5 Missing Features From the iPhone 3G S

Although the new iPhone 3G S has many great, new features such as voice control, a better camera and tethering, there are still a few features that users have been asking for that are missing. Some of these are related to application functions and others are more hardware related.

Apple has discussed putting a disk mode on the iPhones that would allow users to drag and drop files from the iPhone to the computer. In this way, the iPhone would function essentially as a removable storage device. Right now, you can only move data on and off the iPhone through iTunes. I was glad that the new 3.0 software allows for the backing up of Notes, but I'd still like to have the ability to transfer other files. With the increased storage capacities (16GB and 32GB), this shouldn't be a problem. Apple could easily integrate a drag and drop box right in iTunes where the user can transfer files quickly and easily.

I am extremely happy with the new 3MP camera on the iPhone 3G S, with its revolutionary tap autofocus and video capabilities. One cannot help but wonder why Apple hasn't add a small, elegant LED flash next to the camera. Although the low-light shooting on the new iPhone is impressive, it still is not a replacement for a flash. Perhaps Apple is trying not to deviate from its design on the back of the iPhone; simple - Apple logo and camera. Yet, I think that most iPhone owners would gladly suffer looking at a small LED flash in exchange for the ability to take photos at night or in other low-light situations.

Also, this iPhone flash would allow users to shoot in burst mode, taking many photos in a row. Wouldn't that be great?

As mentioned before, I would prefer to have Apple integrate a disk mode for transferring documents and files right in iTunes. But, at the very least, it would be great to have some sort of external storage on the iPhone. Most cell phones have included a MicroSD card slot, which makes adding files, music, photos, etc. easy. This is a feature that I do not expect to see on the next iPhone, or any iPhone for that matter.

Video conferencing is a feature that I would love to have on my iPhone. It would be a great feature for everyone - college students and business people alike. Two issues are preventing Apple from making this happen. First, they would need to add another camera on the front of the iPhone. They could easily do this - it's just a matter of whether or not they want to have two cameras on one phone. They could experiment with some sort of flip camera, but that hasn't at all been the style of the iPhone.

The other issue, which at the current time is outside of Apple's control, is what features AT&T is willing to support. Right now, I don't see AT&T allowing users to do video conferencing because it would put too much stress on their networks, which is always their excuse.

For a long time, iPhone owners have called on Apple to integrate Adobe Flash support into its Safari browser. Apple has been very clear that it does not intend to support Flash now or in the near future. Adobe was planning to make a Flash app for the iPhone, but later found that the SDK developers toolkit didn't provide enough access to the main core os x software to make this integration possible. Now, the downside to flash support is that it would run down the battery life a little more, but the iPhone gets such great battery life to begin with, wouldn't it be worth it? If Apple could see how important Flash content is to web users, perhaps they would make this a priority.

Hopefully, we will see some of these features on the next iPhone, which will probably be called the iPhone 4G, assuming that it supports the lightning-fast 4G network. The iPhone 3G S is evidence that Apple does listen to what features its customers want. We just have to continue to keep sharing.