones.

The one thing I thought I would never use is the camera, because until I got the iPhone, I hated camera phones HATED. But with the iPhone, it’s so quick to whip it out and take a picture, and then email it, I find myself doing it all the time, and I used to be like “what’s that POS camera doing in my phone (whichever phone that was). So, with the iPhone I now find myself taking a lot of shitty pictures with a shitty camera, that would be real winners and keepers if the camera weren’t so crappy. I am really hoping they do some major upgrades to the camera, and if not this version the next. Video would be nice–especially if they put some serious storage onboard (I think we’ll be looking a couple more versions down the road before video gets there though).

– Paul on 9 May 2008 @ 7pm

The volume toggle is my favourite thing to flaunt when friends scrabble through multiple levels of user-hostile menus to silence their phones (which then BEEEP to confirm?!) in a movie theater. “Oh look, done!”

I would use the camera more if it didn’t feel like I was about to drop the damn thing each time I (attempt to) use it. Definitely needs a better shutter button interface. (Good list, too)

– Daniel Stockman on 9 May 2008 @ 9pm

For a better grip you could try a few dabs of rubber cement or double-faced tape where you hold it. Haven’t done it myself with my iPhone (to me it’s too perfect to even add a case) but it worked great on a couple LG’s I’ve had over the years, and I just replaced the tape when it lost grip or got skanky.

– ad6am on 9 May 2008 @ 10pm

I’m fairly certain one of the second (or third?) generation iPods had a mid-version-revision with a bigger hard drive (maybe 60GB when they were mostly 30GB?) that was thicker.

– Ben Darlow on 10 May 2008 @ 1am

Totally agree with you on the camera. I use it way more than I thought I would, and the mediocre quality and lack of a real shutter button is frustrating. I would also like to be able to delete multiple photos at once.

About the grip: if you’re looking for a case that doesn’t add any size to the iPhone, but makes it considerably easier to hold, I recommend the Cozip cases off of Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Apple-iPhone-Polycarbonate-Silver-Cozip/dp/B00104UI34/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1210421140&sr=8-3).

I think 2008 is going to down as the real year of the iPhone.

– Scott K on 10 May 2008 @ 4am

Your whole “Who Caresies” list would be the three features I want most. I still miss the fantastic email functionality of my old HTC 8525. Exchange/ActiveSync is a must for any phone. Push email will save your battery, and it just works better then the IMAP check in every 5-10 minutes. Hardcore GPS? Not sure what Hardcore GPS is, but an onboard usable GPS would be great. In fact, I don’t care if they have one onboard but stop restricting me from using my bluetooth GPS receiver.

You also missed 3G which is the most important feature update that the iPhone NEEDS. Sure the thing renders pages better then everyone else, but Edge just doesn’t cut it and I’m not always in a WiFi area.

– Aaron Lake on 10 May 2008 @ 7am

It’s rhetorical but … “Thinner, lighter, faster, more storage. Can you name an Apple product that got thicker, heavier, slower, or less storage in a second version? Me neither.”

The transition from the iPod mini (4GB and 6GB) to the iPod nano (1GB, 2GB and 4GB).

Steve loves thin (you can see design features in every portable Apple product to make it look thinner — even the Ti Book) and in the mini to nano case thin was more important than storage size.

Steve will trade off these features if he has too. The same size and more features, longer battery life, faster are trade off he’ll make. If he has to.

The other issue is usability and size. I suspect the usability will get worse with smaller devices.

– Kevin Purcell on 10 May 2008 @ 2pm

Shutter button is one of only truly “bad usabiility” issues on the phone. Other things are mostly nits.

Here’s my original list of nits, many of which still need solved.

http://www.communityguy.com/1019/my-iphone-nits/

My biggest desire is to have a way to sort, on the fly, my contact list in the phone by first or last name.

– Jake McKee on 10 May 2008 @ 3pm

For iPhone headphones, I recommend UltimateBuds.com. They will mod your iPhone headphones, or you can buy a pre-modded pair.

I got a pair modded, and they were fantastic. So fantastic, that I bought a pre-modded pair when I lost (had stolen?) my original pair the night of the most recent Super Bowl.

Hope it helps.

– Daniel on 10 May 2008 @ 9pm

Great list, but I’m not sure if any of these things are big enough for me to buy a new iPhone, Apple is going to have to do some pretty radical things for me to drop another $399 on a cell phone.

– Michael on 10 May 2008 @ 9pm

Wow, people. Not only are there a ton of things we all seem to want out of the next iPhone, but there’s very little we all agree on. I would hate to be Apple about now. No matter what they do, they’re sure to disappoint most of us.

Thanks for the comments, y’all.

– Derek Powazek on 11 May 2008 @ 6pm