20 Features Apple Should Add To The Next iPhone

Apple might be on the verge of launching the iPhone Mark 3. So we've compiled, with the help of our mobile columnist, Tim Belfall, a short list of 20 features that Apple could include in this forthcoming model.

(1) Come on Apple, my Siemens S1 Marathon can forward text messages. A FOURTEEN year old handset has a function that was thought of before SMS was a glimmer of a pre pay eye so why the blazes has the iPhone 3G not got it!

(2) Why can’t emails be read or created in landscape? The old Alcatel One Touch Com touch screen phone from 1998 could.

(3) Battery life is appalling (6-8 hours max), as bad as Three’s A925 handset of a few years ago. At least with that one you could swap batteries. I only hope the rumour of a bigger battery is true as battery life trumps weight any day.

(4) The iPhone is all about the music and media, so why does the iPhone not support A2DP so users can use a stereo Bluetooth headset, and not tread on cables. Hearing aid users with stereo Bluetooth loops also suffer.

(5) Some excellent applications usable in the UK are only available in the US. Why would Apple do that? 

(6) Why can’t the iTunes allow ringtone downloads in the UK but they can in the US. If it is copyright related, Apple has had over a year to sort this out. Side loading is easy enough, but should not be necessary.

(7) So you have an iPhone app that needs to access Safari, your taken to the web page then want to go back. Without using the home button and restarting the original application, precisely how does the user do that? They can’t. Multi tasking, huh, dream on.

(8) Push notification for third party applications appears to have been delayed from the forthcoming iPhone firmware release. Why was it even necessary? All Apple needed was true multitasking for third party apps.

(9) There was a brief glimmer of hope that third party cut and paste may have been possible. Unfortunately Apple’s firmware breaks Zak White’s solution and replaces it with … nothing …

(10) Having music streamed in the background whilst checking emails, and then returning to the same place within a 20 page open document is simple using S60 or Windows Mobile Pro, it’s impossible with the iPhone as the OS does not support multitasking of third party applications. Apple’s notification service can’t get round this deficiency. Please allow true multitasking Apple.