Seemingly obvious software features missing from the iPhone

Here’s a quick list in no particular order of (obvious?) features that the iPhone does not have, but could add in the future throguh a software update.

Obviously, people at Apple had to draw the line somewhere in the feature list so they can actually ship and start selling a product.

Some of the features probably ended in the wrong side of this line and will be added in the future. Others were surely killed by business deals with AT&T (VoIP anyone?). Others, they decided they don’t want it on the iPhone at all, even though it can be done.

Can you think of more?

  • Video recording
  • Voice-note recording
  • VoIP (like Skype) functionality
  • .Mac syncing
  • Copy/Paste
  • Ringtones from your music
  • Synchronization thrugh WiFi or Bluetooth
  • Keychain (password storing)
  • Objective C/ Cocoa SDK
  • Dashboard/Widget support (outside of Safari)
  • iChat
  • A2DP
  • Voice dialing
  • Games
  • Slot for memory cards
  • Spotlight
  • Java
  • Flash
  • MMS
  • Geolocation
  • eBooks
  • Built in RSS Reader
  • SSH
  • Bonjour iTunes sharing
  • Printing support
  • Video teleconferencing

(Disclaimer: I think that the iPhone is awesome and none of this missing things is a deal-breaker. It will do great for what it does have.)

Update 2:15 PM:

Some interesting suggestions in the comments. Some of them would require hardware changes, so they are not in the original list (more storage, video out, use EDGE while on the phone).

Also, answering to Hammer of Truth’s comment on spotlight: “Spotlight? How many files do you expect to have on your iphone and why do you need spotlight?“.
Obviously you don’t know what Spotlight is. Here’s why I’d want it. I search for Johnny Appleseed and in the search results screen I can click on his Address Book contact info, emails between us, an email message mentioning him, SMS messages between us, and more in the future. It’s a really powerful and useful feature of Mac OS X and would be useful in the iPhone too.

11 thoughts on “Seemingly obvious software features missing from the iPhone”

  1. iChat? Come on. Nobody uses iChat except Mac Users.

    Let’s try

    1. iChat (with AIM plug in)
    2. Gtalk
    3. Yahoo
    4. MSN Live Messenger

    or just make iChat an universal instant messenger and incorporate all the protocols necessary to run all the other IM without needing separate softwares, kinda like Trillian

  2. “iChat (with AIM plug in)”
    Hmm…. iChat IS AIM. Same system, same usernames with the added .Mac option.

  3. Spotlight? How many files do you expect to have on your iphone and why do you need spotlight? Bonjour iTunes sharing? Man that would suck on Edge, maybe a few years from now but not when the network maxes out at 135kps. I totally agree that they should have put in printing support. My piece of crap L7 does this and it does it pretty good when the bluetooth part wants to work. That would have been nice to be able to print out a word or PDF file to a bluetooth enabled printer.

    My guess is that there is a TON of things coming soon especially from Google. They are so excited and you can tell that they want to tell us whats coming but Steve won’t hear of it.

    I did have a theory of why Apple picked AT&T. If the iPhone is popular for everything BUT the service AT&T provides it would give Steve ammo to either force them to spend some dough on fixing their network or move on to another one. Kind of like what he did with keeping the Star Trek builds of OSX. Who knows Apple might have a bunch of services planned in the next few years, especially since .Mac is a steaming turd right now.

  4. How about the ability to talk on the phone and use the Internet at the same time while using EDGE?

  5. They could at least make a full-fledged iPod:
    • Video out (or does the AppleTV mean the 6G iPod won’t have it either?).
    • Disk mode.
    • Games.
    • Lyrics.
    • iPod style Notes.
    • Search? (don’t know if it does.)
    • Real storage capacity (8GB ain’t gonna cut it).

    Also:
    • WiFi/Bluetooth file sharing (for photos etc, not everyone has email on their phone).
    • Voice dialing/control.
    • Push mail from .Mac (what the heck are we paying for anyway?).

    And I though only Verizon crippled their phones!

  6. I was thinking about the ebook thing the other night. If you can save local copies of web pages, then Safari can probably do html-formatted ebooks.

    One thing that I didn’t like though was having to tap or swipe to turn the page, though obviously you need to do that with a real book. I prefer the space-bar press of Mobipocket on my Treo for page turning.

  7. The thing is already 500 bucks!. I’d rather make future updates than paying $1500 for a phone that does almost everything my computer does.

  8. Guys, as soon as you hold one in your hands and see how incredible this little thing is, you’ll have a hard time believing this thing actually exists today. Updates with a bunch of new software feature will come in time.
    One thing about EDGE: 135kbps is enough for browsing and doing Google maps and sending mails, you’re not going to use this to download a torrent while you’re on the go, so I don’t see this being a deal breaker at all. As far as price, go check the Nokia N series and compare. It’s not fair to expect all these features for the price of a PoS Samsung flip phone.

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