Comments on: 10 Things Apple Should Fix in the iPhone (Wait-a-Thon!)

By: Saturnina Hewko

Saturnina Hewko — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 11:20:44 +0000

I really likedreading your post! I adore mostthings antiques, but in particular engagement rings.

By: DannyB

DannyB — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 14:34:12 +0000

The only way to really address these issues is for all of us to take two minutes and fill out a feedback form at:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

DannyB

By: free downloads video

free downloads video — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 14:52:36 +0000

Your blog is very informative … support the make nice!

By: Craig

Craig — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 23:45:00 +0000

Here we go – new 3Gs version – still no profiles, MMS on hold with AT&T, no accessible battery, calendar week view, etc. i think maybe I made a mistake switching from Windows.

By: Patsy

Patsy — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 19:58:32 +0000

All of the above suggestions are all points that should be taken by Apple, but to me the most infuriating two things are:

1) It certainly is not LOUD enough to hear conversations.. Every other word out of my mouth is: What did you say??? The LOUD speaker is ridiculously inadequate. Have you ever noticed how loud and clear a Blackberry is?

2) The "you-can't-change-it-yourself battery! This will be EXTREMELY inconvenient to have to schlepp all the way to an Apple store (or worse having to mail it in) !!!!!

By: vineet

vineet — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 09:41:54 +0000

Great List !

Ringer profiles is a must. Still fail to understand why Apple missed out on it. Phones as old as Nokia 6600 offer this option. I have been postponing my decision to switch to iPhone primarily because of lack of this feature.

By: Graham Cailes

Graham Cailes — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 18:12:50 +0000

Apple do not publicise that the iPhone will not bluetooth to a laptop or another mobile phone to synch contacts, etc. and tried to blame BMW because it will not bluetooth to the car – funny every other phone I have used connects no problem….It actually connects but goes in and out continuously. Strange…

By: jimbo

jimbo — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 15:09:33 +0000

I agree with just about all your points. I would just like to add one small tweakable problem to the list. If I set my alarm to wake me in the morning, and my iphone just happens to be on silent at that time, GET THIS… my alarm will go off in the morning yes.. but on silent. Not really gonna wake me is it. Apple wake up.

By: Tomer

Tomer — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 18:05:20 +0000

I don’t really think that the things you said here were truth. I think that Apple probably did everything they could have done to make it the perfect thing but after all, there is a limit of things you can put in such a small thing with a low price.

By: CoachFreak

CoachFreak — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 01:02:13 +0000

May seem stupid to some, but I really want to be able to change the ring for incoming mail. We can change it to a few generic for text messages, but I want to be able to choose others than the default for my mail since I use the phone MOST for mail.

By: Teresa

Teresa — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 16:17:28 +0000

All I know is I can’t wait for this new iphone to come out…However, a landscape keyboard for text messaging would be awesome!

By: What Surprises Will There Be in the iPhone 2.0 Software & Services?! Countdown to WWDC Rumor Roundup | The iPhone Blog

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 18:09:17 +0000

[...] there you go. We already know what Casey’s top ten most wanted features are, now it’s your turn. Tell us what surprises YOU think the iPhone 2.0 software and services [...]

By: nick

nick — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 06:06:39 +0000

i would love to see the photo caller id, and the ability to add bold italic and last but not least cut and paste. also mms wouldnt hurt. this way we wouldnt have to program everyones number@att.com

By: brian

brian — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 20:08:39 +0000

I honestly think the one thing that bothers me the most about the iphone is the picture texts. I hate that you have to get online to see a stupid picture your friend sent you. It should just open in a different window or something.

By: Darren

Darren — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 07:44:58 +0000

By: Adam

Adam — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 00:47:39 +0000

And more memory!!

By: Dallas

Dallas — Sat, 31 May 2008 20:30:04 +0000

I agree to your list. What about GPS and being able to send and view picture mail via SMS, also a camara with a flash. I cant live without either of these which is why I’m still with sprint. Being able to watch videos on Ebaumsworld or CNN would be an awesome feature with Safari too, so until then I’m content with operamini on my sprint phone. When the iphone 2.0 drops I will be more than happy to give whatever maybe the price for it BUT I would want some of the items in the TOP 10 LIST to be addressed also a few on mines as well. If not I’ll look into the Blackberry BOLD.

By: James

James — Sat, 31 May 2008 18:05:45 +0000

I think that there should be a button above the “silent/ringer switch”. It should be a shortcut key that can open an app that u set it too. Also, while in the camera app, u take the picture using that botton, its just like a real camera

By: bryant

bryant — Sat, 31 May 2008 16:00:59 +0000

i heart the iphoneblog

By: Sean310

Sean310 — Sat, 31 May 2008 10:09:16 +0000

universal landscape mode sounds really sweet, but adding the option for mms and flash for the camera will make it a plus plus for me.

By: nsaaa

nsaaa — Sat, 31 May 2008 05:27:29 +0000

i agree with the lanscape keyboard feature. i think that this would work amazingly on the text app on the iphone. it not only adds convience but also makes for a better looking picture for potential buyers. I think the biggest thing apple needs to do is, loosen up on the custimization settings. my last iphone i had jailbroken and used several 3rd party apps to make my phone mine. from custom slider icons, to a new theme for the icons and a wallpaper behind the icons. my jailbroken phone allowed me to change the theme for all my apps, and colors for my text boxes. i could change the system font and the clock and text font. MY iphone was the ENVY of all my friends. If apple allowed me to customize my STOCK iphone, then it would be a great sale.

thanks

By: morituri

morituri — Sat, 31 May 2008 04:33:22 +0000

Top on my list is universal search for onboard data (contacts, calendar, notes plus maybe sms and email). I still have 1,000+ notes from my Treo that I have not copied over to the iPhone, because there’s no easy way to get to the information that I want.

By: mohamad

mohamad — Sat, 31 May 2008 03:44:07 +0000

exactly

By: Steve

Steve — Sat, 31 May 2008 02:52:21 +0000

With almost every “Smart” phone I’ve seen, you start spelling a name or dialing a number, and it fills in the blanks for you. It will be a helpful addition to have “Contacts” on the main screen a-la-iPod Touch, but why can’t you search by dialing?? As has been pointed out many times before, even very inexpensive phones can do this!! Alas, I don’t think the iPhone will really be a “smart” phone until it can do this. Also, what about some way to sync files a-la the desktop version of ActiveSync???

By: tj

tj — Sat, 31 May 2008 02:18:36 +0000

Cut-n-paste would be nice … as would MMS.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Sat, 31 May 2008 01:33:06 +0000

Cut and paste is my number one missing item on the iphone. I hope that apple can come up with something super creative for that.

By: Greg

Greg — Sat, 31 May 2008 01:16:45 +0000

Nice list. To me cut and paste, plus the ability to search email should be basic features. And how about keeping the cache in the browser windows on all the time, so when you switch back to an open browser window, it doesn’t have to reload the page again like it does many times right now.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Fri, 30 May 2008 23:25:30 +0000

4 would be at the top of my list. But above that would be a modem app to let me use the phone’s net connection with my MBP.

By: Gaber

Gaber — Fri, 30 May 2008 23:17:24 +0000

Universal landscape mode would be HUGE!!

By: bigspooon

bigspooon — Fri, 30 May 2008 21:24:47 +0000

Notifications are a must.

You don't realize their value until you have a phone with notifications and subsequently get a phone without them.

I had that samsung slider that was popular about a 1.5 years ago and the notifications feature was awesome. sometimes you just dont hear the sound of an incoming text message or you dont hear the phone ring when its in a different room.

Sometimes with my current phone I wont read a text message for a couple hours after I receive it...if only there were notifications...

By: Matt

Matt — Fri, 30 May 2008 20:31:57 +0000

Excellent post. Not sure I agree with you on all points. I like my HTML email. DO wish we had flash. But, you know… cant have everything.

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 30 May 2008 20:08:47 +0000

@carsly

Multi-delete is coming with firmware 2.0.

By: Intro24

Intro24 — Fri, 30 May 2008 20:08:41 +0000

Also needs:

copy and paste.
search tool (Finder).

By: ana3zoz

ana3zoz — Fri, 30 May 2008 16:42:24 +0000

Great list just want to add: + MMS and video recording. + Open Bluetooth. + Support more headsets.

By: carsly

carsly — Fri, 30 May 2008 16:04:43 +0000

How about the ability to delete multiple messages at the same time with a check box or the like? having to delete every mail message one by one (with two actions – swiped and delete) is a pain.

By: tschertz01

tschertz01 — Fri, 30 May 2008 05:28:53 +0000

Great article. I wish for all these improvements too but something tells me that we will see few of them. Not that they couldn’t easily do all of them but just that we probably wont be seeing it.

By: NPR_aficionado

NPR_aficionado — Fri, 30 May 2008 02:57:33 +0000

Excellent post…all points are spot on!

By: JR

JR — Fri, 30 May 2008 01:21:08 +0000

Steve Jobs calls the iPhone the best iPod ever yet it doesn’t support stereo bluetooth. A glaring omission. And keeping with the bluetooth theme, I agree with Bill that adding support for a bluetooth keyboard would be fantastic. Ok, I can’t help myself, an easy switch to vibrate-only mode is essential for me!

By: Deda

Deda — Fri, 30 May 2008 01:07:52 +0000

I agree with your list somewhat, but can they PLEASE fix chat and text messaging for the love of all things new and shiny!?!?!??! Also, why should I live in fear that someone will be admiring my cellphone only for my private text message to pop up. Not cool.

By: Doug Petrosky

Doug Petrosky — Fri, 30 May 2008 00:55:09 +0000

Give up on the head phone jack this was not an evil conspiracy nor a failed design. It is designed to do exactly what it did. Reenforce the headphone jack to minimize damage due to lateral pressure. The number one failure for iPods was the headphone jack separating from the circuit board because it was pulled or pushed on. By inserting the jack you reduce stress and damage. Soon most headphones will sport the new plug and other companies will start recessing their headphones.

IMHO

By: Andi Blija

Andi Blija — Fri, 30 May 2008 00:42:58 +0000

Eh. I’ve waited, and I just want to 3G. I’ll get int in my hands before I start going on about what I would change. Beggars can’t be choosers?

By: Julio

Julio — Thu, 29 May 2008 23:51:24 +0000

I have a Treo 700w now and love being able to classify a group of contacts and assigning a single ringtone to the entire group, as in Family, Co-workers, etc. A feature I hope Apple will adopt with 2.0. All the other stuff on this list is dead-on.

By: GaryC

GaryC — Thu, 29 May 2008 20:51:07 +0000

Great list. I can’t wait to see how the new IPhone addresses these issues.

By: Brandon

Brandon — Thu, 29 May 2008 20:45:15 +0000

Sorry but as someone who gets a lot of HTML email (press releases and things like that) one of things that I really enjoy about the iPhone is HTML email. WinMo and others just don’t do it well at all (even with Exchange) and I much prefer seeing them as they were meant to be seen. While I agree not everyone uses it, and a “switch” of some kind would be the right way to go – I would be pretty upset if they did away with it completely ala BB. I don’t see any sense in taking two steps backwards just to appease the BB group who has a hard time dealing with things like color and pictures in their emails.

Almost all of the others I agree on. Tweaking them a bit here and there – but overall a pretty solid list.

By: Kurt

Kurt — Thu, 29 May 2008 20:23:34 +0000

"captainmicahp Says: May 29th, 2008 at 12:06 pm

I am surprised you didn’t mention MMS and video recording. The lack of these two features has baffled me for the last year. I know that there are 3rd party apps that make it possible, but why were they ever left out?"

I 2nd the MMS and video recording. It will be interesting to see what happens with this in regards to the talk of .Mac abilities. I know I personally revolve around a community of bloggers/video bloggers and "citizen journalists" who love these specific abilties (like in Nokia's N95 series and are willing to pay to have them).

I know that my next phone will wither be the 2nd Gen iPhone or a Nokia N96 releasing in May.

By: Vincent

Vincent — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:31:47 +0000

Speaking of Treo Features, it was really nice to be able to hit a persons first initial and start spelling their last name and have it jump to their list. Having 6500+ names and number this is a feature I really miss.

Of course, a system wide Search/Spotlight...

By: JordanB

JordanB — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:25:42 +0000

Great list, #4 is definitely one of my major pet peeves…

By: alex

alex — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:25:41 +0000

i too had a RAZR before the iPhone and it was the most annoying phone in the universe, nice and stylish but omg he was capable of biping 4 hours for a low batteries....

btw: i just discovered your blog, i Love it! add me on twitter i would like to follow more iPhonesque news

By: AdmiralButterscotch

AdmiralButterscotch — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:21:25 +0000

Those are all very good reasons, and I hope they have added some of those in the 3G iPhone which I plan on getting soon after its release. I especially would like formatted text, it could also use a copy,paste,cut, etc. feature.

Oh, and the notification, I think, is key to making the iPhone better, prior I had no idea there was no notification for a missed call, etc. I would believe that that in time would get quite annoying.

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:20:03 +0000

Sound profiles are a BIG MUST. WinMob 6 even has different vibrate tones. In silent mode, I have normal vibrate for text and sms, and a pulsating vibrate for calls (this lets me know how quick I need to get the phone out of the holster).

The other REALLY BIG thing would be #9, the universal landscape keyboard. I would think this would quickly eliminate any complaints of "no slide-out keyboard." Seems to me that the big advantage of a slide-out keyboard is size. If users had the option of which keyboard to use at any time, then keyboard complaints would probably go away.

By: Joe Jones

Joe Jones — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:18:39 +0000

Notifications

I would like to see an icon on the top of the screen where the battery and signal bars are to show emails, sms, missed calls, etc.. Even if this was just on the unlock screen it would be helpful.

Also it is amazing the number of comments made from people that did not read the entire article. In the 2nd paragraph you mentioned several ‘mainstream problems’ that you were leaving off the list, yet people made comments about those exact issues.

By: marcol

marcol — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:11:26 +0000

I 100% agree with number 1. As noted before this is the reason I don’t have an iPhone now:

http://forum.phonedifferent.com/showthread.php?t=156302

and I truly hope this is fixed in the second gen device. This thread:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1233355

on the Apple support site got a lot of comments and views and even made the mainstream media (as well as a zillion or two blogs) and that gives me hope that Apple will have taken reception issues very seriously. The aluminium back is lovely but if replacing it with plastic is part of a resolution of these problems, that’s all good with me.

By: Matt Muelver

Matt Muelver — Thu, 29 May 2008 18:42:51 +0000

All reasons why I’m a little bit glad (only a little though) that I’m waiting for iPhone 2.0. Its been painful to deal with the Treo for the past year while my brother plays on his iPhone, but when I switch its going to be great.

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 29 May 2008 18:02:19 +0000

Ring profiles are something I didn’t even realize I was missing, but yes! Yes! Absolutely! Love the 5s of silence ring is something I hadn’t thought to try, good one Dyvim

By: Don Charlton

Don Charlton — Thu, 29 May 2008 18:01:43 +0000

This website is meant to contain tools for iPhone interface designers. The website currently has a downloadable PSD file of the complete iPhone interface.

By: IndyJonez

IndyJonez — Thu, 29 May 2008 17:40:15 +0000

video recording/conferencing and higher mp camera =). Hope I win!!

By: Bill

Bill — Thu, 29 May 2008 17:35:39 +0000

Might I add support of a Bluetooth keyboard. That would me to make my responses to emails a bit more thorough and make editing MS Office and/or iWork documents (Assuming SDK developers bring out such software for the iPhone) a real possibility. I could go back to traveling with one device rather than having to carry my Palm TX and my iPhone.

By: antel0pe

antel0pe — Thu, 29 May 2008 17:24:16 +0000

8 and 10 conflict a bit as that extra formatting can’t be don’t in plain BB style emails. Also, apple wouldnt need to add a light to the iPhone for indications they could simply draw a dot on the screen with different colors for different missed messages.

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 29 May 2008 17:01:39 +0000

Speaking with pure speculation, I think some of these will be solved via third party apps. The rest will need to be done by Apple, and all we can do is hope that it happens. I can't imagine Apple of all companies releasing the iPhone 2.0 with the only upgrade being 3G, so I am cautiously optimistic.

Good list though. The iPhone is a really good device without these things, but with them it would skyrocket to just plain awesome.

By: burnsaa

burnsaa — Thu, 29 May 2008 16:37:43 +0000

It feels like apple spent alot of time on the big stuff and then just threw the everyday stuff togeather at the last minute. Once they get the things on your list fixed as well as some of the things you mentioned before like copy/paste and MMS I think the iPhone will be amazing / mind blowing. Or it will be what I expected it would be when I first got it.

By: Todd

Todd — Thu, 29 May 2008 16:36:43 +0000

Moving to the iPhone from a Treo, I have sorely missed the ability to use profiles(granted the Treo required a third party app to do it). Having the bluetooth on automatically during drive time, or the ringer off during work hours sure is nice. Yes, it only takes a couple of seconds, but it’s hard to go backwards…

By: Bad Ash

Bad Ash — Thu, 29 May 2008 16:33:41 +0000

Ok so I missed the louder headset volume in his list… sorry.

By: Bad Ash

Bad Ash — Thu, 29 May 2008 16:32:50 +0000

Add better speaker phone as well as louder headset volume to this list.

By: Debbie

Debbie — Thu, 29 May 2008 16:17:22 +0000

Great List.

By: captainmicahp

captainmicahp — Thu, 29 May 2008 16:06:45 +0000

By: Dieter Bohn

Dieter Bohn — Thu, 29 May 2008 16:03:20 +0000

Note the Ed. Note, folks.

By: Dyvim

Dyvim — Thu, 29 May 2008 15:42:31 +0000

Insightful list. I agree with most if not all of your points.

I would add: Vibrate-only (silent) ring tone. Why? Mostly for alarms. I need a vibrate-only alarm and currently the only way to do that is to turn the ringer volume all the way down (putting the ringer switch in vibrate mode doesn't silence alarms only incoming calls and other notifications). My work around for now was to make my own custom 5 second AAC ring tone of silence and use that for vibe-only alarms, but iPhone should have that out of the box (plus occasionally iTunes screws up syncing my ring tones and my supposedly "silent" custom ring tone gets switched out for "Marimba" and then blasts my wife and toddler at 5:15 am when I'm trying to quietly sneak out to go to the gym.)

By: Nick

Nick — Thu, 29 May 2008 15:40:03 +0000

I would really like to see a “task” feature similar to the one found on the blackberry or MS Outlook. Other than that I you put together a nice list.

By: Shawn J. Roberts

Shawn J. Roberts — Thu, 29 May 2008 15:36:26 +0000

Apple should also change the head phone jack so any 3.5 mm head phone set will fit into it. It was disappointing to me to set up my new iPhone, plug my head phones into the ultimate multimedia device and then hear . . . nothing. Then, I spent more money on an adapter.

By: Adam S

Adam S — Thu, 29 May 2008 15:27:01 +0000

As a blackberry user who is hell bent on switching to the 3g iPhone, this list is very helpful in making my decision. I took some of these points for granted figuring there was no way the iPhone couldn’t do some of them. Now I know…

By: Judson

Judson — Thu, 29 May 2008 15:25:15 +0000

Great list, one thing I loved about an old phone, that you might not think of until you have it. Profiles tied to whitelists/blacklists. For example, a “sleep” profile where only certain people can call you, or a “Meeting” profile, when you only get vibration rings from your boss… It’s really wonderful, and used to be in Sony Ericcson phones (maybe still is?)

By: Rene Ritchie

Rene Ritchie — Thu, 29 May 2008 15:19:38 +0000

Awesome list, Casey! I’m cutting and pasting it into an iPhone Feedback form at Apple.com right… now

By: Zach Weber

Zach Weber — Thu, 29 May 2008 15:13:54 +0000

So True

By: Steven

Steven — Thu, 29 May 2008 15:13:46 +0000

Your point # 4 is totally right, thats been bugging me since the beginning. Incoming and outgoing calls is a must. I would also ad an icon for work, home, cell etc… I hate it when someone calls me and I only see there name and don’t know from which number they are calling. I know I can press the blue arrow and see the details but its still a pain !!!