10 Must-Have Features For Apple’s iPhone 4G
The iPhone already dominates the mobile phone space, but consumers and enterprise customers are hoping for more from Apple’s next iteration of the device
5. An improved display
The iPhone’s display is beautiful. It’s fully capable of displaying videos in high fidelity, making it one of the best displays in the mobile market. But that doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be updated. Speculation abounds that Apple is planning to offer an improved display with higher resolution to make video and other content look even better on the device. It’s certainly not the most important feature Apple should be bringing to the iPhone, but anytime a new display can be added to a device without any major change in price, it should be done.
6. Better battery life
The iPhone’s battery life is surprisingly good when one considers how poor the battery life is on some of the competition, like the Palm Pre. At the same time, it’s not good enough. It’s understandable that Apple would have some trouble with the iPhone’s battery life, considering all that it does and all that users do on it, but the company needs to deliver better battery life in the next iteration of the device. Steve Jobs doesn’t need to double the iPhone’s current battery life (although it would be nice), but a 25 percent to 50 percent increase should satisfy most current iPhone owners.
7. A flat back
It’s a small gripe, but the iPhone’s current back just isn’t all that convenient. The next iteration of the iPhone should feature that aluminum backing discussed earlier, but also offer a regular flat back. For most people, sitting the iPhone on a desk is standard practice. But with its current design, users need to worry about it more than they would with a standard, flat back. It’s not a major issue, but a flat back would make the iPhone a bit more secure on a table. And considering how expensive that is, some folks might want that extra security.
8. Even more storage
One of the best things about the iPhone is that users can store content, like music, podcasts, television shows, and movies on the device. The only issue with the iPhone is that sometimes, people who have loads of songs and video can’t get all their content onto the iPhone. Going forward, Apple should offer more storage in its smartphone. Since storage costs are dropping at a significant rate, Apple should be able to increase the storage on its iPhone at an affordable price. Sorry, Apple, but 32GB just won’t cut it anymore.
9. Tethering
Tethering might not be an Apple issue, since operators are still dragging their feet with tethering coming to the iPhone, but it’s a must-have in the fourth generation of the mobile phone. Part of the reason why the enterprise is still sticking with BlackBerry devices is the ability to use the BlackBerry as a modem on employee laptops. The importance of tethering cannot be understated. With it, enterprise users will know that as long as there is a 3G connection available, they can use the iPhone to be productive while sitting in an airport, or while stuck in traffic. If Apple does anything over the next year, it needs to apply pressure on operators to get tethering on the device.
10. A fully operational iPhone OS 4.0
When the iPhone 4G ships, it should be running Apple’s recently announced iPhone OS 4.0. So far, no one has gotten their hands on the revamped software, but it looks to be a major improvement over iPhone OS 3.0. A key component in the new software version is multitasking. Finally, iPhone owners will be able to run applications simultaneously, rather than be forced to close an app to get to another. As nice as that is, it better work well on the iPhone 4G. Consumers might want several different additions to the iPhone, but without the improved software, it won’t have the same appeal. If Apple wants the iPhone 4G to be successful, a fully operational iPhone OS 4.0 is a must.
