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Apple iPhone 2.0 expected next week

June 6th, 2008, 3:02 am · 7 Comments · posted by

A second-generation Apple iPhone is expected to be announced on Monday so I thought it was a great time for a drop-in from me, iGirl.

With four days to go as I write this post, I find myself in disbelief that it’s been a year for Jimmy and I. (Note: Yes I’m a nerd, and yes I love Superman and my iPhone enough that I named my iPhone Jimmy after Jimmy Olsen). To see some of the fun I’ve had with Jimmy, click here for a collection of photos I’ve taken with my phone.

sonyawithiphoneAlmost a year ago I humiliated myself on this blog, in line in front of the Irvine Spectrum Apple store and on the front page of the Register while I wrote about my 26-hour wait in line so I could buy the 8GB iPhone about 10 minutes after it went on sale.

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What new features do you hope to find on the Apple iPhone 2.0?
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After I took a shower, had dinner and spent time with my iPhone I wrote this review answering “yes I love my iPhone,” but here’s a list of what I wish my iPhone had. Below, I have revised that laundry list with a year’s worth of iPhone experience. Please add your additions or suggestions for iPhone 2.0 in the comments! Be sure to check out the wish list items noted by a * star with a note at the end.

In a perfect world the 2nd-gen iPhone will have:

1. 3G. Alright, I’m not expecting a Wi-Fi-like experience on my phone, but using the 2G EDGE network is painful. Yes, having the closest thing to the real Internet (no Flash, sorry – not complete real Internet yet) on my iPhone is great. But, I’ve been spoiled by having a year with my iPhone of mobile Safari and being stuck in locations that offer no Wi-Fi. (Note: This was painfully obvious to me when I was on a long car ride looking at bicycles online on my iPhone and a page would take maybe 3 minutes to load and it would then, suddenly crash. This is very annoying.)

2. Have a longer battery life or better yet, be able to replace the battery so I can carry a backup.

iphonesonyacal.jpg

* 3. A better calendar. Apple’s iCal needs to seriously step it up if it wants to compete with Google’s calendar and Outlook. iCal should be available online through .Mac so it can be edited from any computer (easier than typing on the iPhone). And the iPhone should be able to sync to .Mac wirelessly.

  • iCal on the iPhone should be color-coded (just like on the real, desktop iCal), and you should be able to turn the different calendars on and off. For example, I have access to various calendars (work, music, personal), plus my mom’s, boyfriend’s, friend’s and some public calendars (DVD releases, movie releases, astronomy). But on the iPhone, they’re not color-coded so it’s one big mess.

4. GPS. Come on Steve! If the iPhone added this feature it could not only take on music devices, PDAs, cell phones and smartphones — but also GPS devices! And then companies could design a vehicle system for the iPhone so it could play music through the vehicle’s stereo system, give audio turn-by-turn directions and use the phone through the vehicle’s stereo system.

5. Turn up the volume – I can barely hear my phone ring (same goes for watching YouTube videos, listening to iTunes, etc.)

6. Voice-activated dialing. Seriously Apple engineers, with all the other bells ‘n whistles — this should have been included. The cell-phone-while-driving ban (except for hands-free calls) is coming soon and I don’t wanna get a ticket.

* 7. A folder for storing documents, etc. Again, why is this not there?

* 8. Allow us to see weather forecasts beyond 7 days (and allow us to view the previous day’s weather so we know if the current day will be warmer, colder, have more rain, be less humid). And while you’re at it, add alerts so iPhone’s can warn people of oncoming rain, etc., even though we don’t really need that in sunny O.C.

9. Copy/paste. This could be difficult for adding to the phone’s design because of the scrolling, BUT Apple should be able to figure this out.

* 10. To-do lists. Why is this not included?

See all those * notes in the above list? Those little stars note the four out of 10 things that I hope applications do in the iPhone App store. Of course everyone expects apps such as games, fitness trackers and other amusing things. But most of the new applications will likely go head to head with Apple’s own native iPhone apps. Don’t like the calendar? Maybe Google will improve its iPhone app and sell it for direct-download. Wish your iPhone had a better weather application – maybe the Weather Channel will take its web app for the iPhone direct to download for the phone. Well, here’s hoping Apple or third-party developers step it up in a week!

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 7 Comments

  • Melberto says:
    June 6, 2008 at 7:41 am

    I can’t believe she didn’t include easier to access photo messages. Nothing is more painful than trying to remember a 3000000 digit long code to go check a picture message just to have that website crash on you while trying to load.

  • Dianne says:
    June 6, 2008 at 7:50 am

    The new IPhone should be able to accept third party applications like the Palm Treo, then I could ditch my palm and just use the Iphone instead of carrying both.

  • Brian says:
    June 6, 2008 at 8:45 am

    I hope the new I phone comes with preloaded pics of iGirl. I think she is hot.

  • Richard porzio says:
    June 6, 2008 at 10:53 am

    The most important feature the next generation iPhone could provide is the ability to work with ANY phone service providers network. This would improve competition and enable the iPhone customer to seek or retain the service provider best suited to his or her needs.

  • Nick says:
    June 6, 2008 at 10:55 am

    I absolutely agree with your list of Top 10. Especially the part about iCal. Sorry Apple, but iCal is weak. I would love to ditch using my Google Calendar AND my iCal calendar. Please, get up to speed and fix this.

    I’d add also that I agree with Melberto. For heaven’s sake Apple allow picture messages on this thing. Why on earth you didn’t include and haven’t added yet is beyond me.

    And yes, give us a better battery. The weird thing is that when I got my iPhone (sorry Sonya, I didn’t wait in line and walked into the Apple store at South Coast at about 8 PM on the day they were released and simply walked up to the counter and bought it) the battery was fine. I was one of the people who didn’t understand what the gripe was about the battery. Now I completely understand that gripe. Example, it’s 10:45 AM right now, I took my phone of the charger at about 7 AM this morning fully charged. The current usage stats for my phone right now is: Usage – 42 minutes. Standy – 3 hours, 38 minutes. My battery is just a little more than half full!!! Give me a break. I have almost gotten to the point that I have to charge this thing during the day to make it even last the whole day. And definitely I have to charge it EVERY SINGLE NIGHT. What’s so amazing about this is don’t even really use it that much in a day. The maximum is maybe an hour and a half and I rarely even talk on it (which is a whole other issue related to AT&T’s horrible coverage). Bottom line, the battery is absolutely horrible now after a year. I noticed it’s demise about 2 or 3 months ago.

    Lastly, I’d like a better design… which I realize is a huge thing that Apple probably won’t do. But a rubberized matte black finish on the back would be stellar. It would eliminate the scratches and more importantly it would be so much easier to hold and handle. Taking pictures on the iPhone is like trying to hold an ice cube in 100 degree heat. I’m thinking a black rubberized matte finish like what’s currently offered on the black MacBook. I doubt they’ll do this though.

  • AmeriDad says:
    June 6, 2008 at 1:11 pm

    Support for Word/Excel files
    Stereo Bluetooth

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