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3 Things Still Missing From Apple's New iPhone

Apple answered many iPhone wish lists yesterday when it announced video recording, copy and paste, and other improvements. But there’s still stuff missing:

  1. Adobe Flash. Adobe is scurrying to make a version of Flash that works well with the iPhone. But if Flash will ever work the same way on the iPhone as it does on a computer , Adobe will need significant help from Apple building it into MobileSafari. That has not been an easy process so far.What’s the point of Flash on the iPhone? Many Web sites still use Flash for multimedia, animation, and navigation. And ad agencies would LOVE to get access to Flash to make rich media ads for the iPhone more easily.
  2. Video chat. Some wacky, Photoshopped images made the rounds last weekend showing an iPhone 3G with a front-facing camera for video chat. This sort of thing  is a feature Apple loves to sell on its MacBooks and iMacs, and makes some sense in the mobile industry, too.
  3. Background app processing. Apple’s main competitors can all run apps in the background, so you can pop into your email app and keep your IM app open. Or listen to Pandora Radio while you’re reading a Web page. We’ve heard that this is something Apple is working on, but it’s apparently not ready yet for iPhone 3.0. It might be something they get to in an update, or perhaps something they’ll save for iPhone 4.0.
Staff Reporter
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4 Comments

  1. It is difficult to explain to the average user why apple takes it’s time to implement certain features that are touted so often as, “it has been available in other phones since forever…”, because those users do not understand the complexities of getting the balance of features, performance and battery life just right (or at least acceptable for every day use)
    I for one would much rather have a high performance device that I can actually use for a full day without having to recharge than a device that I can run multiple IM apps on that will take over my already hectic daily life. Just look at the Palm Pre… Even although a nice iPhone copy, it is a classic example of a “too much background processing at the expense of battery life” scenario.
    That all being said, the iPhone does offer just the right amount of background processing at present to maintain a good balance on current hardware: Listen to music, while you surf the internet, and you mail is pushed (or fetched), and calls and SMS can be received, all simultaneously happening.
    It is not that apple cannot (or will not) implement those features. Apple is trying to maintain a good balance. That is why the new voice control feature will only work on the new iphone 3gs. voice recognition is very processor intensive, and therefor power hungry. The new hardware in 3gs can maintain a balance of processor load and power consumption, so that is why this particular feature was only implemented now.
    And that is what makes apple so unique. They understand that evolution happens over time. Keep a close eye on Apple in the next few years. The revolution has only begun.
    Dan

  3. @Dan – very good an valid points. Apple has been struggling to get a perfect balance between processor power and battery life. The regular user doesn’t know or understand how complex of a device the iPhone is.
    Viva Apple! Viva!

  4. There is obviously a lot to know about this. I think you made some good points in Features also. Keep working ,great job!

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