With Apple supposedly releasing a new iPhone this fall, here are a few things we want them to include.
The Illustrious iPhone 5
Features we'd like to see in Apple's upcoming incarnation.
Web2Carz Contributing Writer
Published: July 30th, 2012
W
ith autumn approaching, Apple superfans are on the edge of their seats waiting for the expected iPhone 5 announcement. And while we like our 4S's, we think there are some improvements that could be made with the next model. That said, here's what we want.
Better battery life. Without even running multiple apps and having Bluetooth enabled, sometimes our work day ends with a warning that we're down to 20 percent battery life and we wish we'd brought a charger with us. It's strange to think that the phone just being on (and the screen black) drains the battery so much, but that seems to be the only explanation—and yes, we've read all of those "how to improve your iPhone's battery life" articles. Point is, battery life is still pretty sad. Fix this, Apple.
Better reception. Now granted, some of this has to do with our cell carriers, but a lot of it has to do with the design. After all, who can forget about Steve Jobs telling users to "hold the phone differently" when it was discovered that having your palm on the bottom corners zapped reception? If your answer to a bad design flaw is to tell your users to figure out a new way to hold a phone (and really, how many ways can you hold a phone, anyway?) then you should probably go back to the drawing board. One bar in the middle of a major metropolitan area? Not cool, guys. Not cool.
Less fragility. Alright, we get it. The iPhone looks really cool. But the problem here is that the second you slip and drop the phone, if you don't have a fancy expensive rubber-lined case, you're probably screwed. That glass screen is real pretty until it shatters into a million pieces. This problem is made worse by the fact that the corners are the most vulnerable part of the phone, and there's a hefty good chance that if you drop the phone, it will land on a corner. Yuck.
Less-expensive accessories. In the same vein, it sucks to have to cover a great design just so it won't break. But adding insult to injury is having to spend $30-$50 on a case with adequate protection. We've yet to find a case that a)looks decent b)doesn't add three extra inches of bulk and c)protects the phone. Let's get on that, Apple geniuses.
Tap-to-read notifications. When our phones are in the lock-screen position but don't require the passcode, it would be nice if we could just tap the notifications to be brought to the relevant app. Instead, we have to slide to unlock, then quit whatever app we were looking at, then read the text message or email. It's kind of a pain, and though it only takes a few seconds, it'd be nice to just tap the notification.
Heat sensor. This one is kind of unrealistic because the phone itself is usually naturally hot, but it would be kind of cool if the phone was a temperature gun or had heat sensors. Kid sick? Put the iPhone on his or her forehead and find out if it's really a fever. Things like that. Again, kind of unrealistic, but it'd be convenient and would open up a lot of possibilities for apps.
A kickstand. When we're reading something on the phone, it'd be nice not to have to hold it in front of our face or stare awkwardly while it sits on the table. Some other phones have built-in kickstands on the back of the phone, and we could see that being pretty useful.
Auto-update. There are few things as annoying as having to manually update all of your apps every few days (at least it seems like that often to us). Why we should need to enter our passwords to merely update (not pay for or purchase) apps we already have is baffling. Auto-updating of apps would be great.
That said, Apple will probably offer exactly none of these things on their next inception of the iPhone. Still, we can dream.
What do you wish the new iPhone would have?
