[MW Forums]

We've got a month's worth of steady iPhone use under our belt. And while we're impressed with Apple's flashy mobile device, we still see features that could be added and areas that could be improved. Macworld editors weigh in with their proposals for building a better iPhone. more

[kagharaht]

I can't believe you guys left out ActiveSync. MS Exchange support is a necessary piece of the missing puzzle. Perhaps because this is Macworld, Enterprise solution is not even in your sights. What a terrible oversight on your part.
Forgot to mention, we may all live in our little Macintosh world, but we need to talk to the other 95% that controls most business. Including corporate email.

[DogHouseDub]

Voice dialing, please.

[stimpy13]

Two things...
firstly ..mp3s i own as ringtones...deal breaker for me ..
secondly ....
the iphone should
1. on being plugged in ...
2. look for my " home " wifi network
3. look for my home computer
4. if time is between 1 am and 5 am
5. wirelessly sync my music , photos , calender and notes ...
again a " no brainer" and yet another deal breaker ...

sigh so close apple ...but for $600 no deal ....

[drdreric]

How about something like Palm's categories? Let the calendar realize it is seeing multiple iCal calendars and keep them straight. Same for contacts.

[cpoff]

You may wanna re-read the intro, especially the part that says:
"Its these consensus items that appear belowand that will make a great mobile device even better. (Well tackle our lengthier wish list in depth over at iPhone Central all this week.)"

[badkarma]

MMS,MMS,MMS

[Tivor]

The deal-breaker for me (in addition to several already mentioned ones) is iPhone's inability to let me type in foreign languages (like Korean and Japanese).
I mean, iPhone can display those languages without a problem, and OS X on my MBP has a quite satisfactory input system for them, so I think it's only fair to ask that I be able to type in them on iPhone too.

[Dan Frakes]

Quote:

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I can't believe you guys left out [insert feature here].

---

As mentioned in the intro, this list includes only those features that every (or nearly every) Macworld editor with an iPhone requested. The full list, which includes many other items requested by several editors, contains over 100 items /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif We'll be covering that full list over on iPhone Central this week.

[akabenlee]

Does anyone else find it annoying that you can't easily email an Address Book Group? As of now you have to individually add each contact.
Would appreciate the ability to email groups and text message groups, easily. (currently there is no way to text message a group of people and with no cut and paste feature this is even more tedious). This definitely makes it harder to keep in touch, en masse, social butterfly that I am.
And please for the love of Jobs!!!....give me an iCal syncing ToDo list. I've resisted every other handheld out there that attempts to help organize my life (because of the utilitarian blandness)...until...this past June 29th when I shelled out $6oo+ only to find out that the one obvious feature that was omitted from all the reviews, announcements, and keynotes because of its glaring obviousness was actually not a feature. hmm...

[Terrin]

Many of these suggestions are good. However, a fix suggests something is broken whereas many of your suggestions are merely feature requests. I think the 3G suggestion is entirely inappropriate because it is not only not a fix, but it is a feature that requires Apple revamping its hardware. Clearly it will not be doing this anytime soon. Moreover, Apple has other legitimate reasons to avoid 3G at this point. Namely, waiting until the relevant patent issues are worked out so it doesn't get sued. The GPS also isn't a fix, but a feature request.
I will also say that most people could care less about 3G because most people do not use it as it is. Wi-Fi is just about everywhere, and it faster.

[griffman]

At least where I live, wi-fi is not really "nearly everywhere," and I find myself on EDGE more often than not. This is especially true when in the car, as you blast through wi-fi coverage in a hurry, and the spot at which it's convenient to stop may not coincide with a wi-fi zone. 3G would make such usage much more pleasant.
Also, the article wasn't necessarily about only things that a software fix can take care of. Note this sentence in the intro (my emphasis added):
"The Macworld editors have all weighed in with a list of things theyd like to see the iPhone do or, in some cases, do better."
So it's a list of things that we'd like to see changed on the iPhone. Some could be done in software, some would require hardware. But the list was not restricted to software fixes only.
-rob.

[Jason Snell]

Like the story says, "A few of our iPhone desires are admittedly out of reach for the current model, as they would require changes to the iPhones actual hardware."
And Wi-Fi is most definitely not "just about everywhere." At least, not open and accessible Wi-Fi...

[PetitPaul]

Some of the nice-to-have features proposed will never come to the iPhone, simply because of the exclusive contract Apple has with AT&T which has most likely prohibited Apple from implementing them.
For instance, don't expect to see any instant messanging app coming to the iPhone, because AT&T (or any other operator, when it will come out of the U.S.) is making significant money with SMS. That is also why you'll never see Skype enabled on the iPhone which would be super great when wifi is available.
Another obstacle will be internal memory. How much brain would be needed from the iPhone to allow all these nice to have apps? The 4 or 8 gigs will surely be shrinked significantly. Not to mention ram.
And where would you place the GPS receiver in such a small device? And for that matter, why no FM receiver?