Update: changed to reflect new iPhone 3G S.
In light of Apple’s recent announcement of what will be coming this summer in the iPhone 3.0 OS, I thought I’d revisit some of my wish lists / complaints from previous posts and recap what’s “solved”, what I’m hoping to see, and what still appears to be broken / missing.
Hardware
Apparently the rumor mill is blogging about the fact that there’s a new hardware identifier buried in the mix of gobbledygook that comes with the new SDK. This, they say, usually points to a new class of iPhone hardware. Sounds about right, given the timing, so here’s what I’m hoping will change in hardware:
More built-in RAM.
Not storage space, that’s inevitable — more temporary RAM so the iPhone can hold more in memory simultaneously. Frankly I think this needs to happen now more than ever because of Copy and Paste; users will be switching between apps a lot more, and if you think it’s annoying right now when Safari reloads the page you were just on, imagine how much worse it’s going to get. Come on.
Update: doubled.
Better built-in camera.
I’m not just talking about more megapixels, though that would of course be nice. I’m talking about the ability to shoot video, which the rumors say the new model will probably be able to do. I’m also talking about focal distance. Current iPhones cannot focus close enough to clearly read a one-dimensional (traditional) UPC barcode. I bought the Griffin Clarifi case for this specific reason, but trying to get iPhone software authors to support the very small subset of Clarifi owners is an uphill, and losing, battle to fight. Better to just give all new iPhone owners this ability, and that will solve the issue.
I’ve talked about wanting a ‘social consciousness’ app, and we’re getting closer to that — there’s apps like SnapTell and so forth — but I still feel that barcodes is a lower bar to entry for a truly standards-based social consciousness comparison app. (Otherwise, you are restricted to dealing with the API or the app of the people who own/run the picture-based product-recognition product.)
Update: better camera, auto focus, macro. Takes video.
Better Battery
So Apple made a big deal about their new MacBook Pro 17″ model with a non-user serviceable battery. I wonder if/when that technology is going to trickle down into the iPhone’s new product revision?
Update: better battery.
Third-party hardware support / Better Bluetooth communication
I’m very excited about this, but in a guarded sort of way. Mixed feelings.
On the one hand, I’m really happy about the fact that the diabetic 15-year old girl will be able to monitor her blood sugar levels on her iPhone. That is really, really cool.
And it is for reasons like this (health and safety, FDA regulations, etc), plus FCC regs about electromagnetic interference (Wow! It will sync with my pacemak–” BZZT) that I’m glad that Apple has strict regulations about which products are certified as “Made for iPhone” and allowed to develop products using the proprietary dock connector, etc. Those are good things.
On the other hand, think about how many cool hardware applications there are out there which are too rough-around-the edges for Apple’s tastes. Maybe they’re just not pretty enough for Jony Ive. Or maybe they’re just homebrew hacker stuff, things nobody ever could get permission to do but they want to, anyway. I mean, will we be seeing an Arduino iPhone development shield any time soon? I don’t think so.
This still runs into what I believe is an existing limitation:
I don’t think Apple allows development of interpreted languages or compilers for the iPhone, which is the excuse we always seem to see for keeping Flash off of the phone. (And frankly I don’t blame them; Flash simply dogs my mac, I can’t imagine how long the battery would last on my phone.)
But this causes problems when I want to have a very small development environment on my iPhone so I could program my toy robot, for example. Think about the Big Trak (programmable dump truck) that was around when we were kids. I loved that. HeathKit’s Hero robot? Tomy’s OmniBot 2000? Robotix? (Sorry, waxing nostalgic and showing my age there.)
Okay, now think about the Lego Robotics that today’s kids (and big kids) are playing with. My guess is that if a company like LEGO wanted to put out a mini-compiler to let kids directly program and edit their RCX, ROBOLAB or NXT-G source on the iPhone, Apple would flip over backwards to let that happen. Because they’re a big company, they make pretty (and safe) things, and there’s a huge revenue stream there. And Synergy. Ooh.
But what about the Arduino, or any other hardware hobbyist hacker toys that you can talk to via usb, serial, etc? I’d love to have some kind of Processing implementation on my phone. I know my friend Brian would flip for that too. But probably not Apple.
Frankly, I hope they don’t forget that they started in a garage. Let’s hope that there’s still a little bit of that garage spirit alive and well on the Apple campus, even if they did take the pirate flag down.
Furthermore, what about the much simpler possibility of a dock-to-”USB-A” cable? (the small square end.) This would make the iPhone the ‘host’ (computer) instead of the peripheral, and let you plug other peripherals in. Will there ever be a printing capability that isn’t done via wifi, bluetooth, or some special kind of print sharing on a host computer? My gut (and freenode’s #iphonedev channel) tell me no, because iPhones probably don’t have the right kind of USB ‘host’ controller inside of them. But frankly there has got to be a way to do this kind of thing. And once it’s been used for one such purpose, you can bet someone is going to figure out a new way to pervert the hardware to make it do something entirely unexpected — and much, much cooler.
Micro-directional D-GPS wish
I’m convinced that there is an untapped (as of yet) market for micro-GPS and wayfinding, mostly for indoor areas, offices, homes and so forth.
Most of the stuff that I’ve seen (that attempts to ‘solve’ this problem based on RFID or some kludgy wifi triangulation) just seems to fail.
I’ve seen some really cool demos of products where a control object (like a 3d mouse or something) is ‘located’ relative to a base station, then turned and manipulated in their air, etc. And there’s always great stuff going on with WiiMotes, too. But those are ‘tethered’ apps, in the sense that you can’t stray too far from the receiver or base station. I want a system that makes it easy to navigate a whole building and have a pretty good idea where you are, and how your device is oriented.
I’m convinced that there still could be some kind of system — perhaps augmented by cheap, plug-in wall-wart looking things (they could even have a power passthrough, sort of like lamp timers do) which would skim a little power, listen for some kind of signal from a PDA type unit, and then transmit very directional info to help it locate and orient itself in space.
This technology — whatever it is — has a whole lot of applications and could open some new doors. But I don’t know if it exists yet.
Update: added compass. Not exactly what I’m talking about above, but a step in the right direction.
In the meantime, here’s my more mundane wish list for third-party hardware:
External, fold-up keyboard.
I know, Steve hates the mere thought of it. Tough. I loved, loved, loved my fold-up external docking keyboard for my Palm III. (If there was a bluetooth version that was just as compact and slick, I’d buy it in a hearbeat; I’m not just married to the ‘must dock’ criteria.) Having a fold-up tactile keyboard would be a godsend in certain situations. (Think ssh.) A roll-up rubber keyboard would be acceptable. The ‘laser projection’ keyboard… thing is still a little too Star Trek for me and needs a certain kind of surface; frankly I don’t think it’s there just yet.
An OEM’d version of those awesome Burton iPod coats.
Okay, admit it, you wanted one too. Burton has made a few versions of their snowboarding jackets which had integrated controls (fabric soft-buttons) on the sleeves for controlling iPod playback. First as the headphone-controller on the 3.5mm jack (remember that one?) and later on, I think as a dock connector. These days there’s some english company that is making an ipod compatible jacket that has the hood that turns into built-in goggles when zipped all the way up. Don’t ask me, I have no idea. Okay, apparently it’s the Hero 3 ICU iPod Jacket (they also make a speaker jacket, oh joy) which uses the Fibertronic CONNECTED-wear integrated control set. So apparently this is farther along than I had hoped. Cool! (Now what do we need to do to get more manufacturers to start putting this kind of stuff on their jackets?)
Cycling accessories
Right now I have a Garmin Edge 305 cyclocomputer. It came with a cadence / speed sensor (detects magnets on the crank arm and back spoke) and also a chest strap with a heart rate monitor on it. I’d like to get an Edge 705 because it also supports the ANT+ protocol and lets the computer talk to devices like the PowerTap hub or SRM power meter. ANT+ is a special 2.4 Ghz low-power signalling protocol which probably won’t work with bluetooth or wifi out of the box, but I imagine there will probably be a dock connector with an ANT+ transmitter/receiver sticking off of a ruggedized iPhone sport case with a handlebar mount before too long. Because seriously, if I already have GPS and 3G capabilities, why do I NEED to buy an Edge 705 from Garmin? I’ll just buy their (or someone else’s) chest strap and cadence sensors, thank you very much. Seriously. The Garmin interface is not that great; it’s just the best of all the bad options out there that I could afford.
Who knows, though — part of me is still convinced that small, dedicated, ‘embedded’ and ruggedized devices like the Edge are still the way to go, especially when you go over the handlebars (because your phone is hopefully still tucked away in a safe place, so it still works when you need to call someone for a ride.) But I know that if you manufactured this sort of adaptor and did a bit of programming, you’d sell a ton of these things, just because it’s there and cool.
Prediction: Barcode and/or Credit-card swipe capabilities.
I’ll say it here: I predict that six months or less from the general release of the 3.0 OS this summer, we will see some hardware vendor release a rugged add-on for the iPhone which allows you to swipe credit cards, and (optionally) has a laser barcode scanner. Why?
Apple stores.
Do you know how much it must just GALL Steve Jobs and others to see their otherwise meticulously-groomed, smiling and approachable sales staff, having to hold onto these ugly, bulky Symbol PDAs that they run their point-of-sale system on? Now imagine them selling you Apple products using Apple hardware. If it doesn’t make you smile a little bit inside, then drink some of this kool-aid and I’ll check back with you later.
Seriously: Do you have any idea how many millions of dollars Apple, some third-party hardware manufacturer, and some third-party software development house are going to make if they can make an iPhone (or iPod Touch!) point-of-sale system that lets people scan barcodes and swipe credit cards right in front of the customer?
In fact, take away the barcode bit and you still have got a great restaurant POS system. Your server can use their iPod Touch to show you mouthwatering pictures or video of your dish, use the touchscreen to take your order, and when the meal is finished they can even swipe your credit card right in front of you. (I think there are rules about this in the UK, which is why they already have wireless at-table card-swipes.) Heck, you could even tack a thermal receipt printer onto the thing if you were so inclined.
Besides Apple stores and restaurants, just imagine inventory tracking with barcodes. And RFID readers. It’s another thing that’ll inevitably happen. So many possibilities here.
Having just worked six years at a museum: I can forsee some kind of museum navigation system based around iPod touch + either that micro-GPS I wished for earlier, or an RFID scanner, perhaps. Imagine using RFID tags or some kind of localized geohashing to call up specific content, then play back audio, video or rich text with links, in your museum.
…but let’s get back to the list.
Stuff AT&T still needs to work with Apple on implementing, but probably never will:
- Automatic shifting calls from cell network to WiFi, like T-Mobile
- SPAM Caller: a button to report them, after the call; notification (or “probability that this call is spam: 72%” etc), when they call me; a ‘google this phone number’ underneath the detail view (where it currently says, ‘add this number to an existing contact’, etc.)
- WiFi voicemail access: If you go out of cell coverage, but have Wifi, you could still download and listen to your messages and be notified of new ones.
I’ve mentioned all of this stuff before; it hasn’t changed, I’m not holding my breath. But I can make wishes, and put these ideas out there.
Stuff that Apple has improved in the 3.0 OS itself, or their own apps:
Search is improved
Not only is there now the ability to search email (yes!) but there’s also more integrated search capability in more of Apple’s built-in apps, and even a special ‘search screen’ (spotlight) that you get to by swiping left from the main app screen. Very cool. I assume this also means that Apple is exposing more APIs for searching core data and other functionality like that in the 3.0 SDK. Good deal.
Push is (finally) here
Okay, Apple says they’re sorry, they dropped the ball, but here it is. Background apps are a no-no because they drain batteries like crazy. So Push capabilities let you ‘badge’ an app (red circle with a number in it, meaning how many ‘unread’ or whatever ‘new’ items you have), lets you show a message (imagine if you were to Twitter @thombrooks and I got an instant notification with the buttons ‘Reply’ or ‘Close’ … scary good), or even play a custom sound, like the cute ESPN app they demoed. All good stuff.
The one thing that I still wish Apple would enable (and this certainly goes back to battery life!) is some kind of hooks for allowing remote apps to determine your location. Specifically using GPS. There is already a rumor of some kind of ‘Where’s my iPhone?’ functionality, possibly through MobileMe, so I’m sure Apple is working through the ramifications and policies associated with that one. Real can of worms if not handled properly.
However, I would certainly love having an app where I could grant permissions for specific users that I know (like my wife, for example) to touch base and find out if I’m dead by the side of the road while I’m out cycling. Just a thought.
Expanding on that thought (more wishful thinking):
Maybe this is possible but somehow I doubt it: When I hit the top button to lock my phone, it automatically turns the internal GPS receiver off, correct? I wish I had a way to give certain apps permission to periodically poll Location Services to find out where they are, but only if the user deliberately hit some kind of ‘start’ button, got the stock warning, “This will drain your batteries faster! Are you sure?”, etc.
That way, you could leave the display powered down but you could check every so often (the purpose of the application would determine the frequency) and maybe vibrate or chime an alarm or whatever if the user was getting close to a specific location, leaving an area, or whatever. And/or you could disable the auto-sleep mode while using this feature, if the device were plugged in. (This seems counter-intuitive until you think about using the Maps application in your car, with the iPhone plugged into the cigarette lighter and the ‘track me’ crosshair turned on. It’ll stick around.)
Turn-by-Turn GPS
Apparently Apple has relaxed the limitations on the SDK so we can finally get our beloved turn-by-turn driving directions. This has been rumored for so long that I’m sick of it; first the TomTom app was going to come out any day now, then other rumors, etc. Apparently there’s still a licensing snafu where you can’t use Google’s own map data to provide the directions. Fine, whatever. These are workable problems.
What I’m most worried about is that it’s A) going to cost a lot of money for a good solution and B) the new App Store pricing model is going to let providers really screw over the customers for new datasets, per-city directions, and so forth. Frankly, I hope that Apple keeps making improvements to their own Maps application just so it raises the bar and forces companies to be really competitive with their own turn-by-turn apps. Well, at least we’ll have the option now. Gentlemen, open your wallets! (And vote with them.)
In the meantime, at least developers can now use google’s map data in their own apps and add custom icons over it. That by itself will be a very handy widget for anyone’s toolkit.
Disk mode
I will keep saying it until I’m blue in the face. I own this device. Please give me access to a partition on it for file storage. Don’t make me buy third-party apps just to store things on it, and jump through unnecessary loopholes to do so.
Still wish Remote.app was better
I’ve asked before: Why can’t Apple’s free Remote.app talk to Front Row? Regardless, I solved the problem by buying Front Rowmote, which runs a little daemon on my Mac, and the app even looks sort of like the little white IR remote you used to get for free with Macs. So much so, in fact, that Apple made the author change the graphic design. But it still looks very nice and works great. The author is a really nice guy and very responsive to questions and suggestions.
Sync the Map bookmarks
Can I do this in iPhone 3.0 OS? Not sure. Really wish I could. I know I can send them via MMS, and I think I can copy and paste them into things like emails too, so I know we’re getting closer. Still, since there seems to be a pretty ubiquitous google map widget on the desktop apps these days (like in iPhoto, etc.) you’d think I could sync my map bookmarks and maybe even get them into Google Earth, etc. What’s up with this?
Yellow notes will finally sync!
Yay, how two-years-ago this should have been solved. Solved problem already with EverNote. Next.
Third-party App improvements / wishes
I love OmniFocus. I recently saw that Omni Group posted a job description looking for folks to help them do web-app related programming. I can only hope that this benefits OmniFocus and/or OmniPlan.
I have two main wishes for those apps, added to some kind of web-enabled goodness:
- Working with a team of people on projects. It would be great if there were some kind of integrated to-do list where people could share their progress on projects.
- Collaborating with your spouse, children, etc. on to-dos or appointments.
The second one gets into MobileMe / iCal / BusySync / Google Calendar territory, which is what we currently use. And the todos, though weak, can be sync’d from OmniFocus to the calendar.
Still, it’d be really nice if OmniFocus supported multiple databases so you could keep multiple projects (or your business / personal life) completely separated from one another, or view them all merged, or whatever you wanted.
Fewer sucky apps
This is sort of being solved by the fact that there are currently apps which don’t fit the one-size-only pricing model. New pricing models means we’ll see less “one app per book” type of stuff, since you can buy subscriptions and expansions and so forth.
Still, I’m divided on this one. On the one hand, I wish that Apple would have had more faith in their own standards process, could have forseen the incredible demand that there was for the revew/app-vetting process, and said NO to a lot more people, or given constructive feedback on how folks could have improved their apps to bring them up to a certain minimial quality level to be considered worthy of inclusion in the App Store.
I make that wish because for a while I was actually tracking every single new app (using a couple of RSS feeds) and there were just some really stupid, poorly-thought out apps. And now there’s such a deluge of them that I have stopped trying.
I also think it’s kind of unfortunate that some really good, talented programmers are feeling like they have to cut prices on their really excellent apps to below-survival rates, just to compete in the ever-growing field of lookalike apps that are in the same space as theirs.
On the other hand, I’m glad that it’s so easy to get an app out there because it gives me some hope that some more cool open source apps are going to make their way to the iPhone. WordPress has a great app that just keeps getting better, for example. And the source is free, which is great.
Speaking of which,
Apple relaxing the SDK
Wow, developers can finally talk about their apps? Great move.
Stanford posting the notes and videos from their Apple Engineers-taught class
Awesome.
Update: I have watched the first three lectures. (And FWIW, Evan Doll is a better teacher than Alan Cannistraro, IMO.) They are great. I have downloaded the materials, and done all of the homework assignments so far. (I’m a little bummed that they don’t seem to be covering their ‘optional’ Friday sessions, especially because they stressed the importance of debugging, come to this lecture, etc. and then didn’t make it available. But apparently there will be materials available later on.) Regardless, for Stanford and Apple to make this a free downloadable series is a genius move. It will get a lot more people over the initial app development hump.