Technologer - Technology and gadgets

Word on the streets is that Apple plans to announce a new iPhone machine, its fourth generation, somewhere around April of this year. A quick look at previous models, compared to what we think a good, viable and essential smartphones should look these days, made us realize there’s A LOT to be accomplished. Checkout the list we’ve made and feel free to add yours:

This is NOT the new iPhone. Please click this link and read all about the new iPhone 4.

1) A 5 megapixel camera (At least) – I mean seriously, 3.2mp camera isn’t enough these days when most mobile devices pack 5mp and even stronger.

2) A better auto-focus camera with a better optical zoom – People hate carrying around so many gadgets in their pockets, so a better camera that can deliver better focus would definitely save most of us the hassle of taking a digital camera with us.

3) Front facing camera (for video chat/skype) – Every simple phone has it, so why not? From one hand, I can hear the mobile companies getting intimidated from the fact that users will actually have live video chats in their phones, something which would probably make them speak less than before, but on the other one, we’d tell them: don’t fight with it, deal with it! (And same goes for the Google voice app).

4) Xenon flash – And closing the camera session, a good flash system would completely make a differece, don’t you think so? Bring the light!

5) Record video in HD 720p – The world is changing, and so does video quality. HD videos are part of our lives now, so a 720p video recording feature, integrated in phones, should be too (period!).

6) Hide app icons – Different people use different apps, and customized platforms are getting very popular these days, so having the ability to make apps like youtube, calender, calculator or others disappear, can definitely be a useful add-on.

7) Revamped design – Some would argue about this one, as the iPhone is hands-down one of the most good looking devices we’ve seen in years, but still there’s a plenty of room for a change, like maybe a bigger display (4-inch anyone?), or a squarish frame – less rounded on the edges.

8 ) Multitasking – Multitasking, multitasking, multitasking. Said enough. everyone’s been yelling this for years and yet nothing. C’mon Apple, we need this one ASAP! In an online environment where most users do several tasks concurrently, it’s crucial to allow apps (IM, music, photos, etc) to run in the background.

9) Silverlight support – Yeah, yeah…we all have our pride here, but lets make things a bit different. The more plugins our phone supports the better it would be – is there anybody listening?

10) Flash support – Same as Silverlight. Enough with the kindergarten games. Both Apple and Adobe should finally seat together and work things out. At the end of the day, it’s about us, the users and how we surf the internet nowadays, and lets face it Cupertino, flash is needed, whether you want it or not.

11) More security protection and data encryption – Not sure how many people would eventually pay attention to this one, but just in case you forgot, our privacy is on stake here and personal information is at high risk these days, whether we’re aware of that or not. The moment our very own emails or SMS messages will become vulnerable, is the moment where privacy would sadly get lost, just think about it.

12) More colors selection like in the iPod Nano – We’ve already talked about looks, but we do think Apple should come up with wider range of lid colors to choose from, I mean…why not, most people have colorful cases attached to their phones and would probably appreciate the effort of having the ability to pick up other flavors rather than Black or White, Right?

13) Less restricted app approval process – This is definitely a frustrating issue. Most developers we spoke with think that Apple should make things more accessible when it comes to app submitting. While some have already given up in the middle of the process, or even decided to quit (checkout Facebook’s app developer who has decided to quit his project “Over Apple Tyranny“), others claim that Apple is doing the right thing, not allowing everyone to have the ability to send their crap over to App Store. With over 150k applications available to download/purchase, only the best should survive – their thoughts.

14)  HDMI output with 1080P video support -  Apple, and many others for this matter, consider the iPhone as a multimedia/entertaining machine, rather than a simple phone. And frankly, they’re right, as most of us can listen to music, take a look at photos, surf the net or watch our videos through this tiny little wonder. But video quality, if we already speak about it, has turned more advanced than it used to be two, three years ago, and having the ability to pump your stuff out on the tele is unquestionably a 2010-ish trend to follow, so either have a designated cradle or add more ports inside, we leave it to your discretion…but please add it, will you?

15) Larger capacity – For most users, 32GB of storage are probably enough. Having said that, there’s always room for more, and if the iPod Touch can technically house 64GB inside, then be sure the iPhone can (and will) store the same storage capacity as well.

16) A replaceable battery with improved durability – Regretfully, we don’t think it would happen. Apple don’t really want to start messing around with batteries, although in practice they could probably earn a lot more money from selling them. While disagreeing, Apple probably thinks that irreplaceable batteries should grant a better control over things you toss inside your phone. Durability wise, we do think it would get better as time goes by – fingers crossed.

17) An OLED screen with higher resolution – iPhone’s display is one of the best you can find around, no doubt, but even though we still think it should get improved. How, you’re asking? Well, how about a low-power support, higher screen resolution to watch HD content “in-house”, or adding more exclamation points to screen surface in order to improve multitouch usability.

18) More landscape support – iPhone’s accelerometer is no stranger anymore in the gadgets scene, still, having the ability to use it in places like homepage screen and calendars would make us excited.

19) Wireless N capabilities – Once upon a time there was a G, now there’s the N. If technology walks forward, why not improving?

20) A louder speakerphone – Something we’ve been whining about for quiet sometime. Seriously, this is also an iPod Touch in case someone has forgotten to tell you. And while occasionally it can be very irritating, some people, especially teenagers, love sharing their music in public and for this matter, a better speaker is crucial.

21) Mass storage support with Drag N’ Drope capabilities – It won’t happen soon, we know that. Apple just won’t let the iTunes go away from our lives for one simple reason, it’s restrictive. And despite our daily dreams about mass storage capabilities and having this neat simple motion of drag and dropping songs into our hot and sexy iphone, no one at Cupertino really matters (in tears!). We just wish there was something we could do, to change things in here.

22) Document support – Alrighty, is that a phone or a mini computer, huh? If Apple thinks it’s both, then it should make the next iPhone a documents-friendly device. Got that Steve?

23) SD/microSDHC card slot – Most mobile phones already have it so why on earth the iPhone doesn’t. An SD card extension is vital for portable use and we DO want to sync our photos and data by other means, if you know what I mean.

24) Exchange synchronizable – If apple wants to approach the business world it MUST add the ability to synchronize tasks or notes with Exchange servers, MUST!

25) More file formats support – We’re damn tired converting files in order to be able playing them on our iPhones. Now, I don’t know whether Apple needs to pay someone some royalties to get files like .avi and .mkv movies support our iPhone device, but man, I don’t care, as long as I have them rocking my phone.

26) Wireless File sharing - So many people are asking for this feature for so many years. The thinking behind it is that Apple probably don’t want people to share copyright-protected files between each other and cause infringements via iPhones. Sounds reasonable? We don’t think so, it shouldn’t be a Cupertino problem, and Steve Jobs can’t portray the gate keeper of music companies et al.

27) Stronger Processor - As mentioned, technology is moving forward and tech components are getting a lot more stronger. There for, and in hope it would actually happen, we’d like to see Apple’s first custom-made silicon chip, the 1GHZ A4, tucked inside. After all, the good guys at Cupertino do want their next mobile monster to become a portable gaming device, and games to be the next thing that would fetch them big money, don’t they? In that case they need a strong iPhone with powerful hardware, right(#2)?

28) An Online Bookstore – Mobile games aside, books are probably the most important content channel that Apple is gambling on, and same as Amazon, Jobs and the app developing team should start thinking about an iPhone book application – the sooner the better.

29) A New Browser – Safari was doing a remarkable job as a mobile browser, but unfortunately it lacks Javascript and flash support and Apple would hopefully realize it ain’t enough today.

This is NOT the new iPhone. Please click this link and read all about the new iPhone 4.