Aside from the much discussed tablet, Wednesday may also see the launch of a new iPhone OS (you never know, of course, if the rumours are true). I’ve blogged before about what I’d like from Apple iPhone OS releases, and they have sort of delivered (I reckon about 2.5-3 from the 4 I requested last year).
So this time the wishlist is as follows, rated by chance:
The “it makes so much sense they have to do it” change
- Make better use of the home screen. Android has shown the way forward here. I want to be able to put dynamic content on my home screen, so as I can embed useful information like calendar items in a convenient place.
- More software control over functions. One major design flaw I have noticed with the iPhone is the silent button on the side of the phone. This makes it very easy to move the phone between ring and silent, but it also has some problems. First, it makes it too easy – the button can easily move as you slip it into your pocket. Also, it only allows for two settings. Ideally, you want at least three: ring, silent with vibrate, and total silence. A software change could be used to resolve this issues without altering the fundamental design of the phone, creating more settings. In addition, automated control could be used so as the phone moves between settings at set times in the day (going onto silent, for example, after midnight).
- Better email. The iPhone is OK for email and recent upgrades do seem to have improved the service, but Exchange support still feels a bit flakey.
The “unlikely but not impossible” changes
- In many ways, this is the big one I am hoping for: multitasking. It would absolutely change the way we use the device. Apple instigated push notifications as an alternative. This works great fro somethings, but not for all (the recent Facebook upgrade shows that push notifications can do some good stuff). For apps like Spotify, the inability to run in the background is a real issue. Whether it will happen or not is open to question. Battery life is certainly an issue, as is the fact that Apple have made such a big thing of push notifications, it would be inexpedient for them to backtrack so rapidly and admit their approach was wrong. However, maybe the launch of the tablet gives some hope: if this device is going to run on the iPhone OS, surely multitasking will be instigated.
The “it will never ever happen, but I can wish” change
- A few weeks ago, I saw my first ever jail broken iPhone. It was a stupendous device. By uncoupling it from the Apple walled garden, it had really achieved its potential. Jail breaking though is not for the faint hearted. In particular, your device is “tethered to the jailbreak” – in other words, you cannot turn it off. If you do, then you need a laptop to turn it on again. This is not a practical work around for most people, myself included. However, there is nothing to stop Apple embracing the idea of openness and opening up the device. In practical terms, this would mean opening up the APIs of the OS (at the moment many items, such as the calendar are locked down, so as they cannot interact with Apps) and allowing software to be installed directly onto the device and not via iTunes. Needless to say, this won’t happen…
Posted in: Technology.
Tagged: Apple · iPhone · software
#