Missing Features, Bugs, and Wish List for Apple Engineers

Question

I LOVE my iPhone. It is by far the best phone I have ever had. The interface is awesome. Great job Apple, but there are missing features and bugs that all of us want updated or wish were added. I know they were probably already thought of by Apple, but in an effort to make the phone perfect removed to make it more stable. Now that it is out lets make it perfect.
This thread will hopefully give you guys guidance from the early adopters who share your love for the phone (and others who want to chime in). I want to separate the list into a few categories and hope everyone will add to this thread with their ideas:
1) BUGS/CHANGES TO EXISTING APPS:
- Period should be in alphabet keyboard (make space smaller) or when you go to symbol keyboard and hit period it should automatically go back to the alphabet keyboard (unless you double click the symbol button which means stay there like caps lock)
- Individual delete (like Mail) of all lists (eg. call list, bookmarks list, history etc.
- Multiple item in a List delete (see below for how to select). This is also so un-Mac like to not be able to select multiple items to delete. It is all or none for clear/delete on the iPhone.
- Implement double finger slide...in maps double finger tap zooms out so the OS recognizes this, why don't you use a double finger drag to mean "select". There is no way to select some words in a sentence or a group of items. This could be how. eg. In a list (eg Mail) double finger slide over items you want to select (instead of singer finger drag which moves the list) then one finger slide to the right to delete the selected items from the list.
- Copy and paste. Since there are no menus this would require a gesture (ala newton)
- when you tap the battery icon it should bring up a battery status dialog (ala wifi join dialog where the screen dims): present charge, big battery icon (like the charging one), time left. In addition, instead of giving battery usage details only after a full charge, give it at any point.
- Since you know that nights and weekends are at set times (and not variable like it was on Sprint where I came from)...the phone usage details should be broken down into: peak minutes used and N+W minutes used (not hard to figure out since you know the time and dates of calls)
- Be able to change font/background etc in Notes app
- faster way to get to favorites in the killer phone app after turning on phone. Just seems like it takes too many taps to get there to make a call on a phone.
2) WISH LIST FOR NEW APPS (apps that can be added with existing hardware, see #3 for other wishes)
- iChat (obvious and probably almost done)
- VOIP (probably not going to happen, and wouldn't work in Europe where I would need it most gven network speeds there)
- Flight tracker widget
- Exchange support (probably in the works)
- Push email from gmail and .Mac (probably in the works)
- Bluetooth sync
- DUN (probably not going to happen since AT+T does not want it)
- Data/File storage with sync
- TODO APP that syncs to to do in iCal
- Ringtones, definitely from songs from iPod side (obvious and coming soon I am sure)
-Search function like spotlight. Global would be awesome, but even just in contacts
3) FUTURE HARDWARE RELATED WISHES (stuff we wish could be in hardware version 1 but know require a version 2):
- GPS
- 3G
- LED that changes color and/or pulses (like MacBooks sleep light) that indicates things (eg charge status, Voice mail status, roaming status etc) without turning on the phone
- Move camera to front to allow video conferencing (I doubt Steve would allow since it would mess up the clean front look)
Well I could go on and will add to this thread later, but I need to go to work to show everyone (and sell more apple stuff since many of my colleagues have been converted to macs). Now, all you pioneers, start adding things to help our beloved phone become better!
Peter
iMac   Mac OS X (10.3.6)  

Answer 1

I agree with your post! I'm amazed by the simplicity, the screen, and the apps on the iPhone. They all have worked wonderfully for me, with just a few crashes while surfing or loading big email images. (I heard that shutting down the phone and restarting helps that.)
The single flaw for me is that the phone app itself should be primary, with more options (quicker access, unique ringtones, voicedial?) and ease of use. The other applications are so elegant, but I need my phone to be very accessible and practical too.
My wish list:
1) Make it fewer taps to get to the point where you can make a phone call. How about the main button can be programmed to take you wherever you want. I'd choose to go to Phone Favorites, so I could speed dial right away.
2) Be able to set a preference as to what app you're in when you wake up the phone. I'd choose phone keypad, some might choose iCal, etc.
3) Add the period and comma symbols to the alpha keyboard.
4) Allow different ringtones for specific caller ID's.
5) Copy and paste.
V2) With new hardware, add a "back" button to return to prev. screen. It could be small, on the side near volume?
2.33 ghz dual core Intel Imac   Mac OS X (10.4.9)